Teaching Excellence Program
About the program
The Teaching Excellence Program (TEP) is a year-long professional learning program for skilled teachers, supporting them to connect with passionate, like-minded colleagues and deliver outstanding outcomes for students. In this program, you’ll learn from inspiring local and international subject matter experts and inquire into 2 areas of your practice in your choice of discipline to elevate your teaching.
How you'll benefit
- 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.
Your school will also benefit when you complete the TEP:
- 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.
Expert facilitators
The Teaching Excellence Program is delivered by the Academy’s Expert Teachers in Residence, exceptional educators from the government, Catholic and independent sectors.
Find out more about the Academy‘s Expert Teachers in Residence.
Who should apply
Roles
To be eligible you must be a leading teacher, learning specialist or assistant principal and have:
- a minimum of 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.
School sectors
This program is available to the following school sectors:
- Victorian Government
- Catholic
- independent.
Structure
The TEP is an invaluable experience that requires participants to take part in at least 90% of the 11 days of TEP professional learning events that make up the program. Participants must also develop and submit required graduation tasks aligned with quality indicators.
2x face-to-face commencement and graduation conference days
- 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.
4x face-to-face 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.
4x face-to-face Teaching Excellence Learning Community (TELC) days
- 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.
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.
Post-graduation 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.
How to apply
We encourage you to express your interest in TEP 2027 now.
Acceptance into the TEP is through a selection process.
Once you’ve checked you are eligible, there are 3 steps to completing a TEP application process:
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 ForceDocuments 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.
Fees and support
The Department of Education fully subsidises Victorian Government and non-government schools.
Depending on your school type and location, additional subsidies may be available to support your participation in the Teacher Excellence Program (TEP).
The Casual Relief Teacher (CRT) Subsidy reimburses the cost of employing a CRT so teachers can release time to attend the program.
- Victorian Government schools: Fully available.
- Catholic and independent schools: Funding is determined and allocated on a case-by-case basis.
The Regional Travel and Accommodation Subsidy supports travel and accommodation costs for eligible participants across all sectors traveling from regional or rural areas.
Find out more about the Academy's Professional Learning fees and financial support.
Dates
| Event | Mode | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Online | 3 February 2027 |
| Commencement conference | Face-to-face, East Melbourne | 8 or 9 February 2027 |
| Discipline days | Face-to-face, East Melbourne |
One day per term:
|
| Teaching Excellence Learning Community (TELC) days |
Face-to-face, at closest Academy location:
|
One day per term:
|
| Graduation conference | Face-to-face, East Melbourne | 29 or 30 November 2027 |
