The Toyota Community Trust has partnered with Teach For Australia to provide $1 million in funding over the next three years to support its programs for developing teachers and empowering the next generation of innovators.
The Toyota Community Trust promotes science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.
It announced the partnership on World Teachers Day, October 25.
The partnership will see the Toyota Community Trust fund the Teacher Training program, which will focus on strengthening skills, managing health and well-being, and training teachers on critical topics such as First Nations education.
This funding will support 119 STEM-specialist educators completing the program and will reach and teach 10,200 students nationwide.
Teach For Australia’s founder and chief executive, Melodie Potts Rosevear OAM, thanked the Toyota Community Trust for its support and said it would help the organisation train high-quality STEM teachers. There is a critical nationwide shortage, particularly in regional and remote schools.
“We’re thrilled to team up with the Toyota Community Trust, an example of corporate leadership in the quest to advance educational equity,” Potts Rosevear said.
“Their support enables us to deploy more STEM teachers who can breathe life into their subjects, making a tangible difference for their students.”
Agriculture and Business Management Teacher Louise Hobbs at Goroke P-12 College (VIC) knows many students’ difficulties in remote communities.
“Having grown up in Victoria’s Wimmera Region, I had to move to a different school to complete my VCE and pursue my dream of studying at Monash University,” Hobbs said.
“When I graduated, I decided to give back to my community by teaching in a country school, where I aim to make STEM ‘come alive’ for my students.”
Hobbs believes it’s critical to innovate in her teaching practice to help bridge inequity gaps for her students. Her commitment to providing as many opportunities as possible ensures students feel capable of anything.
“It shows them that they are receiving a fantastic education here in country schools and gives them a real confidence boost,” Hobbs says.
After two decades as an engineer, STEM teacher Gregg Barker was drawn to a career in the classroom through Teach For Australia because he wanted to inspire students into meaningful careers.
“I aim to bring real-world experience into the classroom at Casuarina Senior College in Darwin and teach my students skills to prepare them for the workplace,” Barker said.
“The world has changed from sitting in a classroom, writing notes in your exercise book, so I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to teach STEM where I think that’s teaching them the skills they’ll need in modern workplaces,” he said.
Teach For Australia was founded in 2009 to further its belief that every child deserves more excellent choices for the future. Since then, it has recruited, developed, and empowered more than 1600 teachers who work in hundreds of schools and provide learning opportunities for more than 650,000 children in communities experiencing disadvantage.
Toyota Community Trust Chair Mike Rausa said Toyota was proud to support Teach For Australia and was committed to making quality education accessible to all.
“Toyota is proud to partner with Teach For Australia and play a part in its continuing dedication to supporting teachers serving low socio-economic communities,” Rausa said.
“High-quality STEM education is vital for Australia as a country to help develop the next generation of innovators, thinkers, scientists, and engineers, and we need to ensure that every child who engages with it has the best opportunity to succeed.
“Through our Toyota Community Trust, we aim to provide long-term benefits to the Australian community by encouraging and enabling more young Australians to pursue further study and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to benefit all Australians,” he said.
