00:00Year 6, I need your attention with your laptops shut.
00:07At this independent school on the Gold Coast, Joanna Smith is keeping a watchful eye over
00:12these Grade 6 students and their teacher, Chris Holt.
00:16Quick.
00:17It is quick.
00:18It's short and sharp.
00:19You need to get your message across.
00:20I lead some lessons.
00:22The Year 6 teachers will lead some lessons and then we support each other.
00:26The team teaching model is designed to give emerging teachers greater support.
00:31An experienced teacher is assigned to a year level.
00:34They then help plan and deliver lessons across multiple classrooms.
00:38As an early career teacher, having access to an additional teacher to take away some
00:44of that workload, some of that stress, has just been golden.
00:49Students too are reaping the benefits.
00:52Having two teachers in the room, no student can slip through the cracks.
00:56If there's a shared responsibility for the planning, for the teaching and reflecting
01:00on the learning in the class, naturally that's going to enhance the energy and focus of our
01:06teachers.
01:07So the wellbeing of our teachers reportedly has gone up.
01:10That's a huge win in an industry losing teachers in droves.
01:15Across Australia, early career teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate.
01:19Burnout and increased workload are among the reasons up to 50% of graduates quit within
01:25their first five years in the classroom.
01:27Attrition leads to more workload, which leads to more attrition.
01:34So it's this cycle at the moment and it doesn't seem to be stopping.
01:38So that's the one that you're going to do.
01:40While mentor programs aren't a silver bullet, researchers say they can relieve the pressure.
01:46Anything that you can do in a school to really build that systemic support will be hugely
01:53beneficial.
01:54For Chris Holt, three years into his teaching career, having a mentor has been a game changer.
02:00That means he can see a long term future in the industry.
02:03It's allowed me a little bit of breathing room to really look at my practice and how I can
02:09do this well from really early on in my career.
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