cherryripe

Hello
Im a primary teacher here in UK and wondered if anybody can offer me any advice about how to embark on a teaching career in the independent sector. We are going to be living in Queensland Sunshine Coast area. I have worked as a casual relief teacher in Queensland through TRACER when I travelled around in 04 using my WHVisa. I have heard it is increasingly difficult to get a perm teaching position in a state school.
Thanks for any help!

saoghalbeag

Jobs are advertised on Career One (which also comes as a lift out in most major newspapers in Australia).

There are Catholic schools and there are Independent schools. In the Independents there are also a few varieties, including expensive 'posh' grammar schools and private schools, and then possibly less expensive Church affiliated schools...often the Lutherans, Baptists or Pentacostal variety (ie: Christian Outreach Center, AOG or sometimes listed as 'interdenominational')

Most of the church schools, Catholics included will accept (and this will depend on the school) your agreement to uphold the values of their faith etc and require you to attend some religious events. In the pentacostal schools, however, you may be required to have a more active/committed faith - ie: regular/active church membership and reference from the pastor of your church. When I taught in one of these schools on the Gold Coast I was required to sign a Statement of Faith and teachers were expected to uphold high standards in their personal lives (even to the point of being counselled if they strayed from the faith. Obviously these schools have a commitment to the parents and the children that they will be providing Christian education so it is important to them to have teachers in place who 100% support their values.

I am rambling on about them because I know there are quite a few of these schools on the Sunny Coast. Many of the folks from my (Christian) uni in Brisbane have probably ended up there as I remember half of the ppl on mycourse were from the Sunshine Coast and wanted to teach there. Some of my more liberal friends at uni (despite still considering themselves Christian) found these schools a little hard to deal with, so if you are not a practicing Christian you may find it hard to a) get a job there and b) enjoy working in that environment.

If this is the case I would recommend trying out the Catholics and the other independents. I wouldn't entirely despair regarding the state system, so long as you are aware that they do not advertise jobs as they do in TES/UK etc. You register with the department (as yiou will be aware from your previous trip over here) and then the dept. allocate teachers (depending on points accrued through country service etc). If you aren't keen on country service, you can eventually build up a rapport with schools and get longer contracts and maybe permanent but the couple of teachers I know west of Brissy took years to do this (one in Cath Ed, one in state) and still only got part-time contracts. One has just got a full-time permanent job in the last year or so. Another teacher has one day a week at a local state school and has to keep doing supply the other days. I know she has been teaching in the area on supply for years.

It does depend a bit on opportunity and patience and what an outstanding teacher you are, of course! I think your previous experience teaching in Qld will help you. Don't forget you can still contact schools directly after you've registered. Not sure if Tracer operate up north. Don't think so. Someone else had a link to a supply agency up there. Also SMART teachers (agency) offer work in independent schools in SE Qld.

good luck!

cherryripe

Thanks MatidaSkye for your advice! I currently work in a christian school (church of England) here in the Uk. We are affiliated to the local church but it's a pretty relaxed relationship. As for working in a Catholic School-would I be ok to work in one not being a catholic myself?
Could you also give me some more info about Country Service pls? What exactly is it and how long does it take? Ive recently had an excellent report about my teaching from the Ofsted school inspection team. Would it be a good idea to attach this to my resume when introducing myself to local schools?!
I have also worked at Kip Mcgrath here in the UK-im sure I saw some Kip centres in Briz when we were hol last summer?
Thanks again

saoghalbeag

Yep, they definitely have Kip Mcgrath Centres - they are often advertising for positions (Career One website). I'm probably not the best person for advice on country service as I've not done it, but you should be able to obtain the facts from Education Queensland's website. Basically obtaining a post in the state system works on a sort of 'points system' where you gain points each year you teach and need a certain number before you will be considered for posts in the more popular areas. The more remote the school, the more points you get. And the popular areas are around Brisbane, Gold and Sunny Coasts. There's also something in there about teachers being expected to complete at least some country service.

You can still get contract and supply work in those areas, it's the permanent jobs that are harder to come by.

The Christian schools I'm talking about are not on a par with CofE schools. CofE are probably more like the Grammar schools here (and sometimes Catholic). There are also CofE schools (Anglican) here as well. The fact that you've been working in the independent sector already will probably help.

Get in touch with Education Queensland for the info you will need to register to teach there and get your rating etc. Also the Qld College of Teachers (similar to idea of GTC) will help.

