Loiner

I teach Geography/Leisure & Tourism/Health & Social Care in a school in Castleford. Does anybody know if I will find work doing supply in any of these subjects in Queensland?

I have read about SOSE and can see how my knowledge would fit into this .I have not come across Geography as a single subject though.
Does anybody teach Geography out there?

saoghalbeag

There is Geography out there - in the senior years (years 11 and 12) and it is sometimes offered at year 10 as an option (they offer the SOSE subjects as stand alone). I hate the SOSE concept. I'm a History teacher, teaching Geography, Economics and Business Studies. I have no knowledge in any of these teaching areas, no experience and tbh, absolutely no interest. I have just returned to teaching in Oz after maternity break and a few years o/seas and after the first few months I am completely put off teaching forever by this stupid invention.

Do a search on teaching in Queensland and you should find some info. If you're in state it will depend where the department want to teach you. In catholic and independent sectors you can apply to jobs as normal. try their websites or teachers.on.net.com (or something like that) for jobs. there's a few on there at the moment for sose but they're mainly in NSW.

alicecat

I am History trained but ended up teaching Geography as a senior subject and SOSE in Queensland. SOSE was not very enjoyable. It is a mishmash of many disciplines and falls victim to either being heavily history oriented or geography oriented depending on who teaches it because there is little to no accountability. There are documents that give guidelines but at the school I taught as I was told 'teach what you like'. If taught by the guidelines it could be an interesting subject. The school I was in had heavy geography teachers teaching SOSE so by the time the students got to choosing subjects in year 11 they all leaned towards geography. Also because it is a compulsory subject by year 10 the students are very sick of it (especially when by chance they have repeated a unit on cyclones or earthquakes every year but with different teachers). So you end up with big classes of unruly year 10s who resent the subject and let you know it!

There is a lot of change and talk about the Middle Years of schooling here in Queensland. Alot of schools are bringing a separate Middle School on their campuses. However even with this focus, there is no real government regulation or standardisation in what is being taught in those years. I enjoyed teaching senior because there was some structure and accountability. Although there are no external examinations in Senior, students' work is sampled and accredited. Therefore you have the freedom to set your own assessment and plan the learning. The problem is if students have not had this structure or any type of rigorous assessment in the middle years, you spend the whole semester of year 11 teaching them the basics of the discipline. The reason being that SOSE with its haphazard approach may not have provided them with basic skills.

I am actually not teaching anymore. I could not find a job where my husband would also be able to work. We tried a country town but it didn't work out for that reason. It was also too expensive to stay there on one wage. I have had to start at the bottom of the rung in the public service. It is nigh on impossible to get in these days and the only way in was to take on a low level position so that I could actually apply for positions within the organisation which require a degree! Apparently one day it will be a gravy train. I am still waiting...

Good luck with getting a job. In fact looking at your specialist subjects you might want to consider teaching at TAFE (Tertiary and Further Education) colleges if schools don't have any positions. http://www.tafe.qld.gov.au/

They might have positions teaching Tourism and Social Care courses.

saoghalbeag

hi alicecat, do you mind if i ask what you are now working as? i am also history trained and SOSE is really putting me off teaching (although I had already had a long hard think and decided I wanted to move into different fields). I am currently looking into Youth Development but finding also that it is really hard work - without retraining I am looking at getting work as a volunteer, then a casual etc and building up to full-time. Or I can try my luck with applications and hope for the best!

I'm really interested to hear where teachers with similar quals have decided to venture...

alicecat

I am going to begin study in Communications. I am currently working as the lowest of the low in an office (hating it!). Although my bosses keep on talking about promoting me and using my skills etc I am still the office junior. I can't really complain though as I need the money so I really jumped at the first job that came up. It is bureaucracy etc that is keeping me where I am so I am told if I just wait something will come up in the organisation. That doesn't make it easier though. The point of telling you all this is really if you are considering leaving teaching and you can afford it, then do the volunteering etc as you might have a better chance of doing something where you keep your self respect!

I have found it harder here to get a good job. You almost need to have a certificate in filing and stapling to get an office junior position. I still get angry thinking that after having really good jobs in the City in London and my teaching background I was only able to be considered for an office junior position.

Good luck with your career change!

saoghalbeag

It's all a bit mad, isn't it? I noticed the difference in hospitality (where I worked whilst in Scotland as there weren't any teaching jobs around). Scotland will take anyone and I got management positions because of my teaching quals, but when my friend came here from the UK, despite having eons more experience than me in hospitality, employers were looking for him to have the full range of certificates (such as the service of alchohol etc)

I am writing an application for a career advisor type post at the moment. I have a toddler so have had an extended break from teaching (although I did do casual supply a day or so every week/couple of weeks all of last year. However have noticed that nobody cares about this kind of work at all!). It has been this time away that has really made me think hard about what I want to do. I graduated in 2001 and travelled to the UK after a semester contract in Oz so have really been focussed on just getting some extended teaching experience behind me before I move on. But you can see why I don't want to go back to training!!! Feels like the last thing I was doing was studying.

If no work comes up after this next term I am looking at Tafe (cheaper, a lot less contact time) in project management or something. I figure I have the youth development side of things and although I have hospitality management experience, gaining some quals in budgeting and project management could be the 'leg up' that I need.

My worst drama with this is that I am trying to get back to Scotland - I've been trying to stick with teaching simply in order to get there (I need a work permit) but it's been over a year now and I'm still in Oz and getting miserable forcing myself to put my ideas for career change on hold just to get a work visa...

It's a bit of a catch 22 everywhere you look. Have you tried wrangling some training/study out of your current job? Might make it feel a bit more worthwhile! There's nothing worse than putting all your effort into a job that you can't see leading anywhere...that's how I feel here!!

alicecat

That is the only reason I am staying there. They are going to pay for my study. I also want to have kids fairly soon so I need to be somewhere long enough to get maternity leave etc. Other than those reasons I would have told them where to go long ago! It doesn't make the job more tolerable though. It is like being in limbo! Luckily I don't need to put any effort into my job. I just need to breathe in and out and that is pretty much the most mentally strenuous part of my day. But I just have to be patient.

Good luck with the job application!