Getting in to teaching - it can be done!
#16
Someone on here will know for sure.
#17
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 7

Hi, I am new to this so please forgive me, which subject do you teach and what do you mean by courses? Isnt your teaching qualification sufficient enough? I am a senco and autism specialist teacher, do they have council based support services over there? I am really concerned that I will find it very hard to get a job.
Well done on getting employment, it must have been very hard! I hope the term is going well!
Well done on getting employment, it must have been very hard! I hope the term is going well!
Last edited by Karencov; Apr 8th 2013 at 1:44 am.
#18
welcome to the world of Canadian immigration. You could be a street sweeper and you'd still need to take courses and sit exams to prove you can do it in Canada. 
But no, your UK qualifications wouldn't be enough - it took Helcat 6 months to get her credentials to teach in Canada I believe. Have a look at her past posts for more info.
Best of luck.
#19
BE Enthusiast




Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 309
From: Maple Ridge BC











Same with health workers. I have been a nurse and midwife for 30 years in the UK, working in fetal medicine......counts for nothing in Canada! By the time I got back to anywhere near where I was I'll be retiring anyway, so it's minimum wage in Chapter's for me. It keeps me busy
#20
Hi, I am new to this so please forgive me, which subject do you teach and what do you mean by courses? Isnt your teaching qualification sufficient enough? I am a senco and autism specialist teacher, do they have council based support services over there? I am really concerned that I will find it very hard to get a job.
Well done on getting employment, it must have been very hard! I hope the term is going well!
Well done on getting employment, it must have been very hard! I hope the term is going well!
Being a SENCO also won't count for anything here.
If you say you have a specialism, you need to have studied a separate course equivalent to a Canadian to be able to claim credit for that.
I was a Primary teacher in the UK for ten years. I had passed Threshold, so had proved I was capable of far more than just being a successful classroom teacher but that doesn't count for anything here.
Basically, in the UK, you get promoted for being a good teacher.
Here, in BC at least, you get promoted for being a good student. So, to progress, you need a Masters or additional courses to get onto the higher pay levels.
I am having to do 3 credits of maths, 6 of Lit and Comp, 3 Canadian Geography and 18 credits of teaching methodology.
(Bearing in mind the first 12 credits cost over $3K and 12 credits is a full time course load, you can see how challenging this is.)
Since jobs are also mainly allocated on seniority, for which your UK experience does not count, you will find you are at the back of the queue when you get hired by a School District.
Any fresh grad who was hired the week before you will get a job over you if they apply for it.
You are welcome to PM me if you are thinking of coming to BC and I will give you the full details of what you should expect.
#21
^^^^____ Exactly the same the other side of the country too.
My wife is Canadian. She graduated with a B.Ed. in Primary & Elementary and moved to the UK where she taught for 5 years. On moving back, she did a second degree in Special Education which is what she has specialised in ever since. (She works primarily with kids who have autism). To progress up the paygrade beyond the mid-point that you get too after n years, she needs a Masters & has recently applied for a Masters programme in Literacy. Once she has the Masters she gets paid more, irrespective of whether she is using it or not. Come to think of it, the same with the Special Ed degree - she could teach in the regular classroom and still get paid extra.
It took her 6 years after moving back to get a full time, permanent, tenured job. Even now, although she teaches at a school 5 mins down the road, as the Provincial Govt recently announced the amalgamation of all the four school boards in Nfld, she could get bumped out of that position by someone with more seniority who wants to move in from somewhere else. As a tenured teacher she's guaranteed a 100% job in the St. John's area just not the one she has now. In teaching, as in all unionised professions, seniority is everything.
My wife is Canadian. She graduated with a B.Ed. in Primary & Elementary and moved to the UK where she taught for 5 years. On moving back, she did a second degree in Special Education which is what she has specialised in ever since. (She works primarily with kids who have autism). To progress up the paygrade beyond the mid-point that you get too after n years, she needs a Masters & has recently applied for a Masters programme in Literacy. Once she has the Masters she gets paid more, irrespective of whether she is using it or not. Come to think of it, the same with the Special Ed degree - she could teach in the regular classroom and still get paid extra.
It took her 6 years after moving back to get a full time, permanent, tenured job. Even now, although she teaches at a school 5 mins down the road, as the Provincial Govt recently announced the amalgamation of all the four school boards in Nfld, she could get bumped out of that position by someone with more seniority who wants to move in from somewhere else. As a tenured teacher she's guaranteed a 100% job in the St. John's area just not the one she has now. In teaching, as in all unionised professions, seniority is everything.
#22
welcome to the world of Canadian immigration. You could be a street sweeper and you'd still need to take courses and sit exams to prove you can do it in Canada. 
But no, your UK qualifications wouldn't be enough - it took Helcat 6 months to get her credentials to teach in Canada I believe. Have a look at her past posts for more info.
Best of luck.
It actually took just over a year from getting PR and putting in my application with the Min of Ed to getting hired by a School District.
I met a girl in the garage who was a Canadian and who had been working in another job for three years while applying to the School District. She had only just been hired

I feel quite fortunate to only have been waiting one year compared to that!
#23
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 7

Ho hellcat,
Can you private message me please as I have tried and can't do it. I would like to know more about teaching in BC.
Thanks
Karen
Can you private message me please as I have tried and can't do it. I would like to know more about teaching in BC.
Thanks
Karen





