Supports for graduate teachers

Kickstart your teaching career with financial incentives, access to comprehensive support, professional development, and networking.

Financial incentives and supports to help you jump start your teaching career

Graduate teachers can receive financial incentives, access a dedicated jobs pool to help secure their first role and unlock continuous development opportunities.

There’s never been a better time to start your teaching career in a Victorian government school.

Financial incentive payments

If you are an eligible graduate teacher starting in a graduate position, an incentive of up to $5,650 (pre-tax) may be available to you through the Graduate Teacher Recruitment Initiative (GTRI).

To be eligible to receive the incentive payment you’ll need to:

have completed your course requirements and graduated in the last 4 years
not be employed as a teacher by the department at the time the advertised position is to commence, and
currently be registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Incentive inclusions:

part-time positions will attract a pro-rata incentive amount equal to the time fraction advertised
teachers who accept these positions need to commit to at least a year in the position to retain the incentive.

How to qualify

All you need to do to qualify for the incentive payment is apply for graduate teacher roles, including full time and part time positions, in Victorian government schools.

To apply for positions, visit the Careers page and search for open positions by filtering jobs by role type and selecting the ‘Graduate Teacher’ category. Candidates can submit applications for positions even without VIT registration, however, acquiring VIT registration before commencing in the role is required.

If you’re eligible and successful with your application, you’ll receive the payment once you start working at your school.

Apply for roles in Victorian government schools

You can also create a profile in the Applicant Pool.

You can express your interest for graduate positions in Victorian government schools by selecting ‘graduate teacher’ roles as part of your profile preferences. You may also tailor your preferences to match you to roles that suit your preferred localities, role type, school type, FTE and subjects.

For further information on creating an Applicant Pool profile, please visit School Jobs Vic.

Career Start

Graduate teachers are supported from the moment they start a new role in a Victorian government school through the nation-leading Career Start program.

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.

Additionally, graduates can also access induction support materials to support your transition to a career in teaching or attend location-specific induction offerings available in areas where Career Start is unavailable.

To find out more, contact Career.Start@education.vic.gov.au or your Career Start Regional Manager:

North East Victoria Region: Robyn Woolley, Robyn.Woolley@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

To find out what a career in teaching is really like from primary and secondary school teachers visit: What teaching’s like as a career?

Education & training

Updated 2 April 2026

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Supports for graduate teachers

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Financial incentives and supports to help you jump start your teaching career

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