lc77

Hi there

My husband's job has recently brought us to Brisbane and I'm in the process of trying to find teaching work - or figure out an alternative career! Just wondering if anyone can give some advice or some insight into the job market here.

I'm a high school English teacher, qualified in the UK and taught there for 4 years, then 8 years in New Zealand. I have got registration with QCT and am just about to send off my application to Education Queensland. I'm limited to working in Brisbane as this is where my husband's job is and we didn't move here to live hours apart! So, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that the best I can hope for at the moment is casual/relief work. Is this the case in other people's experiences? And how much work is likely to be available? I'm keeping an eye out in the private sector too, but I'm realistic that they're probably not going to be fighting over each other to employ someone with no local experience.

The thought of relief work really doesn't appeal (I left a really great job in New Zealand, so I've been quite spoiled) so I am considering some other career options. One thing I'm looking into is studying for a masters in guidance/counselling with a view to becoming a school guidance counsellor. Does anyone know what the job opportunities might be like in this area? And would a lack of Queensland teaching experience be an issue or will the masters qualification override this? Basically, I don't want to spend money and time on a qualification that might not get me anywhere.

Hope this is not too garbled - probably reflects my current state of confusion. Any advice would be gratefully received

Cheers

quoll

IIRC School counsellors in Qld are all psychologists, whether they are registered or not is another matter. Can thoroughly recommend school counselling as a career but you should be registerable as a psych to get the best value out of your career.

I like tea

I work in a Special School in Brisbane as a teacher. One of my colleagues is studying a part time correspondence course with one of the universities to become a School Guidance Officer. He is not studying to be a psychologist and to my knowledge you don't have to be one to be employed as a School Counsellor or a Guidance Officer as there are specialist courses specifically for those roles in the school setting.
Good luck.

quoll

They always have had to have had a first degree in psychology in Qld as they administer psych tests (WISC/WPPSI etc) so unless Qld has changed recently then your colleague may well have the pre-requisite skills. AFAIK Qld have managed to get around the registration requirements somehow by having registered supervisors. Other states have certainly required the registration eligibility up front. However, I will say that the quality of counsellors who have emigrated from Qld to ACT over the past many years has been variable - some have been brilliant, well qualified and experienced and been able to do a whole raft of assessments and some have been hopeless and never assessed a kid in their lives so whether that is a facet of their placements or whether they were gov/non gov I have no idea.

I know that states have found it hard to get appropriately qualified people to do the job and the requirements have been relaxed - some states will now take psychs without teacher training and others will take teachers who dont have psych registration and train them up - would think it would be a good employment opportunity still. http://www.agca.com.au/index.php might be a good place to start looking at what goes on