Primary teacher skills assessment with AITSL

[Needtoknow]

Hi I'm hoping someone can help me to understand if I am now likely to achieve a positive outcome for the skills assessment for 'primary school teacher ANZSCO 241213'.

 

I have tried and tried for years to get them to understand my 3 year BA (hons) in Education with QTS is equivalent, but to no avail. However, it now appears on their website that changes have been made to the criteria from December 2015, so I am hopeful that this may be a breakthrough for me.

 

I would appreciate any opinions on this and here are the details:

 

Three years ago I asked for a skills assessment with the AITSL assessment body and they rejected me stating that...

 

'while your application had been assessed as meeting the professional and English language proficiency criteria, it had been assessed as not meeting the educational criterion of completion of at least 4 years of higher education study comparable to the level of an Australian Bachelor degree.

They continued to say that ...

'The Bachelor of Arts in Education is a three year honours degree program and was assessed as comparable to 3 years of full time study at Australian Bachelor degree level.'

 

I looked at the AITSL website today and it says that changes came into effect in December 2015. Here they are copied and pasted onto here:

 

AITSL will now consider educational qualification/s comparable to the educational level of an Associate Degree or Advanced Diploma (Australian Qualifications Framework Level 6).

 

Please note, the Professional Criterion remains unchanged in that an applicant’s Initial Teacher Education (ITE) qualification/s must be comparable to the educational level of an Australian Bachelor degree (AQF7) or higher.

The amendment is consistent with nationally consistent registration for teachers in Australia.

 

I have looked at associate degrees or advanced diplomas in Australia and these are 1.5 to 2 years in duration and are Level 6, whilst a Bachelor degree is level 7 and a bachelor honours degree is level 8.

 

As they stated in my assessment outcome letter that I had met the professional and English language proficiency criteria, does this now mean that I have met the educational criteria?

 

Although it still says:

New criteria:

“Study assessed by AITSL as comparable to at least four years full-time (or part-timeequivalent) higher education (university) level study in Australia that results in a qualification/s.”This amendment sees the deletion of: “comparable to the educational level of an Australianbachelor degree (AQF7) or higher”.

 

Does this mean that my 3 year bachelor honours degree might be equivalent to 4 years worth of Australian associate degrees or advanced diplomas.

 

Essay over

 

I look forward to anyone who may try to unravel this for me please, as I find it extremely confusing.

 

Thank you

[Petals]

As far as I am aware you need to to have a four year education degree or a three year bachelor degree and a post graduate teaching diploma. Both my children are teachers and that is what they have. Need another year of university education.

[Tickled Pink]

Three years is never going to work for you. Look at every teaching thread on here and all will discuss the need for four years university education, and within that the specified number of supervised teaching hours to meet as a minimum. If you only have three years the only option you have available is to top this up with a masters or similar.

[chouse]

I agree with Ticked Pink, the U.K. Government are offering postgraduate loans for masters starting this next academic year so it's as good a time as any and distance learning courses are included so you can complete it let time around work. Plus Primary Teaching is only available on some of the regional sponsorship lists too so another option might be completing a second PGCE in SEN (one year part time SENCo course might count) to open up more options to you?

 

 

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[Sammy1]

You still need four years of university education. I recommend that you undertake a one year university course, whether a masters or a grad certificate in an applicable area.

 

Your three years BA is simply not equivalent (however much you may have argued with them) because you studied for three years, not four, the honours part makes no difference.

 

Australian graduates also meed a mandatory four years of tertiary education to be registered by any teaching board in Australia, nothing has changed in that regards either.

 

Your honours degree is also not equivalent to an honours degree here for education. Education graduates study for four years, then if their achievement is high enough, they can take an additional fifth year of study to gain honours.

[Needtoknow]

Thanks for your input everyone. It looks like I have no choice but to study again then, so either that, or I will go into a different job. The thought of not having to think about work every waking hour sounds quite attractive, ha ha. I'm trying to be upbeat about a frustrating situation

[Sammy1]

Thanks for your input everyone. It looks like I have no choice but to study again then, so either that, or I will go into a different job. The thought of not having to think about work every waking hour sounds quite attractive, ha ha. I'm trying to be upbeat about a frustrating situation

 

There are plenty of one year courses that you can do, just bite the bullet and do one. A year is not a long time in the grand scheme of things.

