Highly Accomplished Teacher  ·  20+ Years Experience

Early career teachers deserve more than being left to figure it out.

Teaching Futures provides expert mentoring, professional development, and strategic support for early career teachers across Australia, and the schools, departments, and systems responsible for their success.

Hayley Laney, Teaching Futures founder, working at her desk
20+
Years in
Education
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Credentials
Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT)
20+ Years Teaching Experience
Middle, Secondary and Tertiary Education
University Teacher Educator
APST Accreditation Specialist
Hayley Laney in a one-on-one mentoring session with an early career teacher
HAT
Accredited
Expert

The mentor I wish I had as an early career teacher.

I have spent more than two decades in classrooms across middle school, secondary, and tertiary education. I know what it feels like to be a capable professional who cannot quite find the language for what you already do well.

Teaching Futures exists because I got tired of watching talented early career teachers leave a profession that needed them, not because they could not do the job, but because no one showed them how to own their professional story.

🎓
Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT)
AITSL Accreditation · Proficient and HAT descriptor specialist
🏫
University Teacher Educator
University teacher educator and teacher education practitioner
📊
APST and Portfolio Accreditation Expert
Creator of the Teaching Story Framework (CARES)

Choose the level of support
that meets you where you are.

Every teacher's situation is different. Teaching Futures offers three tiers of support, from free entry points to intensive 1:1 mentoring, so you can engage at the level that is right for you right now.

Hayley Laney presenting a professional development masterclass
Level 1 · Free Entry
Free Masterclass and Resources

Not ready to commit? Start here. A free, prerecorded masterclass gives you the Teaching Story Framework and real, actionable tools for building your professional practice. No cost. No strings attached.

What is included
Prerecorded Teaching Story (CARES) Masterclass
Free Portfolio Planner, an interactive story-based evidence tool
Teaching resources, templates and frameworks
Entry point to the Teaching Futures community
Early Career TeachersSchools
Hayley Laney in a one-on-one mentoring session reviewing documents
Level 2 · Membership
Growth Hub: Community and Ongoing PD

A structured professional learning community for early career teachers who want more than a masterclass, but are not yet ready for intensive 1:1 mentoring.

What is included
Monthly live professional development sessions
Structured portfolio-building pathway
Peer community of ECTs across Australia
Resource library: frameworks, templates, planning tools
Priority access to workshops and new resources
Early Career Teachers
Hayley Laney facilitating a professional development session
Level 3 · Premium
1:1 Portfolio Mentoring Program

The most direct route to APST Proficient accreditation-ready professional practice. Intensive, personalised mentoring designed around your context, your stories, and your timeline.

What is included
Personalised mentoring sessions tailored to your needs
CARES story development: 4 to 8 portfolio-ready narratives
APST standards mapping and evidence planning
Portfolio review, feedback and accreditation preparation
Direct email support between sessions
Individual ECTsSchoolsDepartments
Teaching Futures: Hayley Laney in the classroom, in mentoring sessions, and facilitating professional development

Partnering with schools, departments and sector leaders.

Teaching Futures works with organisations that take early career teacher retention seriously, not as a compliance exercise, but as a strategic investment in their people and culture.

🏫
Schools and Principals
Embed expert external mentoring alongside your internal program. Supplement or replace compliance-based approaches with substantive professional growth for your early career teachers.
🏛
Government Departments and Sectors
Scale evidence-based ECT support across your sector. Workshop delivery, frameworks, and resources designed for system-wide impact across departments and regions.
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Education System Leaders
Build ECT support infrastructure that scales. Mentor training, frameworks and consultancy designed for measurable retention and professional growth outcomes across your system.
Reviewing data in a professional development session
Schools: Stop losing teachers you trained to hire.
Research shows the cost of early career teacher attrition, including recruitment, onboarding, and lost institutional knowledge, significantly exceeds the cost of quality mentoring. Teaching Futures works with your school to design and deliver external mentoring that actually works: substantive, evidence-informed, and tied to your teachers' real practice.
30%
of ECTs expect to leave within 10 years (AEU, 2025)
$20k+
estimated average replacement cost per teacher (LPI, 2024)
1 in 4
ECTs have no access to a mentor at all (AEU, 2025)
HAT
accredited expert practitioner
Enquire about school partnerships →
Statistics sourced from: AEU State of Our Schools 2025 (aeufederal.org.au) and Learning Policy Institute Teacher Turnover Calculator 2024 (learningpolicyinstitute.org). LPI figures are in USD and represent an international benchmark. Australian-specific replacement cost data is not yet available at a national level.

