2025 Team Finalists

Congratulations to the State Team Finalists in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards.

The 2025 Finalists have been recognised for their positive impact on student learning and wellbeing, their commitment to improving their support practice through ongoing professional learning, and effective collaboration with colleagues.

Thank you to the school leaders who made time to recognise the work of their teacher aides by submitting a team nomination. We hope you are inspired by these outstanding finalists and enjoy reading about the significant contribution they are making to students, their schools, and the community. 

 

GOAL College, NSW - Team Finalist

Nominated by: Kate O’Donnell, Founding Principal

The Teacher Aide team at GOAL College is the team finalist  for New South Wales in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. This team supports senior students across multiple campuses, most of whom were previously disengaged from formal education.

These TAs are the steady, trusted presence that bridge the gap between care and success for GOAL College’s diverse student cohort.

“Our students moved from an average of 16% enjoying school on entry … to 87% enjoying school three months after starting at GOAL College … the teacher aide team is a critical component of this” says Kate O’Donnell, Founding Principal.

Through one-on-one support, small group instruction, and a strong presence in wellbeing and sport, this team has helped transform outcomes for students who often felt excluded from traditional education.

The team supports students with school refusal, anxiety, Autism, ADHD, and learning challenges. Their tailored support has enabled 100% of GOAL College students to meet HSC minimum standards in literacy and numeracy despite 43% not meeting those standards on entry. In one case, a student with Autism, disengaged and socially isolated, completed Year 12, joined a state basketball team, and gained sponsorship, all with the guidance of a dedicated teacher aide. The team’s involvement in sport, wellbeing, and social-emotional development enhances every student’s capacity to engage and achieve.

Strong collaboration is at the heart of how this team works with colleagues across campuses.

Teacher aides contribute to fortnightly wellbeing meetings and hold daily conversations with campus managers to review and adjust student support. Their collaboration with teachers, counsellors, and specialists ensures students receive holistic, responsive care. Teacher Aides maintain detailed records of progress, and are often the key figures students confide in, making them critical communicators and connectors within the school’s wellbeing network. The TA’s active involvement enables the teaching staff to focus on effective teaching in their classrooms and has contributed to outstanding staff retention and satisfaction rates.

Improvement of practice is central to the team’s effectiveness, driven by continuous professional learning.

Every Teacher Aide engages in relevant professional development, including training in ADHD and Autism support, neurodiversity, teenage behaviour, and school refusal. Their ongoing learning supports the design of personalised learning plans for all students, ensuring every young person is met with understanding and individualised care. Their professional growth has enhanced their ability to build trust, motivate learning, and change student trajectories, with outcomes that speak volumes.

Sheldon College, QLD - Team Finalist

Nominated by: Matt Steenson, Head of Learning Enhancement

The Primary Learning Enhancement Educational Support Officers at Sheldon College are the team finalists for Queensland  in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. This dynamic team of 16 paraprofessionals provides exemplary support across Prep to Year 6.

This team is a quiet force of skilled, compassionate professionals who ensure every child is seen, supported, and set up for success.

“Their work represents the very best of what teacher aides bring to education; they are deeply skilled, endlessly flexible, student-focused, and utterly invested in helping every child achieve the extraordinary”.

These Educational Support Officers (ESOs) make a daily impact on student learning and wellbeing through both academic and social-emotional support. Their insight and consistency empower learners and lift the capacity of the wider school community.

Operating across classrooms and small groups, ESOs deliver early morning intervention sessions, facilitate executive functioning coaching, and use tailored co-regulation strategies to guide students through dysregulation. They implement Bandscales assessments for language learners, support enrichment activities for gifted students, and are a constant presence during transitions. The result is improved student engagement, reduced incidents of withdrawal, and greater teacher and family confidence. Students trust them implicitly, often seeking them out independently for support.

Their collaborative ethos enhances every layer of college life.

The team maintains strong working relationships with teachers, allied health professionals, and leadership. They hold weekly briefings, contribute to Enhancement Plans, and attend stakeholder consultations. Real-time updates and reflective discussions are core to their day-to-day, enabling timely and responsive support adjustments. Teachers consistently describe the team’s insight and calm presence as “invaluable”. This team of ESOs also adapt seamlessly to emerging student needs and support colleagues across classrooms, modelling relational generosity and professionalism.

A hallmark of this team is their commitment to continuous improvement through professional learning.

Each ESO actively pursues individual and collective professional growth. They have completed formal training in MacqLit, Read3, Spelling Mastery, and JEMM; led internal workshops on the new Australian Teaching Assistant Professional Standards (ATAPS) framework; and regularly engage in coaching with specialists. Their knowledge of compliance, sensory regulation, and intervention design enables them to be proactive contributors at stakeholder meetings and trusted partners in every learning space.

Launceston Big Picture School, TAS - Team Finalist

Nominated by: Cindy Johnston, Principal, and Marianne Olsen, Assistant Principal

The Teacher Assistants at Launceston Big Picture School (LBPS) are the team finalis ts for Tasmania in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. These six educators work as a cohesive, dynamic team supporting students in Years 9–12 within a unique Big Picture learning environment.

These team members are not just support staff; they are integral to student success through tailored support, relational care, and purposeful professional growth.

“Their work is not just a job, it is a calling… They engage above and beyond any mainstream ‘job description’ to support each young person in a community of learners”.

The team’s impact is evident in the flexible, strengths-based supports they provide that enhance both learning and wellbeing in meaningful and practical ways.

