The lovely Aoife Condron has written a fantastic post for Rebecca the Irish Teacher, answering frequently asked questions about teaching in Australia! It’s an honor to have such a fabulous lady write a guest post for my site. Take a read and if you’ve any more questions for Aoife, contact her on her Instagram (tagged below) or in the comments below.
Teaching abroad is a massive leap and knowing someone that’s over there is a massive advantage for you to find out as much information as possible before you make the leap.
My name is Aoife Condron, best known as @teacha_efa in our online teaching community. I am originally from Co.Offaly. I completed my B.Ed from St. Patrick’s College. Currently, I am on career break from my full-time permanent teaching post at home. I have five years teaching experience in Ireland, ranging from Mainstream Class Teacher to Learning Support/Resource Teacher.
I left Ireland for a sense of adventure and travel. I spent four months traveling when I left and then settled in Brisbane, Australia. I wanted the opportunity to live in a different country for a while too and experience a different lifestyle. Four and a bit years later and ………. I am still here, teaching in Australia!
I am heading into my tenth year of teaching in 2020. Huge fan of The Gram (@teacha_efa) for ideas, inspiration and for the opportunity of working collaboratively. As teachers, our greatest resource is each other. Since joining the Instagram Teaching community, I have been inundated with questions about life in Australia and of course teaching in Australia. I have teamed up with Rebecca the Irish Teacher to put together this Q&A style format guest blog post for you. You may find my previous blog posts (link in Instagram bio) and Q&A highlight beneficial too, and these can be found on my Instagram account.
I am not a visa agent or a recruiter, so therefore not an expert in terms of how everything works, particularly in other States and Territories. Therefore, I will link much of these questions back to my own personal journey, here in Queensland, as that’s what I can speak about with greatest knowledge and confidence. Thanks for your understanding and I hope you find this helpful 😊.
What steps can I take before I arrive?
In terms of teaching in Australia, I would recommend that you contact the State or Territory that you plan on moving to and ascertain how you go about getting your qualifications assessed here and by what authority, so that you can teach in Australia. Below is the link to the Queensland College of Teachers. This is where I found all the details of the registration process here:
When assessing your qualifications, most parties will require your college transcripts, teaching practice records, copy of your degrees and a police clearance certificate. I would recommend getting the ball rolling on this before you come or if it’s too complicated, at least bring all the above paperwork with you. It will make your life so much easier when it comes to applying. Bring written references too as the time difference can be a nightmare to deal with.
Is it possible to move there and get long term subbing?
I have found relief work with relative ease here in Brisbane. I have generally worked in suburbs away from the city. As I have a car, this was not an issue for me. Once you prove yourself to be a capable and competent sub, who is reliable and flexible, you will get call backs. In terms of getting long term work in this area, that is dependent on what visa you are on too. Schools generally use technology to help book their subs. State Schools in QLD use: TRACER
https://qed.qld.gov.au/working-with-us/det-induction/queensland-state-schools/teachers/supply-teachers and Catholic Schools use: https://www.classcover.com.au/
What is pay like for primary school teachers?
This is a link to the salary scale for Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE). This will give you a rough idea of pay over here:
https://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/bce-employment/teaching/Documents/Teacher%20Salary%20Scale.pdf
State schools, private schools and subbing rates will all vary accordingly. I requested a Statement of Service from the Department of Education in Ireland and I used this evidence, coupled with my Statements of Service from substitute work in Australia and my time spent as a Kindergarten Teacher to prove my years of experience to BCE. This helped me advance up the ranks in terms of pay scale. Every year of teaching, you go up an increment level in terms of pay too, very similar to Ireland in that respect.
Is there a chance of landing a permanent post?
Of course, but in my experience, they are hard to come by. In the BCE schools that I have worked at most teachers have to “re-interview” for their posts yearly, if they are only on a fixed-term contract and some of them have been doing this for years! There is no such thing as panel rights etc. here.
Having said that, other teachers I know have landed a permanent post rather quickly in their career. There doesn’t seem to be a lack of work in general though, I have always been employed and for year long contracts. Again, your eligibility for permanency will depend on your visa type too.
Can teachers get sponsored to teach in Australia?
When I was looking to move from Working Holiday Visa to Sponsorship Visa a few years ago, there was no pathway for Primary School Teachers to do this, as this job had been taken off the skilled-sponsorship list. I also knew, that even if it were on the list, as my B.Ed was completed in three years that the skills assessing section (AITSL) would not accept it, when assessing/processing my skills/competencies etc. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/
Therefore, my partner applied as the main applicant for sponsorship in his field of work and I was granted this visa by de facto. Check out the list regularly for changes.
Is it like Ireland re: class size and paperwork?