 

Perhaps even consider secondary training? There is a huge over supply of primary teachers here anyway.

[Needtoknow]

Hi Sammy. Thanks for that. 5 years! I wonder why the UK and Australia have such different requirements. I just wish I had known before I chose this degree as it has caused so many problems for me. It looks like I may have to pay international student fees too which are very high as we may be coming to Oz on a 457 through my partner if we get approved!

 

You still need four years of university education. I recommend that you undertake a one year university course, whether a masters or a grad certificate in an applicable area.

 

Your three years BA is simply not equivalent (however much you may have argued with them) because you studied for three years, not four, the honours part makes no difference.

 

Australian graduates also meed a mandatory four years of tertiary education to be registered by any teaching board in Australia, nothing has changed in that regards either.

 

Your honours degree is also not equivalent to an honours degree here for education. Education graduates study for four years, then if their achievement is high enough, they can take an additional fifth year of study to gain honours.

[Tickled Pink]

The reason why the UK and Australia have such different requirements is because they are two entirely unconnected countries, on different sides of the world and have entirely different and individual rules, regulations and laws!

 

Don't come here thinking because the language is the same other things will be too. Very different countries in a multitude of ways.

[Sammy1]

Hi Sammy. Thanks for that. 5 years! I wonder why the UK and Australia have such different requirements. I just wish I had known before I chose this degree as it has caused so many problems for me. It looks like I may have to pay international student fees too which are very high as we may be coming to Oz on a 457 through my partner if we get approved!

 

 

They are different countries and as such have different requirements.

 

I guess that you love to teach? Then don't look on it as negative that you did this degree, you obviously chose it for a reason and so you could teach in the UK.

 

Just because it does not match requirements in another country, is not the end of the world. You have avenues open to you and you can always study part time and online once you get here. A teaching degree never goes to waste and there are dozens of different one year grad certificate courses that you can do here to match your interests.

 

Study is far more flexible here (due to the vast distances) than it is in the UK and many people do study online, you may even enjoy it

[VERYSTORMY]

Is primary teacher still available as an occupation?

[Sammy1]

Is primary teacher still available as an occupation?

 

I believe it was a little while ago in Victoria (no idea about now), but it specified the ability to teach another language. However, if the OP is coming over on her husband's visa that won't matter so much, the years of mandatory study will.

[Needtoknow]

That sounds good and maybe I could do something with early years as that is the only teaching position that seems to be in demand. Although I teach infants, I haven't been involved with 0-3 years which I have been told you must have. I think I'll wait until I get there and look into things more thoroughly. Do you know if studying online will incur the same fees as a university based course and will these courses be accepted by BOSTES?

 

They are different countries and as such have different requirements.

 

I guess that you love to teach? Then don't look on it as negative that you did this degree, you obviously chose it for a reason and so you could teach in the UK.

 

Just because it does not match requirements in another country, is not the end of the world. You have avenues open to you and you can always study part time and online once you get here. A teaching degree never goes to waste and there are dozens of different one year grad certificate courses that you can do here to match your interests.

 

Study is far more flexible here (due to the vast distances) than it is in the UK and many people do study online, you may even enjoy it

[Needtoknow]

It's on the CSOL list, but early childhood teacher is on the SOL list. However, a MA told me that northern territory is the only state sponsoring primary teachers at the moment.

Is primary teacher still available as an occupation?

[Sammy1]

That sounds good and maybe I could do something with early years as that is the only teaching position that seems to be in demand. Although I teach infants, I haven't been involved with 0-3 years which I have been told you must have. I think I'll wait until I get there and look into things more thoroughly. Do you know if studying online will incur the same fees as a university based course and will these courses be accepted by BOSTES?

 

Early childhood would be a good choice as you would also be able to teach in other settings such as day care, not as well paid, but always a start.

 

Online courses (from accredited universities) are absolutely accepted for registration - it is very much the norm in Australia and the universities are well set up for it.

 

All pracs would be in a school and/or day care setting for early childhood. The fees are no cheaper unfortunately as the content is exactly the same as when studied face to face, but lectures are listened to/watched online as is contact with tutors.

 

Nearly every university in Australia offers external/online courses.

[Needtoknow]

I think I'll do that, although I don't know where I'll get the fees from. I would probably get some sort of help in UK (student loan or something), but I won't be able to do that in Australia will I?

