I am moving out to Australia and my aim is to become a teacher. I have a degree in physics however no teacher training/qualifications as I am not sure what Australia recognises.

If it helps I will be moving to Melbourne and plan to teach science in a secondary school and eventually move to a college level teaching physics.

I am wondering before I come over (in a year or two) if i can get the qualifications i need over here and what is the best way of doing this. Also,what are the salaries of Australian teachers (Minimum to Maximum)

James.

Hey

i am a teacher in London. I dont know much about Australia and teaching but i intend to move there in the near future and am planning to do some casual teaching until i can transition into the building industry.

from what i know in australia you you would need to get a graduate diploma in education which would take you about a year fulltime in NSW and 2 years in queensland. as a migrant this might cost some money.

In England you could do a PGCE course also for 1 year and spend the second year as an NQT then gain full qualification as a teacher. this could then be transferred to AUS.

advantage as a BRIT you pay home student fee which is not much and when you move to Aus its one less thing to do.

Yup, do your PGCE and NQT years in UK. Australia has a 4 year training for registration as a standard these days. If you get your NQT it will stand you in good stead if at some time you fancy spending some time back in UK.

Check that PGCE's are recognised first I know I had to prove I had completed4 yrs teacher training and then so many years of work exp - I think it was 6/7

As quoll states...make sure you get your NQT over with as I believe you lose your teaching status otherwise if you don't complete the year.

Check out the Teaching Australia website: http://www.teachingaustralia.edu.au/ta/go
There is a section on migration.

You also need to register with the teaching body in Victoria. Check out: http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/content.asp?Document_ID=1

Obviously training in the UK should be cheaper for you. There are also some nice financial incentives for science teachers.

Teacher salaries seem to vary by state and school. Check out http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/docu...lary_rates.pdf

After you PGCE you only need 1 year of teaching experience to qualify for 60 points on a general skilled visa. Teach for 3 years and you get another 10 points which you might need. Don't do a GTP, they're not recognised here.

Depending on where you want to teach you might be able to come out straight after PGCE, for instance WA were sponsoring science teachers with no experience but with qualifications. However I don't think they're doing that at the moment, and I wouldn't advise diving straight into a new system with no experience. Also it is generally considered wise to get your Induction out of the way in the UK, you don't lose qualified teacher status if you don't do it- but it can make it much more difficult to teach in a UK state school at a later date if you ever return (you may not plan to, but you never know what will happen)

As a physicist you'll be in great demand, VIC was sponsoring Physics teachers for 176 visas a while back (and may still be doing so, I'm not sure) though for this option you do need at least your NQT year done. \

Just by the way- we're all assuming you have a physics degree already... If not (e.g. you've got an engineering degree) you need to contact Teaching Australia to check they will recognise this subject based study as appropriate.

Hi James,
You need to have 3 year degrees plus a PGCE from an accredited university to get a job but you will start on a lower pay grade. If you do your induction year in the UK you will be more confident and also be better paid. You would probably start around step 8 which would give you an annual salary of around $62-67k depending on whether you went for a state, Catholic or private school. The incremental steps go up to step 13 for an ordinary classroom teacher adding around $2.5-3.5k at each step. Your wages can be increased by taking on added responsibilities such as head of year or head of department.

I graduated with a Bsc hons in Computing in 2004, did a PGCE in Primary education but I am permitted to teach high school as i am teaching within my degree discipline. I then did my induction year and came out to Oz in 2006. After doing a couple of weeks of relief work I was offered a full time job teaching Maths and Computing in a private K-12 school. Science, Computing and Maths teachers are highly sought-after and you should have no trouble getting a job.

Good luck

Sorry - that info on salaries is incorrect for Victoria. As it stands without the NQT year you'd be on about $52k as a Graduate teacher (G1) or about $54k if you've done your NQT year- starting on G2. The Info on the link Paddy_M provided is correct. I'm in my 5th Year of teaching and will be paid about $60k next year, plus a measly $4k for being head of year. My husband will get $6k for being head of science which is a huge department- the remuneration for responsibilities is not great, though there are other advantages.

Sorry about that, I had not realised there was such a big difference between the states . I am in WA

And I think in WA you get paid the most of any state and in VIC we get paid the least. But then I suppose they have to compensate you for living in WA

Oh play nice! WA rocks, I love this place

If you have a recognised bachelors degree, you only need to do one year full time study known as a "Diploma of Education." You only do a four education degree if you have no other university qualifications. He would have to pay up front fees in Australia of course.

Yeah HODS get to choose their own classes, boss people around, and have a reduced teaching load. Very tough.

This HOD has 22 different personalities to manage, doesn't get to choose her classes (although I am still trying) although the upside is that I can spend the College budget as well as my own!!!

Plus with 6 years exp, I am on $64k/$65k plus extra for HOD. That is in SA and unions are surrently in negotiation for more money.

I said there were advantages- I was just commenting that the renumeration wasn't great.