MOSO

Teaching jobs are like gold dust at the moment hence the removal from the immigration list. There are far too many qualified teachers chasing too few jobs and the situation is only going to get worse next year when the class sizes are going to rise and budgets are being cut - the results are obvious, add to that the teacher redundancies in Christchurch and it is not a good scenario. NZ is a small place and there are not the opportunities and from what I hear teaching jobs in the UK are also very hard to come by.

As bourbon-biscuit says kiwi-trained teachers are given preference especially as te reo is also being pushed by the government so if you have a good job in the UK I would seriously consider hanging onto it.

If I was you, come on holiday to see the country, you don't want to come this far to spend your time in one classroom and/or school which could be very different to the school down the road.

Why not email some Principals in the places you'd like to visit on holiday and ask if you can visit and observe some teaching? We currently have some foreign teaching students observing in the school I'm in. That way you could see lots of variety. I would avoid Tauranga, Hamilton, and other places where there are big teaching colleges and they are likely to have lots of students on placements etc. You could of course view it the other way and email the teaching colleges and see if they could recommend a few schools to visit?

Enjoy your holiday, but I would see it as a holiday unless the economic environment changes.

j19fmm

Hi I have sent you a PM to see if I can help.

waikatoguy

Oh .. you got me on that one.

EFP89

Thank you everyone for the advice!

I have been doing my research on the New Zealand curriculum and education system so I do feel I understand the key aspects but would like to see it in action.

I understand the current shortage of jobs, it's the same here in the UK, and as previously mentioned I wouldn't be looking to move over for another 2/3 years so the situation might change.

Thanks for the idea of viewing different schools, never thought of doing it that way. I guess I would see more of a variety that volunteering in one school. Do you think central Auckland would be best and give me a greater access to different schools?

I'm not too concerned with the job situation at the moment because like I said this is going to be a months vacation and I want to see the schools and the country before I make any decisions!

j19fmm

Just had a thought..what are your teaching quals?

EFP89

It's a BA Honours in Primary Education, with Maths and History specialisms!

j19fmm

Have you checked on the NZIS website whether your degree needs assessing? I only know about BEd degrees

bourbon-biscuit

Have you checked out the numeracy project? Knowledge of that would be a good way to look plausible to schools you visit.

Sadly, I think your history specialism will be almost redundant here; history in schools tends to be Anzac Day or Waitangi.

sparkie down under

err, isn't that their 'history', (well almost)

bourbon-biscuit

No. The histories of the people here are very rich and interesting.

sparkie down under

really

waikatoguy

For most NZer's 'their' history is pretty much the same as yours. You have to remember that most kiwi ancestors were Brit Expats too.

sparkie down under

point taken.

(I thought we were talking about New Zealand history)

waikatoguy

In that case, you forgot to mention the rugby. Lol.

bourbon-biscuit

NZ history includes the history of all its immigrant groups- and not just once they arrive here.

When I studied history at primary school in the UK we did topics on the Vikings, the Romans etc. I remember "Here Come the Vikings!" most fondly of all.