SiNicFletch

Hi

I have read a few articles tonight and now my mind is filled with a few doubts. Recently my wife and I have been seriously discussing applying for SW immigration status. We are interested in Calgary. I am a primary teacher, and my wife works for Sussex Police. However, the articles I read seem to be painting quite a negative picture of moving to Canada - problems getting work, getting ripped off etc, and now I am thinking, hmmm. All I know is that I am unhappy with UK life, and with a new baby son, am more interested in leading a happy life with and for him and money is less important. My impression of Canada as a whole is that whilst people have to work harder in certain respects than in the UK (less holidays etc) the quality of life is much better. So I guess what I am looking for is for people who have made the move to give me good reasons for taking the plunge - I am sure this topic has been covered many times over on these forums, but I want a little personal reassurance...

Thanks,

Simon

Atlantic Xpat

I'm sure this isn't the reassurance you are looking for but, if as a Teacher, getting employment as a Teacher is important to you or you are the primary wage earner then think very carefully & do lots of research before you move to Canada. My impression is that breaking into full-time teaching positions is incredibly difficult. This comes from various threads on BE, conversation with others and first hand experience of Mrs AX who is Canadian and Canadian qualified with two degrees in education!

If you can survive financially for a period of supply teaching or you plan to do something else then all well and good. Once you do break into teaching it seems much better paid relatively speaking than in UK.

The other comment I'd make is one you'll see time and time again here. IMHO it's not the desire to leave England that is key, it's the desire to want to live in Canada that makes it work. Just wanting to get out of UK into a 'better life' is not enough.

On the positive side, Canada is a fantastic place, and offering diverse experiences and it is possible to have what I would term a better quality of life here. This forum is an excellent resource so read it well. Do note that of the many thousands who emigrate to Canada, a mere fraction will post here and take everyones experiences with a pinch of salt. Especially dbd33!

AX

Juliew

Hi there,

I think your judgements of Canada are quite negative and most likely inaccurate. Remember that alot of comments on this website are from people experiencing culture shock. As a teacher you will be far better off working in Canada than in the UK. I have worked in both and there is good reason why there is a teacher shortage in the UK and a surplus in Canada. I will say that I don't think your wife will have problems getting work in Calgary, however you need to check your qualifications. The last time I looked you needed a masters degree to teach in Calgary. Having said that the pay is quite good. I believe the starting pay is $48,000 and then goes up to $80,000 for a classroom teacher. I don't think they have paid responsibilities like the UK. You can look at the link provided below. Many school boards will also allow you to move up the payscale if you have previous experience in the UK.

Good luck


I have read a few articles tonight and now my mind is filled with a few doubts. Recently my wife and I have been seriously discussing applying for SW immigration status. We are interested in Calgary. I am a primary teacher, and my wife works for Sussex Police. However, the articles I read seem to be painting quite a negative picture of moving to Canada - problems getting work, getting ripped off etc, and now I am thinking, hmmm. All I know is that I am unhappy with UK life, and with a new baby son, am more interested in leading a happy life with and for him and money is less important. My impression of Canada as a whole is that whilst people have to work harder in certain respects than in the UK (less holidays etc) the quality of life is much better. So I guess what I am looking for is for people who have made the move to give me good reasons for taking the plunge - I am sure this topic has been covered many times over on these forums, but I want a little personal reassurance...




http://www.asba.ab.ca/services_for_b...web_042707.pdf

Thanks,

Simon[/QUOTE]

Notiaink...honest

Teaching is a tough profession to parachute into I'm afraid, it will most likely be be tough at first.

Will it be worth it? I like it here, but everyones view is different. My general opinion is that most expats with a decent job are happy, the whiners are more often than not those underemployed for their qualifications, or those who came here to be with canadian spouses and were never really attracted to canada per se. Its not for the people here to tell you it will be OK in the end, you have to decide if its worth the chance, we cant do that for you.

