Manners_1983

I’m hoping there is someone in the BE universe who can help. I’m currently going through all the booklets and guides for the Points Based Skilled Migration visa (sub 189) and trying to fathom if my wife will qualify for the Early Childhood (pre-primary) Teacher category. We’re looking to move to Queensland as we have family there.

She has a BA plus a PGCE and has been teaching a mix of reception class and year’s 1 and 2 since 2007….my worry is that this won’t be sufficient to qualify for the Early Childhood category as she didn’t do a teaching degree per se or didn’t specialise in early years for her qualifications.

Is there anyone who has gone through this and can suggest if this is likely to make the grade?

Or would it be best to go directly to AITSL / Queensland Governing body (QCT?)…?

Much obliged!

annor99

Hi Manners

I'm in the same position as you so if I figure it out I will let you know. If you get anywhere forward could you post it here too so it might help me and others. Head wrecked over it

Nick11

I have good and bad news for you.
I have been in oz for 6 years. I have a b.ed hons degree and taught nursery mostly and some reception/year 1 in the uk for 17 years. I was assessed by noosr as a pre primary teacher for immigration to oz. So maybe you will get assessed positively.
Unfortunately though no where will allow me to teach as a pre school teacher!
Some states will allow you to do extra training to become preschool..but it takes time and money..and then the chances are the job will be in a child care centre on much poorer wages.

carolinephillips

I was a qualified primary school teacher and also had 8 years experience as a pre-school special needs co ordinator. This counted for nothing. I had to start again as a childcare worker.

You can get some of your qualifications recognised as part of a diploma course out here, but would still have to get the Australian Diploma or Cert 3 qualification - I would have had to have done several units: mainly on infant care (even though I would never work with children under 2.5) and aboriginal/indigenous children, and get first aid qualifications for things like snakebites and spiderbites. It would have taken a year part time, and cost me a few grand - none of it paid for by the centre that wanted me to be qualified.

I don't work now.

Mr Blister

Hey, I am looking at doing NCFE level 3 Nursery Management course -- does anyone know if this is sufficient to gain employment in Victoria?

Pollyana

Employment as what in particular? And do you qualify for a visa?

Mr Blister

Daycare assistant/manager.

Visa- Not really sure, possible sponsorship opportunity though!

As you've already guessed I am new to all of this!

Pollyana

Have a read through http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/ for all the details on the visas

Mr Blister

Yeah, but need to know if this qual has an equivalent in Aus and if it's sufficient to get me in so i can possibly get a job in that area. If the NCFE qual is no good then I'll look at other study options....

Confused.com !!!'nn

old.sparkles

Child Care Centre manager is on the CSOL (http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...n/pdf/csol.pdf). ANZSCO code is 134111 - this is what ABS say about that code - http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]?opendocument. Skills assessments are by TRA - http://www.innovation.gov.au/Skills/...s/default.aspx

I don't know anything about an NCFE but hopefully you can figure out if it's enough from the info given.

Nick11

Here I sa I managed to work as qualified in childcare..but the rules have since changed. Like you I have given up any notion of teaching.I now work with adults with intellectual difficulties...less pay but less stressful and amazingly quite satisfying.

Manners_1983

Thanks for the replies (I think!)......it's tricky as every state has slightly different requirements / assessments......and then of course the employers themselves will also have their own criteria too......just because you've got the visa doesn't mean you'll get the job!

Will keep digging around and see what comes up!

If I find anything new, I'll add it to the thread.

Mr Blister

Thanx to everyone for your help - its rather tricky!!!!!

My family are in Victoria, hence the reason for trying to get over!!

Manners_1983

Thought I would give those who care / are interested / accidently clicked on this thread / none of the above a quick update on my original post…..

First off….the below is not set in stone and as it was all done via email / telephone calls. I would strongly recommend that it is used purely as a guide and to get a feel for the process. If you did want further clarification it’s always best to speak to the people who make the decisions. So pick a set of initials (AEI-NOOSR/AITSL/ACECQA/QCT…) and hope for the best!

My first port of call after starting this thread was AEI-NOOSR/AITSL to see what the requirements were for this category in terms of qualifications. Most people are now familiar with the general requirements for teaching from a UK background – minimum 4 years tertiary education: either 3 years degree with an additional post grad qualification specialising in early childhood care (so in our case my wife has a history degree and Early Childhood PGCE) or 4 year degree based solely on early childhood education. See http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/occupati...-childhood.htm & http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected])+Teachers for more detail.

However, I was then also informed that if my wife actually wanted to work once we moved she would also have to be assessed by a further organisation…and that’s where ACECQA come in, who you need to register with if you intend to work in pre-school or day care. From what ACECQA were telling me they are relatively new to the process following the implementation of something called the National Quality Framework (NQF) back in 2011. Currently all parties are trying to bring their policies into line but there are slight differences…if anything ACECQA is more robust.

“However if a person enters Australia under this category at the moment they also need to apply to ACECQA. ACECQA currently requires all early childhood teachers to have completed birth to eight study programs or if they have completed a three to eight program they need to show significant work experience with birth to two year olds or complete what we call non-award units (units within a higher education degree to fill that gap (usually 2 units)).”

Plus there is also a requirement that if you intend to work in any pre-school age group you need a minimum of 10 days practicum with children of birth to 2 years. This is mandatory. There seems to be a lot of flux at the moment with this visa category, given the alignment of AEI-NOOSR/AITSL with ACECQA…..the above will probably be out of date by the time I get round to actually posting it.

So far, so confusing then!

I then wanted to find out what jobs are actually covered by this visa….no point heading over if the role my wife currently works is not covered by the visa. Obviously with a title Early Childhood (Pre-Primary) Teacher you would expect it to cover such things as day care/nursery and kindy but it could also potentially cover the pre-primary year and Year 1….this last part threw me given it’s at primary school not pre but that was the line from ACECQA…

“Work can certainly be gained in the first years of schooling with 241111 but your wife would also have to seek teacher registration in the state or territory in which you plan to reside before she could work in that area. ACECQA does not need to be involved if your wife plans to work in the early years of schooling”

Right….on the one hand we’re being told if you want to apply and work under this visa you need to be assessed by effectively everyone….yet ACECQA have said this visa can cover the early years of schooling and as such won’t need to involve ACECQA!

Go figure…..are all visa categories this convoluted?!

The upshot of it all is that, and even writing this I’m not entirely sure it’s right, because my wife wants to teach the pre-primary year in Australia (the UK equivalent being reception class) she will qualify under this visa category but won’t need to register with ACECQA, just QCT.

I’ve still got a couple of queries outstanding with AITSL & ACECQA and I’m also waiting for QCT to get back to me but we’re going to go ahead and get all the relevant documents certified and plough on with the qualification assessment regardless…probably an @rse-about-t!t way of doing things but hey, each to their own!

If/when I get any further updates from the powers that be I’ll be sure to add them to this post but just re-reading the above is boring even me to tears, so it might be a while!

spouse of scouse

Good on you for taking the time to pass on this info and your experiences, you're the sort of poster that keeps BE ticking over