duckygee

Wow @Stokie that has given me hope. I've been drained from 10 years of teaching secondary and sixth form in the UK. I arrived in Victoria in July, but owing to the fact that my son doesn't start prep until the end of Jan and then isn't full time until the end of Feb, I've not even started to consider looking for jobs. But I think I have also held back due to the fear that teaching in Australia might be as all-consuming as teaching in the UK and I'm actually enjoying getting to see my kids. Your post though has given me hope that I will actually be able to achieve a work/life balance here in Australia, so I may try dipping my toes in the teaching waters once my son starts school full time. Out of interest, whereabouts do you live to get the blue skies and sunshine everyday? Melbourne seems to have been mostly cloudy since we got here in July, so if summer doesn't impress us, we might be looking for a move northwards next winter, as I didn't move to Australia to be cold :-)

Hi, We have been been in the country for just over 3 weeks now and have secured a house in Manor Lakes. So, the next tick on our to do list is to sort a school for our daughter. I'm therefore looking for recommendations for good primary schools which lead on to good secondary schools (or have a good secondary school already built in) in the area. I've not done much research yet, as I didn't want to set my mind on a school only to not get a house in the relevant area. The only thing I don't want is a girls only school, as my son is also due to start in Prep in January 2018. At home she went to a Catholic primary school, but that isn't essential. I just want a good school where she will be happy and progress well. She is 7 and has just finished Year 2 in the UK, so if I'm right, she will slip back into Year 2 here. Thanks in advance

Thanks @snifter. I'm very much a que sera person, so I'll take things as they come. At the time we got the visa, my role and my subject was on the Victoria shortage list, now it seems to have gone. I'll do what I need to get a job and if I don't find one in teaching, then I am sure I'll be able to find something. The past two jobs I have had over here have been rolling year on year contracts anyway, as I work in sixth form and because their budgets are being slashed more and more all the time, they are not prepared to commit to taking people on for more than a year at a time. So, in that respect, I'd be no worse off. Before I started my current job and re-found my enjoyment of teaching, I was adamant that I wanted out of teaching when I came to Australia, so if things don't work out then perhaps I will be looking for a new career.

Thanks I take it teaching over there is nicer than here then, where there is a massive shortage of teachers because everyone is getting out of the profession :-)? Saying that, I actually really enjoy my job over here (teaching in a sixth form college) and if I could ship my job to Australia with me, I would, but teaching at high school level became another thing. TRB in Victoria? Is that just registering with Victorian Institute of Teaching, in fact I got my renewal reminder through the post the other day? If so, I'm already registered with them. Where's the best place to look for jobs when the time comes? I've already been in contact with Smart Teachers in Melbourne and they have said that my A-level experience will put me in a strong position, but then that was before there seemed to be an explosion in the number of teachers in Australia.

I think what we will do is come over as a family in late June/early July and start setting up. Hopefully my husband will get a job (he's run his own joinery company over here for 11 years now, so I am hoping he will be an attractive prospect) and I may even get some supply. We'll plan for me and the kids to come back for the wedding and then see how things go with my husband as to whether he joins us or whether he stays over there for a few weeks of peace and quiet while we come back for the wedding. Financially, having to go and come back not long after isn't great, but if July gives us more prospects of getting a job and if we know that we have to factor is the November return, we'll just have to budget for that. I opted to stay at work longer over here in the UK to have more money in the bank, so I'll just have to put some of that money aside for the wedding (oh and hope that the exchange rate improves from the dire state it's currently in :-)) As @Nemesis said, if we delay for the wedding, next we'll be delaying for Christmas and then something and something else.

