A new academy to improve the skills of Victoria’s best school teachers by teaching them leadership excellence and improving their professional skills is to be established as a new Statutory Authority.
The new entity, the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, is to deliver an Australian-first program of advanced professional learning for high-performing teachers in Government, Catholic and independent schools.
Minister for Education, James Merlino said the Authority would establish a multi-site academy to raise the bar on teacher quality.
“The Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership will be based in a purpose-designed CBD site, as well as across seven regional Academies,” Mr Merlino said.
“Once established, the new Academy’s programs will provide an unprecedented opportunity for our best teachers to further develop their skills and become recognised as State-wide leaders in teaching excellence,” he said.
“These teachers will then share their expertise and knowledge with their own school communities, ensuring every classroom and every child benefits from this investment.”
Mr Merlino said the Academy’s flagship offering would be the Teaching Excellence Program, a one-year intensive program for up to 500 teachers drawn from all sectors, covering core curriculum areas including English, Mathematics, Science and the Arts.
The Minister said other programs would focus on developing a pipeline of emerging leaders and aspiring principals.
“Through the Academy, our teachers will also have access to the latest research in the science of learning and discipline based content knowledge, giving them the skills to ensure our kids are growing up as creative and critical-thinkers,” he said.
“The Academy will also enable our best teachers to learn from one another – with a focus on sharing best practice, ideas, experience and resources.”
Mr Merlino said the Academy’s regional centres would be located in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Moe and Shepparton.
He said a CBD location was expected to open early next year and the Geelong site by mid-2022 with the remaining locations to open by the end of 2022.
