Thanks to a generous donation from The Hansen Little Foundation, Teach For Australia have launched the Jane Hansen TFA Alumni Awards, to honour outstanding contributions in classroom, school-wide and system leadership.
Coinciding with our 15-year anniversary, the Annual Alumni Stories of Impact recognise and reward the incredible contribution made by Teach For Australia Alumni, who were encouraged to share their stories of recent work to address educational inequity in remote, regional and disadvantaged communities.
The Awards aim to build a culture of collaboration, with the Hansen Little Foundation’s generous commitment ensuring the awards continue for the next five years.
Read on to learn more about the incredible innovation and leadership being spearheaded by Teach For Australia Alumni.
Anish is an openly LGBT+ identifying teacher who believes in the importance of sharing lived experiences to help promote LGBT+ inclusivity in schools and society. He has lobbied for inclusive policy changes at the Department level and helped to host WA’s first LGBT+ rights conference for high schoolers.
Charles established an entrepreneurial education program at Tennant Creek High School alongside Young Change Agents, in which students from years 7 to 12 were supported in creating their own businesses. The program helped students empower themselves economically and educationally and to learn entrepreneurship. The school and several students were subsequently recognised at the national ‘Teens in Business Awards’.
Grace pinpointed obstacles for 600+ students and families in obtaining Australian citizenship. She led a series of innovative solutions, including an information night and dinner for 140 families, fostering trust and deepening community-to-school engagement and citizenship outcomes.
Holly led the merge of two single sex-schools to one coeducational high school, managing the delicate balance of building a new school culture while honouring the histories of the original schools. Throughout this change process, student engagement, wellbeing and attendance have significantly improved, suspension rates have halved, and academic outcomes have steadily increased across the curriculum.
James served at his school for over nine years, culminating in leading a project to radically transform student learning from compliance-led to prioritising student agency. The journey was featured as a global case study and the new model shifted mindsets and actions school-wide.
Jennifer spearheaded a whole-school instructional model and curriculum project. In one year, the number of positive behaviour rewards jumped from 400 to 4202 and major disruptions were four times lower. Staff retention was also exceptionally high with just a few team members moving on to promotions.
At Skyline Education Foundation, Jigna leads the Skyline Program, empowering 160 high-potential VCE students from across Victoria who are facing economic and social adversity. As Program Manager, she provides mentoring and wraparound support to students, focusing on their educational and personal development while driving program initiatives that promote community, foster leadership and help break the cycle of educational disadvantage.
At Owen Springs Detention Centre in Alice Springs, during trying times, Joel has supported young people to develop basic skills and use these to enable and enhance their own journey of healing and growth. Joel honours the strong, resilient, proud, young people he works with as they navigate anger, grief, injustice, and most importantly, hope and determination for their own future.
Kath has led the way with a range of initiatives to better support staff working conditions and to restructure student support to offer more personalised assistance. Thanks to these efforts and others, academic attainment is on the rise, exceeding previous benchmarks, and morale is high for both students and staff.
Michaela founded Maths Teacher Circles, delivering progressive Maths professional development to over 1000 teachers in the last four years. One key priority for her is improving access to high-quality mathematics professional learning, especially for those working in RRR settings.
Melanie has become a zealous advocate for impactful instruction and is pursuing a cutting-edge PhD, studying literacy interventions in secondary school. She delivers coaching and professional development to schools, and also teaches both undergraduate and masters courses about the science of learning.
Oliver conceived and implemented a whole-of-school literacy strategy for his school, as well as a tutoring program for students at Dawurr Boarding. His students will publish their book, Sweet Home, with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in February 2025.
In his ninth year at the school, Ryan has led a range of initiatives to transform the teacher culture of high impact instruction and the student culture of writing. One example is the Creative Writing Club, inspiring over 50 students to create and share beautiful pieces, including some being published.
Steve inspired the innovative “eco-team” at his school to implement a targeted green campaign. They reduced carbon emissions by 18% (nearly 100 tonnes CO2-e) in only one year – without spending a cent! Students are buzzing with the tools to prosper in a challenging world and create a brighter, fairer future.
Tim founded the Education Equity Alliance (EEA) to bring together all parts of the education system and enable strengthened collaboration to address the systemic barriers to education equity. Critical to the Alliance’s work is building the capacity of students and teachers from low-SES schools to think systematically and to pursue action both in their schools and with peak education equity stakeholders.