Third round of Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships awarded, with early learning among eligible settings

One thousand students who began teaching degrees this year have been awarded Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships worth up to $40,000, with recipients able to complete their teaching commitment in public schools or early learning settings.

The Australian Government has awarded the third round of its Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships, providing financial support to another 1,000 students as part of efforts to strengthen Australia’s teacher workforce.

More than 3,300 people applied for the 1,000 scholarships available in 2026, with around 3,000 scholarships now awarded since the program began in 2024.

The $160 million Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships Program is expected to deliver 5,000 scholarships over five years as part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.

Minister for Education Jason Clare said the program was designed to encourage more school leavers and people already established in other careers to consider teaching.

“Being a teacher is the most important job in the world, and we don’t have enough of them,” Minister Clare said.

“I want more young people to leap out of high school and want to become a teacher.

“And I want more people in the middle of their careers to consider becoming teachers.”

New undergraduate teaching students can receive scholarships worth up to $40,000 across four years of study, while new postgraduate teaching students can receive up to $20,000 across two years.

The scholarships are targeted towards high-achieving school leavers and mid-career professionals, as well as First Nations peoples, people with disability, people for whom English is an additional language or dialect, people living in rural, regional and remote areas and people from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Around 70 per cent of the successful recipients in the latest round were high-achieving students with an ATAR above 80 or equivalent.

Around one third were from regional, rural or remote areas, while approximately 6 per cent were First Nations students.

Students completing their final-year professional experience placement in remote Australian communities may also receive an additional $2,000 payment, designed to encourage more teachers to live and work in remote areas.

Of particular relevance to the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, scholarship recipients undertake a ‘commitment to teach’ as a condition of receiving the scholarship.

Undergraduate recipients must be willing to teach for up to four years, while postgraduate recipients must commit for up to two years.

These commitments can be completed in public schools or early learning settings, providing a pathway for eligible graduates to fulfil the requirement within the early childhood sector.

The inclusion of early learning is significant as governments continue efforts to strengthen the pipeline of degree-qualified teachers across education settings.

The scholarships form part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan and sit alongside other measures aimed at supporting people entering the profession, including reforms to teacher training and the Commonwealth Prac Payment.

“This is one part of our plan to tackle the teacher workforce shortage and builds on our reforms to teacher training and the Commonwealth Prac Payment for teaching students,” Minister Clare said.

Around 3,000 Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships have now been awarded across three rounds since the program was launched in 2024.

More information about the Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships Program, including the application process, is available from the Australian Government Department of Education.