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 bridges the gap between what university teaches and how teaching actually works in practice. 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. That is the work: helping ECTs translate what they already do into the evidence, the standards, and the confidence to stay.

🎓 Highly Accomplished Teacher

- ABOUT HAYLEY LANEY

AITSL Accreditation · Proficient and HAT descriptor specialist

University teacher educator and teacher education practitioner

Creator of the Teaching Story Framework

🏫 University Teacher Educator

📊 APST and Portfolio Accreditation Expert


The Research

Australia is struggling to retain its teachers. The evidence tells us why.

The challenges facing early career teachers are well documented. Research consistently shows that inadequate mentoring, excessive workload, and a lack of structured professional support drive many capable teachers to consider leaving the profession earlier than expected.

01

Compliance-based mentoring

Research consistently finds that internal mentoring programs often focus on compliance processes rather than substantive professional growth, leaving early career teachers to fill the gap themselves.

AERO National ECT Mentoring Report · IEU Australia, 2025

02

No language for their practice

Early-career teachers frequently underestimate their own competence. Without structured frameworks and mentoring, articulating professional practice for APST Proficient accreditation remains one of the biggest barriers ECTs face.

AEU State of Our Schools 2025 · Weldon, Australian Journal of Education, 2018

03

Mentors without mentor training

The AEU 2025 national survey of 800 early career teachers found 1 in 4 had no access to a mentor at all, and only 45% said their mentor was readily available. Quality mentoring remains inconsistent across Australian schools.

AEU State of Our Schools 2025 · AITSL ATWD National Trends 2025

"The problem is not that early career teachers cannot do the job. It is that no one shows them how to see themselves as the professional they already are."

Teaching Futures was built to close this gap, with mentoring that is substantive, evidence-based, and genuinely focused on professional growth rather than bureaucratic compliance.

Whether you are an early career teacher finding your footing, or a school leader trying to build a culture where new teachers actually stay, there is a place here for you.

See how we help →