catriley

Hello!

I am so happy to have found this forum! I have a million questions to ask!
My partner and I are hoping to move out to Mornington near Melbourne as my brother emigrated 2 years ago and we loved everything about it when we visited! I am currently in my 3rd year of part-time primary teacher training and I graduate in 2010, I'm hoping to secure an NQT position to gain 1 years work experience before applying for a three year temporary visa. I would be very happy if someone could advise me if my degree would qualify me to teach in Victoria? I have read that you should be four year qualified but as my degree is only actually 3 years full time i'm unsure as to where this leaves me? Does my NQT year count as the fourth year? I had previously been to uni and gained a HND in Information and Communication Management so i'm not sure if this would count towards the required qualification?

Many thanks for any help you can offer!

Gordo Marshall

Hi

I came from the UK originally and had studies a BA(Hons) Geography, then done the PGCE - so 4 years in all. I got my rego from Vic Teachers no problem, and FYI would have been also recognised in all other states too in Australia too. I ended up going to the NT and Alice Springs to teach which was simply awesome, and easy to get a job - very easy, and I had only really just qualified the year before in the UK, started in Alice Springs as a Relief Teacher (Supply) on my temp holiday working visa, then got sponsored. IT was no issue at all that I had not done my NQT year there. But then that's the NT for you - alot more open-minded and less up its own bum than the eastern states!. I love the teacher and the students there, and I know for a fact they are often looking for Primary Teachers in the Alice. I think it may be worth you looking into this and see what the NT REGO TEACHERS BOARD say about your qualifications. Not sure of what Vic Teachers say about 3 years qualified teachers. Guess what I am trying to say as a new teacher if you have the flexibility and option to go somewhere truely remarkable to teach for a couple of years and it's easy to get a job, then the NT maybe worth a thought?

DO NOT listen to what Aussies tell you about Alice - most of them have NEVER been there. I had the best time teaching there and met the most amazing people and students, and the Aboriginal kids were a joy to teach. Sure, there are issues, but there are in many Melbourne schools too!

Cheers, and best of luck

Gordo

hereshoping

Sorry but your 3 year teacher training degree does not qualify you to teach in Australia. The NQT year cannot be counted as the fourth year unfortunately. Your HND might count as the requirement is for 4 years of tertiary education, but you need to contact teaching australia to find this out.

Gordo Marshall

Hi again

Though other poster would be right about 3-year trained teacher. You could think about doing an upgrade if you were in Australia, but I also think you would charged international fees.

Could you do some more study whilst working as an NQT?.

I am not sure if your NQT year will qualify you for a fourth year?

I think your best bet is to contact the different registration boards directly by email, as it can actually vary between states sometimes, esp, where it maybe harder to get staff.

I only speak for the NT, but maybe that has changed now too?

Always give it a go and check everything out you possible can I reckon.

Also, take care to listen to other people who have worked in a certain state, and not those who have not is often a good bet too.

Best of luck with it all, and I am sure there will be a solution to it, whether it from the UK or Australian end?

Actually, another sudden thought. It maybe worth you seeing if any Australian university would run a relevant course for you via distance learning, thus allowing you to get on with it, whatever your movements?. You could check this with Vic Teachers maybe?. Ask them in an email, I would. They can only tell you they don't know. Again though, you would be charge international fees.

One thing I can tell you is this - Australian qualifications in some industries here, not necessarily teaching however, are held in higher regards, simply because they are Australian - very narrow-minded I think personally, but there you go.

Good luck

Gordo

saoghalbeag

Re: the qualifications and non-Australian quals being looked on - I think you'll find this is a pretty standard reaction everywhere. I had a rotten time trying to convince the Scottish GTC that my Australian qualifications were equivalent (I had a BA/BEd 4 years trained) and their stubborness was beyond belief. I got through to them in the end but, like you, the attitude really pissed me off. It's frustrating (like you mentioned) that it's usually people who haven't left home who have this attitude.

Have a look at the Immigration pages on the Aussie government website - you may find the 4 year qualification is the minimum for getting a skilled visa. I'm pretty sure 4 years is standard around the country now, but as the other poster suggested - it's worth getting in touch with the teacher registration boards in each state/territory. Like the GTC and the GTCS (Scotland) they are all separate bodies with their own quirks - you might find out something we don't know!

