Beckiecairns

Hi all
Me and my partner are wanting to come over to NZ by the end of September. He is a carpenter so will easily get a job on the Christchurch rebuild but I am wanting to become a teaching assistant. I have never done this before but have always wanted to become a teacher but now have a 4 month old daughter so a teaching assistant would better suit me. I have looked into this but can't find anything on whether NZ have teaching assistants and what qualifications I would need if they do!

Can anyone help??????

Thanks

MrsFychan

NZ do have teaching assistants but I'm not sure how you go about but found this

http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/sub...Fc1dpQodMX0AmQ

just google for more information.

You will need to see if you can get a visa to come over before setting your heart on things. lots of hoops to jump through and as you are not qualified atm you would need to apply with your partner as the main applicant so unless you already have done I would look at seeing what visa would suit your cicumstance best

Beckiecairns

That's great thanks I will have a look at that. Yes my partner is the main applicant and we have started with the skilled migrant visa application so fingers crossed!

MrsFychan

Good luck, lots of knowledgeable people on here regards to the trade. I think there might be a lower limit on wage (?), and ChCh is quite expensive to live from what I read so please please do as much research as you can.

MOSO

Teaching assistants are called teacher aides here. At primary level (to year 8) they work primarily with kids with special needs. There are not general classroom assistants like there are in the UK. To give you an idea, there are about 5 or 6 in our local school which has 550 kids. Depending on the school and finances they are either employed for a specific child and their hours relate direct to the funding that child is allocated or they are pooled so hours can vary.

Jobs can be hard to come by and wages are low - you are not paid for lunchtimes etc. Some teacher aides have specific qualifications and others don't. Some jobs are advertised in the Education Gazette but most are found by starting to volunteer at a school and building on from there.

If teaching is something you want to do, then you can do a teaching degree online through Massey, Waikato or Christchurch Uni depending on your qualifications. You do need to be a permanent resident for 2 years before you can access students loans etc. Teaching jobs are very very very hard to come by at the moment though which is something to bear in mind and universities are beginning to cut the number of students they take, but that may change in future (I hope!)

If I was you, I'd start by volunteering in a local school. They will almost certainly welcome you with open arms, then decide from there.

MrsFychan

The funding issue within the schools are the main issues why not a lot of the schools have them. At our little school I know of 2 kids that desperately need an assistant to aid them in the class room but the funding is just not there. It's at the stage where the parents are considering removing them from the school as the help just isn't forth coming

MOSO

This document describes the day-to-day work teacher aides in NZ do, so you may find it interesting.

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/Mi...rsAideRole.pdf