Australia’s first teaching academy opened in Melbourne’s Treasury Precinct this week (22 March) to support teachers to develop their skills and provide better education for Victorian students.
Opening the Department of Education and Training’s (DET) Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, Minister for Education, James Merlino said the Academy would provide high-quality professional learning in two streams: Teaching Excellence and Leadership Excellence.
“The new Academy will provide a nation-leading opportunity for high-achieving teachers and school leaders to develop and share their expertise and make a deeper impact on students in every school and community across Victoria,” Mr Merlino (pictured, centre) said.
“In addition to the new CBD location and an existing facility in North Melbourne, a further seven regional sites of the Academy – in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Moe and Shepparton – will open by the end of 2022,” he said.
Mr Merlino said the Academy’s flagship Teaching Excellence Program would support up to 500 highly skilled teachers from schools across Victoria each year to advance their professional practice, with access to the best research in the science of learning and discipline-based content knowledge.
“The course will be tailored to teachers in diverse subjects like the arts, English, health and physical education, humanities, languages, mathematics, science and technologies,” he said.
“These teachers will share their expertise, knowledge and networks with their own school communities, ensuring every classroom and all students can benefit from this investment.”
Mr Merlino said the Leadership Excellence Program would deliver targeted, evidence-based learning opportunities for Victorian Government school leaders, and built on the legacy of DET’s Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership.
Further information on the Academy can be accessed at this PS News link.
