After submitting your application form, you will be sent an email inviting you to complete a Situational Judgement Test. This has been designed to give you a preview of life as a teacher. It will present you with scenarios that teachers encounter and potential responses to these.

You don’t need any prior knowledge of teaching to complete the test. We’re looking to understand how you would typically respond to each scenario. For each question you will need to analyse the situation and weigh up the appropriateness of each suggested response.

It’s not possible to prepare for the test; just choose your response based on the information provided. There isn’t only one right way to respond – we are not looking for one particular type of person. What makes schools work are the different teachers and variety of approaches. The best advice we can give is to be yourself and be honest.

It is not a timed test but you will need to complete it in one sitting. Take time to read and fully understand each scenario and the possible responses. Most people complete the test in 40-60 minutes.

You must be an Australian citizen or have been granted an Australian Permanent Resident visa at the time of applying to TFA’s Leadership Development Program. If you do not meet these requirements, unfortunately you do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Unfortunately, there are no exceptions to this.

Our program requires that Associates have not studied more than 25% (equivalent to four units) of a teaching degree prior to applying.

If you have completed less than four units of a teaching degree, then you are eligible.

If you have completed exactly four units of a teaching degree, please let us know, send through your transcript and eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of TFA and ACU.

If you have already completed more than four units of a teaching qualification, then, unfortunately, you will not be eligible for the program.

We really appreciate your consideration for our program and we definitely need wonderful teachers like you in our communities. If you know anyone you think would make a terrific teacher and who doesn’t currently have the teaching qualification then we would love to hear from them. It really is a life-changing experience.

In line with our privacy policy, Teach for Australia collects, uses and discloses your personal information so that we can work together, operate our program and further our mission and objectives. We also collect and use data to help us continuously improve our work as we strive to become a more culturally safe organisation and may share some of your de-identified data with partner organisations to help us achieve these aims. We acknowledge that data collection around personal identity is imperfect and can be sensitive. Most of the questions relating to personal identity are optional and we will note where they are not. To learn more, please see our privacy policy.

If you are successful through all stages of the application and selection process, you will be sent a Letter of Offer and we will ask you to complete a Placement Preference Survey (PPS) as part of the offer process.

The PPS will give you the opportunity to clearly indicate your preferences with regard to each of our current placement States/Territory. Your responses help us identify which jurisdiction(s) you would consider being placed in.

The information you provide in the PPS is vital to us finding you a suitable placement. As such, you must provide us with honest, accurate and transparent information. For example, if you indicate that you are willing to be placed anywhere in Australia, you must be willing to accept a placement in any of our jurisdictions or schools, be they metropolitan, regional or remote.

Our ultimate aim is to place you where there is the greatest need and where you can have the greatest impact, therefore we ask for a minimum regional flexibility in at least one of our placement regions. The ability to consider multiple regions will increase your placement potential, but not being able to relocate does not pose a barrier to applying.

We also understand that some people are bound by personal circumstances and we work with you to ensure you can have the best impact in your placement.

You can find more information on our website here about each of our current placement States/Territory.

You can also search for the relevant state or territory government education department websites in each of our placement jurisdictions – there is often great information on those websites about the different areas of each state or territory and some of the relocation incentives that exist in different jurisdictions.

Placement timelines vary from region to region and once you have been allocated to a region, we will send you an email with more information on historical placement timelines for that region.

We are in communication with our partner schools throughout the year but the deadline for schools to submit vacancies is generally in Term 3 of the school year.

Placement begins in June in some jurisdictions, however the highest volume of placements occur between September through to November. The timing of this can vary as each Associate’s placement journey is different and there are a number of factors at play that affects when an Associate is placed at a school including their learning areas and regional flexibility as well as when the school is aware of an upcoming vacancy. We continue placing Associates right through until the end of the school year in December.

We do not place Associates in January.

This is the period that covers all of your pre-teaching work and training and runs from November – January, before commencing teaching in Term 1. It is a requirement of the LDP that all Associates complete the Summer Semester.

It consists of both National Initial Intensive (NII) (which includes the School Practicum component) and Regional Intensive (RI), during which you will complete approximately 25% of your Master of Teaching.

Most of the program costs are covered on an assisted scholarship, through our partnership with the Australian Government.

Your contribution to the fees over the two years of the program will be approximately $12,000 AUD.

You will also receive a minimum 0.8FTE salary and benefits during the program, along with several mentors to support you.