Victoria makes secondary teaching degrees free in 2024/2025

Mount Rowan Secondary College principal Seona Murnane said for the first time she was "beginning discussions" with recruitment agencies to look overseas for staff.

Although there are few vacancies at the school currently, with the critical teacher shortage particularly in regional areas, Ms Murnane said she was being forced to look for staff further afield than the normal government school recruiting channels.

"We are fairly well placed for 2024 but it's only September," she said.

"I know (international recruitment) is happening in metro areas ... and I think it will begin to happen more in regional areas as well."

The school already uses various government schemes including the targeted funding initiative, Teach for Australia program and Teaching Today and Teaching Tomorrow program to bring a range of teachers to the school.

Ballarat's independent schools regularly appoint international recruiters and advertise positions overseas, and last year the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited went on an overseas recruitment drive through Ireland, visiting universities and job fairs to recruit teachers to move to western Victorian schools.

Across Ballarat's state, Catholic and independent schools there are about 60 jobs currently advertised ranging from principal through more than 20 classroom teacher jobs and various education support, teachers aid and other roles.

To help train more teachers and broaden the teaching workforce, the state government this week announced that studying to become a teacher in Victorian secondary schools would be free, with scholarships covering the cost of degrees.

Under the plan, students who enrol in secondary teaching degrees in 2024 and 2025 who then work in a government secondary school for two years after they graduate will receive $18,000 for a four-year undergraduate program or $9000 for two years of postgraduate study.

The scholarships are expected to support about 4000 future teachers each year.

The funding package also includes a further $27 million to continue and expand the Targeted Financial Incentives Program which provides incentives of up to $50,000 to teachers from Victoria, interstate and overseas to take up rural, remote and otherwise hard-to-staff positions in government schools.

Ms Murnane welcomed the funding boost as a way to attract more potential teachers into schools earlier.

"It will mean that potential students who want to study teaching have the freedom of being able to get into it a bit more easily ... and help more students who otherwise may not be able to afford university.

"For those people it maybe the incentive that rather than going out to work and saving to go to uni, they can go earlier because they know they are going to have their fees paid for ... and it may entice other people who want a career change to get into teaching.

"We need all the support we can at the moment to get people into teaching because there's such a workforce shortage."

Federation University executive dean of the Institute of Education, Arts and Communities Professor Claire McLachlan said the scholarships would make a difference, and welcomed extra funding for separate initiatives to support and retain teachers with extra preparation time, mentoring and other professional support for first-year teachers, and a trial of employment-based degrees for undergraduates to allow people to study and qualify as a teacher while undertaking paid work at a school.

"The Victorian Government's scholarships for those who are interested in secondary teaching are a fantastic initiative and should help to ease the teacher workforce shortages," Professor McLachlan said.

"Previously funding for employment-based pathways has only been at masters level ... so its interesting they want to put money into a pilot doing it at undergraduate level.

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"The employment-based stuff is happening by default. There's a huge number of students we know in their final year and teaching under Permission to Teach. We have a new memorandum of understanding between all the Victorian providers and Department of Education around Permission to Teach. Under that scheme government schools will employ final year students no more than 0.6."

AEU Victorian Branch Deputy President Justin Mullaly said the announcements were a positive step in the right direction.

"Teachers, education support staff, and principals have been calling for clear action to address the workforce shortage, and ... the government have responded," he said.

"Right now school staff are stretched covering gaps because of teacher shortages - they are going above and beyond to ensure students have access to the learning programs they need. This effort is taking a toll causing too many to become burnt out, take extended leave, or leave the profession all together."

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