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Hi all, I am trying to catch up in the world of Early Childhood teaching. I have a 3 year BA teaching degree and have always had issues with my qualifications here in Oz since we arrived 7 years ago. I found a job as a group leader in a childcare centre back in 2009 and I absolutely loved my job and have to say I was very happy. That was until they decided to change the rules and brought Qualified teachers into childcare. Again I was classed as unqualified and my job was on the line. I looked into my options and was granted a scholarship from the government to study an extra year of teaching to top up my qualifications. However during my study I became pregnant with our daughter and dropped the study as I knew I would be taking time out of the work force to look after our daughter. Now 3 years down the line I am looking into returning to work and have just been reading up on the ACEQCA assessment for equivalent qualifications. If this assessment looks into prior experience may I be eligible to finally teach? Also will my past qualifications of my BTEC diploma in Childhood studies cover the area of children from 0-2 years? If so how do I prove this experience? Any help in this area would be great and thanks in advance.

Thanks everyone for the replies, its taken me a while to come back on here as I have had so many things running through my head, I thought I had come to a conclusion that we need to go home but sometimes I get doubts so I took a week away from this area of the site to get my head together but still have mixed thoughts running through my head - think its going to take a while to come to any conclusion. Myself and my husband have decided to leave talking about a move for a few weeks, take time to think things over and see how we both feel. I think that's the big question Harpodom, need to think very carefully about that one!!! I agree with your comment Jules that my daughter won't miss what she has never had but surely she will feel she is missing out when she see's friends enjoying grandparents and families do you not think? I know when I was a child I felt I missed out on grandparents as I only had one grandma as a child who was quite old and sick, therefore I missed out on spending time with her, I saw my friends doing all sorts of things with there grandparents and felt I was missing out. You have definitely raised some things to think about though, maybe I am taking things in Australia for granted but then again on the other hand I am feeling I am getting bored of things over here too, definitely need to sort things out in my mind. You are right about the schooling, shes young and will fit into another system very easily, they do say kids adapt better than we do. Wow Lucia, our stories do sound so similar lol! You seem to be in the same place as me exactly, does your husband/partner feel the same as you about the move? It worries me that my husband will regret a move back as he is happy with his life and Job here but does back any decision I make as we always said we would go back if any of us felt this way. Good luck with baby number two who's on the way, how long after the baby arrives are you heading back, would love to here how your move goes. Thanks for that input - will have to look carefully into this. The area we live at the moment is actually going through extensive renevations which we have heard will increase house prices, might also be worth holding out on selling for that reason too. Thanks your right, if I am not happy then my daughter won't be your right Thanks for this info, I hadn't thought about this, we currently don't have citizenship but are eligible, so if we apply now for myself, husband and daughter (will she need it if she was born here) then any other children will also be eligible???? Seems I have lots to think about, I would say I will give it more thought but haven't stopped thinking about all this since at least Christmas. Things just seem so much more difficult now we have a little one to consider, we were younger will less responsibility when heading out here. Hopefully we will come to the right conclusion for us.

Hi everyone, I have found the threads on here very interesting reads over the last few weeks as I try to get my head around how I am feeling. Myself and my husband moved over to Australia 6 years ago and have enjoyed every minute we have been here and would not change that for the world, being over here has changed us as a couple, we are closer than we have ever been and the move has definitely made me a more confident and independent person. In 2011 we had our first child and at the time I was still pretty happy over here and enjoying our life, we went back to the UK that same year and on my return was still quite happy with living over in Oz. It wasn't until my parents came out to visit us and I saw what a special connection my daughter had created with them in such a short space of time (3 weeks) and how much it then hurt me when they left thinking about all the precious moments they were missing out on in my daughters life. This was last October and ever since I have been lost, I miss my family so much and know my daughter is missing out on the family connection, we have very good friends over here but its just not the same for her. I tried to put all my thoughts to the back of my mind but found it impossible and 7 months later I am now going insane and have started to think of numerous other things that my daughter can also get in England that she can't get here including trips to Europe and a sense of history etc etc, I think I have come to a place in my life where I also need that life too - things have just started to become a little stale over here, I have done the beaches, hot weather and bbq's and am striving for a little variety in my life. I finally spoke to my husband about this last week and to my surprise he had noticed how unhappy I have been recently and supports whatever will make me happy again. He said if that means moving back to Uk then he will do it, my worry though I that he is happy over here and will resent moving back to Uk. He is very supportive though and said we have to do what is best for our whole family. We left our conversation with us both thinking about things for a few weeks and then we can start to think about how to organise everything. My daughter is 2 and in the back of my mind I keep thinking we need to have made decisions that fit in with her schooling so definitely need to be back for her to start school at 4. We are also trying for a second child so we are thinking maybe we are best having the child over here to give them citizenship and therefore more opportunities later in life (lots of thinks to consider). We also have to think about money which will be a big consideration, we don't think we will get much back from the sale of our house so I am wondering if maybe we might be best selling the house sooner rather than later and renting over here to save money to take back with us. I also think about how we will be financially in the Uk, we won't be taking much money back at all so it will take us quite a while to be able to afford to buy over there again, suppose I shouldn't worry too much about this as happiness is more important than money.