In response to evidence of emerging shortages of school leaders in Australian schools, particularly in regional and remote schools, the Australian Government provided a grant of $7.54 million to Teach For Australia (TFA) to design and implement the Future Leaders Program (FLP). 

FLP is a year-long professional development program that consists of workshops, coaching, peer learning and hands-on leadership experience. It targets aspiring school leaders in regional and remote schools that have Index of Community, Socio-Educational Advantage scores below 1000. 

The evaluation of the FLP pilot focused on testing a new approach to professional development for aspiring school leaders to increase the supply, quality and retention of school leaders in regional and remote Australia. 

This report sets out findings on the design, implementation, outputs and outcomes of the FLP for the first and second cohorts in 2021 and 2022. 

Key findings

• The FLP’s individual project components (coaching, workshops, peer networking and innovation projects) are high quality, but it is the unique combination and interconnection of program components that provides value to participants. Overall, participants were very satisfied with the FLP across the first two cohorts.
• The FLP has had a high impact on participants’ leadership knowledge, skills and confidence. Most participants are having some positive impact on their colleagues and school environment. The program was particularly impactful for experienced educators needing a ‘push’ into leadership and ambitious educators who might have burnt out without the support.
• As a pilot, the FLP has delivered value. In all participating jurisdictions, the FLP appears to have filled a gap in high quality professional development courses for educational leadership specifically targeted in regional and remote Australia. We estimate that this has improved the supply, retention and quality of school leaders.