Huw628

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I have been in Sydney for 6 weeks now and the we are loving it. However, my girlfriend is a secondary school PE teacher and has been applying for full time jobs that will start in Feb 2008 for the new school year. She has sent the registration documents back to the UK for her referees to sign and return, but as yet the documents have not returned.

As a result she is not registered and can only put on her applications 'registration pending.' She has already had 3 rejection letters from 3 different schools and she is beginning to wonder if they do not even consider you if you are not registered. Is this the case? Has anyone had the same experience?

She is also wondering if her CV and application letters are suitable for Australian schools. She has kept them in the same format as she used in the UK. Would anyone have an example of either of these that she could look at or does anyone know of a company or service that could help her?

I realise that we have only been her for 6 weeks and hopefully something will come along. If anyone has any advise, it would be most appreciated.

Cheers in advance,

Huw and Sarah

NickyP

The system in NSW is a bit different to here in Victoria. In NSW you get your job offer before you get registered. If you are working in a state school you are employed by the education department and they offer you places in a school. Once you get a job offer either from the education department (although in the department case it is unlikely to be a specific school offer rathen than a yes we would like to employ you offer) then the employer applies for your registration.
I have an offer in a Catholic school in NSW and my employer is the diocese that covers my school. I have completed all of the application details and this has been sent to them along with an offer letter from my school and they are processing my registration. That said although I got the offer in November I still haven't got my registration completed and am getting a bit twitchy .
So I doubt that the registration pending is really the problem it is more likely to be that there are a large number of people looking for city jobs and she is up against some stiff competition. I would contact teach NSW and speak to them about teaching in the state sector as that might be a way in. Otherwise just keep going visit every school that you apply to and hand in CVs personally while asking for a tour as this often helps.
Good luck and I hope that I haven't confused you as the system here is pretty confusing at the best of times.
Nicky

quoll

I would think it is more that there is a very large field of applicants for the schools she is applying to than lack of registration. NSW is a bit funny I believe and they have a sort of waiting list type structure - they like you to do your time in one of the more out of the way places that nobody wants to go to and then when you have paid your dues you can move into the more sought after areas (so do you fancy going to live in Hay for a while? or Condobolin? or Delegate????)

She could join the NSW Teachers federation - they often do courses on how to apply for jobs, what to write on application forms etc - she doesnt have to actually be teaching in order to join.

She should also ask for feedback on her applications so she can make modifications if required.

Also, try the catholic and independent schools.

esperanza

You certainly can apply for your registration yourself, I've done it, however you then have to work 10 consecutive days in a school, with observations etc before your registration is complete. If you had a job this would be easy! Otherwise there are programmes organised. You get no remuneration for attending one of the programmes.
Teaching in nice areas can be extremely competitive, and TeachNSW do allow you to accumulate points by teaching somewhere undesirable. Hence a new applicant may be a fabulous teacher with glowing references yet may still stand no chance against someone who's been out in the sticks for the last five years.

saoghalbeag

It's very similar in Queensland. I wonder who dreamt up this system? In my local area there is a primary school in a small town that is booming, yet the school is in danger of shutting down, because they keep getting teachers who are 'en route' - transferring in from the sticks and seeing it as a stopover placement before they transfer back to the coast. Very sad. I suppose they have to fill posts outback somehow, but after my experience in the UK of the novelty of actually gaining employment on merit I don't like it.

Just thought I'd throw that in there!

Otherwise, OP, I'm afraid it's a case of keep on slugging away, as someone else has said. Try http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/aussi...her_employment for a pretty comprehensive list of all the job sites in NSW and rest of Oz.