Teachers Moving or Living in Australia

[rosiew]

It also concerns me that people say "Oh well, I am prepared to look at private schools" as though it is easier to get a job in a private school. In my experience there is just as much competition for those places - if not more.

[milliem]

Going to throw in my tuppence again.

 

Yes jobs are scarce and interviews are tough to secure. Coolbreeze you seem to have a well considered and flexible plan in terms of securing work upon arrival. That's good.

 

In my experience as a UK teacher you will hold some cards in the independent sector in Oz. They have been rolling out the Australian National Curriculum here and for my money they will soon be rolling out a new national schools inspectorate body and a national assessment system. There will be observations, target setting, marking scrutiny, preparing portfolios of levelled work etc etc. As a UK teacher you are well versed in these things including preparing plans from national specifications and it can give you an edge at interview.

 

Also from an SEN perspective, you will most likely have received much more professional development and training with specific needs and differentiation strategies, another edge. Independent schools are lagging in this area in Oz as most schools have not fully allocated resources beyond primary age. Learning enrichment departments are still sparsely resourced as the funding can be devolved in other areas.

 

I have noticed that there are also many alternative curriculum independent schools here for pupils disengaged from mainstream schools if you have SEN or EBD experience.

 

Best of luck

 

Millie

[Keefo]

We've been told by people in WA that schools there still have a shortage of Maths & Science teachers and that from next year they will require even more as year 7's are to be moved up to secondary school instead of primary. It's strange as you get differing opinions (not knocking anybody at all) as people will have different experiences

[Sammy1]

We've been told by people in WA that schools there still have a shortage of Maths & Science teachers and that from next year they will require even more as year 7's are to be moved up to secondary school instead of primary. It's strange as you get differing opinions (not knocking anybody at all) as people will have different experiences

 

I am in WA. In 2015 there will be opportunities for maths,science and design and technology secondary teachers as year 7's for the first time will start at high school. In response to this, the WA education department has been training primary teachers (via a specialist certificate at university) to be able to teach lower secondary in these areas.

 

There will be even more of a surplus of primary teachers because a significant proportion of students will no longer be in primary. However, maths teachers (as is consistently the case) have good prospects.

 

As a result of this, last year all of the Perth universities wrote to their education students advising them to switch from primary and/or early childhood teaching to secondary teaching because of the situation.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Sammy1

[milliem]

Our 7s are in their second year of being part of high school. Initially the core teachers moved with them to high school. After a year, for a range of reasons they decided to revert to using the specialist secondary teachers for the core subjects. So I am now teaching year 7 for the first time in 8 years. This may of course be a one off scenario.

[Sammy1]

Our 7s are in their second year of being part of high school. Initially the core teachers moved with them to high school. After a year, for a range of reasons they decided to revert to using the specialist secondary teachers for the core subjects. So I am now teaching year 7 for the first time in 8 years. This may of course be a one off scenario.

 

That is not the case in WA, each state is different. Primary teachers will only be able to teach high school in WA if they have undertaken SWITCH, the WA Ed Department approved training.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Sammy1

[milliem]

That is not the case in WA, each state is different. Primary teachers will only be able to teach high school in WA if they have undertaken SWITCH, the WA Ed Department approved training.

 

This is great for WA

 

There is nothing worse than trying to undo and start algebra from scratch at the year 10 level so it is good that they will be properly trained. Year 9 is the most crucial of years for maths skills.

[wolvesaussie]

It would be nice if other recent arriving teachers came back and posted how they got on that might give people an idea instead of relying on people who have been in australia for ages..

 

I only know of two newly arrived teachers, both doing ok... first one my girlfriend, Science, now Maths/Science, arrived Augusted, secured full time perm job in Nov with a Jan start, now one term done and loving it.. had to move to Geelong from Melbourne but not so far. Applied for about 80 jobs i think it was with about 6 interviews.... Never had to teach a lesson in any interviews state nor private...

 

The other, a friend of ours, came in Jan which was a bad time as all jobs already taken, had to do other work for 6mths (non teaching), got a temp contract at the start of term 3 which lasted 2 terms in Melbournes west... Then for this year he had to head rural went up to to the Murray River for a new job is an Economcis/business teacher...

[Guest Guest226914]

I'm a maths teacher in nsw and I applied for literally 200 jobs before I got my job. I'm in a 'supposedly shortage subject area but it still wasn't easy. People told me you will get a job no problem being maths trained but it still was not a walk in the park. I got a 1 term temp contract which led to a year which now is two years and ongoing. At the time I didn't have permanent residency so I couldn't apply for permanent jobs in public schools but now I have just got it I can now start looking for something more secure but I won't leave my current job until I find a permanent job. I got lucky that my contract went long term but I was prepared to take anything I could get at the time.