If you havent visited and checked out the basics of housing, work availibility and expectations, education etc, then you should, and if you have, then I dont know what we are supposed to add to the debate. Immigration works for some (most?), but it doesnt work out for others.

Moving "for the kids sake" is a tough choice, you wont have any local family to baby sit, and school hours wont fit in with work hours, so you have the choice of child care expenses, or one or other parent working around the school schedule. Birthdays and Xmas without family around take some getting used to...even though our kids were born over here and never had douting grandparents, and cousins and the like around to get used to.

Happy parent = happy kid, if you are not happy, then that will impact their life too. A friend of ours was going stir crazy at home, but after returning to work in a far from mimimum wage job, she was making about 40cents per hour after child care expenses. She said it was worth it BUt her husband is well paid and they wont have to wonder where the money to pay for the kids university tuition fees or orthodontic braces is going to come from. Its all very well to say money is less important...as long as you have enough.

Tangram

I sat and watched the Champions League final in a pub in Halifax....on my own....with the sound off as music was playing for an empty pub and they wouldn't alter it..... what a depressing experience

However, I agree with your comments 100%

Paul

Steve_P

In order to teach in Alberta you will have to have an Alberta teaching certificate issued by the Province.

Link to Alberta Education website for teacher certification.

Link to Calgary Board of Education: Teaching Staff

Link to Calgary Police Service: International Applicants

Judy in Calgary

I agree that you can't expect to waltz into a permanent, fulltime teaching job in Calgary. BUT, if you are willing to get the certification and to work your way up the ladder by working as a supply teacher initially, you should be able to establish yourself as a teacher. It may take two or three years before you get a permanent, fulltime job in your preferred quadrant of the city.

The progression usually is:

• sporadic, short-term assignments as a supply teacher
• a long-term, temporary assignment (for example, replacing a teacher who is on maternity leave)
• a permanent, fulltime job in a quadrant of the city that may not be the most convenient for you
• a permanent, fulltime job in a school that you want, in a quadrant that you want

I am not aware of people needing masters degrees to teach in Calgary. I have a woman friend who teaches French, and she has a bachelors degree.

Another young friend of ours graduated with a bachelors degree in teaching in the spring of 2007. She is fortunate in that the school board has committed to giving her a temporary but long-term, fulltime assignment for the 2007 - 2008 academic year. She does not yet know in which quadrant she will teach. But the good news is that she will stay at the same school for the full academic year. Thereafter, there is a good chance that she will be able to move to a school in her preferred quadrant.

It helps you to get established in a new place if you are willing to endure the initial couple of years during which you work in less than ideal circumstances. In some fields this requires accepting what amounts to a demotion. In other fields it requires accepting temporary work.

I would say that a teacher and a police officer have every chance of working their way back up to the equivalent of their previous positions within a couple of years or so. If you want access to the Rockies and all that other stuff badly enough, you'll consider the initial sacrifices to be worthwhile. But it depends on what you want and how much you want it.

I think it's unrealistic to expect to swan your way into a job like the one you had in the UK, at the same level of seniority, without a period of adjustment or orientation or whatever else you want to call it.

British expats at least have the advantage that they speak English (well, sort of ). I have seen brilliant people with masters degrees and PhDs delivering pizzas because their English was poor or they suffered from some other disadvantage.

I agree with "Notiaink...honest" that, if you have not already taken a recce trip across the pond, you need to do so.

I also think it helps to leave enough in reserve to be able to return to the UK if you find that Canada isn't for you after all. There are some things that you won't know until you're actually living here. It's virtually impossible to predict in advance how you'll feel about living far away from your family. It's also impossible to predict how you'll feel about living in a place in which everything is new (I don't just mean new to you, I mean new full stop), in which there aren't the same pretty villages and quaint pubs, in which you can't pop over to France for the weekend. There are people who do umpteen recce trips, are convinced they want to live in Canada, and then -- once they're here -- miss family and/or what they call "culture" and/or old buildings and/or the green of England.

