Teacher Training in VICTORIA /Australia
Jul 14th 2004, 3:49 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Teacher Training in VICTORIA /Australia
Hello Forumers
Another serious question so I feel justified in coming out of retirement for the time being. Therefore I also cover other small details here to get it all in one hit.
I have been working in my chosen profession, for 4 months and the money is good. AUS100,000 a year. The work even was straight forward to start with.
Now the pressure is increasing - well, OK, I had a bad week 2 weeks ago, which I have only just stopped flapping about.
In any case, the last 4 weeks me and my beloved wife have been discussing what we really want out of Australia now we have found our feet.
Disclaimer/Assertion : This is nothing to do with Australia or any perceived issue or problem with Straya, just a life thing.
We would really love to be rural so I am considering retraining as a secondary school teacher as I am considered to be a good teacher/instructor in past professions, have loads of life stories (read can tell the kids sexy stories "WHEN I WAS IN...") The office job was just to get some dough in the bank whilst I can blind the Aussies with my good looks and experience.
The pay cut will be half, but then the home we plan to buy will be less, and servicing a 100k mortgage on 30-40k is absolutely doable. (I would kill to have that situation in the UK*).
Aside 1:
(If you get a Line of Credit Mortage, overpayment reduces the term BIG TIME. eg By paying twice our MG payment on a 200K mortage we can pay it off in less than 5 years. not the envisaged 25 year term.)
OK so we will not be rich, but that is not our goal. We don't want new cars, and we hardly spend any money on ourselves - although:
Aside 2:
(I did go skiing at the weekend - 2hrs drive from home - the last 1hr is the climb up the mountain. It was great - I haven't skied for 3 years but was able to hurtle down from the top of the mountain in c. 40 secs. It's not much of a run though, for you Euro snobs. I fell over once. Mrs B was left at the foot with a FEMALE instructor, who said "Show Off" when I arrived in a cloud of powder. FEMALE instructor: see, I'm not just a pretty face.)
Righto on to the details.
The websites tell me, that to teach I need a First degree and I need 2 subjects, which have been covered to
a specified extent/acceptable level in that degree. Some subjects only require, say, a semester (6 months), some require longer, eg brain surgery, maths.
This gets me on to a happy-clappy-1-year-Diploma-post-grad-full-time-dubry - you get the idea. Luckily I am now happily married so this time I will be able to actually study.
You can bone up on the academics if there is any shortfall by doing more years but frankly my wife and I want a baby and I can't sit around training for staff room gossip for more than 1 year.
My academic situation : I did Law and International Relations at Uni. Well it was an old Poly as my A levels were crap due to my not studying. This was due to my athletic ability and women at college and the fact I thought it was more important to be an allrounder than get straight As :- So I tried to gain life skills rather than study and spend all my time in my bedroom pretending to be a rock star like many of my peers)
I got a 2.2 in the end much to my amazement.
(In my 2 last years at Uni, I turned up for 1 lesson per 6 months, per subject and read the one essay I did a term, someone else's notes the night before, as learning/revision!! I had a ball my last year - I spent it skiing, rowing,riding,sailing plus stints "away" overseas which I was able to conceal from my lecturers)
If you pick apart my degree, the only subjects I did were:
History (6 months)
Sociology (6 months) I may have not bothered to sit this exam as you were allowed to fail one subject a year providing you were deemed to have TAKEN it by virtue of some arcane arithmetic calculation. This calculation, if I remember, was quite complicated and I think I spent more time on this than actually doing the work ;-)
Economics (6 months)
Politics (6 months)
Law (much more)
Intl Relations (much more)
As an example, I am assuming that the 6 months (semester) equals a "SUB MAJOR" which is what is required for HISTORY as per the list (bottom of this page:
http://www.teaching.vic.gov.au/becom...alipassway.htm
Now.
QUESTION 1
Do your 2 subjects have to be ones taught in secondary???!!!
The admissions Sheila says that you can tick "Other Methods" if you can't pick from Science, maths etc.
