Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Currently finishing my course HND Advanced Practice in work with children & families - it qualifies me to work as a classroom assistant/special needs assistant or go in 2nd yr teaching/nursing/ degree. I wanted to find out will this qualification be recognized in NZ? its recognized here (North of Ireland) and in UK. I also will have finished my first TEFL certificate by the time we move, will that be any use in NZ? :fingerscrossed:

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

You don't need a qualification to be a classroom assistant in New Zealand.
I have recently been involved in the recruitment of 2 classroom assistants for the local school, of which I am the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
We had a lot of interest in the positions and the roles went to 2 qualified teachers. One from Austria the other from Singapore. They were both looking to get a foot in the door with NZ experience in the classroom, one to take back to Austria the other to get an NZ teaching job. The hours are typically part time, 20 hours a week and the pay is between 17-20 dollars and hour depending on experience. That is considered a fairly low wage unfortunately. If I had seen your CV with your qualification I would have been keen to interview you at least.

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Hey thanks for the reply. glad to hear that at least my qualification will be recognised but would be tough to go in against qualified teachers for the job. Tbh, we are moving aboard to get my BF work (civil engineer) as there are literally no jobs for him at home. so am happy to get any work i can. my family run a gift shop and cafe so iv loads of experience there for that kinda work. in regards to the hours for the school work, its more or less the same craic here. most jobs are 16-20hrs if your lucky, so not surprised at that.

Could I ask your opinion on where is the best area of both islands to live? in terms of rent. We'v been looking at 1&2 bed flats/houses in the CC city area and their either OK price but are woeful looking or are far to dear! We know it'l be dear but is there anywhere else that theres work going and you can get a nice we house/flat and not pay a fortune for it?

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Of course I recommend Dunedin.
The rent is cheaper. The climate is a only a touch better than UK/Ireland. Most Kiwi's consider it cold - it's mild with mild winters and mild summers, it's summer now and 16 degrees outside. It does snow for a couple of weeks a year but it's just a light dusting (usually).

It's essentially a large student town, home to NZ's most prestigious University, Otago. The rental housing stock is not very well cared for though, because of this. Although there are some better ones out there if you stay away from the student end of town (North).

However there is not a lot of work here for some reason and we've had a few major employers shut down and leave town recently....

Christchurch has a lot going for your BF at the moment though as the earthquake rebuild is still yet to take off and they are crying out for civil engineers. That's certainly were the jobs are and will be for a long while to come. I suggest you keep looking there (it's a big town)
, as basically, once you have money in NZ, the life style will follow.

Good luck!

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Thanks, we'll definley have a look at the jobs for Dunedin. See I know most people probably don't decide on a property over the internet but when your literally coming from the other side of the world (Ireland) we'd like to have even something temporary sorted and atm we'v only seen one house that we liked, but its brick. and me been abit OCD about getting everything sorted read somewhere to avoid brick houses because of earthquakes! so that's another thing to go on the do & dont list lol thanks for the info anyway, we'll get applying for jobs and see what happens from there. :cool:

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Hi there and welcome to this NZ forum.

I think your first thoughts should be to find your OH a job offer as a Civil Engineer. It's an occupation in long term shortage here in NZ so you could look to anywhere in the country.

Are you looking to come to New Zealand for a while to see if you like it, or to emigrate permanently ?

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Yey, the plan is to get the BF sorted with work first, its a bit more urgent for him, cause unfortunatley there are no jobs here for him to get work experience and its basically holding up our lives! Theres about 10 different areas of work I have experience in, from cafe work to horse riding instructor so am not pancing to much, I think i'll get sorted eventually. Is there any cities apart from the obvious ChristChurch that youd recommend, we just wana consider everywhere. Well the plan is to stay for 2yrs, but who knows what will happen, just get sorted with work and acc. first

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

I would be weary of taking on any rental properties over the net unless you can find someone you trust to view it for you beforehand, some photos can be years old and look nothing like what you expect.

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Well I do have relatives out there but people have their own schedules and we don’t want to hassle anyone…Yet lol so we would probably book a hostel or hotel for the first week and then head around to see any properties we liked the look of online. But we are very aware of turning up and flats not being the same flat as the ad. We once went to see a "brand new" 2bed flat in Belfast once (for uni) and when we arrived it was a rotten 5bed! so I wouldn’t be paying anything till we were satisfied. That’s what wur hoping my relatives will help us out with; my dad’s uncle has been in NZ for going on 50yrs so he'll know what to look for in contracts

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Consider as well your time frame, some properties may be in high demand and you may not get the one you want first time around. Id budget for more than a week in temporary accommodation.

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

well we hope to get in somewhere asap when we would arrive but of course we would allow in our budget for that. Things dont always go to plan

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Id have a look at suburbs/areas and think about what you want from where you live eg Quiet life vs party central, beach vs rural, do you want shops & public transport will you be walking or driving or cycling, how far from town is to far ect ect. This way you can exclude some areas and concentrate on others.

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

:fingerscrossed:well we are 25&26 but not to sound to boring I think we'd both prefer a quiet(er) area, sorta been there done that with the party life. like dont get me wrong we enjoy a night out but wur more concerned with getting out there and get working atm. maybe yr2 :fingerscrossed: if everything goes ok and we know the city we live in better we'll be a bit more confident in picking an area to live. I heard on another forum that there isnt a great bus service between citys/large towns within NZ, is this true? Like we are budgeting for a car but chances are my BF would have it most of the time.

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

Public transport is not as accessable as it is in the UK/Ireleand. Towns & cities vary.

Good luck

Re: Working as a Classroom Assistant
 

thanks, when you say not as accessable, like say we lived in Auckland, would there be a bus say from one end of the city to the other a few times a day? see we are just trying to look at it from every angle, like in a situation that i ended up working 3/4miles from where we would live.