Primary Teacher - retraining for another career?
 

I've been a Primary Teacher for nearly 11 years now and would love to retrain. Ideally I'd love to do something like social work but wouldn't know where to start with regards to courses etc, like can it be done by distance education and part-time? I also wouldn't mind staying within the education sector but instead do something OUT of the classroom as it can become so monotonous and the workload is just immense at times!!! Anyone any suggestions!?

Thanks in advance,

Jen :)

Re: Primary Teacher - retraining for another career?
 

Hi, I can recommend University of New England, NSW they are the biggest distance learning provider in Australia.

Im with them and they are very good, cant believe how much support you get. (Biomedical Science totally change for me)
My son tried Murdoch and they are bloomin terrible for distance learning.(Murdoch tutor dont answer emails,online assignments not up even though its the hand in day! and worse)
So sone swapped to UNE and very happy.

Almost every course UNE do oncampus is distant learning. But you may have to do some oncampus workshops. e.g a few days to a week.
UNE you can study one unit to full time, its up to you.

Yes, you can do social work distance learning.
http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2011/courses/BSOCWK

this is a mix of social and Psychology
http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2011/courses/BSOCSC

How about Education Psychologist? Still in education field.

Here is list of all courses
http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2011/courses/list

Open Uni here has very limited choice of course

Gems

Re: Primary Teacher - retraining for another career?
 

PS, UNE are very accommodating if you have any issues so cant study.
Daughter got Type 1 Diabetes at Christmas and I am allowed to take the whole semester off. Said you can take off up to 3 in total.

Trimester is coming in 2012 so you can finish your course quicker if needed. But its not compulsory, you choose how much you want to study.

Gems

Re: Primary Teacher - retraining for another career?
 

Cool, thanks for all the info, how do you find out how much each course will cost?

Re: Primary Teacher - retraining for another career?
 

Hi Jen-course fees are listed on individual uni websites, you can usually get more info from student services.

I started looking into retraining while still doing my Bach of Ed. I was a school-uni-school teacher (16 when i sent off the uni app & mostly because of family pressure) & wish i'd been encouraged to have a gap year instead!!

After a few false starts (another undergrad degree, TAFE, working in jobs outside classroom (these jobs rarely pay enough!!) I stumbled into my Masters in Education in Teacher Librarianship & i'm so glad i did it-it's given me a 2nd wind for teaching & allowed me to continue at the same income level.

I found there was more career & study advice available AFTER i started studying. I found my couse after 6 years of trawling the uni & TAFE websites when i had time. It's prob better to enrol in a single unit or PD through uni, then taking advantage of their services while you're there!

UNE has had a good rep for distance ed for a long time, I studied online with QUT & found all the library lecturers excellent. USQ in Toow offer loads of distance Ed & perhaps the option of going in person if you find distance learning is not for you-i found it frustrating after a while, especially when i wasn't working full time so very isolated!!

What are your interests for more study? Many units have postgrad info nights-i think after the undergrad ones in august