The Damascus College student has been part of the first regional Victorian cohort to undertake the university's teaching fast-track program, Step Up Into Teaching.

Leah has been able to complete two university-level teaching units in an intense fortnight's introduction to the discipline during the summer holidays.

For Leah, the taste of university studies has reinforced her interest in a teaching career and offered a confidence boost heading into year 12 studies.

Leah has always had an interest in teaching - Leah's mum is a teacher's aide and Leah is a dance teacher at the studio where she dances.

This course has also proven a way to further test her interest.

"Teaching seems a creative and fun job and I want to help inspire young people," Leah said.

"...To have an unconditional offer is great - it's a relief somewhat and is comfortable. I feel driven to do well and to make the most of my offer.

"It's given me a taste of university and kicked me into gear."

The ACU Ballarat program is based on a well-established course from the university's Strathfield campus in New South Wales, which takes in about 100 final-year students each year.

Ballarat started with nine students, including participants from farms in Horsham, Camperdown and Colac, for in-person classes on the Ballarat Mair Street campus.

All students undertook a unit in digital literacy, analysing technology use and impacts in education along with basic coding practice. Students also studied psychology basics in human development from childhood to teenage years.

Leah said her background in psychology studies - she completed year 12 psychology in year 11 - helped a lot.

Those who pass both units will receive an unconditional offer from ACU and have credit for having completed two units.

She has a big, but exciting, year ahead in studying Indonesian, food technology, English, scored religious education to potentially help guide her to teaching in a Catholic school, and a certificate three in early childhood.

Leah said this gave her the option to take a gap year and work in early childhood education to further her teaching experience.

ACU education lecturer and SUIT program leader Shane Byrne said all students, like Leah, were highly motivated, not least because they had given up some of their summer holidays before year 12 to study.

Some in the course continued to commute home to help with work on the family farm after classes.

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Mr Byrne said the Ballarat pilot program had been a great success and was definitely being considered for next year.

"The whole idea is to target year 12 students who have shown an inkling of wanting to be a teacher," Mr Byrne said. "We're showing students an alternate pathway. Instead of an incredibly high-stakes [VCE] they can relax in a sense that they're going into their final year knowing they have a place in university."

Mr Byrne said the NSW program typically tried to give opportunities to students who might be shaping up as the first in their family to go to university, or students from low-socioeconomic areas. The Ballarat program focused on regional students.

"Country areas are screaming out for teachers," Mr Byrne said. "Hopefully these students might go back to their hometown or a town nearby and help improve education in country towns."

Mr Byrne said the course also prompted students to consider what made an effective teacher, and whose classes they had enjoyed most and why. He said this also tended to give students a new perspective for when they returned to their own classrooms as students.

Leah looked forward to getting back into class on Tuesday and seeing her teachers in action.

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