Career Start

Policy

This policy supports implementation of the Career Start program.

Summary

Career Start supports first-year graduate teachers to successfully transition into the classroom. Program supports include:

• a reduction in face-to-face teaching
• time with a dedicated mentor to accelerate the development of their teaching practice
• opportunities to network and learn with other graduates via a local learning alliance
• professional learning designed to develop their professional identity, wellbeing and orientation via termly workshops.

Career Start mentor teachers are supported via:

• time release from face-to-face teaching to engage in extended practice-focused mentoring with their graduates – schools can refer to the guidance chapter on Time release for graduate and mentor teachers for further details
• one-on-one support from Learning Alliance Leaders to build their mentoring skills.

Details

Career Start is a structured program for graduate teachers which aims to improve their experience as they are inducted into the profession. Career Start provides time release, mentoring, professional development opportunities and a range of additional supports to graduate teachers and their mentors to accelerate the development of graduate teachers’ professional practice and support their wellbeing.

Following a successful 3-year pilot in primary and specialist schools in 3 areas, Career Start expanded in 2024 to support eligible graduate teachers in every Victorian government school (including secondary schools) in Inner Gippsland, North Eastern Melbourne, Outer Eastern Melbourne, Southern Melbourne, and Western Melbourne.

In 2025, Career Start will expand to an additional 8 areas:

• Hume Merri-bek
• Brimbank Melton
• Goulburn
• Ovens-Murray
• Mallee
• Outer Gippsland
• Barwon
• Central Highlands.

Career Start is not currently available outside of the 13 listed areas.

Eligibility

Automatic eligibility – no nomination required

Graduate teachers will automatically participate in the Career Start program in 2025 if they:

• commenced their first year of classroom teaching as a provisionally registered teacher within the Victorian government school system on or after 7 June 2024
• are employed at the classification of Classroom Teacher Range 1-1 (CT1-1)
• are employed in a Victorian government school within the participating areas.

The department will utilise eduPay data to identify graduate teachers who meet the criteria of automatic eligibility.

If a teacher is not registered in eduPay, please contact your Career Start regional manager by email as soon as possible so that amendments to our data can be made.

Additional eligibility – nomination required

Principals may nominate graduate teachers to participate in the 2025 Career Start program if they:

• commenced their first year of classroom teaching as a provisionally registered teacher within the Victorian government school system on or after 7 June 2024
• are within CT1-2 to CT1-4 classification
• are not an internationally or nationally experienced teacher
• are employed in a Victorian government school within the participating areas.

Principals must confirm that the graduate teacher is expected to benefit from the Career Start supports, and that they and their mentor will be supported to engage in all elements of the Career Start program.

To nominate a graduate teacher for additional eligibility, please contact your Career Start regional manager (details below).

Pre-Service Teachers with Permission to Teach (General)

Pre-Service Teachers with Permission to Teach (General) are currently not eligible to participate in Career Start.

Related policies

• Attendance and Working Hours – Teaching Service
• Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives
• Workforce Support and Initiatives for Schools

Contact

For further information on the Career Start program please contact the Career Start Unit at Career.Start@education.vic.gov.au

To nominate a graduate teacher for additional eligibility or to discuss eligibility further, please contact your Career Start regional manager:

• North East Victoria Region: Robyn Wooley, Robyn.Wooley@education.vic.gov.au
• North West Victoria Region: Helen Schilling, Helen.Schilling@education.vic.gov.au
• South East Victoria Region: Ben Plant, Ben.Plant@education.vic.gov.au
• South West Victoria Region: Nadia Tkaczuk, Nadia.Tkaczuk@education.vic.gov.au

Guidance

This guidance includes the following chapters:

• Time release for graduate and mentor teachers
• Use of time release
• Mentor selection
• Support for schools
• Support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander graduate teachers

Time release for graduate and mentor teachers

Graduate teachers and mentors receive time release from face-to-face teaching duties to engage in Career Start activities, including practice-focused mentoring, learning alliances and professional learning.

Career Start time release is allocated in addition to any reduction to face-to-face teaching duties provided as part of the 5% weekly reduction in scheduled duties per the Victorian Government Schools Agreement (VGSA) 2022.

As part of school workforce planning, schools should consider how they can best facilitate the time release for their graduate and mentor teachers. Career Start funding is provided to employ teachers to cover the year-long reduction in graduate and mentor teachers’ duties, and ad hoc use of casual relief teachers should be avoided. This will ensure the time release is regular, scheduled and minimises disruption to teaching continuity in the classroom.

Please refer to Use of time release for more information on how graduate and mentor teachers should expect to use this time.

Schools will receive additional funds via the Student Resource Package to facilitate the reduction in face-to-face teaching duties. The time reduction for graduate teachers will be funded at a rate equivalent to a Range 2, Level 4 classroom teacher. The time reduction for mentor teachers will be funded at a rate equivalent to a Range 2, Level 6 classroom teacher.

Career Start graduate teachers

Graduate teachers participating in the Career Start program in 2025 will receive time release from their face-to-face teaching duties.

Career Start time release for graduate teachers is indicated as a per-week average, but schools are encouraged to tailor the time release week-to-week across the term to meet the fluctuating needs of their staffing profile and ensure graduate teachers can attend full-day workshops and related Career Start alliance activities. Schools can speak to their Learning Alliance Leader for examples of how to implement time release and to discuss how to tailor it to their context.

