About the Department of Professional Practice and Wellbeing
The Department of Professional Practice and Wellbeing is focused on building a strong, sustainable education workforce where educators thrive across their careers.
Our Department is part of La Trobe's School of Education.
Education systems are facing increasing complexity, workforce pressures and growing expectations on educators. In response, we work across the full professional lifecycle – from initial teacher education through to ongoing professional learning and workforce development – to ensure educators are well prepared, well supported and able to sustain long, impactful careers.
Our focus is on graduate readiness, professional practice and wellbeing in education. We are embedding AI-informed insights into teacher preparation, classroom practice and research to personalise learning and improve outcomes at scale. We design and deliver programs that respond directly to workforce needs, support confident entry into the profession and enable continued growth in complex and changing educational settings.
We do this through evidence-informed teaching, authentic professional learning and strong partnerships with schools, policymakers and industry. These partnerships ensure our courses remain relevant, applied and closely connected to real-world practice, creating direct links between theory, professional experience and system priorities.
We offer flexible pathways across metropolitan, regional and rural contexts, including on-campus, online and employment-based study options. Whether students are beginning their teaching journey, changing careers or advancing their professional practice, our programs are designed to build confidence, capability and lasting impact across the education system.
Our focus is on preparing educators who lead with empathy, evidence, and innovation, ensuring wellbeing is at the heart of every classroom and every learning journey.
Education pathways for practice, leadership and impact
The Department of Professional Practice and Wellbeing delivers a range of teacher education and professional learning programs designed to strengthen graduate readiness, workforce development and wellbeing across diverse education settings.
Our courses support educators at all stages of their professional journey from entry into the profession through to ongoing development, leadership and career progression. Learning is grounded in rigorous academic foundations and shaped by applied, real-world practice, preparing graduates to meet the complex needs of today’s learners, classrooms and communities.
We provide flexible, hybrid pathways (incorporating on-campus and online experiences and opportunities) and employment-based models enabling aspiring and current educators to access high-quality learning wherever they are. Our course portfolio includes specialist learning in areas such as inclusive education, early childhood education, leadership, literacy, numeracy and digital learning, equipping our graduates to make a meaningful impact across classrooms, schools and education systems.
We are committed to increasing participation among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, regional and rural learners, and those from diverse backgrounds, advancing equity and opportunity for all.
Research for meaningful change
We are the University where world-class research and professional practice come together to redefine what it means to teach and learn. Grounded in evidence, equity and innovation, our research closes the gap between what is known and what is done in classrooms, schools and education systems.
Partnering with educators, schools and government, our research drives system-level improvement and enables practice at scale, shaping equitable, future-ready classrooms informed by evidence and strengthened through the responsible use of AI.
Across a diverse portfolio, research in our Department spans wellbeing in education, effective instruction, inclusive practice and lifelong professional learning. This work informs curriculum design, professional learning and leadership pathways, supporting educators to thrive across diverse contexts and career stages.
Through collaborative projects, translational research and thought leadership, the Department contributes research with real-world impact that strengthens practice, workforce sustainability and education systems in Australia and beyond.
Flagship initiatives
La Trobe's School of Education is leading the national shift towards evidence-informed education, with a proven ability to move research into classrooms and sustain it at scale.
The SOLAR Lab leads research, professional learning and system partnerships in evidence-informed literacy instruction. Grounded in the science of language and reading, SOLAR translates rigorous research into practical tools, short courses and postgraduate programs that embed explicit reading instruction in classrooms. Through national partnerships with schools and systems, La Trobe’s SOLAR Lab has already equipped more than 12,500 educators with the evidence-informed expertise to lift literacy outcomes at scale.
The SOME Lab is Australia’s first dedicated hub for evidence-informed mathematics education. Focused on explicit instruction and strong numeracy foundations, SOME integrates research, classroom implementation and workforce development to translate evidence into practical tools that strengthen teacher expertise and lift mathematics outcomes across primary and secondary education.
Many schools want to shift to explicit instruction but face uncertainty about where to begin, how to sustain change and how to measure impact. Momentum Schools is a research initiative, supported by the Bertalli Family Foundation, that connects high-performing schools that have successfully embedded explicit instruction with schools beginning their journey. Through structured networks and shared implementation insights, Momentum supports schools to adopt evidence-informed teaching practice in line with the Victorian Government’s direction on structured phonics and explicit instruction.
In response to teacher shortages and the resulting disruption to student learning, particularly in regional and rural communities, La Trobe launched Nexus – an employment-based pathway that enables mid-career professionals and education support staff to train as teachers while working in the schools that need them most. Grounded in workforce research and system partnership, Nexus builds sustainable local teacher pipelines by preparing educators in context, in community and in practice – strengthening retention and continuity where it matters most, with more than 80 per cent of graduates remaining in their placement school for at least a year after graduation.
Research centres
Our staff make key contributions to La Trobe University's research centres.
The Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre works with autistic people and their families to produce high-quality research to facilitate positive developmental outcomes in the lives of autistic people, from infancy through to early childhood and beyond; enable autistic people to realise their full potential throughout their life course; and support families as their young autistic children grow and develop.