Do a search on this forum too (have I already said that???) becos it's come up before. Queensland (especially teh South East) is very popular and I think half of Britain is there (the other half is in Perth)!

Loiner

I used to work for a methodist organisation that delivered care but I wasnt expected to go to church or be counselled I just had to be good at my job. I think its going to rule alot of schools out for my husband as we just wont pretend to be something hes not just to get a job.

alicecat

I have seen advertisements for independant schools here that have said 'must teach within a Biblical world view.' Teaching agencies also have advised me that I must be a practising Christian to even apply for some of the schools that had vacancies. I never applied for these positions but friends who did told me that they were asked to sign a 'statement of faith.' They were also asked in their interview questions about their family life and opinions on homosexuality etc. One friend was asked what she would do to celebrate the holy spirit entering one of her pupils if they suddenly started speaking in tongues in one of her lessons.

saoghalbeag

I taught in a few of these schools before I went overseas and went off the rails a wee bit. Haven't applied to any since I've returned as I am aware of their expectations and I am fairly sure that they would not accept me!

These schools do vary in their approach to the church in the school. It really depends which church denomination the majority of teachers belong to. One of the schools I taught in had a large staff and many of them were from non-pentacostal backgrounds, so this sort of thing was not widely accepted (ie: speaking in tongues and worship services in schools) although there was an expectation that staff were practicing Christians who taught from a Biblical perspective.

Another school I taught in on prac was very much a pentacostal school, and the teacher I was (not) blessed with for a mentor was a complete nutter - I'm not saying that in the sense that he was a Christian (as I myself was a practicing Christian at that time) but he was actually nuts. He used to stalk in and out of class, muttering to himself and wore one of those wee colourful hats with the helicopter on top to class. Whilst I was in the school there was a sort of 'revival' in one of the churches that spread to the school. Instead of classes one day the whole school ended up having a praise and worship service in the assembly hall. Just in case you're wondering they did not suffer academically. They were still the brightest, hardest working kids I've come across - a far cry from the lazy bunch I'm currently teaching in CathEd!

The thing that annoys me about this is not that there are people who feel passionate about their beliefs and want to bring their children up in this environment - the discipline and standard of work and character of students has been, without exception, much better in the 5 'Christian' schools I've worked in than the state schools and Catholic schools in Australia, England and Scotland where I've worked.

What annoys me is not the Christian aspect, even though I am no longer "practicing" myself, but the pentacostal breed who think they are the next stage in the evolution of the Christian and think this sets them above everyone else. I went to a Christian uni that was supposed to be inter-denominational and the pentacostal clowns who considered it their personal stomping ground because they could speak in tongues...OMG they were unbearable. I was constantly in fights (not being a 'believer' in the tongues idea myself).

I should hop off my soap box. Just find it interesting to hear how others perceive this crowd.

I don't think there's a complete ban on non-believers in these schools but you would have to be very tolerant and also not expect them to be!

Loiner

Opium of the masses. As John Lennon once put it. All of it. I just think work places should separate out this sort of thing and just employ people who are good at teaching and who obviously aren't crazy. I dont want a teacher teaching my child values. I do that.

alicecat

I taught in an independent school where the denomination was just another tradition. However we were expected to set a 'Christian' example to the students. I remember being asked in my interview if I could cope with that and at the time I had no problem because the emphasis seemed to be on being a good person and leading a decent life. However, those in traditional family units were favoured through the use of incentives like if you lived on campus, your partner was not required to do dorm duty if you were married. If you were not legally married it was compulsory for them to do dorm duties. Generally though apart from saying the Lord's Prayer at assembly we were not required to participate in any religious activity or expected to teach any religion.

The only problem I had was they had to have a chaplain and unfortunately he belonged to one of those extreme types of pentacostal religions and I had a few concerns with their methods. None of this happened on campus but a friend went on one of their youth group camps and they had those kids in halls worshipping for hours on end and being preached to about how disabled people were only like that because they have the devil in them etc etc. So even though a school may seem fairly relaxed in a religious sense there does seem to be a growing tide of influence from the more extreme religious groups. It seems you have a choice. If you can't get a job in the state system (due to there being no jobs because of the state school teachers using their seven years leave to go teach in independent schools while not relinquishing their positions in the state system) then you must run with some sort of religion.