Table 1 details funded time release for different school types as a weekly average and 10-week termly basis.

A pro-rata time allowance applies to graduate teachers employed on a part-time basis.

For more information on Career Start participation requirements, refer to: the Use of time release guidance chapter.

For more information on the Victorian Government Schools Agreement, refer to Industrial Agreements.

Career Start mentor teachers

Mentor teachers benefit from being involved in Career Start with access to dedicated time release and opportunities for professional development with regular support and guidance from Learning Alliance Leaders and access to program resources focussed on evidence-based practice. Career Start mentorship is an opportunity to develop leadership capabilities and provides a pathway to middle leadership for experienced teachers.

Mentor teachers receive a 1 hour weekly reduction in face-to-face teaching duties. Mentors supporting more than one Career Start graduate teacher will receive the 1 hour weekly reduction for each graduate they mentor.

Use of time release

Time release is provided to graduate teachers to engage in induction supports, including:

• practice-focused mentoring in school
• up to 4 learning alliance meetings, delivered termly
• 4 professional learning workshops, delivered termly.

Mentors receive time release based on the number of graduates they mentor. This allows them the time needed to support their graduate teacher mentees, attend some learning alliance meetings and participate in the professional learning workshops held in Terms 1 and 4.

Practice-focused mentoring

Graduates and mentors observe each other's teaching, engage in conversations about professional practice, and design and moderate assessment tasks to develop effective teaching practices. Practice-focused mentoring also includes engaging in conversations about wellbeing, professional identity, and work-life balance to help graduate teachers thrive.

Learning alliances

Graduates and mentors are part of local learning alliances, led by a dedicated area-based Learning Alliance Leader. The Learning Alliance Leader provides support to graduate teachers and their mentors, including:

• meeting regularly with mentor teachers to provide coaching support for effective graduate teacher induction
• facilitating professional learning
• facilitating learning alliance meetings each term, to build graduates’ professional networks.

Professional learning

Graduate and mentor teachers are supported through a comprehensive professional learning program.

Graduate teachers will participate in 1 day of professional learning per term delivered by Learning Alliance Leaders. This suite of professional learning will support graduate teachers to build their practice, strengthen their professional identity, develop strategies to improve their wellbeing and orientate themselves as early-career teachers. Mentor teachers attend the afternoon sessions in Term 1 (focusing on effective mentoring relationships) and Term 4 (to celebrate graduate and mentor achievements).

Mentor selection

Schools must designate a suitable mentor for every graduate teacher. Effective mentor selection is important and will ensure the graduate teacher can fully benefit from the Career Start program. Schools must consider:

• capability – is this a leadership development opportunity for an emerging leader? Being a Career Start mentor is an opportunity to leverage experience and be provided with support to build capability. This may be a pathway to middle leadership opportunities. Mentors of all experience levels require a commitment to continuous learning and development to be effective
• compatibility – is the mentor a good match for the graduate teacher? Mentorship is a relationship that must be built on a foundation of trust and equity. Consider a mentor in the same team as the graduate, who has experience in that part of the school or might have similar or relatable experiences. Mentors need to be actively teaching to ensure that graduate teachers can observe their mentor in the classroom
• capacity – does the mentor have other significant roles in the school that may impact on their capacity to support the graduate teacher? The mentor should have time for deliberate, regular and protected meetings.

Avoid selecting mentors whose position may impact a graduate’s ability to engage openly in discussions around their practice or challenges they may experience throughout their year.

Mentorship models

• One-to-one – this is a model which allocates a single mentor to a single graduate teacher. One-to-one is a model suitable for schools with a staffing profile that can facilitate the appropriate time release backfill.
• One-to-many – one mentor will support multiple graduate teachers through the program. This approach may be necessary for schools that do not have enough experienced teachers available to resource a one-to-one model. If adopting this model, consider that graduates may feel as though they are being compared to one another. Separately connecting graduates with a one-to-one buddy who is not supporting other graduate teachers may assist with this.

Support for schools

Funding

Funding for schools to support the reduction of face-to-face teaching time for participating graduate teachers and their mentors is supplied via the Student Resource Package (SRP).

For schools participating in the 2025 Career Start program, the relevant SRP cycles are:

• Confirmed Cycle – published to schools 2 April 2025
• Revised Cycle – published to schools 2 July 2025.

For more information, please refer to Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives.

Support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander graduate teachers

Career Start recognises the need to create culturally safe spaces for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in our school communities. As such, the Career Start program’s design and implementation is supported by a dedicated senior advisor role to:

• ensure there is an understanding of the varying needs of First Nations graduate teachers
• provide guidance to mentors around how best to support First Nations graduate teachers
• guide all graduate teachers in supporting First Nations learners across the state
• incorporate First Nations perspectives into all Career Start supports
• work towards building culturally safe schools.

For more information or to seek specialised support, please contact Angela Swindle – Senior Advisor Koorie Specialist at Angela.Swindle@education.vic.gov.au. Angela is a Wiradjuri woman.

Resources

Currently there are no resources for this topic, however some may be provided in the near future as they are developed.