Notiaink...honest Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much. Simon, to avoid making an oblique reference that leaves you in the dark, there was a poster by the name of iaink who quite recently swore that he was giving up his forum addiction on reaching 10,000 posts. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that he's ba-a-a-a-ack.

Steve_P

In Calgary it is a six year process to get an Education degree.

The University of Calgary will only let you into the Education Faculty if you have already have a degree and an Education degree is what they call a "degree after".

So as an Education degree is a two year program in effect if you go through U of C you have the equivalent of a Masters degree. They just don't call it a Masters. There is a movement to try and change this.

It is possible this is were the confusion lies.

If you want to get into administration (Vice-principal, Assistant-principal, Principal) then you definitely need a Masters degree or to be working on one.

Cheers
Steve

rae

plenty of these, still have them and have had them all the way, 18 days and counting!
this site is good for a vent, chat, p*ss take and info you never even considered. the final decision can only be made though by you. i say that more for the family who will try and influence you rather than people on here.
i am a police officer, i'm giving up my sgts rank and 10yrs experience to start again. my wife is also going backwards in big steps in her profession. we have upset just about everyone, taking a loss on the house to sell it, and most of all i have sold my alfa sports which was like cutting my right arm off! especially as the motoring philistines over there think an f150 is cool.
the point being we are sacrificing a lot, not purely materialistic things, but most importantly, long standing family and friends relationships, and we are still going. you need to see for yourself and let the positives of canada draw you, instead of the negatives of england drive you away. all the best rae.

Notiaink...honest

Just one of those coincidences....

Souvenir

See rule 14.

rae

aahhhh thats why, nice to see you back, bit obvious with that red rag as you're avatar though mate and waxing lyrical about cars on another thread.

Pearly_Spencer

Yes, however (assuming the OP was prepared to try somewhere other than Calgary, at least initially) it IS possible to 'fast-track' an Education degree at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in 18 (intense!) months. I know this for a fact 'cos my daughter did just this. Again, as Steve says above, the 'prior degree' condition still applies.

MCrocker

I agree that you should be pulled not pushed into coming to Canada. We came with no jobs and my wife was a primary school teacher in the UK.
For what it's worth she started off doing some volunteer stuff at our youngest son's school then got some work with Sylvan (an after school tutoring firm). Within a few months she got a one to one role doing speech therapy with a four year old and now she also works part time in a 'kids zone'. They are desperate for her to work full time. We are lucky though that she doesn't have to work and therefore can choose what hours she wants but day care here is a massive issue and there are not enough places to go around.

On the other side of it, our quality of life here both personally and for our children is leaps and bounds ahead of the UK - not just location but because we changed our mindset so that for example Saturdays are spent fishing and canoeing or cycling, walking or whatever....it's not going shopping. We feel safer here and the kids play on the street without worry.

It's not all a bed of roses but you make of it what you want. If you are prepared to make the effort I think the rewards are there - they certainly have been for us.

good luck

Ruslan124

Can I ask what you consider to be the requirements for a good quality of life as it varies from person to person? I know you said money was not important but what is? There are the obvious topics like crime, cost of living, taxes, climate, schools, recreational facilities and the less obvious like Politics, Driving behavior, city amenities, potential for personal and professional growth and many more. To get an accurate answer from the forum members, it would be beneficial to understand what you and your wifes priorities might be. It might also be useful to understand what in particular makes you unhappy with UK life as you may have some or all of the same issues in Canada.

I do not intend to be negative, it is just that on this forum (and all others) you will get those that say life is great come on over, life is OK come on over and life sucks go elsewhere. While all of these inputs are valid, they are very personal and from people many of whom will have different circumstances and priorities than you. A little soul searching now may save you a lot of heartache in the future. Finally, I thoroughly recommend a fact finding trip before you move.