Mally53

Im a primary School teacher, hoping to find a permanent teaching position in Perth.

I would also be looking to start a family within 12 months of making the move.
I want to know how the maternity benefits system work if you are a teacher on a permanent/fixed-term/temp contract, i.e. would i be entitled to maternity pay? How long will this last etc?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

quoll

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/s...veParental.htm I wouldnt tell them that you are planning on having a family as soon as you arrive, that would go down like a lead balloon! You have to have been a permanent employee and had 12 months continuous service to access maternity leave.

itigo

Woah! So many changes! Have you researched the teaching situation in Perth? Just cos in Queensland they work a pool for the whole STATE and as an overseas teacher likely to be given the back of beyond as good graduates from Queensland are given the pick in the cities. I know that my best bet is to try and get short term contracts (if I'm lucky) after supplying for a while. I wouldn't be registered fully until I've done 1000 hours of supply (pretty much a year).

HTH and good luck with your move!

hereshoping

I agree with itigo- it will be difficult to get a permanent position in Perth in the first place. Your best bet is the private sector, but it will be very competitive.

Should you manage that be aware that there is no statutory maternity pay in Australia, I believe you get maternity pay if you work in the state system in most of Oz (you certainly do in VIC) for which you have to have been working for 26 weeks prior to taking leave (again based on VIC) and you get 18 weeks paid leave. There is also unpaid parental leave for up to 7 years. If you're in the private system you may very well get nothing.

Stella340

I'm in Qld but so far have only had contracts for primary teaching. Some have been long contracts, i.e. whole terms (10 weeks), others just for a few weeks. But there are many many teachers at the schools I've been at who've taught there for a year and they are only just being made permanent. This is for the state school system btw, not private.

I'm expecting a baby in 4 weeks time, so no maternity leave for me as I've only been doing contracts since June last year. Fortunately, the baby bonus will see us through my time off, and with me not working it means we will be eligible as it's now means tested - you may need to look into this if your partner will be earning over a certain amount because you won't be eligible for that if he is. The school I've been teaching at have also asked me to go back a few months after the baby is born as they have a number of teachers expecting babies this year. This is great news but again, this is likely to be contracted.

Good luck but I think a more realistic view is to think that if you're going into the state system you'll probably have short term contracts for the first year or so of teaching over here. And if you do have a baby in the next 12 months then it's unlikely you'll be eligible for maternity pay (being on a contract) but you may be eligible for the baby bonus to 'cover' your time off.

Hope that helps, good luck
Lucy