joedolce

I have a PGCE and 8 years experience teaching and leading Computer Science in the UK and international schools. I am also currently studying for a masters in the subject. I know that my points afford me a visa but I wondered whether actually getting work was easy, difficult or impossible for someone in my sector.

We are a family of 4 and I am currently looking in to getting my visa for a near-future permanent move. However, I want to know whether I can secure a job before I move (if I had the paperwork in place) or whether I would actually have to be on the soil before being employed. I read an article on TES about someone who moved over there to work in a private school in Sydney and they made it sound easy. A different TES article also stated that I would be offered interviews over Skype, but everything else I read makes it seem like I'd be unemployed in the country or doing temporary cover work while I found something permanent.

Obviously, with a family, I can't really risk selling everything and moving to the other side of the world only to have little chance of securing a job, burning through the savings and moving back. I understand that I will have to take some serious risks to make this happen, which I am prepared for, but I need to properly assess these before I start the process.

Any advice would be much appreciated

quoll

Generally difficult. Private schools are more likely to take on a foreigner but government schools tend to be well oversubscribed for teachers in places that people actually want to live. The more remote you are the more likely you are to get a job but whether you’d want to live there is a whole other issue.

carcajou

Not easy, no, far from it. Of the three options you listed "difficult" is the one.

As for TES, what year is the article from? It was easy at one time, but that ship sailed about a decade ago. I will put it this way, I am in WA which is currently in recession and the Education Department is in massive cutback, but we are still getting teachers rocking up from Sydney because the hiring conditions there are so bad.

As quoll noted - it is not correct to say there is a "shortage," it is an "imbalance," too many teachers in the cities and not enough in the Outback/remote locations.

Very, very likely you will need to be on-the-ground here, before any rocks will turn over. You will also probably have to do relief first.

If you are good, something will eventually pop open, but it's exceedingly unlikely that they are going to hire someone from the UK when there are plenty of local candidates around and you will need to do relief to prove yourself and build a local network. "Australian experience" and local word-of-mouth also counts for a lot here - they won't care very much what you did in the UK or in international schools (unless, perhaps, you are applying at international schools).

Best bet is to do a recce and speak to principals directly about the hiring market and doing relief, and the ones who are positive about that, when you do move here, call them and say you are here and ready to be on their relief list. Of course make sure you have your registration, working with children check etc in a row first, and probably best to have that done before your initial meeting so you can show you are serious.

Can you go on leave for a year in the UK while you see if something here can be sorted?

moneypenny20

There are so many graduate teachers coming out of Unis it's not funny. They're expected to go and work in woop woop for at least two years before they can even think about getting work in the cities (around the edge). Many of them end up moving to the UK and elsewhere to work. Many of them never find teaching work. However, that's not to say you won't find work and love it, I honestly think the days of teachers and nurses coming out and finding permanent work with no problem have long gone. Sorry to be such a downer, just my opinion.