REGIONAL and specialist schools hope that the Victorian Government’s newly announced support for student teachers will attract more teaching talent away from metropolitan areas.
But one local principal believes the answer to the region’s lack of teachers could be solved with a shift in public sentiment towards the occupation.
Premier Jacinta Allan announced the $32.2 million Pre-service Teacher Placement Grants program, to assist in covering costs faced by student teachers in regional and remote schools.
Students enrolled in an accredited Victorian school teaching degree from July 1 this year to December 31, 2025, will be eligible to receive a grant of up to $420 each day for their work.
The support aimed to encourage teaching students to undertake their placements and see the opportunities offered in the state’s specialist schools and schools in rural areas.
“The staff shortage is pretty much Australia-wide at the moment,” she said.
“Teaching jobs that are in city centres and regional centres such as Bendigo and Geelong will be the ones to get filled first, before filtering down to us out in the regions and as a specialist school, those candidates get filtered down again.
“However, like the other little schools around us, once people come up and experience a rural setting or working at a specialist school, they generally stay.
“Our retention rates are very high, but we’ve just got to get them here to start with.
“The government’s assistance through grants allows many of these potential teachers to be free to come out to regional areas.”
Mrs Walters said young people may be more likely to enter teaching if they saw teachers as “revered”.
“The perception and the respect for teachers needs to improve from the ground up,” she said.
Mrs Walters said she would like all teaching students to experience placement at a regional, rural or specialist school.
“Rural placements are very important for every teaching student,” she said.
“There are so many different challenges and opportunities to be found in these settings.
“We mightn’t have the flashiest nightclubs or those other things that may attract younger people, but we have a fantastic community involvement and great sporting clubs.
“I think that the Department has tried almost everything that they possibly could, they’ve even tried to source people with special education training from Canada for our school.
“They’ve really been in the trenches with us to solve this.”
Education Minister Ben Carrol said student teachers “deserve support to pursue their career without financial pressure”.
“We’re supporting them to undertake their placements while making sure staff are going to schools where they’re most needed,” he said.
