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Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help
Posted by Bec on 2/11/06

Hi Bob
I am an Oz teacher and have taught both Primary and
secondary and specialise in Society and Environment (what we
call the learning area in which geography falls under). Im
from Perth which is in Western Asutralia (WA).

Firstly, Perth is really a large country town in comparison
to say, London. Having said that, it is a great city for
families, its clean, no driving hassels and you could easily
get a cheap place on the beach - pristine water and
brilliant sunsets. Actually a lot of brits migrate to Perth
and I think I remember reading that it has the highest brit
intake of the entire country. There is a lot of demand for
jobs in the city so only your experienced people get the
good jobs (youd probably do well). Having said that if you
are prepared to go 'country' there are some amazing
experiences to be had for both you professionally and your
children. In comparison to some of the places I have taught
i.e. London for your reference, student behaviour is pretty
good as is the quality of education. I personally found brit
curriculum and beauracracy to be too anal for my ability to
really perform as a teacher. Over here, we have very high
standards but there is more flexibilty in delivery so you
get to do some really innovative and engaging stuff. If you
are geography trained, you will probably be required to
teach some lower school yr 8 to 10 S&E as well as your upper
11 and 12 geography. The best part of teaching in Oz is the
socialising with other teachers - generally everyone is easy
going, likes a laugh and you will no doubt make some great
mates over here. Im not too sure how you would go salary
wise - generally most schools offer the same depending on
years of experience (you will have to see how your UK
experience will be accounted for if at all at salary talks)
with most grads starting about 44K Aus. This goes up to
about 60K. Non government schools generally offer a fraction
more in salary but also come with the added headache of
contributing to extra curricular school activites. Overall,
all schools in WA are really focused on a community
environment between students, parents and staff. Primary
teachers generally the same class for almost every subject
and teacher aides are available in most classes.

Teaching in Perth is pretty good and although you do get
your problem kids there is usually a lot of support for both
you and the student available. If you are relocating
downunder, move to Perth for the cosmopolitan lifestyle as
opposed to a career move. In comparison to say Sydney or
melbourne, Perth is more easy going, somewhat smaller (but
still a capital city) and the weather is absolutely
stunning. 14 degrees celsius in winter, 35 in summer. Not
humid or smoggy either - oh and in australia when you look
up into the air, we have this amazing thing called sky, and
its clear and blue!!!!! hehe

Good luck!!
Bec
On 1/03/06, Bob wrote:
> My wife and I currently live in the UK. We have two boys
> aged 2 years and 1 month and we are looking to migrate to
> Australia (or maybe New Zealand) around july/August 2008.
I
> am currently a head of geography at a high school and my
> wife is a teacher at a primary school. We therefore will
be
> both be looking for employment as teachers. This will be a
> massive upheavel for us so we wish to get as much
> imformation before migrating. Therefore we are after 2
> things. Firstly we would like to gain genuine accounts of
> what teaching is like in Australia. So we are looking
> for "Pen Pals" to email, who can tell us what it is like
> ideally a geography teacher for me and a primary teacher
> for my wife. Secondly if anybody has done anything similar
> or knows of anything that might help us in anyway then
> could you please contact us.
>
> Many thanks in advance.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 1/03/06, by Bob.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 2/11/06, by Bec.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from overseas, 4/13/06, by Jon Kelly.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from overseas, 4/19/06, by Jeaneeem.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 11/02/06, by Dave.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 11/03/06, by Phil .
• Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 4/04/08, by M.P.Ramamurthy.
• Re: Teaching in Australia from the UK - We need help, 4/24/08, by wolfgang benson.