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Record number of aspiring teachers step up to the challenge

A record number of senior high school students have graduated from an innovative Australian Catholic University (ACU) program designed to give them an early start to a teaching degree.

Enrolments in ACU’s Step Up into Teaching (SUIT) program have increased by more than 50 per cent in 2024/ 2025 compared with the program’s 2023/2024 cohort.

SUIT national coordinator Jamie Sherson said the increased demand signalled a renewed interest, hopeful future and growing respect for the teaching profession after years of educator shortages across the country.

“The rise in SUIT enrolments is a clear indicator that young people see teaching as a career worth pursuing. Many are drawn to the opportunity to positively influence future generations, and they value the relational, creative, and intellectually stimulating aspects of teaching,” he said.

The figures also reflect growing interest in teaching degrees nationally among high school graduates and career changers, with ACU – the largest provider of teachers in Australia – recording a 41 per cent growth in teaching degree enrolments at its Brisbane campus alone for the start of Semester 1 compared to the same time last year.

The SUIT program, operating at ACU’s Strathfield campus, gives Year 11 and Year 12 students a chance to study two university-level teaching units – Understanding Learning and Teaching, and Understanding Learners and Their Contexts – during the spring and summer school holidays.

Students then receive a conditional entry into an ACU teaching degree once they finish Year 12, as well as prior recognition for their completed units.

Mr Sherson said 87 per cent of the previous cohort had enrolled in ACU teaching degrees following the completion of their successful SUIT units.

“We fully expect many of our current students to follow the same path. The combination of targeted academic support, early exposure to university life, and a growing sense of self-efficacy contributes to high rates of continuation into teacher education programs,” he said. “Many of these students come into SUIT with a firm goal of becoming teachers, and the program helps solidify that ambition.”

The 126-strong SUIT cohort included students from New South Wales Department of Education schools, as well as Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese, Sydney Catholic Schools, Catholic Schools Broken Bay, Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong, and St Patricks College, Strathfield.

Mr Sherson said the cohort reflected the SUIT program’s role in fostering diversity within the teaching profession and creating initial teacher education pathways for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

“A significant portion of the SUIT cohort come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, with many identifying as first in their family to attend university. This aligns directly with the program’s mission to remove barriers and increase access to high-quality initial teacher education for students,” he said.

“When teachers reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, it creates more inclusive and equitable learning environments.”

St Luke’s Catholic College Year 12 student Shauna-Lee Young, 17, who graduated from the program with distinction, said she was looking forward to teaching students in rural, disadvantaged and Indigenous communities in honour of her Kamilaroi heritage and several family members who are also educators.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, and this has definitely given me a head start,” she said.

Delany College school captain Luke Laoulach, 17, said completing the SUIT program had given him an early experience of university life and cemented his commitment to teaching and caring for others.

“Teaching is a vocation for me. I want to be a teacher that leads and is always there for my students,” he said.