Early childhood would be a good choice as you would also be able to teach in other settings such as day care, not as well paid, but always a start.

 

Online courses (from accredited universities) are absolutely accepted for registration - it is very much the norm in Australia and the universities are well set up for it.

 

All pracs would be in a school and/or day care setting for early childhood. The fees are no cheaper unfortunately as the content is exactly the same as when studied face to face, but lectures are listened to/watched online as is contact with tutors.

 

Nearly every university in Australia offers external/online courses.

[Tickled Pink]

Only Australian citizens are entitled to loans to cover fees. PR visa holders pay the home student rate, but this must be paid in advance. 457 visa holders are considered international students and pay accordingly.

[Needtoknow]

Thanks. Sadly, that is what I thought so may have to wait a while.

Only Australian citizens are entitled to loans to cover fees. PR visa holders pay the home student rate, but this must be paid in advance. 457 visa holders are considered international students and pay accordingly.

[Sammy1]

Thanks. Sadly, that is what I thought so may have to wait a while.

 

Once you are here, you can work and also do unit a semester, that would be be the most affordable way to do it. This may take a while, but I always look at the big picture and the long term benefit.

 

I am just talking as someone who has completed post grad study twice in Australia, the second time whilst I was teaching full time. It was hard, but worth it.

[chouse]

Hi Sammy. Thanks for that. 5 years! I wonder why the UK and Australia have such different requirements. I just wish I had known before I chose this degree as it has caused so many problems for me. It looks like I may have to pay international student fees too which are very high as we may be coming to Oz on a 457 through my partner if we get approved!

 

Hi need to know,

 

Don't know how helpful this may be but I've been looking at OU to complete yet another qualification. As I said before the UK government is giving loans from September this year. OU have masters in Education starting October (and you might be able to get a credit transfer for some of it, depends on the MA credits of your PGCE element) but if you're a UK resident on the first day of your course you can still study via distance learning in any other country. So if you're not leaving on your partners 457 until after that you could take this route. You may be able to teach on supply and get a temp teaching reg while you do the online study.

 

It's a bit of a cheeky loophole but it'd work out cheaper and you'd still get to work in Aus on the 457, get the extra years education you need for the 189/190 assessment.

[jaimey]

So with a 3 year law degree and pgce primary would I still need to study more or is this only if you do the degree in teaching?x

 

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[Needtoknow]

So with a 3 year law degree and pgce primary would I still need to study more or is this only if you do the degree in teaching?x

 

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You are fine as you have done 4 years of university education. Your 3 yr degree in law and a PGCE amounts to 4 years, as long as you have done at least 45 days of supervised teaching practice you should be ok.

[Needtoknow]

You are fine as you have done 4 years of university education. Your 3 yr degree in law and a PGCE amounts to 4 years, as long as you have done at least 45 days of supervised teaching practice you should be ok.

 

I didn't do a PGCE. I did the 3 year BA in Education with QTS.

[Needtoknow]

Once you are here, you can work and also do unit a semester, that would be be the most affordable way to do it. This may take a while, but I always look at the big picture and the long term benefit.

 

I am just talking as someone who has completed post grad study twice in Australia, the second time whilst I was teaching full time. It was hard, but worth it.

 

That sounds like a more accessible plan. Thank you Sammy. I really appreciate it.

[Needtoknow]

Hi need to know,

 

Don't know how helpful this may be but I've been looking at OU to complete yet another qualification. As I said before the UK government is giving loans from September this year. OU have masters in Education starting October (and you might be able to get a credit transfer for some of it, depends on the MA credits of your PGCE element) but if you're a UK resident on the first day of your course you can still study via distance learning in any other country. So if you're not leaving on your partners 457 until after that you could take this route. You may be able to teach on supply and get a temp teaching reg while you do the online study.

 

It's a bit of a cheeky loophole but it'd work out cheaper and you'd still get to work in Aus on the 457, get the extra years education you need for the 189/190 assessment.

 

Oh this sounds brilliant, but if the 457 goes through we are going in July, as we get married there and then will stay so my soon to be husband can start his job. I wonder if there is any way I could sort this before I go, stating that the 457 is temporary and that I would have done it here if it were possible?

Are you in the UK then and planning to emigrate to Oz Chouse?