“I’ve definitely had a few late nights, to midnight, and struggled from time to time,” the Eaglehawk Secondary college mathematics and science teacher said. 

But Ms Van Heumen, who graduated from La Trobe University in 2014, described her career so far as “very, very rewarding”, something she partly attributed to the support new teachers received in her central Victorian school. 

The beginning teacher said she had been mentored by more experienced staff members who, thanks to the open plan of Eaglehawk’s classrooms, were never far away if help was needed. 

She was also able to draw on the expertise of her mother, who was also a teacher, she said. 

La Trobe education department head Joanna Barbousas said mentoring for graduate teachers was an important part of their transition into the workplace. 

It is also likely to become more common after a 2014 ministerial advisory group on teacher education recommended universities continue to offer their graduates mentoring for the first three years of their teaching degree.

Mentors could help newly minted educators navigate the difficulties of 21st century schooling indentified by Dr Barbousas, including the need to develop digital literacy a sense of professional wisdom.  

“It (wisdom) builds through time if you're in the profession for longer,” she said. 

Additional pressure can be put onto new teachers who take up a leadership position soon after starting their career, Dr Barbousas said.

For now, Ms Van Heumen’s focus is on her classroom practice, something she said was aided by having won an ongoing position at the Eaglehawk school straight out of university.

“I'm very, very lucky having that security and it definitely allows me to use my planning time effectively and be a better teacher,” she said.

She said many of the students in her year level at university were less fortunate and had already needed to reapply for their contracted positions.

But she said short-term jobs gave new teachers flexibility and knew of some who had decided to try out life in Melbourne.   

Nearly three-quarters of new teachers in Loddon Mallee government schools lack job security, a study from the Australian Education Union has found.  

The survey of educators in the area with five or less years’ teaching experience revealed 70 per cent were employed on a contractual basis. 

The figure is closer to 60 per cent among teachers in metropolitan areas.   

Four in every five surveyed Loddon Mallee teachers said a lack of certainty about their employment future had impacted the quality of their work in the classroom. 

One respondent said they were contemplating taking their search for ongoing work interstate or seeking employment in a private school.  

“My partner and I are unable to buy a home and start a family without financial security,” they said. 

AEU Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said the survey was cause for pressure on the state government to reduce levels of contract employment in its schools. 

“The contract system is broken,” she said.

“If premier Daniel Andrews is really serious about delivering on Victoria as the Education State, he needs to considerably reduce the rate of teachers on contracts, particularly in the Bendigo region.” 

But Eaglehawk Secondary College principal Noel Claridge said the majority of staff at his school, and at schools throughout Bendigo, were already on tenured positions.

A large number of high-quality graduates from Bendigo’s La Trobe campus meant teaching positions across the city were hotly contested. 

It was common for one advertised position to attract 40 applications, he said. Those who express interest originate from across Victoria. 

Mr Claridge said once teachers began working in Bendigo schools, they were inclined to stay, having been won over by the affordability of life in the city.

“If you're on a fixed wage like anyone in the public sector, then your dollar goes much further in a regional centre,” he said. 

But the hunt for ongoing work was a time-consuming exercise for Loddon Mallee teachers. 

In their first five years of work, the educators applied for an average of 25 jobs, some of which were reapplications for a position in which they were employed.

Nearly half of teachers across the state could not imagine working in the public school system ten years from now, with one-quarter of those respondents blaming job insecurity for their change of heart. 

Ms Peace believed the promise of an ongoing position could assist schools in remote locations, and those struggling to find teachers for niche subjects, hold on to their personnel.  

Samantha Westwood, 26, is a first-year teacher at East Loddon P – 12 College in Dingee where she is responsible for art, technology and visual communication classes. 

She is yet to secure ongoing employment, but said that was unsurprising.

“Having a lot of friends who are teachers, I know it’s important for schools to have you in, see if you fit,” she said. 

Still, she hoped to remain at the rural college. 

Beginning teachers are not the only educators in Bendigo whose job security is not assured. 

Each morning, the city’s community of casual relief teachers await phone calls from schools calling them to cover staff who are unwell or absent.  

Joy Greenway is a CRT who runs a network for casually employed educators. Besides career CRTs like herself, most of those who access her service are retired or have taken family leave from their full-time positions.   

She said while CRTs in capital cities could work for teaching agencies that sourced casual work in schools, Bendigo supply teachers submitted their resumes to individual schools for consideration.

But CRTs still needed to accrue the same number of professional development hours in order to keep their registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

“The only difference is that the majority of the time we have to pay for this, while those in schools can access it through the budget,” Ms Greenway said.