Can anyone expand, and give examples here?
QUESTION 2 What are other state's standards?
I now open the floor to what I hope will turn in to a complete discussion on teacher training in Straya:
One last thing. If ONE person finds a typo or a grammatical mistake then they can get lost. Even teachers make mistakes.
cheers
Badge
*Your situation may be different. Your rose tinted glasses may have a different hue. You may hate Australia but I don't OK? Good.
Another serious question so I feel justified in coming out of retirement for the time being. Therefore I also cover other small details here to get it all in one hit.
I have been working in my chosen profession, for 4 months and the money is good. AUS100,000 a year. The work even was straight forward to start with.
Now the pressure is increasing - well, OK, I had a bad week 2 weeks ago, which I have only just stopped flapping about.
In any case, the last 4 weeks me and my beloved wife have been discussing what we really want out of Australia now we have found our feet.
Disclaimer/Assertion : This is nothing to do with Australia or any perceived issue or problem with Straya, just a life thing.
We would really love to be rural so I am considering retraining as a secondary school teacher as I am considered to be a good teacher/instructor in past professions, have loads of life stories (read can tell the kids sexy stories "WHEN I WAS IN...") The office job was just to get some dough in the bank whilst I can blind the Aussies with my good looks and experience.
The pay cut will be half, but then the home we plan to buy will be less, and servicing a 100k mortgage on 30-40k is absolutely doable. (I would kill to have that situation in the UK*).
Aside 1:
(If you get a Line of Credit Mortage, overpayment reduces the term BIG TIME. eg By paying twice our MG payment on a 200K mortage we can pay it off in less than 5 years. not the envisaged 25 year term.)
OK so we will not be rich, but that is not our goal. We don't want new cars, and we hardly spend any money on ourselves - although:
Aside 2:
(I did go skiing at the weekend - 2hrs drive from home - the last 1hr is the climb up the mountain. It was great - I haven't skied for 3 years but was able to hurtle down from the top of the mountain in c. 40 secs. It's not much of a run though, for you Euro snobs. I fell over once. Mrs B was left at the foot with a FEMALE instructor, who said "Show Off" when I arrived in a cloud of powder. FEMALE instructor: see, I'm not just a pretty face.)
Righto on to the details.
The websites tell me, that to teach I need a First degree and I need 2 subjects, which have been covered to
a specified extent/acceptable level in that degree. Some subjects only require, say, a semester (6 months), some require longer, eg brain surgery, maths.
This gets me on to a happy-clappy-1-year-Diploma-post-grad-full-time-dubry - you get the idea. Luckily I am now happily married so this time I will be able to actually study.
You can bone up on the academics if there is any shortfall by doing more years but frankly my wife and I want a baby and I can't sit around training for staff room gossip for more than 1 year.
My academic situation : I did Law and International Relations at Uni. Well it was an old Poly as my A levels were crap due to my not studying. This was due to my athletic ability and women at college and the fact I thought it was more important to be an allrounder than get straight As :- So I tried to gain life skills rather than study and spend all my time in my bedroom pretending to be a rock star like many of my peers)
I got a 2.2 in the end much to my amazement.
(In my 2 last years at Uni, I turned up for 1 lesson per 6 months, per subject and read the one essay I did a term, someone else's notes the night before, as learning/revision!! I had a ball my last year - I spent it skiing, rowing,riding,sailing plus stints "away" overseas which I was able to conceal from my lecturers)
If you pick apart my degree, the only subjects I did were:
History (6 months)
Sociology (6 months) I may have not bothered to sit this exam as you were allowed to fail one subject a year providing you were deemed to have TAKEN it by virtue of some arcane arithmetic calculation. This calculation, if I remember, was quite complicated and I think I spent more time on this than actually doing the work ;-)
Economics (6 months)
Politics (6 months)
Law (much more)
Intl Relations (much more)
As an example, I am assuming that the 6 months (semester) equals a "SUB MAJOR" which is what is required for HISTORY as per the list (bottom of this page:
http://www.teaching.vic.gov.au/becom...alipassway.htm
Now.