In general class size is much more manageable here. I generally have 23-25 in a class and with far more in class support from Learning Support/Resource Teachers and Special Needs Assistants, as required. I find the paperwork is less demanding here in Australia. Planning is all done in short term cycles and changes to suit the developing needs to the children. You ascertain these needs from teacher observation and data collection of evidence.
I generally scribble down in my diary what I plan to cover from my short-term plan/termly plan. It’s up to you whether you’d like to create and use a weekly/fortnightly plan, it is not required. This creates way less paperwork for me, in comparison to what I was doing in Ireland. You also get non-contact time during your working week to plan, prepare and correct. I have two hours free per week and get a lot done in this time, if I manage my time well.
What is behaviour management like in the classroom?
It varies hugely and like anywhere depends on a wide variety of factors. An advantage for teaching in Australia is you don’t feel as alone as in Ireland, when it come to dealing with significant and challenging behaviour. In most schools, the Leadership/Administration Team do not teach. Therefore, they have more time, which in turn enables them to assist with behaviour management, more so than a teaching-principal in Ireland would be able to. I already mentioned about the increase of Special Needs Assistant time and Learning Support/Resource time in the classroom too and this has a big impact in assisting children in the classroom with additional needs and/or challenging behaviours.
Did you struggle with a new curriculum?
Not really, I found it interesting and engaging. There is a lot of overlap, particularly with English, Maths, Technology and Health. However, HASS was a challenge for me as I had to teach myself/research what I was teaching about first, before delivering it to the class, as I was not familiar with Australian history, geography and politics etc. However, I was very upfront with this with my students and explained to them how in some ways/subjects we will be learning/exploring together.
They seemed to appreciate my honesty and learned to love and see the joy in learning, when they saw that I found out something new/interesting. I also struggled with Religion being a stand alone subject here in Australia at primary school level, one that the students are assessed upon from Prep/Junior Infants. I was not aware of many Australian saints etc. and had to teach myself first before introducing a new topic to my class. I found it helpful to research a little first and did so here: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Is it difficult to get into teaching in Australia with a four year degree?
No, this seems to be very straight forward. Lucky you! To see my not-so-straight-forward pathway of my teaching journey here with a three year degree, check out the link in my bio on my Insta account.
How do you begin job application process for teaching primary education in Australia?
I teach in the Catholic School System in Brisbane and this is where all the jobs are advertised and where you apply: https://bcejobs.nga.net.au/cp/index.cfm?event=jobs.listJobs&jobListid=22fc4f47-e994-46a3-b8c9-9bc901269f43
You can set up alerts and they can email you when suitable jobs pop up, very similar to ‘educationposts.ie’ in Ireland. Before I taught in the Catholic School System, I worked at two private schools. They were advertised on and I applied for them on: https://www.seek.com.au/
Do you like the lifestyle and climate there?
Yes, I adore it! It is the reason a one-year career break turned into me still being here! It is so entirely different to home and I love it for that very reason. I weighed up moving to Chine/UAE etc. where you would earn more money, but for me it wasn’t all about the salary and the saving, it was a sense of adventure and the opportunity to live the Aussie lifestyle for a while.
I knew I wouldn’t like the other countries as much, as I had travelled there and knew I would not like to live in those locations long term. To me this seemed like the best of both worlds as I can develop in my career, earn more money and save, while also traveling and exploring Australia and surrounding areas.
Why did you opt to live in Queensland and not another state?
My partner had some family based here in QLD. We also loved the total change in climate! So, we put down roots in the Sunshine State. I really love it here and couldn’t see myself living or teaching anywhere else in Australia.
That’s all for today, please be in touch in the comments below if you have any more questions or queries regarding teaching in Australia- big thanks to Aoife for taking the time to answer all of these questions, you’re amazing!
Love this post!! I’m just wondering in what way would a 2 year PMEP course be regarded? I have an undergraduate degree in Arts and post grad in Primary teaching. I’m wondering where would you be considered to be on the pay scale/ does it fulfill the qualification requirements? Thanks!
Hi Abbie, the qualification requirement would be eligible, as this is quite similar to my situation. Your pay scale is actually based on also what you have in regard to experience in years of teaching also. I entered at the 5 year mark due to teaching this in Scotland. I found I had to obtain ‘statements of service’ from the education authority back home to provide to payroll here in Oz to prove my years of teaching. Once you have done that they place you on the appropriate pay scale. I was on the entry level until I did this! It was a bit of a pain but worth it in the end. I love Aoife’s post as it depicts the schools in Brisbane well. In north Qld, it can be very rural and very rewarding. A totally opposite experience from Brisbane. They are always on the look out for teachers and I was never short of work. The vast variety of country schools is amazing, so you are sure to engage with many people who become life long friends as well as learn so much from school to school!