Snippets

Aspiring Teachers To Earn While They Learn

The state’s top university graduates will be the target of a bespoke program designed to attract high achievers into teaching careers in high demand areas across NSW.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said Teach for Australia, which has a successful track record in other states, has created a unique model for our public schools. Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said a particular focus of the program is mid-career professionals, who, once they have completed intensive Masters units, will be supported to work in a school while they complete their study.

Under the NSW Teach for Australia pathway, participants complete their Master of Teaching degree at Australian Catholic University while they are employed in a school. They receive holistic coaching, mentoring and classroom observations to provide teaching students with a continuous cycle of feedback and improvement.

As part of the program, Principals will also have greater say in how the model is implemented in their school to ensure it meets the needs of a diverse range of school contexts.

Under the partnership, a pilot cohort will be recruited next year commencing in NSW public schools in 2024.

Funding Boost For Regional Mobile Coverage

The NSW Government will invest $30 million to help telecommunications providers deliver shared mobile phone infrastructure upgrades to improve regional mobile coverage.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Region Optus, Telstra, TPG Telecom, BAI Communications, Field Solutions Group, Infrastructure Logic, NEC and Pivotel Mobile all successfully completed the design phase of the NSW Government’s Mobile Active Sharing Partnership, an-nounced earlier this year.

Full details of the grant funding opportunity are available on the NSW Government’s grants and funding finder website at www.nsw.gov.au/activesharingpartnership. Applications close 5.00pm on Monday 14 November 2022.

Rewarding Excellence In NSW Classrooms

The NSW Government has announced a groundbreaking new approach to reward teaching excellence and attract more people to the profession, drawing on best practice around the world. The issues paper identifies that:

NSW classroom teachers have limited options to progress in their careers without taking on formal leadership roles outside of the classroom.
Effective teachers are more likely to stay in the classroom if they have can gain career progression from the chalkboard, including significant salary increases
Keeping highly effective teachers in the classroom is the single biggest factor in improving student outcomes.

The central aims of the program are to:

Create a more attractive career path for classroom teachers, while raising the status of the profession.
Leverage the skills of highly effective teachers to strengthen teaching practice across the public education system, for the benefit of all students.

Once consultation is complete, a policy paper will be finalised before the program begins implementation in 2023. The issues paper is available at https://bit.ly/3r9UTQW.

Applications Open For Heritage Grants

Applications are now open for innovative ideas to boost public access to the region’s most significant heritage places and stimulate the local economy.

The 2023-2025 NSW Heritage Grants program has six categories, including:

The new Activating State Heritage Grant where one successful applicant will be awarded $1 million in matched funding.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Grants where applicants can apply for up to$80,000.
Caring for State Heritage Grants where applicants can apply for up to $150,000.
Community Heritage Grants where ap-plicants can apply for up to $50,000.
Emergency Works Grants to help ad-dress emergency situations at state significant sites.
Local Government Heritage Grants program designed for NSW local councils.

For more information, including guidelines and applications, visit the Heritage NSW website at www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/grants