 

We we get casuals coming into our school on a regular basis who have come out of uni and just can't find any job at all. People who have come out of uni 3,4 or even 5 years ago and can't find anything! It makes me feel lucky to have work. It is really tough out there across all states I think. Sammy1 is correct when you say that aboriginal schools bring its own need for dedication and experience. My school has high aboriginal enrolment and it is not an easy ride. It has toughened me up though and given me a whole new set of teaching skills but people shouldn't have the view 'I'll just go somewhere with high aboriginal intake' if you can't find a job.

 

The he other thing that shocks me I'm this country is the amount of teachers teaching subjects they are not trained in. I understand a trained geography teacher teaching history or a related subject but in my subject maths, there are vast numbers of PE teachers teaching it on temporary contracts because there are no PE jobs. So yes there is a shortage of maths trained teachers but there aren't the jobs because they are all taken up by non trained maths teachers teaching maths. I wish the government would do what the UK does and limit the number of training places at uni if there is an oversupply in a particular teaching area. It seems so stupid allowing all these people to train as teachers if there aren't the jobs!

[Guest Guest226914]

This is the full quote. Less sure now!

 

The Institute cannot recognise your interstate registration until you are provisionally or conditionally accredited. Once this has occurred, you will be required to meet the Standards for Professional Competence/Proficient Teacher. However, Full Registration from another Australian state or territory equates to Professional Competence/Proficient Teacher in NSW. So if you have current Full Registration from another Australian state or territory, the Institute will verify this with that teacher registration authority and then change your accreditation status to Professional Competence/Proficient Teacher.

 

just gone back and read through the whole thread. I think you are misunderstanding what they mean by full registration. Provisional registration is what you get initially but then you have to get a job and through your job you have to meet the standards to get full registration which takes about a year of employment. So what this is saying is that if you have got a job and met the standards to gain full registration, the your registration is transferable. You can't just get provisional registration and then transfer it to whatever state you want. That's the way I understand it anyway...whatever happens you still have to show you meet the standards before you can get interstate recognition which takes time and you need a job (in NSW anyway)

[Jimmy P]

That's great news mate!! How long has it taken?? I'm struggling with the NSW application to be honest - I need a working with children number but need to be face to face to do it! Also require a 40 minute interview to be assessed...all in all it adds up to a massive pain in the arse!! As far as I can tell these teacher registrations are transferable between states so if I got a QCT one I could transfer??

 

From what I have seen it is relatively easy to use teacher reg from one state to apply for reg in another. However NSW is different. NSW does not recognise other States registration and vice-versa...

 

I think...!

[stephenm85]

I'm a British trained primary teacher, worked for 15 years in supply and contract work in both the private and public sectors in Brisbane. Happy to help with questions.

Paul

 

Hi Paul,

 

is is there any chance you might be able to give me some help? My wife and I are both teachers and are desperate to move to Aus. We are thinking about getting a working holiday visa and looking for work whilst out there. Would you recommend this or not?

Thanks

stephen

[Kooky]

Hi everyone. Hope the plans are all going well. I am starting to draft out my cv and remember reading about needing to use the 'australian style' cv. Does anyone know why this should look like/what information should be on it? If anyone has any info or perhaps an example of one I would be extremely grateful. Thanks. Kooky.

[FamilyGuys]

Can anyone help me with query about VIT registration? Apparently I need letters from employers covering previous 5,years. Does anyone know what information these letters should contain? Presumably job title and dates but what else? Thanks!

[wolvesaussie]

I think from Memory you could go onto the VIT site and download some sort of form, I remember my girlfriend getting her head teacher to fill it out. They had to demonstrate how you had met the standards for registration or something like that

[FamilyGuys]

I think from Memory you could go onto the VIT site and download some sort of form, I remember my girlfriend getting her head teacher to fill it out. They had to demonstrate how you had met the standards for registration or something like that

Thanks wolvesaussie. I'm actually talking about the letters from previous employers not the form from the current employer. I started the process last year but then we got jobs overseas. I'm looking at it again because I've heard it can take a while and I want to start getting the paperwork together from my old schools but I don't want to start the online application just yet as it's too early for that (so I can't refer to the information on there). Anyway, thanks for your help!

[Alonsd]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are planning to move to Melbourne in Sept, she is a Biology teacher and has been for 10 years and i am a education officer in the army. My question is, would i be able to work as a teacher in Oz having never taught in the UK? I have a PGCE (PCET) and a degree in Genetics and just finishing a Masters in educational innovation and practice. I've been teaching soldiers for the last 6 years in a variety of subjects, like, operational languages, maths and english (level 2 only) and military studies. My plan is to work in training development but it would be good to have other avenues to go down. If I could teach in Oz science would be my chosen subject.

regards

Andy

[PositivePixie]

I'm a maths teacher in nsw and I applied for literally 200 jobs before I got my job. I'm in a 'supposedly shortage subject area but it still wasn't easy. People told me you will get a job no problem being maths trained but it still was not a walk in the park. I got a 1 term temp contract which led to a year which now is two years and ongoing. At the time I didn't have permanent residency so I couldn't apply for permanent jobs in public schools but now I have just got it I can now start looking for something more secure but I won't leave my current job until I find a permanent job. I got lucky that my contract went long term but I was prepared to take anything I could get at the time.

