Alisha Jordan's new home tends to make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Key points: The Teach for Australia program places graduates from non-teaching backgrounds in disadvantaged schools

The Teach for Australia program places graduates from non-teaching backgrounds in disadvantaged schools Tomorrow, 15 graduates will embark on new teaching positions in the Northern Territory

Tomorrow, 15 graduates will embark on new teaching positions in the Northern Territory The program has faced criticism over value for money and retention rates

It has one supermarket, six places to buy booze, and the wait for public housing spans four to eight years.

Temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius for 28 days this December.

And there are few chances to escape, with the kilometres separating it from capitals rounded to the nearest thousand: 1,000km to Darwin, 2,000km to Adelaide and 3,000km to the surf break at South West Rocks, where Ms Jordan grew up.

Yet the 26-year-old has boldly signed on for a two-year teaching stint.

Armed with 13 weeks training, a clear optimism and a journal to record her "small wins", Ms Jordan will walk into Tennant Creek High School tomorrow, for her first-ever day as a health teacher.

"I think it will be fantastic," she told the ABC.

Ms Jordan is one of 15 new recruits spilling into Northern Territory classrooms this week as part of the Teach for Australia program.

The program, which is modelled on similar ones in the US and UK, places high-achieving graduates from non-teaching backgrounds into low socio-economic and disadvantaged schools.

After two years the recruits earn a masters of teaching from the Australian Catholic University (ACU), while the schools — particularly in remote locations — benefit from enthusiastic new teachers who bring life experience.

Ms Jordan had previously worked as a public health officer in North Queensland, and taught English as a second language in Spain and Tanzania.

She is hoping those skills will combine together perfectly, given 64 per cent of the students in Tennant Creek are Indigenous and come from non-English speaking backgrounds.

"I think that's where I need to be," Ms Jordan said.

"I've held off trying to make any judgement calls about Tennant because I'm really excited to just get there and learn from the community themselves.

"But the high school there seems amazing. The leadership seems amazing. And there's quite a few alumni there from this program".

Tennant Creek is a long way from any capital cities. ( ABC News: Stephanie Zillman )

'A unique educational context'

The Territory faces vast and unique problems in its education sector.

Disadvantaged rates are high and more than 40 per cent of schools are in remote or very remote locations.

That makes attracting and retaining quality teachers hard, with its annual turnover rate sitting between 15 and 17 per cent.

But since its inception, 72 Teach for Australia recruits have been placed in NT classrooms, and those in Tennant Creek have stood out for their successes.

Tanith Margetson, who was in the 2017 cohort, implemented a program that focused on teaching literacy to Indigenous children — for many of whom English was their third or fourth language.

Also at Tennant Creek, Fiona McRobie developed new ways to engage her Indigenous students in maths, which was recently recognised in the Maths Teacher Excellence Awards.

Asked why she chose to become a teacher through Teach for Australia, rather than the traditional route, Ms Jordan pointed to the program's wider vision and the support network it provided.

"I think a big difference between going through a normal pathway [and Teach for Australia] was the fact I enter the school and I have this whole support network behind me that have my back," she said.

"[And] I really resonated with their vision."

Eva Lawler, the Acting Education Minister, said the NT Government was supportive.

"The Northern Territory has a unique educational context," she said.

"Our Government supports the efforts of this program to encourage and support skilled professionals to teach in disadvantaged communities.

"Initiatives like Teach for Australia complement the NT Government's own initiatives to support quality teachers to enter into, and remain in, the profession."

A Teach for Australia spokesperson said it worked to ensure both the new teachers and communities benefitted.

"By changing graduate preferences so that high achievers choose to teach, and do so in low socioeconomic communities, Teach For Australia is unlocking a critical untapped source of talent for the teaching profession," he said.

"Teach For Australia hopes to continue expanding into more schools throughout the NT in the future."

Map Teach for Australia teachers will be placed at Katherine, Tennant Creek and Galiwin'ku

An 'expensive failure'

Yet Teach for Australia has been labelled "hugely controversial" by some commentators and has faced an array of criticisms.

Last year, it ceased operating in the Australian Capital Territory, with its Government citing concerns over value for money and retention rates.

However the Teach for Australia spokesperson said the move to pull out of the ACT was mutual, pointing to the relative advantage in the region and a lack of a significant teacher shortage across ACT schools.

A report commissioned by the Federal Government, which has thrown in $77 million for the program between 2008-2021, found just 50 per cent of Teach for Australia recruits were still teaching three years after their placement ended.

Only 30 per cent of those were in schools below the national disadvantage median.

One of its most vocal critics is the Australian Education Union, which labelled it an "expensive failure".

The NT Education Union was contacted for comment, but did not respond.

In 2018, only Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory remained with the program.

Striving to make 'the most impact'

Clare Gorton admitted she was a little daunted by the Teach for Australia workload, with the recruits taking on 80 per cent of a full time teaching load, as well as study.

Former freelance musician Clare Gorton will teach at Katherine High School next year. ( ABC News: Emily Smith )

But she had not heard stories of many others dropping out during the two-year placement, which buoyed her confidence.

And she pointed out the retention rates, reported in the recent review, may not account for the those who went on to work in education outside the classroom — such as in government or not-for-profits.

Those who know Ms Gorton were probably unsurprised when she announced she was becoming a music teacher.

Recently, the freelance musician spent time each week teaching string instruments to children from refugee, community detention and other disadvantaged backgrounds, through a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra program.

The place she chose to embark on her teaching career likely came as more as a shock — in Katherine, the Northern Territory's third-largest town.

But while it will see the 25-year-old move from Melbourne for one of the first times in her life, she insisted it ticked all the boxes.

"I wanted to live somewhere small and I wanted to live somewhere very hot," she said.

"And I also wanted to live somewhere where I could have the most impact doing something like music."

One way she suggested inspiring her students was by connecting them with local Indigenous musicians.

The most isolated placement

Alex Payne liked the fact the program would give him the chance to visit hard-to-reach places and has ended up with the most isolated placement in Teach for Australia's history.

Alex Payne will teach at Shepherdson College on Elcho Island. ( ABC News: Emily Smith )

The 32-year-old, his wife and one other recruit have moved to Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

For the next two years he will teach English at Shepherdson College in Galiwin'ku, the island's main centre.

While some would be daunted by the isolation, his background seems to fit perfectly with the role.

After growing up in Oberon, west of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, he has written about Arnhem Land rangers for Australian Geographic magazine, worked on a Croker Island pearl farm and in publishing education text books.

He also earned a graduate certificate in Yolngu Studies, one of the main cultures at large among Arnhem Land's Indigenous people.

But he said becoming a teacher had not always been the end goal.

"It wasn't an epiphany, it was kind of a gradual thing that came to me," he said.

"It was something a lot of people had always recommended for me when I finished school, a lot of teachers and my parents thought it would be a great career for me.

"So when I came across Teach for Australia the two things came together very perfectly."