I think you are right, we have to bite the bullet at some stage or there will always be some event or other holding us back. Thanks

Which state are you in? I thought coming July would give me plenty of chance to get a job for the following January. A bit nervous that I could miss the boat for another academic year. I'm also somewhat nervous that having got the visa on my skills, my skills seems to be have stripped off all the in-demand lists and now all I hear is people saying that you have a massive over-supply of teachers. My job (secondary school ICT teacher) still appears on the Victoria list, but that's not be updated since September 2015. Looks like I may be in for a career change as well :-)

Sorry @Keith and Linda, forgot to say where - Melbourne area as a starting point, as we have family in that area and yes our recce visit was our visa validation trip

Thanks @newjez I currently work as a teacher, ut my contract ends next June - on the basis that that's when I asked them to end it because I was due to be moving in July In terms of me working over there, I was thinking of only doing supply for the remainder of 2017 if we came in 2018, because I knew I probably wouldn't have a chance of getting a permanent job before Jan 2018 and also because our son isn't old enough to start prep year until Jan 2018, so I knew there would be associated costs. I think though from what you are saying, our best bet may be to come July anyway and then see if my husband can get the time off and if he hasn't maybe I'll have to make the trip back to the wedding on my own with the kids - now that would be fun Thanks again

Hi, We currently have our visa granted and have already done a recce visit. We were originally intending to make the big move at the beginning of July next year. However, my sister has now decided that she is getting married at the beginning of November 2017 and so we are in a quandary. Do we still move over to Australia in July 2017, get settled, hopefully get a job, accommodation and our daughter into school (she'll be 7 by then) and then pay to come back for the wedding (and not being at her wedding is not an option) or do we hang fire and only leave after the wedding? So realistically to help assist the decision, we have a few questions: 1) Is there a 'better' time of the year to be looking for a job (mid July versus early November) - I'm a high school teacher and my husband is a carpenter? 2) If we came over July and my husband got a job by say the end of the month, would he be likely be able to take 2 - 3 weeks holidays by late October (so within 3 months of starting work), or do you need to build up holiday entitlement over there the way that you would have to do it over here? Thanks in advance

It was September 2015 we went @Beaty. Had a great time and saw loads and now preparing to move over in June/July next year

Thanks @milliem i really don't mind working hard, as long as the students I am teaching are working hard too. It's so good to hear about real people's experiences

Thank you for this @gloucester girl and @tina0101 - your replies are very much appreciated and gives me much more hope for a future career out there. Sorry it took me a while to reply, I didn't notice the email notification to say that someone had replied. Thanks again and I hope that your jobs/your husband continues to be good and less stressful than the UK

Oh gosh, I really don't want to be going back into the permanent pressure. I know I'm a good teacher, so it's not a fear of failure, but when I first started teaching, it was one observation a year unless there was something considered to be wrong with your teaching. I don't deal well with feeling I'm under constant scrutiny, I just want to get on with my job. You can still do supply over there though can't you? So, once we have decided on the area we want to live in (we've just got back from a recce visit and loved almost all of the Port Phillip bay areas we explored) and my husband has found a job, I could do the remainder of the academic year on supply getting to know the system, the schools and deciding whether it was for me? @Powells - where do Victoria jobs tend to be advertised? Do you know any good Victoria supply agencies?

Thank you @george8181 that is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Your situation over in the UK sounds like mine was over here. Due to having young children all my extra work had to be fit in once they were in bed, but similar to you going in early and staying late, I still had hours of extra work each night. I knew I was a good teacher, as my observations were always 1s or 2s and my students told me they enjoyed my lessons and learnt well, but the pressure was constant. Brilliant results from my students didn't seem to be enough because then they just pressurised me to make fabulous and exciting lower school lessons all the time (and believe me, it can certainly be a struggle making spreadsheets exciting to 13 year olds). I also very much agree with the bullying tactics used by SMT. My old school lost a lot of good teachers to other schools, due to the fact they were constantly having informal observations in the form of 'learning walks' and 'peer reviews', which meant you never felt you could just relax and teach. So thank you very much, a lot of food for thought and it has given me the belief that I could actually come over there and try and get a job and see how things go, rather than trying to avoid teaching like the plague.