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Getting work as a PE teacher in Canberra


lalagirl

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My husband is a PE teacher. We're looking to more to Canberra later this year. I understand he'll have to work as a casual for the first year or two but after that does anyone know what are his chances of getting a permanent job? This is important for is because we're moving so that he can get work. Does anyone out there have an information about working as a teacher, especially a PE teacher, in the ACT?

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Wouldn't be banking on it TBH. The ACT has a defined system of appointments - recruitment round in about April/May when they consider if they will recruit you to the pool and you get graded as to their perception of your value to the system. Then placement round is in about September where they place you - the permanents get first placements then the newbies fill in the gaps, based on their recruitment round gradings so the top graded get the first positions and so on. He might end up living a life of short term contracts as there doesn't seem to be a dearth of PE teachers - if he has Maths/science as a secondary teaching area he might be better off. He might have more joy with one of the private schools - Marist, St Edmunds, Boys Grammar, Radford, Daramalan as they all have strong sport programs. He'll have to bone up on Aussie Rules as well!

start here http://www.det.act.gov.au/employment

Edited by Quoll
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Thanks Quoll, we understand he may end up with casual or temporary contracts but as long as he's getting some work it's better than where we are now. As long as there's some prospect of a job in the future then that's okay. My salary will be enough to keep us going in the mean time. He just wants to be working in his field. We're in BC, Canada now and there's absolutely no hope of him getting a job here. He can't even get on the on call list here there are so many unemployed teachers. I didn't want to move across the world so that he can work and find out that it's the same situation there.

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Thanks Quoll, we understand he may end up with casual or temporary contracts but as long as he's getting some work it's better than where we are now. As long as there's some prospect of a job in the future then that's okay. My salary will be enough to keep us going in the mean time. He just wants to be working in his field. We're in BC, Canada now and there's absolutely no hope of him getting a job here. He can't even get on the on call list here there are so many unemployed teachers. I didn't want to move across the world so that he can work and find out that it's the same situation there.

 

There are definitely more teachers than there are vacancies. There was an article in The Age just this weekend about the chronic over supply of teachers in Australia. Canberra is a very expensive place to live in and CRT rates aren't great unfortunately. I'm not sure I would be sanguine about prospects.

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I saw that it was $300 a day for a CRT, which isn't too bad. Anyway, it's not so much about the money, we don't need for him to work. As long as he's getting some work as a relief teacher than that's better than here, which is nothing, can't even get on the relief list. He's okay with a series of temporary contracts. We'd also be willing to move somewhere more rural if it means he could get a job. I will manage my expectations but as long as there's some hope then we'll come.

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ACT isn't rural and so if you get ACT sponsorship you dont really have a rural option - rural ACT, what there is of it, is one of the more expensive places to live. TBH I think it would be a very slim hope - I wouldn't do it unless you have a cast iron offer. Canberra is not a place to be poor in and PE isn't a highly sought after subject area. If he can get a job with one of the privates then by all means take the risk but you'd struggle if he only got one days CRT every couple of weeks - PE isn't core so if a PE teacher goes off a school is more likely to try and economise by some other cover. He'd probably have a better earning potential being a Personal Trainer

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Thank you for taking the time to give us this info. It's really helpful.

 

What do you mean by non-core? If a teacher goes off sick does that mean they don't have to get a substitute teacher in to cover?

 

We won't be poor, my income is enough to support us. We definitely won't have a firm offer when we get there. We'll have a look around and if need be we can always move to where there's work for him, my job is transportable.

 

You need a certificate IV to be a personal trainer. He doesn't have that so I don't think that's an option.

 

What about also registering in NSW and trying to get work in Queanbeyan or Murrumbidgee etc? He has a 5 year Masters in PE so there's no issue with the qualification.

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Thank you for taking the time to give us this info. It's really helpful.

 

What do you mean by non-core? If a teacher goes off sick does that mean they don't have to get a substitute teacher in to cover?

 

We won't be poor, my income is enough to support us. We definitely won't have a firm offer when we get there. We'll have a look around and if need be we can always move to where there's work for him, my job is transportable.

 

You need a certificate IV to be a personal trainer. He doesn't have that so I don't think that's an option.

 

What about also registering in NSW and trying to get work in Queanbeyan or Murrumbidgee etc? He has a 5 year Masters in PE so there's no issue with the qualification.

 

Murrumbidgee doesn't have any schools. He can register with NSW but if you have an ACT state sponsored visa then you have a moral obligation to work in ACT (not sure what visa you are coming on so what obligations face you but do watch out for those obligations)

 

Non core certainly does mean that schools will exercise economies where they can - and they do!

Cert iv for personal training isn't hard to get and doesn't take that much time either so if money is not a problem it might be an investment to add some strings to his bow. I reckon there is a market for private practice PTs to focus on kids fitness!

 

If you can afford it then by all means go for it, he might be lucky, he might not. He might need to adjust his expectations or change career, you never know. No one can tell you for sure and there is no accounting for the Ed department when it comes to decision making. He can put his application in now and see what happens

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