Hi, has anyone got any experience in regard to UK teachers moving to Canada?
How easy/difficult to get licensed and get jobs?
Any personal experiences or top tips?

Thanks

(ps. already have a visa, just looking for help with the practicalities of getting teaching work)

Can I recommend you have a read of the following link.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Teaching_in_Canada

Lynne

hmmm, thanks. Depressing stuff......

You asked for personal experience. There is some in the discussion thread entitled Potential CPS Officer needs advice. That may seem counter-intuitive, but that poster, who had applied to the Calgary Police Service, also asked a question on behalf of his wife, who is a teacher. In that thread I relayed what my Calgary teacher friends have experienced, and also repeated the accounts that one of our BE members, Atlantic Xpat, has told us about his Canadian wife's attempts to find a teaching job after a stint abroad. Unfortunately the anecdotal reports reinforce what the Wiki article states.

To add to Judy's comments......

Teaching is a unionised profession where seniority counts for everything. More than experience or, indeed competence. My wife is Canadian, and has teaching degrees from a Canadian University. She's been back home for 3 years or so following 5 years teaching in the UK (which she did because she couldn't find a job when she graduated!) and has moved from sometime substitute teacher to annual contracts. Last year she was full time, this year she is half time. Her teaching experience in UK counts for naught either in terms of the experience or seniority. She has a high expectation of getting another year long contract next school year & possibly into a permanent position but she is competing with other teachers who have more seniority. As with much in Canada, 'who' you know is equally important as 'what' you know.

This is in Newfoundland but I would not expect experiences to be that much different in other provinces. It is possible to get into teaching in Canada as a UK qualified teacher (poster Tom Masters is one I seem to recall) but it will be a slow process. And since you will presumably need an income to survive on whilst breaking into teaching, it's not something that is possible in my eyes unless you have an alternate source of income (spouse/partner/private means etc).

AX