QUT receives $4.7 million for innovative rural teacher education program
First published 2 October 2024
QUT has welcomed Federal Government funding of $4.7 million to launch the Employing Queensland: Innovative Pathways to Teaching (EQuIPT) program which aims to strategically address critical teaching shortages in regional, rural, and remote Queensland schools.
Professor Lori Lockyer, Executive Dean of the QUT Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, said the program was designed to target specific areas in need across the state with funding for 90 future Queensland school teachers.
“Critical teacher vacancy areas are not spread evenly across Queensland, location matters” Professor Lockyer said.
“The EQuIPT program aims to address the teacher shortage and enhance the regional workforce by providing localised study options and innovative employment pathways.”
“This innovative and replicable program will significantly shift how universities, schools, and local communities share responsibility for preparing teachers in Queensland.”
Potential teachers will undertake paid employment and be provided with localised wrap-around support.
Two hubs in Goondiwindi and Innisfail will begin taking students from next year, with the program to be expanded to a total of five regional hubs by 2027.
The EQuIPT program will have a “two stream” approach, bringing together local community recruitment who aspire to be teachers with pre-service teachers from metropolitan areas who are seeking to work in regional Queensland.
The funding is part of a $70.9 million package the Federal Government announced this week to be provided under the Government's High Achieving Teachers (HAT) Program, as part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
Participants receive a salary and split their time between practical teaching in the classroom and studying.
Top picture: Professor Terri Bourke (left) and Associate Professor Jennifer Clifton.
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