Teaching Excellence Program
Join TEP 2026
The Teaching Excellence Program (TEP) is a 10-month professional learning program for skilled teachers, supporting them to connect with passionate, like-minded colleagues and deliver outstanding outcomes for students.
Length: 00:48
Application process – what’s involved
- Check your eligibility.
- Step 1: Submit your details to start.
- Step 2: You will receive our confirmation email with a link to complete the online application.
- Step 3: Seek endorsement from your principal or manager.
Find more details on the application process below or apply now.
Key program details
- Fully subsidised for teachers from all sectors.
- Additional funding available: casual relief teaching, rural, regional, and First Nations participants.
- Professional learning: 10 days of in-person learning and collaboration over 10 months
- Inspiring subject matter experts: local and international
- Practitioner inquiry: inquire into 2 areas of your practice and elevate your teaching
- Choice of discipline: The Arts, English including English as an additional language, Health and Physical Education, The Humanities, Languages, Mathematics, Science, and Technologies.
Teacher benefits
- Invest in yourself: reflect, grow and reinvigorate your love of teaching.
- Elevate your practice: learn how to use more evidence-informed practices to help achieve the best outcomes for your students.
- Grow your network: connect with passionate teachers across Victoria from government, Catholic, and independent schools. Establish lifelong connections with other Academy alumni after graduation.
- Unlock further growth: become eligible to apply for the Teaching Impact Fellowship. As a teacher fellow, you receive funding to design and implement an improvement project at your school to transform teacher practice and student learning.
'TEP has afforded me the invaluable opportunity to engage reflectively on my practice, challenge preconceived notions of pedagogy, and develop meaningful connections with my peers.' – Jordan (TEP participant)
Principal and school benefits
- Elevate student outcomes: develop the capability and confidence of your teachers to improve student outcomes in your school.
- Boost teacher satisfaction and retention: inspire your staff and increase job satisfaction and retention by prioritising their growth and development.
- Embed best practice: equip your teachers with the latest evidence-informed practices to support your school's strategic goals.
'Having a TEP teacher has been an asset for our school, having someone who can share the latest evidence of teaching, and how students learn.' – Adam (Principal of a TEP participant)
Program structure
From February to December 2026, teachers participate in 10 days.
Orientation session:
- 1 day
- online
- 4 or 5 February 2026
Commencement conference:
- 1 day
- onsite in East Melbourne
- 16 or 17 February 2026
Discipline days and Teaching Excellence Learning Community (TELC) days:
- 4 discipline days and 4 TELC days, one day each per term
- discipline days are onsite in East Melbourne
- TELC days onsite at your closest Academy location: Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Melbourne, Mildura, Moe, or Shepparton
| Term | Discipline days (1 per term) | Teaching Excellence Learning Community days (1 per term) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 to 16 March 2026 | 23 to 27 March 2026 |
| 2 | 4 to 8 May 2026 | 25 to 29 May 2026 |
| 3 | 3 to 7 August 2026 | 24 to 28 August 2026 |
| 4 | 19 to 23 October 2026 | 9 to 3 November 2026 |
Graduation conference:
- 1 day
- onsite in East Melbourne
- 30 November or 1 December 2026
Read an outline of program sessions and days
Conferences
Across 2 conference days, TEP participants learn from leading experts and collaborate to develop new insights and practical knowledge that can transform their practice.
Conferences are held in Melbourne during term 1 and term 4.
Discipline days
Discipline days are a unique opportunity to explore problems of practice related to teaching and learning in your chosen discipline.
TEP participants engage in active dialogue, problem solving, sharing and modelling. Subject matter experts provide evidence-informed workshops to stimulate practitioner inquiries, enabling teachers to network in discipline-focused groups.
Teaching Excellence Learning Communities
TEP participants come together from across sectors, disciplines, school types, year levels and locations to apply their discipline-focused learning to their specific classroom and school contexts.
These learning community days support teachers to enhance their expertise through professional dialogue, connection-making and practitioner inquiry.