QUESTION 1
Do your 2 subjects have to be ones taught in secondary???!!!
The admissions Sheila says that you can tick "Other Methods" if you can't pick from Science, maths etc.
Can anyone expand, and give examples here?
QUESTION 2 What are other state's standards?
I now open the floor to what I hope will turn in to a complete discussion on teacher training in Straya:
One last thing. If ONE person finds a typo or a grammatical mistake then they can get lost. Even teachers make mistakes.
cheers
Badge
*Your situation may be different. Your rose tinted glasses may have a different hue. You may hate Australia but I don't OK? Good.
Last edited by badgersmount; Jul 14th 2004 at 6:23 am.
Jul 14th 2004, 4:30 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: The hills, Perth WA
Posts: 589
Why not be a PE teacher, all you need is be fit
Jul 14th 2004, 5:09 am
#3
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
Learn to cut the waffle and you might keep the kids attention.
Feedback from the brother in law and sister in law who teach in Cowra NSW.
Make sure you know the town and school. As in the city there are problem schools but with different issues. Not joking there are inbreds out there with behaviourial issues. You will be known by the whole town very quickly and going out can be difficult as the pubs tend be war zones and your pupils are everywhere. This is in a nice country town.
On the good side housing in town is affordable but then you may as "well live in penrith". The remote properties (which they currently rent) are excellent but tend to be owned by the farmers and are expensive to buy. The reason is the land is good. They really enjoy living country and living in an old farmhouse. The area they live in is beautiful but who knows what will happen if the damn runs out of water (currently below 7% and dropping).
Something to remember about teaching is your social circles will become teaching. Not for everyone. My family is all teachers and frankly teaching politics sounds like a headache.
In NSW the more quality acadaemia you have behind you the further up the q you get for the public school system. The more you work in the country the more points you get to jump the q to get into a coastal/good city school. Private schools have their own criteria.
The problem with pay is there is a barrier unless you become head of department or head master.
Feedback from the brother in law and sister in law who teach in Cowra NSW.
Make sure you know the town and school. As in the city there are problem schools but with different issues. Not joking there are inbreds out there with behaviourial issues. You will be known by the whole town very quickly and going out can be difficult as the pubs tend be war zones and your pupils are everywhere. This is in a nice country town.
On the good side housing in town is affordable but then you may as "well live in penrith". The remote properties (which they currently rent) are excellent but tend to be owned by the farmers and are expensive to buy. The reason is the land is good. They really enjoy living country and living in an old farmhouse. The area they live in is beautiful but who knows what will happen if the damn runs out of water (currently below 7% and dropping).
Something to remember about teaching is your social circles will become teaching. Not for everyone. My family is all teachers and frankly teaching politics sounds like a headache.
In NSW the more quality acadaemia you have behind you the further up the q you get for the public school system. The more you work in the country the more points you get to jump the q to get into a coastal/good city school. Private schools have their own criteria.
The problem with pay is there is a barrier unless you become head of department or head master.
Jul 14th 2004, 6:02 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by bondipom
Learn to cut the waffle and you might keep the kids attention.
Feedback from the brother in law and sister in law who teach in Cowra NSW.
Make sure you know the town and school. As in the city there are problem schools but with different issues. Not joking there are inbreds out there with behaviourial issues. You will be known by the whole town very quickly and going out can be difficult as the pubs tend be war zones and your pupils are everywhere. This is in a nice country town.
On the good side housing in town is affordable but then you may as "well live in penrith". The remote properties (which they currently rent) are excellent but tend to be owned by the farmers and are expensive to buy. The reason is the land is good. They really enjoy living country and living in an old farmhouse. The area they live in is beautiful but who knows what will happen if the damn runs out of water (currently below 7% and dropping).
Something to remember about teaching is your social circles will become teaching. Not for everyone. My family is all teachers and frankly teaching politics sounds like a headache.
