Jessie79

Hi just wondering if anyone is in the same situation as me & can share their experiences / advice? I have a 3 year primary education degree with fully qualified teacher status from the Uk, along with 11 years teaching experience. Last year I applied to BOSTES for the statement of eligibility - got conditional status meaning I would have to complete further study but they state that I can teach casually with this I then applied to the DEC NSW for the approval to teach in state schools and was turned away - stating the fact that I only have a 3 year degree not a 4 year one as a reason for not giving me approval to teach. When I queried this they gave me 3 options - to do a whole degree again, to do a Masters of Teaching or to do a 4th year upgrade course, and was told to contact universities directly to find out what my options were. Well the ones I contacted had never heard of a ''4th year upgrade' course, and the others told me that they weren't able to decide if I could do a shortened course de to previous learning i.e. credit transfer as they said it was BOSTES who had to decide this because they're the ones that accredit the courses. When I spoke to BOSTES they then said that no it's up to the universities to decide which course /únits I would have to take! So I hit a brick wall! Also when I spoke to Randstad regarding getting supply teaching they said I would need the DEC teacher number to be registered for work with them, therefore can't teach just with the BOSTES statement as BOSTES themselves had advised! After further enquiry with BOSTES, they again said that I CAN teach just with the eligibility statement - only state schools require the DEC number, so I've been looking through the job ads for about a year now for schools that don't require the DEC number to apply for a job with them but ALL of them - state /independent/ etc request that uou have approval to teach or 'the ability to gain approval to teach'' Am I being completely thick about this whole thing or are BOSTES being completely misleading? Is there anyone out there who has got work casual or permanent state /independent schools with a 3 year teaching degree? Anyone had to complete further study and can advise me on which uni to speak to? Any advise or just a share of your own experience with this would be really helpful as Im trying to work out if we should stay here or best to return to the Uk - can't really afford to study with 2 young children at home as well. Thanks.