 

You might find this was the major issue - for example I know none of my schools will consider anyone without PR - its just not worth their while (no matter how 'definite' getting PR is, unless they already have it, my schools just aren't interested).

 

It is really tough out there across all states I think. Sammy1 is correct when you say that aboriginal schools bring its own need for dedication and experience. My school has high aboriginal enrollment and it is not an easy ride. It has toughened me up though and given me a whole new set of teaching skills but people shouldn't have the view 'I'll just go somewhere with high aboriginal intake' if you can't find a job.

 

 

I've worked in a remote Indigenous Community and whilst that does take a realistic outlook, this just really came across as racist to me - if you fail children before you've even met them, they tend to 'live up' to that attitude. Just Wow really.

 

I wish the government would do what the UK does and limit the number of training places at uni if there is an oversupply in a particular teaching area. It seems so stupid allowing all these people to train as teachers if there aren't the jobs!

 

This really isn't what happens in the UK - for years and years there have been reports about how many teachers are out of work especially new graduates as they are massively over training teachers and churning out wayyyyy too many teachers in the UK - the universities need the fees, so they aren't going to stop, and as there isn't any teacher regulatory/register board in the UK anymore, who is going to set these teacher levels?

[PositivePixie]

Hi Paul,

 

is is there any chance you might be able to give me some help? My wife and I are both teachers and are desperate to move to Aus. We are thinking about getting a working holiday visa and looking for work whilst out there. Would you recommend this or not?

Thanks

stephen

 

It depends what work you want to do - here in Adelaide, if you want to do some TRT work you might get one of the two agencies allowing you to register with them, but other than that I wouldn't have thought you would get anything at all - I know you wouldn't get any sort of contract at all at any of the schools I work at, they just don't look at anything other than PR visas tbh.

 

If you want to move here in the long term, look at obtaining a visa first would be my advice as its easier to hit the ground running than to go back and forth with regards to visas.

 

HTH

[wolvesaussie]

Working holiday should be ok here in Melbourne for suply teaching. I have met a few english/Canadian and americans doing supply in inner Melbourne on WHV. Picking up regular work... Not sure if it could be used as an avenue to stay longer tho, probably better looking at other visas

[Rosebud13]

I have followed this thread for a while and am interested to know how those migrating to Oz now are finding the job situation? It sounds very negative from a lot of posts (rightly given the over supply of Teachers), but I wondered what you had actually found when applying and actually getting to Oz?

[Sammy1]

As of April 16th there is a freeze on all public sector recruitment in WA (unless given prior permission). This includes teachers.

 

I would say potential teachers to WA should look at the private sector. It's going to get a lot rougher.

 

http://www.sstuwa.org.au/sstuwa/state-govt-funding/state-funding-news/9745-recruitment-and-advertising-freeze-could-impact-students

Edited May 3, 2014 by Sammy1

[Vanduex]

Arriving in QLD in Sept

[milliem]

I am on a temporary visa and did secure a full time permanent contract. QLD I am in a shortage subject though.

 

We are planning a move at the end of the year and I have started to apply for 2015 jobs. In the last month I have applied for 14 jobs. I have heard back from 7 schools so far. Two job interviews, 3 rejections. One has phoned to say I have been short listed but due to there being 140 applicants, it is taking some time. I have attended one so far and got it; but they decided they wanted a sooner start so couldn't take it. I have another interview on 23rd. I still have 7 still to hear from and I am in the middle of another app at the moment. TBH I don't think my visa has made much difference to my applications; maybe in some cases.

 

If I don't get another job I will stay where I am but I would prefer more senior physics /science to teach instead of senior maths and somewhere that is more academically rigorous if possible. It is mostly country kids where I am and they are lovely but lacking ambition most are likely to work on their farms when they leave school.

 

Millie

[Keefo]

As of April 16th there is a freeze on all public sector recruitment in WA (unless given prior permission). This includes teachers.

 

I would say potential teachers to WA should look at the private sector. It's going to get a lot rougher.

 

http://www.sstuwa.org.au/sstuwa/state-govt-funding/state-funding-news/9745-recruitment-and-advertising-freeze-could-impact-students

 

Wow, one minute it sounds positive as Maths & Science are in demand and that from next year primary year 7's are getting moved up to secondary so they will need more staff to this situation....We don't know what to do, this after shelling out 3.5k on applying for PR visa.