Educators working in regional and remote schools can now apply for Teach For Australia’s 2024 Future Leaders Program to develop their leadership skills and capabilities.
The fully subsidised one-year professional development program improves access to high-quality teaching and learning for all students by developing the next generation of school leaders.
Kristy Barnes is Health and Physical Education Teacher at Ross Park Primary School, in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, and was part of the program’s 2023 Cohort.
She describes the Future Leaders Program (FLP) as “the most inspiring and influential learning” she has ever completed.
“The learning and course materials are innovative and thoughtfully put together. Every aspect of the learning has felt purposeful and useful,” Kristy said.
Developing leaders in and out of the classroom
Participants – known as Fellows – experience targeted workshops, a peer network who share their context, and the support of an experienced leadership coach to help drive positive student outcomes.
They are guided to design and implement an applied learning initiative – an Innovation Project – which can bring tangible and lasting impact to their school and community.
Fellows are positively challenged to grow both as a professional and as an individual, based on the program content stemming from the Leadership Competency Framework and the Two Ways Teaching and Learning Framework.
“I enjoyed the time for reflection and reciprocity, which has given me the time to really think about what we are learning and how it can apply to school, and even home,” Kristy said.
“There have been a few big changes I’ve noticed since the commencement of the FLP. Firstly, I now see myself as a leader within the school. Although I do not want to take on a formal leadership role within the school, I’m now looking at the school in a much bigger way. I feel I have the necessary skills to bring about good positive change within our school.
“Secondly, I just feel like I am a better person.”
An immediate impact
TFA Future Leaders Program Manager, Viveka Simpson, strengthening the leadership pipeline in Australia’s regional and remote schools was critically important for today’s students and for those to come.
“The Future Leaders Program has been specifically developed to provide the skills and confidence that teachers in regional and remote communities require to best guide their students,” she said.
Kirsty has been able to put her new skills into practice in Ross Park already.
“I’ve initiated, managed and even led change within my school, and had the confidence to do so. I’ve also learned necessary skills to have tough conversations with colleagues, something I would never have done before,” she said.
“Most importantly I can now see myself as a leader within the school and I am taking on more and more opportunities because I have the skills and confidence to do so.”
The one-year program commences in Term 1, 2024.
