Southern Metropolitan Region
John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:50): (1821) My constituency question is for the Deputy Premier in the other place in his capacity as Minister for Education. One of the challenges in public education today relates to workforce recruitment and retention. The final round of the Victorian government’s secondary teaching scholarships is now open for applications for students undertaking a degree in secondary teaching. As this program winds up, what is the Deputy Premier’s assessment of how successful it has been in attracting young people and people seeking a career change to the teaching profession? Further, what similar programs funded in this year’s budget will continue to help Victorians enter the teaching profession, and how will schools in the Southern Metropolitan Region be able to benefit from this?