Loganlea teacher's award-winning program continues to grow

Kiri Griffiths' 2024 TEACHX Award for Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning recognised the success of her school's unique program that encourages secondary students to consider teaching careers.

The Loganlea State High School Deputy Principal leads the LIFT (Leaders in Future Teaching) initiative, which identifies aspiring teachers early to offer one-on-one mentoring and opportunities to present at staff and school events and work experience at local primary schools. The centrepiece of the program is a study tour to Far North Queensland, where students spend two days on placement across both primary and secondary settings.

Since winning her TEACHX Award, Kiri has taken a further ten aspiring teachers on the study tour to Malanda State High School in the Atherton Tablelands. Many returned with sharper clarity about which sector of teaching they wanted to enter, and a broader sense of the lifestyle and opportunities regional teaching offers. Plans are also underway to host aspiring teachers from the north at Loganlea, building a statewide network of future educators.

Kiri says the idea for LIFT came from observations of media narratives around teaching that were driving talented students away from the profession:

"Many staff saw so much potential in many of our students to lead a fulfilling career in teaching, but they were deterred by the public perception of the profession. We wanted to demystify this whilst also providing students with the opportunity to discover what teaching is really about so that they could make informed decisions about their future," she said.

Loganlea has already recruited former LIFT participants back as teachers, including Madison Worling and Zoe Jones (above) who were engaged in the program in its infancy.

Under LIFT, preservice teachers on professional experience at Loganlea are also transitioning into teacher's aide roles to deepen their contextual knowledge before joining staff permanently.

"We have teachers who genuinely want to teach at Loganlea," Kiri said. "The goal is that we will continue to 'grow our own' teachers into the future."

Meanwhile, Biscuit - the school's Empower Assistance Dog who featured in Kiri's original TEACHX Award nomination as another school partnership she formed - recently celebrated her fifth birthday and continues to make a profound impact on the wellbeing of students. Now in her third year of service, Biscuit provides timetabled emotional support, one-on-one check-ins, and a lot of tail wags.

Know a teacher doing extraordinary work? Nominations for the 2026 TEACHX Awards are open until Friday 12 June 2026.