dazarooni

Have any teachers emigrated to Oz with state sponsorship?

I'm led to believe that you would initially be posted to a school in a regional part of the state i.e not Perth, Sydney etc.

Has anyone experienced this? Where were you posted? How are you doing?

Thanks

dazarooni

Babsw

have you tried the teaching part of british expats? there are a few teachers who post on there but I would be interested to know what is 'rural' teaching and how far from the main cities they are talking about, size of towns etc and how long till you can return to the cities etc.

Pollyana

Do a search for posts by lollyno1
http://britishexpats.com/forum/member.php?u=46444
She was working in rural South Australia.

lollyno1

hi

yep was working rural for a very short time...mores the pity.

Still if I can help with anything please feel free to pm me...i still visit this site everyday but dont post much.

Glad to see the regulars are still thriving.

regards

lolly

renth

Gems too, up near Canarvon.

AndyR1976

Hiya,

I been a long time poster on this site - I am an Aussie who lived in the UK for 3-4 years and has recently returned homw with my english girlfriend - she is a schoolk teacher and thats why I read your post.

I can only speak from our experience to say that the NSW system of appointing school teachers sucks - my girlfriend (who has excellent qualifications and experience and dozens of references etc) is really disheartened at the moment - in NSW you can't simply apply for a job in a gov't school - there is a waiting list and the people on the list the longest get offered the jobs. You can bump your way up the waiting list by working out west in rural areas and then hopefully you can get far enough up the list to get a full time job in an area where you want to live.

We live on the Central Coast NSW (my home town) and we have found that there is an 8-10 year wait in our area for a full time job in Primary. We have met teachers who have been doping supply for more than a decade........

The other option is the private schools (there are about 20 on the central coast) - problem is that everyone has the same idea and there are hundreds of people applying for each job. As an example, there are 12 Catholic Primary schools within about 45 minutes drive of where we live and there have been 139 additional teachers approved by the Catholic Education office to teach in those schools THIE YEAR!

Working out west is not much fun - I was born in Nyngan in the NSW mid-west and thats where myt family are from! Its a LONG way from anywhere - the nearest decent town is Dubbo (about 2-3 hours by car) and its about 7-8 hours comfortable drive to Sydney. There are other rural towns closer where you can find work but many are at least several hours drive to the coast!

Working in rural areas simply doesn't work for many people (including us) - my girlfriend could easily get a job out west but then what would I do?? I need to work near the coast or near to large cities - so it would solve her job situation but not ours!

And there is no way I'm ever moving back out west!!!!!

In addition, primary trained teachers in Australia are not entitled to work in Day Care centres (except as assistants being payed an assistants wage rather than as a qualified teacher!)

Its been very dishearteneing for my girlfriend as she loves teaching and has trained for years to do it but now looks like she simply can't get a job! Its pretty crap that the gov't is not honest about how many positions there are available - they keep recruioting and training more and more teachers and the simple fact is that 90% of them NEVER work as a teacher because there is a ten year wait for a job!!

Not trying to be negative - everything else in our move has been fantastic - I earn good money, we have a house on the beach, we eat out 3-4 times a week and have made some great friends......the one thing we wish we could change is the job situation for my girlfriend.

NickyC

There's only a ten year wait for a job if you'll only consider jobs in affluent, desirable, beachy areas close to Sydney. If you WERE prepared to spend a couple of years rural you'd get a job immediately and leap ahead of the queue very quickly.

Why do you think your girlfriend should get a Central Coast teaching job ahead of someone who's worked for the Department for ten years? And it's nonsense that 90% of new teachers never work as a teacher - most newly trained teachers are well aware of the difficulty of getting work in good areas (it's hardly a secret!) and plan their careers accordingly.

bridie

WA has no end of teaching vacancies in rural areas, but it can take time to get the paperwork sorted (there's a surprise!!). A friend of mine had a hell of a time, took months yet they're crying out for people.

JAJ

That principle doesn't apply in other occupations (where people can apply for jobs on merit) - why should it apply to teaching?

comet555

As a teacher, I think the jobs should be going to the most qualified and best teacher. It shouldn't matter what areas they've taught before.

Let me ask this way. Should a brand new teacher who has done 2 years regional service get a job over a teacher with 10 years experience and an excellent track record from somewhere else?

Now, having said all that.... I can understand why they have evolved into the system they have. I'm sure it's incredibly difficult to get stay in remote areas and they need some incentive. Not sure how it works here but generally the pay is quite standard throughout the country so they need to offer teachers something to get them there.

NickyC

In an ideal it world it shouldn't, of course. In practice the Teachers Union in NSW have resisted all attempts (and there have been a few) to change the system so teachers can be appointed on merit. It's the way the system is - and I don't see that teachers are going to change it in a hurry.

To be honest, I'd be a bit pissed off if I was a teacher and had done the right thing and spent three years in a remote location only to find all the good jobs being given to someone just landed, with no Australian experience.

NickyC

They do:

"The NSW Department of Education and Training offers a range of incentive benefits to teachers who accept positions in many rural or remote areas.

These include:

additional training and development days;
a rental subsidy of 90% in the most isolated locations and 70% in some other isolated locations;
special provisions for transfer which provide you with priority for appointment to a vacancy at another school in an agreed location after serving a required number of years in a rural or remote school. This is called an incentive transfer;
compassionate transfer status for your teaching partner, if you are appointed to and moving out of some rural and remote schools;
an annual retention benefit of $5000 for teachers in around 40 isolated schools;
a number of locality allowances such as a climatic allowance, an isolation from goods and services allowance, vacation travel expenses, reimbursement of certain expenses related to medical or dental treatment and an allowance for dependants. The allowances are paid in addition to your salary; and
one week of additional summer vacation for schools in the western areas of NSW."

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/employmen...alteaching.htm

comet555

Yes, of course there can be lots of subsidies , as I can see from your list.

But the actual salary on paper is the same as far as I can gather. Of course the more regional you get the more subsidies there are so your take home pay would be more. I would think the almost free housing would be the most beneficial.

Let's face it though. New teachers everywhere find it difficult to get jobs. I had to go to a remote location in Canada to find work. The only bonus Igot was about $3000 for being in a remote area, which definitely didn't cover the cost of living there as it was way more expensive. The big incentive was really just to get work as a teacher. There were no benefits for us to work in a regional area aside from getting teaching experience. So I definitely would not expect to be given preference for it over more experienced candidates.

It is one thing for the government to expect newly qualified teachers to move and teach in remote locations. It is quite another to expect someone with 10 years experience and a family to move to a regional area. Why should they have to move to the outback and then back to the city in order to stay in their field of work? The regional areas are meant for new teachers whether they are trained in Australia or abroad. Once the new teachers have done their time then they should be able to compete in the bigger cities.

Gibbo

I totally agree with you NickyC. As you have pointed out, in another post, there are incentives for people to work out west and there is also some merit selection. If a school needs a teacher with specific skills, the principal will advertise the position and interview the applicants. If you work as a casual and prove your merit, a principal has the ability to recommend you for any permanent position that comes up at that school.

JAJ

Why should any smart young person want to join a profession where progression is primarily based on length of service rather than merit?

It sounds like an unattractive career compared to other professions - except for those who don't have the ability to get on in these other professions.