I'd also like to second heading to the NT and I'm from the eastern states. I spent a little while in Alice Springs as well and would've liked to stay longer. It's a different world out there and it can also be easier to migrate given it's a regional area, so why not take the chance?

Gordo Marshall

Nice one, well said about the NT. Yae to the NT!. I found them very accommodating and welcoming at the NT Teacher Rego Board.

Hey, funny you should mention about the Scottish GTTR. I trained in England, and tried to get my stuff sorted out there in Scotland too ages and ages ago, but gave up as I found them really arrogant, stuffy, making me take a medical, could not do this, could not do that. They are very traditional up there (I went to school in Scotland) and pretty paranoid beyond belief. Their teacher training is stuck in the dark ages in certain institutions in Edinburgh. It is all (Still) very nationalistic and for some reason they do make it very hard for people. It is a remnant of attitude well and truely routed in deep presbyterianism, and this prevails in the schooling too at times. So I know what you are talking about. I think they have a secret chip on their shoulders about the English going there to teach, as it's not Scottish. Is very like the Aussie tall-poppy syndrome I think.

I would not worry about it if you are not teaching there - move on.

BEST thing I did was get out of Scotland. Wonderful scenery but I think it's still a very racist, homophobic and parochial place.Sorry but I find alot of Scots miserable, down at tooth, dour and moaning alot about stuff. But there are some nice ones too! People say it's diverse - rubbish, it is white european union diverse in over-pumped Edinburgh. Manchester and London, now there is real diversity for you!

Yae to NT and the Alice though! HOORAH!

catriley

Hi,

Many thanks for all of your advice. I emailed teaching australia and they originally said that my HND (which was 2 years higher education) should make up the extra year needed, but then replied to say it might not, so now i'm waiting for their next reply!

Catherine

saoghalbeag

Good luck catriley - a friend of mine who wanted to get into teaching but didn't have enough high school marks followed a different path by starting out at a TAFE College (this is Certificate and Diploma level which is similar to your HNC and HND). Apparently she'd have to do an extra year of study because the first 2 years at Tafe were only enough to get her into the 2nd year of a Bach Ed...if that makes sense??? I've read elsewhere that some of the TAFE quals are even getting people in beyond that now but not sure?

So if you've done a 2 year HND plus 3 more years...well, it seems logical to us but maybe not if you're the biddy sitting inthe office going over your form!!! What I found worked in Scotland was to continue to pester and pester and pester them, try to speakto different people, try to speak to their supervisor/coordinator.

I eventually managed to arrange for my Dean of Education from College to send copious amounts of email info to the GTCS confirming that yes, I had studied at uni level and NO I WASN'T MAKING IT UP YOU NUMPTIES!!!!!!! In the end they were protesting that I couldn't be registered for History teaching as I needed so many points per unit I'd studied, and they would NOT accept a unit I'd taken on ancient civilizations because "It was not part of the Scottish curriculum"...this, despite the fact I was actually teaching ancient civilizations IN A SCOTTISH SCHOOL at the time!!! Not to mention the fact that another history teacher at the school, who had studied in Scotland had done a heap of study on numerous topics that were not relevant to the curriculum, yet they'd registered him!

Good luck!!

saoghalbeag

I agree...to some of it! I still want to move back there! What I found hilarious was how the locals would often start harrassing us (as Aussies) for being racist and all the usual stuff we seemed to get in the UK, yet these guys thought nothing of saying "Ayoop ahm awae oot fae a chinky" or "Ahm awae doon tae the paki for a bottle e buckie"

I spent most of my time in the Highlands/Islands, where there was a different kind of racism (ie: you might do the jobs we won't do (cos we get giro) and you might build your own house (we don't need to do that - we've got council flats!) you might support our local producers and small business (we've got somefield and we're getting tesco soon!) but you weren't born here (ie: Raigmore!) so you'll never REALLY belong

But I still want to go back there - probably because I could make an even longer list of irritants about Australia (but I won't because I know how much the rest of you seem to love it!)

I'm still advocating for a "passport pool", where everyone who wants to live somewhere besides their birth country can submit their details and if they match someone else they can arrange a swap...