booty

Tried to do some research into this, does any one know what a secondary maths teachers salary is likely to be? How does this relate to salaries in other professions. Had a look any does not seem to be along the same lines as UK. Mentions units, what are these, are you likely to get any extra pay for these? Any expats now teaching in NZ who can give us advice

mazi

My friend is a Secondary Maths teacher (well not secondary - high school. Or is it college? Is that the same? I can't remember) and she's on about 40K

happynz

Yup, that's about right, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the early 40K.

backdraftuk

As I understand it, i.e this could be completely wrong, if you hold a Degree and PGCE you start on G3+E $40,586 (from 19/7/06) plus increments for each year you have taught up to 7yrs giving a maximum of $61,323.
Are the units the same as in the UK and given for specific roles & duties?

booty

Thanks all,

Salaries does not sound much compared to UK, Is this enough to live on, 2 adults and four hungry kids, Hoping to get part time job to supplement hubbies income, will rent house to start with and have some equity from sale of UK house to put towards buying new house over there. I just want to give it a go as the NZ looks amazing but hubby is abit worried about the finances, whilst I am living the dream........
Whats cost of living like compared to UK?

ukkiwi

Depends where you want to live in NZ and how much money your taking with you but $40k isnt great.

Use the search feature on the forum - there's lots of threads about the cost of living in NZ.

happynz

Four hungry kids and only 40K? Yeeesh, that'd be really tough, a real challenge for sure. You might be able to get some help in the "Working For Families" programme. With four kids it might be worth a couple hundred dollars a week extra. Also, on that amount I'd recommend heading for the rural areas. Sometimes the rural schools have houses to let to teachers at very affordable rates.

Suerte.

mazi

crikey, NO! You'd all starve on that. Boyfriend and I were on about 90K between us and while we were not poor we certainly didn't live a life of luxury. yes, Ok we bought a cd whenever we wanted it without thinking about it too much and if the washing machine broke down we just got it fixed without worrying about the cost but we certainly didn't eat out every night or have holidays every few months. And we only had a two-bed house (admittedly we did it up whle we lived there so a lot of our spare cash went on that).

I would not suggest you move to Nz with your brood if that is all you will earn.

Cost of living compared to UK is about the same (and some things are more expensive even taking into account the exchange rate etc.) - it is certainly not the cheap paradise many think it is.

soulflour

You won't be on $40k!

how long have you been teaching? just like the UK the salaries here are incremental (as noted above) and that 40k figure is for a NQT equiv.

You get extra money for management points and other bits and bobs (sorry, brain a bit addled today).

Can you give us some more info - how long you've been teaching, whether you'll be going for HOD roles etc?

We live on $54k with two kids and a $180k mort, to give you an idea. We're about the same off as we were in the UK (although here we don't have the debt we had there) and my dp has been teaching for 3 years, one of those in NZ. In the uk he was obv. an nqt and then just a teacher. Here he is HOD with (cripes, i can't remember if it's one or two!) management points and another $1k for something else (toddler up a lot last night! am jelly brain today).

I also work parttime which at the moment only really covers the childcare but am about to start a new job at a museum (yippee!!) which when the 20 free hours of day care come in mean that we will have about $80 a week to spend... that's a bit by the by really though

The HOD maths of my dp's school here has been teaching for 8 years and had a VERY nice payrise last year - he was v. surprised - it was around 20% - he's single and living in a staff house (cheap rent) and spends every holiday basically going anywhere he wants!! he's not exactly starving. I can give you his email addy if you'd like? he moved over from cornwall the same times as us (around 16 months ago).

HTH,

SF

booty

Thanks so much for reply, my OH is abit worried about drop in salary and wether he would earn enough for us to live on and visit home once in a while. I plan to work part time once we get settled and would have some money to bring with us. He is a maths teacher with 5 years experience. He retrained from a management position in a company so has a degree and PGCE. If you have a email for maths teacher in simular job this would be a great help. I really want to move out there but he is worried about the practicalities of it all. I have heard that some schools have houses that they rent out to teachers at a reduced rate. Is this true. Might be a good start.Trying to get as much info as possible at the moment before we put in a EOI. Thanks again for reply,

GailXX

booty

Just one more thing, Has it all been worth it??

soulflour

oh yes! yes, yes and yes! We love our lives here... I too work part time now (as I said) with a 5 year old and a 3 year old and somehow.... life is just so much EASIER here (i didn't work at home for 3 years).

We do live outside of Auckland though, in what we would think of as a village (here is a town). Where everyone knows everyone, people have farmed the land for generations, the beaches are fantastic and the local school and community groups are out of this world *sigh* - we're very very very lucky.

Right, to answer your question! Yes, when we first arrived we were in a 3 bed staff house by a gorgeous beach at the end of a cul de sac on a largish section (1000sqm), for which we paid $107 a week. My dp's school (Bream Bay College, if you want to look it up!) has quite a few staff houses. I guess it depends on where you want to live, but I know that the maths teacher that we know could basically take his pick, he was so in demand, in fact he still gets pleading emails from a school in Queenstown! Don't underestimate how valuable your husband will be!

You also get a $4k relocation grant (half after 6 weeks, and half again about 6 weeks later (can't remember exactly)).

Your husband will go in at the 'G4' entry point:

http://www.ppta.org.nz/internal.asp?...bCat1ID=100489

but he'll obv get more than that because of his 8 years experience. He will need to get his salary in the UK assessed, however, so keep everything from now on!

We did all this from the UK, but the MOE here is renowned for being s l o o o o w and a bit rubbish, so we had to go through it all again for a few months, during which time my dp was paid $22k! his pay was backdated, however, once it was sorted out. Was a bit hairy at the time!

Teacher's get two payrises a year. There's the statutory inflation linked (hmmm) payrise that everyone gets together, and then each 'anniversary' (ie full year teaching) they get 'assessed' and then move up. However, my dp has yet to be assessed (some stuff up) but still got the pay rise, to give you some idea of the administration here! ha ha

My dp's also had lots of opportunities here that we wouldn't have had at home (learning maori, is now a 'conference leader' for there 'restorative justice' behaviour management system (based on maori whanu principles) and was offered the trip to japan this year!). He's much happier.

He's still working every night though and at weekends, I don't think that's any different. However, your husband has a lot more experience and lessons plans, schemes of work already sorted i guess?

I'll get the HOD maths email for you today, and I'll pm you my dp's email, in case he can be of any help.

good luck!

SF

Craigy123

I have been offered a job i was thinking of going over it's $52k a year, i'm taking it by what your saying i would struggle.

soulflour

???

Who are you talking to?

If you're talking to me, then NO, i'm not saying you would struggle. I'm saying that that is what we live on (topped up by my part time salary).

booty

If you could pm me his email would be v grateful. Had a look at child tax credit systems as suggested by some others on this web site and looks as though might get about $1000 a month so thats encouraging, also mentions rent allowance but we might not qualify for that. With my p/t wage we should be able to make ends meet. Dont want to be rolling in it just dont want to starve. Looks like we have to apply to get his qualifications recognized first so that the next port of call. Do you know anything about university over there. Have four kids 5,12,14,16. Oldest hoping to go to uni in future. Have read somewhere that they are of good quality and cheaper that in UK. Also lots of comments about how youth culture in much better over there, not much graffiti, yobs etc. Have you found this to be true. My OH is also hoping that the classroom behavior is improved. He works in a large innercity school over here and spends much of his time on behavior and less on actual teaching. Has our OH found this to be true. It is great being able to speak to someone who is actually doing it!! Hoping to live within an hours drive of Auckland to start with but just got to suck it and see I suppose.

Many thanks
Gailxx