In NSW the more quality acadaemia you have behind you the further up the q you get for the public school system. The more you work in the country the more points you get to jump the q to get into a coastal/good city school. Private schools have their own criteria.
The problem with pay is there is a barrier unless you become head of department or head master.
Learn to cut the waffle and you might keep the kids attention.
Feedback from the brother in law and sister in law who teach in Cowra NSW.
Make sure you know the town and school. As in the city there are problem schools but with different issues. Not joking there are inbreds out there with behaviourial issues. You will be known by the whole town very quickly and going out can be difficult as the pubs tend be war zones and your pupils are everywhere. This is in a nice country town.
On the good side housing in town is affordable but then you may as "well live in penrith". The remote properties (which they currently rent) are excellent but tend to be owned by the farmers and are expensive to buy. The reason is the land is good. They really enjoy living country and living in an old farmhouse. The area they live in is beautiful but who knows what will happen if the damn runs out of water (currently below 7% and dropping).
Something to remember about teaching is your social circles will become teaching. Not for everyone. My family is all teachers and frankly teaching politics sounds like a headache.
In NSW the more quality acadaemia you have behind you the further up the q you get for the public school system. The more you work in the country the more points you get to jump the q to get into a coastal/good city school. Private schools have their own criteria.
The problem with pay is there is a barrier unless you become head of department or head master.
thanks Bondi, you scarcy b'stard. It's not waffle, it's prose.
You mention of the social group : I get v bored with the IT circles and my eyes glaze over very quickly indeed eg Its all so effing abstract and I need more of a job where I can stamp my personality. For me that's the real attraction, make no mistake. I get no satisfaction from the Software Development Cycle. My mind gets full of numbers and I have to write long posts on expats to cheer myself up ;-)
I am under no alusions that teaching is some sort of calling. I just don't want to spend the rest of my working life in front of a pc doing maths. I need more variety, even if the kids present their own unique challenge.
cheers
Last edited by badgersmount; Jul 14th 2004 at 6:08 am.
Jul 14th 2004, 6:31 am
#5
A Male Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Townsville
Posts: 2,106
Its meant to be a challenging job, but very rewarding. We know a few teachers here in SA, and our closest friend is a teacher up in Coober Pedy. She enjoys it in the main, but she says it is EXTREMELY hard work, both emotionally and physically.
She works alot. When not actually at school she is marking, doing lesson plans, seeing parents etc. She says that Coober is one of the more difficult areas to teach in, as its a pretty rough and tumble town. There are also some problems with the indigenous people (here in SA, we are'nt officially allowed to use the term Aboriginal anymore...) Many of the points Bondi has made have been echoed by our friends before... She sees students out of school all the time, and some have been abusive (this is unusual....but it has happened more than once). Schools in these areas have a high staff turnover, with many teachers only lasting a year or two. Our friend is coming down to teach in the Mount after 2 years in Coober. She says she has had enough up there, and does'nt want that kind of stress any more.
I would say you would be best picking a school in a rural city, somthing like Bendigo, Ballarat, Horsham etc, for the best combination of anonimity, and for the ability to teach at the better schools in that area (dependant on work availability etc).
Cheers
Pete
She works alot. When not actually at school she is marking, doing lesson plans, seeing parents etc. She says that Coober is one of the more difficult areas to teach in, as its a pretty rough and tumble town. There are also some problems with the indigenous people (here in SA, we are'nt officially allowed to use the term Aboriginal anymore...) Many of the points Bondi has made have been echoed by our friends before... She sees students out of school all the time, and some have been abusive (this is unusual....but it has happened more than once). Schools in these areas have a high staff turnover, with many teachers only lasting a year or two. Our friend is coming down to teach in the Mount after 2 years in Coober. She says she has had enough up there, and does'nt want that kind of stress any more.
I would say you would be best picking a school in a rural city, somthing like Bendigo, Ballarat, Horsham etc, for the best combination of anonimity, and for the ability to teach at the better schools in that area (dependant on work availability etc).
