lynh

Hi everyone
I am currently a full time mom and am hoping to do a Graduate Diploma in Education to allow me to become a secondary teacher in Victoria. I currently have a BA in Economics/Politics/ English and an MBA
I see that you choose 2 specialist subject areas to teach. My initial thought is to pick English (as there seem to be many English positions advertised) and Business Managment (which is my passion). However I don't see any positions advertised with this combination of subjects. Would it be better to do English and Humanities together, (or Bus Managment, Economics, Commerce together) or do you think it is likely that I could find a position where I could teach both English and Business Management?
Also is one allowed to teach subjects that have not been one of you diploma choices (eg if I do English and Business Managment in the diploma, would I be allowed to teach Economics or Commerce as well)?
Also any idea if a 2 year Masters of Education would be of huge benefit vs the 1 year Diploma? Having spent so many years in education already I would prefer a quicker option but I also want to maximise my chances of getting a job after my studies.
Thanks in advance for any feedback
Lyn

saoghalbeag

My teaching majors are English and History, however History was phased out in many places in Oz a while back and has been rolled into SOSE (Qld, SA, NT), HSIE (NSW) etc. They do sometimes roll back out into specific subjects in Senior (ie: in Years 8 - 10 students study SOSE, often a core subject, but in Years 11 and 12 they can elect to take History, Geography, Economics. This is based mostly on my experience in Qld and NT, so it may vary elsewhere. TBH I think it depends on the school as well - on the teaching staff they have available. In the NT the SOSE Coordinator was an Accountant in a previous life, so despite the fact she did not teach any of the classes and the staff who did had History backgrounds, Economics/Accounting/Business were a strong feature of the SOSE curriculum and History was sort of 'tacked' on at the end of Year 10.

I have not taught in Victoria so I'm not sure what it goes by down there, but as a teacher of SOSE and HSIE (with only my History quals) I have also been required to teach: Geography, Economics, Careers, RE, and Business. I agree with you regarding English - as it is a core subject there are a lot of positions available. Re: the other subject, I think your Business quals would only be a help to you if you decided to take Humanities. You would appeal to schools as you have the quals to teach junior humanities, but also be utilised in senior to teach Business.

Have a look at the Vic teaching jobs website perhaps to get more of an idea what schools are asking for in terms of Humanities jobs?

Of course the whole humanities thing may change in the next few years as the curriculum changes...best advice may be to go with what your passionate about?

paddygunner

Lyn
I hope to be in same situation as you next year.
Plan to be in Melbourne next summer at which stage I hope to retrain as a sec school teacher.

I have a b.comm and near 20 years experience in financial service and running my own business. Planning to teach Maths and Business.

Do you know whether there is intense competition for the Grad dip in education?

I know they give course requirements in the prospectus but is the final offer of a place dependent on an interview?

Would be interested to here how you are getting on.

By the way i have researched some masters in edu courses which let you complete masters while teaching so you only attend the 12 months full time for grad dip and complete masters by thesis/project with the aid of a mentor- think it was Monash but not sure.

regards
Paddy

Sherlock Holmes

Just a quick welcome to BE to you both. I see that you've both found your way around quite well but any problems with B.E. you are welcome to send me a private message. This facility will be available to you after you have each made three posts.

Cheers,

Alistair.