What qualifications are required to become a Teacher

[Guest sunseeker77]

Hi, I am hopefully on the way to gaining my PR and now my thoughts are turning to getting a job when I arrive in Australia. FOr some time I have been considering retraining to become a teacher, probably of young children, and I was wondering if anyone knows what qualifications I would need to gain to do this in Australia? Im happy to go back to Uni, I already have a BSc and MSc, do these count towards a conversion course or whether I would need to start from scratch? Any info about this or experience would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

[Quoll]

Hi, I am hopefully on the way to gaining my PR and now my thoughts are turning to getting a job when I arrive in Australia. FOr some time I have been considering retraining to become a teacher, probably of young children, and I was wondering if anyone knows what qualifications I would need to gain to do this in Australia? Im happy to go back to Uni, I already have a BSc and MSc, do these count towards a conversion course or whether I would need to start from scratch? Any info about this or experience would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

 

You will need a PGCE on top of your first degree - the masters is, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant in this context unless it is a Masters of Education. PGCE is a one year course (dont go for the on the job training option, Aus wont accept that) and you would be wise to get your NQT year under your belt as well.

 

If you have a science degree and masters then dont waste it on teaching young kids - primary school teachers are ten a penny, go for secondary maths and science and you will have a better shot at a job

[PositivePixie]

It depends on what state you want to go to - education is run slightly (only slightly, but all independent of each other) differently in each state, so easiest probably to train in the state you want to live and work in for lots of reasons really.

 

Here is a list of uni's offering education qualifications:

http://www.australian-universities.com/schools/teaching/

 

I haven't looked at them all, but for the few I looked at, as you hold an undergraduate degree already you can do a Post Graduate course, for eg, in Sydney you can do a Masters of Education, which is a 2 year full time course. There is however a requirement on your undergraduate degree to be eligible, so that's something you would need to look into, otherwise you would need to take an undergraduate degree in education. I believe different states have different requirements on this, as above really, hence my advice to look specifically at the state you are interested in going to.

 

Be aware of the situation with regards to teaching in Australia - especially for Primary Teaching it is not the case you can walk into a job where-ever you want one, especially in the Metro areas - and some states have a points system for working rural before you can get a city posting - however at least you will be cheap so that helps

 

If you haven't any experience of teaching I seriously would suggest you undertake some work experience, and take that experience with a large pinch of salt, teaching generally isn't really just a job it tends to eat up your life lol.

 

Hope that helps some and gives you a starting point at least

 

Edit: Sorry, didn't even consider you training over here - you would be hard pushed to get on a Primary PGCE course here in the UK as they are MASSIVELY oversubscribed. Once you get your PGCE here you may well find you struggle to get your NQT year job as well - have a look on the TES website forums for an idea of what the job situation is in the UK for teachers at the moment. Also,to be honest, if you are planning on working in Australia imho it would be better to study over there as you know the system etc you will be using, rather than training in UK ways and having to go up against Aussie trained teachers, and just for personal peace of mind as well, but as I say, imho.

[Rudi]

You will needs you original degree assessed in the state you are heading to, and they will come back and tell you what you need to do to get full teacher accreditation. As Quoll says, in all honesty, your masters is irrelevant in the assessment process.

 

For me, I was required to do a minimum of a 1 year diploma, but a friend of mine had to do 1 year, plus pick up a couple of extra units as her degree was not deemed to have covered enough of the requirements. I had only as BSc at the time - she had a BA and an Masters in psychology.

 

I actually ended up doing an 18 month masters course by distance education as it allowed me not to have to go to uni and I was able to do teaching prac at my local schools.

 

Love

 

Rudi

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