new member and looking for advice
 

Hello,

I am an English secondary teacher looking at relocating to New Zealand. I am currently talking to Randstad about jobs and I have been going through their selection process and I was told the other day I have been shortlisted. The next step is sorting out my registration to the Education Council. Randstad have offered to sponsor my visa and then find a position in a school in New Zealand (i've already rated possible locations). They have said they would like me to be available for Jan/Feb 2019.

I am single and I do own my house. My idea is to possibly rent the house for a year and then make a decision for the long term. I am just wondering if there are any other teachers or people that have been in a similar position that can give me any advice/guidance?

I would look to rent accomodation in NZ. I play a lot of sport so would also look to join a football team and/or cricket team.

Many thanks!

Re: new member and looking for advice
 

Not to pour cold water on what you've written - but I sense that you think you are further down the path, than you actually are.

What the recruiter has said doesn't mean a whole lot. Being generically shortlisted and asked to rate locations to live in, is by no means an indication that an offer is going to be quickly forthcoming.

You still need to be registered as a teacher (that is not a formality), you still need your work visa (also not a formality), and then a suitable school with a suitable vacancy and reciprocal interest needs to be found (definitely not a formality).

If that all works out in short order, great. But the Education Council's current standard processing time for teaching registration is six weeks, and that's if you are exempt from an IQA. So there goes January, and that's if you submit today (and don't need the IQA).

Additionally . . . you are not able to stay indefinitely in New Zealand on a work visa. You possibly can convert it to a residence visa later on, but you should not assume that will happen until you have the grant letter for that in your hands. All sorts of things can throw curveballs into that.

So the advice is - keep living your life in the UK as though you are remaining there, if something suitable from the recruiter comes up, investigate it, but keep your expectations and emotions in check, and don't do anything irreversible like selling your house until you have been issued a permanent visa in New Zealand.

Good luck.

Re: new member and looking for advice
 

There's actually quite a few vacancies in Auckland schools. Unfortunately teachers generally end up realising they'd earn more and be less stressed working in industry.

Re: new member and looking for advice
 

Right, but - the article is a bit misleading for OP in his/her circumstances.

When I entered all secondary positions available across New Zealand in the Education Gazette, it returned 1,022 advertised vacancies. Wow! Looks good for OP, and not too far off the 1,480 estimated to be needed from the article you linked to.

But then, later in the article, it said they only needed 200 secondary teachers . . . but there were only 120 registered secondary vacancies (at that time in 2017 when the article was published) . . . then when I narrowed the criteria . . . putting in secondary English teacher in Auckland into the Education Gazette, it only returned 29 vacancies.

But several of those OP would not be suited for - HOD, special needs etc, or they are predominantly for something else (like Business) with a section or two of English tacked on. Sifting through all that, yielded 12 positions that appeared to be for secondary teachers in Auckland with English as the lead/main subject to be taught. Quite a different story than 1,022 open positions.

12 positions, against how many graduate teachers from this year still looking for jobs . . . and, last year, who didn't get jobs or had fixed-term contracts end . . . and people already in the system still looking to move . . . or the 350 overseas teachers the article alluded to who were already screened . . . etc etc etc.

When I switched the location to Wellington it yielded 5 potentially suitable vacancies, and Canterbury, 6 positions (that's suitable in my judgment - overall there were 15 returned for Wellington and 12 for Canterbury).

Part of that is timing, the "hiring season" is generally September/October and not now.

Most principals with a vacancy will use overseas recruitment only as a last resort - they usually would rather buy time by putting a reliever on a term-by-term contract, shifting someone over from out of learning area, or bring in a primary-trained teacher on a fixed-term contract, than rely on an agency to bring in an unknown quantity from overseas. You can also, for instance, if you're short an English teacher, ask a few of your existing part-time teachers (from any learning area) if they would like to increase their work fraction slightly, and split up the vacant load that way.

I am not trying to discourage or "be negative" to OP - just realistic . . . I do hope this works out, and quickly . . . but best to investigate many other options, and keep the emotions in check. OP, have you used the points calculator, to see if you can qualify for PR without needing an initial work visa?

Re: new member and looking for advice
 

One more thought - are you able to get a Working Holiday Visa?

Normally what I advise intending teachers is to go on the relief circuit, because NZ schools love known quantities. If you do relief and are any good, you are first in line when a position pops open.

Trickier since you do not have a visa. But if you get a WHV, and can target the schools that are recruiting internationally to do relief at, the same principle can apply. When your time is up, if they are happy, and you are happy, they can request you to the agency.

I doubt very much that Randstad would tell you who their clients are, but if you are on the ground in NZ, principals usually know what schools (locally) are having trouble staffing adequately and can point you in the right direction.

I forget what the relief rate is, something like $270 a day? Anyways it's published. You do have to be registered first.

Good luck.