Audience

Beginning permanent and temporary teachers, supervisors, principals, school executive and relevant department staff (Directors, Educational Leadership and School Workforce directorate).

About the policy

What needs to be done

1. Determine who is eligible

Eligible permanent teachers:

• require mandatory accreditation
• have not yet achieved accreditation at Proficient Teacher level at the date they enter on duty
• are employed in their first permanent teaching appointment with the department.

Eligible temporary teachers:

• require mandatory accreditation
• have not yet achieved accreditation at Proficient Teacher level at the date they commence their temporary engagement
• are employed in their first eligible, consecutive 4-term (calendar year), full-time temporary engagement
• are employed under temporary engagements and approved in SAP by 5pm on 1 March in the year of engagement.

Ineligible teachers:

• casual teachers
• temporary teachers who have been employed for less than four consecutive terms in a calendar year
• teaching or non-teaching executives
• principals
• teachers who have previously received first year (permanent/temporary) or second year (permanent) beginning teacher support funding.

2. Determine how the funding can be used

Principals have the flexibility to design a program tailored to a beginning teacher’s specific strengths, development needs and the setting in which they teach.

Guiding principles

• Beginning teachers have reduced responsibilities or teaching loads sufficient to support the development of their skills.
• Beginning teachers are provided with ongoing feedback and support that is embedded in the collaborative practices of the school.
• Mentoring structures and collaborative practices support beginning teachers within the school or across a cluster of schools.
• Beginning teachers have access to professional learning that focuses on classroom and behaviour management, strategies to build student engagement, collaborative professional practices within the school, and productive relationships with parents and care givers.

3. Calculate the funding

First-year funding is:

• available for schools with eligible permanent and temporary teachers
• costed at the equivalent of 2 hours per week release time for the beginning teacher.

Second-year funding is:

• available for schools with permanent teachers only
• costed at the equivalent of one hour per week release time for the beginning teacher.

For schools with eligible part-time permanent teachers, funding is paid on a pro-rata basis according to the number of days worked by the teacher under their permanent appointment.

4. Finance information

Schools do not have to apply for Beginning Teacher Support Funding. All payments will be processed as budget allocations. Most payments will be made in 2 instalments (semester 1 and 2).

School Workforce directorate will notify schools via the school email address, of eligible teachers throughout the year. Principals should treat the email as confirmation of funding and begin teacher support.

For SAP finance support, please contact EDConnect on 1300 32 32 32 and select Option 1 and 1.

Carry forward information

All funds must be spent within the calendar year they were allocated.

Supporting tools, resources and related information

Policy contact