Their work includes 1:1 support in literacy and wellbeing, small-group sessions in cooking, social skills, and planning, as well as life skills coaching in contexts like swimming, cooking, and project-based learning. Students now benefit from a school library, water safety sessions, and new workshop routines—all established or enhanced by individual TAs. Their ability to observe, respond and guide students moment-to-moment has enabled students to achieve outcomes such as goal setting, paragraph writing, using tools safely, and making independent phone calls to mentors.

The team’s collaboration with colleagues is foundational to the school’s responsive, student-centred approach.

Teacher Assistants at LBPS engage in weekly team meetings, daily session notes, and continuous planning and reflection conversations with teachers. Their autonomy is earned through years of professional learning and cultural alignment with the Big Picture Design. Every session, TA notes inform Support and Advisory Teachers, guiding adjustments to learning plans. Weekly meetings focus on individual students, shared insights, and resource development. TAs are seen and valued as co-designers in learning, with their insights directly shaping student engagement and success.

Continuous improvement is embedded in every aspect of their practice, grounded in reflective learning aligned with both school and personal goals.

Each TA has an individual professional development plan aligned to Big Picture principles and their own interests. Their learning includes literacy training through Qualiteach, Big Picture Foundation training, and IBPLC assessment modules. Professional learning is not only embedded but shared. TAs lead reflections, moderate student work, and co-develop resources. From setting up the library to refining the internship process, each team member’s professional growth has translated directly into enriched student learning opportunities.

St Patrick’s Primary School Tongala, VIC - Team Finalist

Nominated by: Jackie Stockdale, Principal

The Learning Support Officers at St Patrick’s Primary School Tongala, are the team finalists for Victoria  in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. This committed and highly skilled team plays a central role in fostering inclusive education across the school.

These LSOs go far beyond support, they are co-educators who champion inclusion, student voice, and personalised learning every day.

“This team works tirelessly to ensure that every student, particularly those with additional needs, has access to learning, feels a strong sense of belonging, and is supported to thrive both academically and emotionally”.

Their work contributes directly to improved student learning and wellbeing, particularly for students requiring additional support.

Using their professional learning in phonics, speech articulation, and language of mathematics, the LSOs deliver targeted, differentiated support across year levels. Their one-on-one and small-group instruction has supported measurable gains in engagement and achievement, while their consistent presence provides calm, trusted relational support. The team’s proactive work in PBIS, emotional regulation and student resilience contributes to a strong sense of belonging, particularly for students with social or behavioural needs.

Collaboration is central to this team’s success, and they contribute meaningfully across every layer of the school’s inclusive framework.

The LSOs participate in weekly planning meetings with the Learning Diversity Leader and in Professional Learning Communities, sharing insights from their close work with students. In classrooms, they work shoulder-to-shoulder with teachers to deliver differentiated learning, adjust support in real-time, and reinforce individual learning plans. Their collaboration with allied health professionals ensures therapeutic strategies are seamlessly embedded into everyday learning routines, and their input at Parent Support Group meetings strengthens communication and planning with families.

What sets this team apart is their unwavering commitment to improving their practice through ongoing professional development.

Each team member has completed, or is undertaking, a Certificate IV in School-Based Education Support, in addition to engaging with school-based PD and external training modules. They’ve undertaken training in speech articulation, sentence structure and syntax, and fine motor development, adapting these learnings to suit classroom needs. Their weekly LSO team meetings foster collaborative reflection, and their active engagement in feedback loops shows a deep commitment to continually lifting the quality of their work for student benefit.

Gosnells Primary School, WA - Team Finalist

Nominated by: Anelise Edkins, Specialist Learning Program Coordinator

The Specialist Learning Program (SLP) Education Assistant team at Gosnells Primary School is the team finalist for Western Australia  in the 2025 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. 

This outstanding team brings deep expertise and tireless commitment to supporting students with Autism from Kindergarten to Year 6.

“They support, advocate and encourage our diverse learner group tirelessly… and have engaged in countless professional learning experiences to enhance and strengthen their knowledge and understanding”.

Their impact on student learning and wellbeing has been profound, particularly through the delivery of structured, evidence-based programs and the trial of the School Kontakt social skills program.

Students receiving direct instruction from the EAs have demonstrated strong academic progress in areas such as spelling and receptive language. Their skilled delivery of Language for Learning enabled a minimally verbal student to access the curriculum using visual supports. Through the Kontakt program, students have developed greater confidence and social engagement, with parents noting improved turn-taking and communication at home. Curtin University has recognised the success of the program at Gosnells as a model of effective implementation, attributing it to the EAs’ dedication and expertise.

This team thrives on collaboration and models collegial professionalism in every aspect of their work.

Education Assistants at Gosnells Primary School engage in weekly feedback loops, participate in SLP team meetings twice a term, and communicate regularly with teachers and therapists to ensure consistent support across both specialist and mainstream settings. Many EAs accompany students into mainstream classrooms, capturing observation notes that inform program adjustments. One EA coordinated visual timetables across two settings to ease transition-related anxiety for a student—just one example of their proactive, solution-focused approach. Teachers describe the EAs as “trusted and proactive partners” whose collaboration has improved classroom inclusion and student outcomes.

A defining strength of this team is their drive to improve practice through ongoing professional learning and reflective engagement.

Each Education Assistant is awarded at Level 3 and engages in continuous training in programs such as Spelling Mastery, Reading Mastery, and Language for Learning. They routinely use student data to adjust instruction and reflect on progress with classroom staff and allied professionals. The team’s improved instructional confidence and shared language have resulted in greater consistency and effectiveness across the program. Their example demonstrates how high-quality support staff can transform student outcomes in complex learning environments.