Wow! Thinking about heading down under from Northern Ireland

[Peggysue100]

Hi all!

 

I'm a teacher in Northern Ireland and I have this BIG urge that doesn't want to go away to come down to Australia and live. I'd love to work in a Special Needs school or in a mainstream school with a unit. I have no idea of the wages in Australia so any help would be great.

 

I have a few friends in Geelong so I reckon that we will start there.

 

I have a few random questions if someone could help me out I would be really grateful:

 

Are there second hand shops in Australia (I'm obsessed)

I eat Gluten free foods so is that an issue in Australia

I have 3 children - 2 who are very much into drama, dance and singing - any idea what clubs are available?

 

Anyone who is from Northern Ireland at the early stages and would like to chat/ even meet up let me know.

 

Thank you all

[Sammy1]

Hi all!

 

I'm a teacher in Northern Ireland and I have this BIG urge that doesn't want to go away to come down to Australia and live. I'd love to work in a Special Needs school or in a mainstream school with a unit. I have no idea of the wages in Australia so any help would be great.

 

I have a few friends in Geelong so I reckon that we will start there.

 

I have a few random questions if someone could help me out I would be really grateful:

 

Are there second hand shops in Australia (I'm obsessed)

I eat Gluten free foods so is that an issue in Australia

I have 3 children - 2 who are very much into drama, dance and singing - any idea what clubs are available?

 

Anyone who is from Northern Ireland at the early stages and would like to chat/ even meet up let me know.

 

Thank you all

 

Yes, we have second hand shops here.

Yes, we have people who are gluten intolerant and so it will not be an issue.

Yes, we have lots of clubs to cater for all tastes.

 

As far as teaching salaries, I can advise for WA. Very experienced teachers earn around $100,000. There is a sliding scale depending on experience/number of years teaching.

 

It is important to note that you must have four years of university education to be able to teach in Australia.

 

http://det.wa.edu.au/careers/detcms/navigation/teachers-and-school-leaders/employment-conditions/salaries-and-teaching-levels/

Edited August 20, 2016 by Sammy1

[Diane]

Second hand shops here are called Op Shops

[Peggysue100]

Wow thank you for the fast reply . I'm loving this forum already!

[VERYSTORMY]

What do you teach?

[Bob1]

Australia has two of the top 25 drama schools in the world - WAAPA - Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and NIDA.

[Diane]

Australia has two of the top 25 drama schools in the world - WAAPA - Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and NIDA.

 

Victoria also has the VCA and Adelaide the ACA which are both of an excellent standard (my daughter is studying at ACA) but if you are looking for kids classes I'm sure you'll have no trouble. My daughter did Musical Theatre classes for many years through a group here in SA called Pelican Productions http://www.pelicanproductions.com.au/ whose instructors are all professionals (choreographers, vocal coaches etc) of a very high standard - Jen and Kylie who run this are the nicest people you could imagine so if you were looking for something similar in Victoria, you could probably message them via their Facebook page and they could point you in the right direction.

[Guest]

My main concern would be what age group you teach as there is a big over subscription of teachers in many parts of Aus and posts can be few and far between.

 

I'd research throughly about special needs schools in Aus, especially in areas you want to consider living. Find out if there is a demand for teachers in that area.

 

Also I'd not base where you start on where your friends are living. I'd look to where there may be work and go from there. Each state is going to have its occupation list and Vic may not even need teachers when it comes to you applying. Regional Victoria might, but Melbourne and Geelong may have far too many teachers vying for jobs to make it a viable option or want to take a risk on, especially with 3 kids.

 

OP shops here can be found most everywhere. I find them pretty poor compared to what I was used to in England. Mainly as it seems here people will sell and buy anything (Gumtree and buy and sell pages on FB are insane), even if its broken or worn out and so what does end up in many op shops isn't much cop anyways. I used to regularly donate to op shops in England and buy from them but since being here I've only donated once and tend to only buy books from them. I sell most of my stuff on buy and sell pages and put the money to other things.

 

Gluten free foods are here. Supermarkets stock them.

[Peggysue100]

My main concern would be what age group you teach as there is a big over subscription of teachers in many parts of Aus and posts can be few and far between.

 

I'd research throughly about special needs schools in Aus, especially in areas you want to consider living. Find out if there is a demand for teachers in that area.

 

Also I'd not base where you start on where your friends are living. I'd look to where there may be work and go from there. Each state is going to have its occupation list and Vic may not even need teachers when it comes to you applying. Regional Victoria might, but Melbourne and Geelong may have far too many teachers vying for jobs to make it a viable option or want to take a risk on, especially with 3 kids.

 

OP shops here can be found most everywhere. I find them pretty poor compared to what I was used to in England. Mainly as it seems here people will sell and buy anything (Gumtree and buy and sell pages on FB are insane), even if its broken or worn out and so what does end up in many op shops isn't much cop anyways. I used to regularly donate to op shops in England and buy from them but since being here I've only donated once and tend to only buy books from them. I sell most of my stuff on buy and sell pages and put the money to other things.

 

Gluten free foods are here. Supermarkets stock them.

 

 

Ideally I would love to work with foundation stage children but I'm trained up to age 16. As for researching the need should I contact the schools directly. We are flexible about where we end up. We love travelling and do see everything as an adventure.

[Sammy1]

Ideally I would love to work with foundation stage children but I'm trained up to age 16. As for researching the need should I contact the schools directly. We are flexible about where we end up. We love travelling and do see everything as an adventure.

 

First step is to see if your skills are needed and on any list. No point in contacting schools directly as you need to secure a visa, then you have to register with the Teacher Registration Board in the state in which you intend to live. Both of these processes take quite some time and require a lot of paperwork, including proof of four years of university and 45 days minimum of supervised teaching as a student. Teaching is very competitive here and many are looking for work, so it is about what you can offer.

 

If you are a trained special needs teacher, then that is your starting point.

[Diane]

...Mainly as it seems here people will sell and buy anything (Gumtree and buy and sell pages on FB are insane), even if its broken or worn out ....

 

That did make me smile! I even saw a post from someone trying to sell a mattress that was not only stained, but also damaged (which was the reason the seller was replacing it, as it obviously was not comfortable to sleep on because of the damage!)