Department of Professional Practice and Wellbeing Partnerships

Working with schools

Education systems are facing increasing complexity, workforce pressures and rising expectations. In response, we partner with schools across the full professional lifecycle – from initial teacher education to ongoing professional learning and workforce development – ensuring educators are prepared, supported and able to sustain impactful careers.

We design and deliver programs that respond directly to workforce need – supporting confident entry into the profession and enabling continued growth in complex and changing educational settings. Our partnerships ensure courses remain relevant, applied and closely connected to real-world practice, creating direct links between theory, professional experience and sector priorities.

Through flagship initiatives including the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab, the Science of Mathematics Education (SOME) Lab, Nexus, and Momentum Schools, we support teachers and school leaders to strengthen and refine their practice through high-quality professional learning, leadership development and ongoing capability building.

We partner with schools across the region to support the introduction of explicit-instruction and connect schools at different stages of adopting and embedding learning sciences to help build shared expertise and sustain lasting change.

Working with communities

Our partnerships are enabling us to expand equitable access to world-class education – together we are designing inclusive systems, pathways and learning environments that recognise strengths, remove structural barriers and enable meaningful participation where education is most needed.

We actively respect, empower, uplift and engage with Indigenous communities, ensuring education practice and systems reflect diverse ways of knowing, learning and leading.

Located at six La Trobe University campuses across Victoria, and expanding relationships with the national network of Country University Centres, we amplify the voices of the regional and remote communities we serve, and are uniquely positioned to advance opportunity, participation and outcomes for all learners.

Working with government and industry

We're working closely with federal, state and territory governments, governing bodies and industry to address the challenges impeding our education system including workforce shortages, disrupted learning, uneven student outcomes and the need to translate evidence into consistent, effective classroom practice at scale.

We've worked together to develop innovative workforce pathways aligned to system need. Our award-winning Nexus program directly addresses workforce shortages by creating employment-based pathways into teaching, with government support to expand into New South Wales.

We are developing the next generation of educators who are human-led and AI-enhanced, ready to thrive in a future where equity, innovation and rigour are non-negotiable. We're bringing together research, industry and EdTech partners to co-design ethical AI-enabled approaches to teaching and learning, ensuring technology enhances professional expertise and supports effective, evidence-informed practice.

We are supporting the talented educators already in the profession, focusing on their wellbeing and development across career stages as we work together to build a stronger, more sustainable education system.

We have developed implementation frameworks to embed evidence-informed practice consistently, and at scale. Our findings have already informed the introduction of systematic synthetic phonics and evidence-based teaching approaches across Victoria and other states.