Primary school teacher visa!?

grumbleweed · 17-01-2008, 11:18 AM

Firstly hello to everyone! I am new here, but what a great site!

My wife and i are desperate to go to Australia, we have been there a couple of times now and feel more at home there than here! We also have some relatives out there (unfortunately not close enough to count for points though!)

Our dillema is that we would need to get in using her proffesion and qualification as i have no higher qualification, but her degree course was a 3 year one and the Australian equivalent is a 4 year one so doesnt apparently count! She has 7 years experience and several managment points, is there any other visa options that may work for us? Maybe an employee sponsored one? Seems a bit crazy to me but hey?

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Libby1971 · 17-01-2008, 12:04 PM

Hi

Have you contacted an agent at all on this?

I haven't heard of any teacher getting an employer to sponsor them, quite honestly there are alot of poms here searching for jobs as well as Aussies so don't think they would really need to.

She is going to need a transcript of her degree course from her uni. I would get that and then send a copy to an agent perhaps. Alternatively, she could get in touch the education dept of the state you hope to go to and ask them about it.

If she did the Graduate Teacher Programme to get into teaching, then I am sorry this isn't recognised here, or so I have heard.

Good luck

Libby

grumbleweed · 17-01-2008, 12:13 PM

Hi Libby,

Thanks for the advice, i'm guessing thats possibly what qualification she has, i have read other people in a similar situation have had to complete a further years education at uni to gain a masters for it to count! Hard to do when working full time but if its the only way....

We havnt contacted an agent yet as we are in the early stages of investigating whether or not it is even possible but i think we will have to, any good recomendations?

I thought sponsership would be a long shot (especially near the Gold Coast!), would a 4 year temporary visa help us in the long run?

Thanks again!

The Broughtons · 17-01-2008, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumbleweed

Firstly hello to everyone! I am new here, but what a great site!

My wife and i are desperate to go to Australia, we have been there a couple of times now and feel more at home there than here! We also have some relatives out there (unfortunately not close enough to count for points though!)

Our dillema is that we would need to get in using her proffesion and qualification as i have no higher qualification, but her degree course was a 3 year one and the Australian equivalent is a 4 year one so doesnt apparently count! She has 7 years experience and several managment points, is there any other visa options that may work for us? Maybe an employee sponsored one? Seems a bit crazy to me but hey?

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

This sounds like a spot of de ja vu to me!!!!! I am a primary school teacher and my hubbie and I decided we were going to emigrate to Australia 2 and a half years ago. I completed the skills assessment and failed. My 3 year BA with qualified teaching status, 6 years experience and management points did not meet the requirements. I was determined to go though so went back to uni for a year as a part time student. With a hell of a lot of hard work I got my Masters degree and resubmitted the skills assessment - passed it that time. We got our visas and are now living in Mornington. I start a new teaching post in a weeks time and am really looking forward to it.

Having spoken to lots of teachers over here they can't believe that my degree from a uni in the UK wasn't enough to teach over here.

I haven't heard of any teachers getting sponsorship either. We used an agent for our visa and I did both skills assessments myself (saved a bit of money there). We employed the agent as I was finishing uni and preparing the skills assessment and he pointed out that it was a good job I was doing the 4th year or I wouldn't pass the skills bit - duh!!! Did he think I was at uni for the fun of it? (Well as it happens I did enjoy it and am very proud of myself but that's beside the point!).

I really would consider getting some professional advice on this matter as even if you can get a visa, you won't necessarily get registration to teach. Each of the states have a registration board for teachers and each have different criteria. I do know that queensland and victoria require 4 years at uni for registration, I'm not sure about the others.

Sorry if I have waffled or confused, feel free to pm me if you have any other questions and I'll try and help if I can - I'm certainly not an expert though and do think you should ask a migration agent for some help!

Felicity

paulhug · 18-01-2008, 12:25 AM

Hi grumbleweed..... i don't like to be the bearer off bad news, but i don't think you have any chance of getting sponsorship for your wife in Queensland. We had the same problem, OH is a Primary School Teacher (4 year BA with honours, 20 yrs experience) , and we found out that the only state that might sponsor her was Southern Aus.
We have gone another route , as Business owners.

Sorry, but i hope in some way this helps.
Paul

emmabdc · 18-01-2008, 12:42 AM

When we first applied through quite a large agency we were told straight away that we had no chance of emigrating due to the fact I myself only had a 3 year teaching degree. Determined not to give up we tried a second agency who were willing to take us on. When we initially sent off the paper work for my degree we were contacted asking for more information on a BTEC that I had studied previous to my degree. When the paper work came back positively it stated I had 5 years study experience and not just the 3 year degree. I was so lucky to have gone to college instead of doing A levels at school, just thought I would share my story as may help other people in the same position.

grumbleweed · 18-01-2008, 05:36 PM

Thankyou all for your replies, they were very useful! Looks like we're going to have to go away and consult with an agent and perhaps ship my wife back to uni (she will be happy after 6 yers teaching!!!) but it will all be worth it in the end i hope, cant wait to hopefully one day be living out there and perhaps bring up some little surf dudes if we're lucky!

May even pop along to the Oz Expo in London in April, heard mixed reviews but nothing to lose!

speak again soon no doubt!

Greg