Gillard at her alma mater, Unley High School, in Adelaide yesterday:
AS a government we have already created Teach for Australia, a way in which the best and brightest graduates can come into teaching, and it has successfully, to date, brought high achieving graduates into teaching, into classrooms in disadvantaged schools.
Gillard on ABC1's The 7:30 Report, July 19, 2010:
KERRY O'Brien: When you talk about better teachers, can you nominate any clear, existing example of where you can say that your policies have led to better teaching?
Gillard: Kerry, I certainly can. I can point you to our new program, Teach for Australia, which already has some of our best and brightest graduates teaching in disadvantaged schools, people who got first-class degrees going through an accelerated program, teaching in disadvantaged classrooms today.
Gillard on February 24, 2010:
THE education revolution is delivering new resources and reforms to teaching through our $2.5bn National Partnerships for Smarter Schools. Another example is Teach for Australia, which is bringing high achieving graduates to disadvantaged schools
The truth:
Peter Van Onselen in The Australian on July 24:
GILLARD has never been directly involved with the TFA initiative. It is run by an independent not-for-profit organisation. It receives funding not only from the government but from individuals and corporate sponsors as well. It even has a Liberal on its board of directors: Alan Tudge, the candidate for the Victorian seat of Aston. And the idea for the scheme certainly wasn't Gillard's; it came from the US, where a similar venture, Teach for America, has operated for years.