Cheers
Pete
Jul 14th 2004, 6:48 am
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by PeteY
Its meant to be a challenging job, but very rewarding. We know a few teachers here in SA, and our closest friend is a teacher up in Coober Pedy. She enjoys it in the main, but she says it is EXTREMELY hard work, both emotionally and physically.
Its meant to be a challenging job, but very rewarding. We know a few teachers here in SA, and our closest friend is a teacher up in Coober Pedy. She enjoys it in the main, but she says it is EXTREMELY hard work, both emotionally and physically.
I would say you would be best picking a school in a rural city, somthing like Bendigo, Ballarat, Horsham etc, for the best combination of anonimity, and for the ability to teach at the better schools in that area (dependant on work availability etc).
I like the idea of PT; rugby coaching et cetera et cetera.
Badge
Jul 14th 2004, 9:55 am
#7
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
Originally posted by badgersmount
thanks Bondi, you scarcy b'stard. It's not waffle, it's prose.
You mention of the social group : I get v bored with the IT circles and my eyes glaze over very quickly indeed eg Its all so effing abstract and I need more of a job where I can stamp my personality. For me that's the real attraction, make no mistake. I get no satisfaction from the Software Development Cycle. My mind gets full of numbers and I have to write long posts on expats to cheer myself up ;-)
I am under no alusions that teaching is some sort of calling. I just don't want to spend the rest of my working life in front of a pc doing maths. I need more variety, even if the kids present their own unique challenge.
cheers
thanks Bondi, you scarcy b'stard. It's not waffle, it's prose.
You mention of the social group : I get v bored with the IT circles and my eyes glaze over very quickly indeed eg Its all so effing abstract and I need more of a job where I can stamp my personality. For me that's the real attraction, make no mistake. I get no satisfaction from the Software Development Cycle. My mind gets full of numbers and I have to write long posts on expats to cheer myself up ;-)
I am under no alusions that teaching is some sort of calling. I just don't want to spend the rest of my working life in front of a pc doing maths. I need more variety, even if the kids present their own unique challenge.
cheers
If I ever wanted to wind them up I would mention all the holidays.
Modern UK teaching seems to require more and more paperwork and prescribed methodology to meet set standards.Hopefully tennisoz will pop in with some info on Victorian teacher selection.
Jul 14th 2004, 11:27 am
#8
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2,389
Originally posted by bondipom
There is no doubt of the value and reward from the job. My Mum, 3 uncles, 2 aunts and gran are or were teachers back in the UK. :scared:
If I ever wanted to wind them up I would mention all the holidays. Modern UK teaching seems to require more and more paperwork and prescribed methodology to meet set standards.
Hopefully tennisoz will pop in with some info on Victorian teacher selection.
There is no doubt of the value and reward from the job. My Mum, 3 uncles, 2 aunts and gran are or were teachers back in the UK. :scared:
If I ever wanted to wind them up I would mention all the holidays.
Modern UK teaching seems to require more and more paperwork and prescribed methodology to meet set standards.Hopefully tennisoz will pop in with some info on Victorian teacher selection.
I have friends who are teachers in Melb. dept. head - in a nice girls school, BP was right, you probably need to get to depart head to earn enough to support a family.
good luck BM
Jul 14th 2004, 11:01 pm
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by helinuk
I'm sure OT would help you BM but he's on his hols in Melb right now not posting . Do you know his addie in Williamstown? LOL try sending him a PM to reply to you when he returns to uk.
I have friends who are teachers in Melb. dept. head - in a nice girls school, BP was right, you probably need to get to depart head to earn enough to support a family.
good luck BM
I'm sure OT would help you BM but he's on his hols in Melb right now not posting . Do you know his addie in Williamstown? LOL try sending him a PM to reply to you when he returns to uk.
I have friends who are teachers in Melb. dept. head - in a nice girls school, BP was right, you probably need to get to depart head to earn enough to support a family.
good luck BM
Many thanks.
I am sure OzT will show up at some point.
BM
