Hi,

I'm a secondary IT/Business Studies teacher in the UK looking to move to Vancouver. Does anyone know how easy it is to be registered? Will it be difficult to find work? I'm not even sure if they teach IT in Canada.

Any advice?

Not sure if Vancouver Island is the same as the mainland but here it's all about seniority, you start out as a TOC, (teacher on call) there must be 40/50 business cards stuck on our staffroom notice board from TOCs looking for work, although once you start getting regular posts it seems to get easier...........mind you, I'm not a teacher....although I do work for the school district

Just an afterthought, my son is in grade 9 & having just looked through his course choices I don't see 'business studies' but IT is there

Hi,

Thanks, I just wanted to check it wasn't impossible to find work before we start the immigration process. We are planning to go through my husband (a chartered accountant), but I hate the idea of not being able to work.

Ya we have computers here and electricity also.

Rich.

Well all I can add to this is that I know a few teachers that qualified in BC and had to come to alberta to find their first job.

http://www.bcct.ca/default.aspx

Advice would be to look at another province, purely because you only have one subject (IT) that they will look at.

If you cannot work as a secondary IT/Business Studies teacher, it does not mean that you cannot work, full stop. But then if business studies is one of your areas of specialization, I don't suppose you need me to point that out.

Providing my husband has a job (which he will or we wouldn't leave the UK) then to be honest I'd be happy to have a complete career change if the teaching thing didn't work out. The motivation for going to Canada is to increase our quality of life rather than career development (otherwise would probably not want to leave this crowded little island). The only downside is that I don't have any work experience doing anything else other than teaching.

Thanks for all your feedback will try to keep an open mind!

Changing career (as opposed to just taking any old job) over here involves significant commitment of time - sometimes years - and horrendous expense. Working for $8/hr in the meantime and usually being treated like an idiot is hard going when you have managed your own professional career up to that point. Quality of life is a relative thing of course, and just about every prospective immigrant to Canada thinks that they will acheive this here for some reason. Many do. However, over the years I have noticed that there appears to be a number of women who arrive here with decent careers behind them, to discover that their quality of life is no longer within their control as they have no status without professional recognition. The enforced dependency factor can tarnish any perceived quality of life changes. It may not happen to you, and this type of difficulty can of course also happen to men, but it is worth really thinking about how much you value your financial independence and right to a career before giving it all up. Edited to add: check out Madmac's posts. She is an accountant - and could not get work in Ontario. ACCA's are also not given full credential reciprocity in BC; more training is required, but I am sure you are checking that out.

I would add weight to my esteemed cyber-colleagues comments...I have personally observed that some chappies of the WASP/plaid persuasion over here believe a woman's place is most certainly in the home, not the office. Of course, that view and actions associated with it are undertaken carefully, quietly and the machinations of business practice are cautious to account for some cosmetic appearance of political correctness (appears like fairness in the workplace, but the reality is promote a woman, but give her no authority/support etc) i.e. - expect women in business to be suffered, not accepted.

Not all, but many, BC businessmen operate with this retarded caveman mindset. I guess they might even employ an immigrant over a woman (why deprive a Canadian child of a nurturing female figure). Which is why you will find many entrepreneurs and altrepreneurs are female.

Rich.

Fantastic post!!!!!!! Please listen to Dingbat!!!!!!!!
I am a solicitor back home, and boy of boy have I jumped through hurdles here, its very soul destroying.
Its only through sheer determination and my dream of the U.S I have kept going, and thankfully am now through the worse and start my new post in June.
Please think carefully about things if you really value your career,I have seen so many professionals here totally disollusioned. But on the other hand, if you really want it, its possible with guts and determination! Good luck.

Hi,

Thank you for your comments. You've really made me think! I don't think I'm the "lady of leisure" type. I'm not really prepared to be totally financially dependent on my husband. The Canada idea may remain just that, an idea.

Thanks!

Hi there,

I think that you will be able to get work if you are willing to work in a Vancouver suburb. Although teaching jobs are limited, you are in a speciality area. You should find work as a TOC first and then work up to a full time position. With regards to your subject area they teach both business studies and IT in BC schools. IT however is separated into two disciplines; computer science (programming) and generally IT stuff (MS Word etc). You will definately find work if your are able to teach a programming language. You do however need to be a BC qualified teacher in order to even be considered for a job in BC. To get this you need to contact the BC College of Teachers.

On a more personal note, teaching in BC is quite lovely, in comparison to the UK. Teachers are given a lot of autonomy and have more prep time.

Good luck
JulieW

I think this is also true in Ontario but I don't buy the idea that a career change is out of the question for an immigrant woman who has a working husband. If the woman were to consider a job in demand, say nursing, instead of one in oversupply, such as teaching, she could go back to school and, three or four years later, be highly saleable. I think the problem is not that she can't change career but that she must change career or take a position far below that which she held in the UK.

Julie are you a teacher in BC and did you train in the UK