They are conducted at the Academy in Melbourne and our 7 regional centres across Victoria.
Practitioner inquiry
TEP participants will use the TEP Inquiry Cycle to conduct 2 practitioner inquiries, one collaborative and one independent, as a part of their self-directed learning.
Through genuine practitioner inquiry, TEP participants develop an inquiry stance. They learn to elicit and closely examine evidence of student learning, consider the actions they will take, and evaluate their impact.
TEP graduation requirements
To graduate from the TEP, participants are required to:
- attend at least 90% of TEP professional learning events
- develop and submit required graduation tasks aligned with quality indicators.
Graduating from the TEP
Graduates become Academy alumni and have opportunities to engage in a range of professional learning events.
Following graduation, TEP graduates can apply for a Teaching Impact Fellowship (TIF) to design, lead and implement an impact project that transforms teacher practice and student learning in their school or network.
Fees and financial support
Fees are fully subsidised by the Victorian Government for government, Catholic and independent schools.
Additional subsidies
Additional subsidies are available for eligible participants, including:
- participation subsidy: the equivalent of up to 10-14 days of casual relief teaching up to the value of $7,000 per TEP participant.
- regional travel and accommodation subsidy: to support travel and accommodation to TEP events. This amount will vary depending on the school’s location.
Check your school’s eligibility for subsidies in this table:
| Sector | Funding for casual relief teaching | Regional travel and accommodation subsidy - eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Government schools | Yes | Yes, if school meets regional or rural location criterion |
| Catholic schools |
Determined on a case-by-case basis using an equity formula
|
Yes, if school meets regional or rural location criterion |
| Independent schools | Determined on a case-by-case basis using an equity formula | Yes, if school meets regional or rural location criterion |
How to apply
Acceptance into the TEP is through a selection process.
You must complete 3 steps to submit your application, outlined below.
Eligibility – check your eligibility
To be eligible you must have:
- a minimum 3 years’ teaching experience
- endorsement from your principal (or manager if applicable)
- Australian citizenship or permanent residency
- full teacher registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching
- an education-based role in Victoria (full-time or part-time)
- access to a Victorian school classroom setting to conduct practitioner inquiry.
Step 1: Submit your details (5 mins)
via this websiteTo start the process on our website you will need to:
- provide your personal details
- choose your discipline (you can only apply to one).
You will then receive a confirmation email with a link to the online application (see step 2).
Step 2: Full online application (30-45 mins)
via Award ForceLog in to Award Force
- Follow the link in your confirmation email to access Award Force, the platform the Academy uses to manage online applications for the TEP.
- Create an account to begin your online application.
Documents and information you need:
- your current curriculum vitae
- your VIT registration number
- 2 working examples that demonstrate exceptional teaching and practice (one must be from your selected discipline)
- a written OR video response to the following three questions:
- Why are you applying for the TEP and how do you think it will enhance your teaching practice? (minimum 250 words)
- Tell us about a learning or wellbeing initiative from your classroom that you have implemented. What did it achieve?
- Is there anything you would like to add to further support your application?
Your responses should demonstrate alignment to the following criteria:
- demonstration of a deep understanding of the selected discipline
- analysis of evidence to identify student learning needs
- demonstration of an understanding of the importance of student wellbeing and the connection of wellbeing to quality learning.
Formats accepted for written and video responses:
- written response of no more than two pages in a doc, docx or PDF file
- video response of no more than 3 minutes in any of the following formats: avi, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpeg4, mpg or wmv file.
Step 3: Principal/manager endorsement
via Award ForcePrincipal or manager endorsement is required
If you are in a school setting, you will need your principal’s endorsement. If you are in another setting, you will need your manager’s endorsement.
Automated request to principal/manager
After you have finalised all the steps in Award Force and clicked submit on your application, your principal/manager will automatically receive an email asking them to click on a link and tick a box to endorse your application. Your application will not be completed until your principal has completed this step.
Please remember to:
- allow time for your principal/manager to complete their endorsement before applications close.
- provide your principal/manager’s direct email address.
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