All organisational partnerships are by enquiry. Mention your context when you book a discovery call.

Turning professional practice into professional evidence.

The Teaching Story Framework uses the CARES acronym to help early career teachers identify, narrate, and evidence their professional practice, turning good teaching into portfolio-ready stories that satisfy APST Proficient accreditation requirements and beyond.

C
Context
Who, where, what was happening, and what made this moment professionally significant?
A
Action
What did you do, and what professional thinking drove that decision?
R
Result
What changed? What can you point to that shows something shifted?
E
Evidence
What artefacts prove this story? Documents, data, and records a third party can verify.
S
Standards
Which APST standards does this story naturally demonstrate?
Digital Product

Pathway to Proficient Portfolio Planner

The Teaching Story Framework built into an interactive portfolio-building tool. Eight story types, all 37 APST standards, file uploads, automatic standards mapping, and a one-click portfolio export. Runs in any browser. No account needed.

Available now · Digital Download
Pathway to Proficient Portfolio Planner
Build up to eight teaching stories using the CARES framework. Track all 37 APST standards automatically. Attach evidence files. Reflect with APST-linked journal entries. Export your complete portfolio when you are ready.
$97 AUD
One-time payment · Yours forever · Includes User Guide
Get the Planner →

From discovery call to portfolio-ready
in four steps.

1
Discovery Call
We talk through where you are, what you need, and which level of support is the right fit. No obligation. 30 minutes.
2
Tailored Plan
You receive a mentoring plan built around your specific context, your standards gaps, and your accreditation timeline.
3
Story Building
Together we develop your CARES stories, translating real teaching practice into clear, evidence-backed professional narratives.
4
Portfolio Ready
You walk away with a polished portfolio that demonstrates your practice across the APST standards, and the confidence to own the conversation.

Real outcomes from real early career teachers.

★★★★★
"Before working with Hayley, I had no idea how to talk about my own practice. I knew I was doing good work, but I could not find the language for it. After six sessions, I had four complete portfolio stories and the confidence to submit for Proficient."
S
Sarah M.
Secondary English Teacher · Year 3 ECT
★★★★★
"The Teaching Story Framework changed how I think about my practice. I used to see professional development as something done to me. Now I can identify what I am doing, why it matters, and exactly how to evidence it. Genuinely transformative."
J
James T.
Primary Teacher · Year 2 ECT
★★★★★
"As a principal, I have seen our early career teachers struggle with accreditation despite doing excellent work. Teaching Futures gave our ECTs something our internal program simply could not: genuine, expert mentoring from someone who deeply understands the process."
L
Lisa R.
Principal · Metropolitan Secondary School
Book a Discovery Call
Ready to talk? Let's figure out the right fit together.

Whether you are an early career teacher finding your footing, a school leader building a better support system, or a sector leader looking for practitioner expertise, a discovery call is the right place to start. 30 minutes. No obligation. Real conversation.

Book a Discovery Call → Send an Enquiry

hello@teachingfutures.com.au · Response within 48 hours

30 Minutes
No ObligationDiscovery Call
Book Now →
Important Information

No guarantees or warranties. Teaching Futures provides mentoring, professional development, and resources to support early career teachers in building their professional practice and portfolio. Participation in Teaching Futures programs, workshops, masterclasses, or use of any resources does not guarantee accreditation at any level, employment, job selection, promotion, or any particular outcome. All accreditation decisions are made solely by the relevant accrediting authority. All employment and selection decisions are made solely by the relevant employer.

Individual results will vary. The effectiveness of mentoring and professional development depends on many factors including the individual teacher's context, effort, existing experience, and circumstances. Testimonials represent individual experiences and are not a guarantee that others will achieve the same outcomes.

Statistics and research. Statistics cited on this site are sourced from published Australian and international research, including the AEU State of Our Schools 2025 survey, AITSL Australian Teacher Workforce Data, and the Learning Policy Institute. Full source references are available on request at hello@teachingfutures.com.au.