Job - Primary School Teacher

[Deutscher]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone knows what the current/future availability would be to become a Primary School Teacher in a CITY? My girlfriend currently is doing ChildCare at a fairly respectable place which also has an old people home etc. anyway. She's 21 and on $39,000 a year. She's wanted to become a Primary school teacher or a Special needs teacher/carer since she was young. So she's thinking about going to uni.

My question is, what are the chances of her getting a permanent job as a teacher? Awhile ago there was a shortage of teachers but is there now/future? I don't mind moving states etc but I don't want to work in the sticks.

Anyone got opinions? She hasn't wanted to go back to study but she recently said she might start go back because Childcare isn't going to pay for her future.

If there any career paths other than Teaching if you can't get a job? I mean I'm doing double major - Accounting & Finance with Minor Professional Accounting w/ emphasis on Taxation. So I've got quite a big field if I don't like say Accounting. But if she does her 4yrs of teaching and can't get a job that would really suck.

[MasterOfReality]

I reckon she is going to have to get in line to score a job in the city.

When I went to uni, teaching used to be viewed as the career you took when you couldn't get a job anywhere else, or your grades weren't good enough to get into your preferred course. Don't know about now though.

What were her school grades like?

Figure out what she is good at, and then narrow the field according to income and job security.

Like you said, no point going to uni like everyone does these days if you don't get anything out of it.

[nstone63]

My partner is at uni doing education/arts, and a high school teacher out of the city is an almost guaranteed job. As for the city, she says chances are good too, but it is more competitive. Would she/both of you look at regional centres as well?

[Deutscher]

My partner is at uni doing education/arts, and a high school teacher out of the city is an almost guaranteed job. As for the city, she says chances are good too, but it is more competitive. Would she/both of you look at regional centres as well?

Nop not for me anyway, don't think for her either.
I've heard that regional schools you have a good opportunities and good money too but I couldn't move from the city. I'd move interstate but I'd need to be near a fairly large city. My goal is to get a job in the heart of the city, that's the best place to advance and earn good money (I think anyway) other than working for mining companies in whoop whoop lands.

Edit: She wants to teach/work with children. She wants to become a Permanent teacher because she likes the thought of paid holidays & long service leave early otherwise she could become a teacher assistant, She wants to be able to have holidays of with her kids (in the future!). She likes childcare but I don't think she'll want to do that for the rest of her life, and there's not much opportunity for advancement, she was going to do her diploma in childcare but the payrate would change by $1 or $2 per hr, her sister has diploma and the responsibility you have for the extra $1 isn't worth it in her opinion.

[MasterOfReality]

Well you can't have it both ways.

Sometimes you just have to sacrifice something to earn decent money.

Edit - you have to look at this with some sense. You are both in a field where you are literally competing with thousands of others. You simply are not in any position to dismiss something that is outside a city as you will be disadvantaging yourself if you do. Many people have to get a job in a place they don't like (I had to) just to get a start, then things will get better.

[Deutscher]

Well you can't have it both ways.

Sometimes you just have to sacrifice something to earn decent money.

Edit - you have to look at this with some sense. You are both in a field where you are literally competing with thousands of others. You simply are not in any position to dismiss something that is outside a city as you will be disadvantaging yourself if you do. Many people have to get a job in a place they don't like (I had to) just to get a start, then things will get better.

I see were your coming from.
I'm not going to be working in the City straight away, I'll have to move up the stages aswell.
I won't be forced into the country with my job (I hope haha).
The thing is, I'm not sure if it's the career she ACTUALLY wants or if it's just the holidays & pay. EVERY female at some stage wants to become a teacher you know.

[CSP]

There's no money in teaching. It's why most teachers are so crap! They aren't paid enough. Like polititians, teachers need to be paid a LOT more to attract the intelligent people to the jobs. Until then, we get incompetence.

[ShadowMyst86]

In Queensland teaching positions are determined on a points system. For instance, working in a regional centre might earn you 2 points a year. Getting to a metropolitan centre like Brisbane, might take 20-25 points. After 10 years, the points are deleted and you start again. So, usually the experienced teachers are the ones who end up in the good positions. Not sure about Western Australia but the system is pretty generic.

That said, Catholic education is a way to get into metro centres more easily, sometimes. Also, sometimes less experienced teachers are lucky enough to work in metro centres due to a school needing someone right then and they are available.

I am starting at my 5th school in 2 and a half years because most schools contract a teacher for a while and then move them on because there is not enough space to make them permanent. Whilst it isn't ideal, there are a lot of people I know who can't land a job because they won't move. Turning down offers moves you to the bottom of the list for offers and sometimes you aren't offered for a long period of time for turning down placements.

Good luck with it. If she is certain about teaching, moving to the sticks is a real possibility.

[stockyvrcalais]

There's no money in teaching. It's why most teachers are so crap! They aren't paid enough. Like polititians, teachers need to be paid a LOT more to attract the intelligent people to the jobs. Until then, we get incompetence.

thats just a stupid comment, most teachers are NOT crap, and rest assured no amount of money will give you an intelligent politician, ie, current Vic government.

[cracker]

There's no money in teaching. It's why most teachers are so crap! They aren't paid enough. Like polititians, teachers need to be paid a LOT more to attract the intelligent people to the jobs. Until then, we get incompetence.

my mother takes home $64000 a year, working 4 days... its not too sad
8.30am-4pm, 4 days a week, 8weeks holidays, dont be stupid its good money, the conditions are great, the hours are even better.

[nstone63]

My aunty is also a primary school teacher in Adelaide northern suburbs. She's been qualified for three years, and only now got her most 'full time' job - four days a week, split between two schools as a relief teacher. In the cities it can be -really- hard to get a good, full time position early on.

As said above, maybe 'sacrifice' a few years by going country for experience and then come to the city?

[CSP]

my mother takes home $64000 a year, working 4 days...

My apologies for not being clear enough. There's no decent money in teaching... etc etc

[Julie]

For a tertiary qualified person teachers are paid shit, most tradies get paid heaps more hell even my husbands trade offsiders get paid more than that. If you mother thinks the conditions are great she would have to be the only teacher I know of ever to say this because all they do is bitch about the conditions, their extra workload and their crap wages.

[cracker]

$1200 a week, is good money you can talk it down all you like.
not everyone makes $100 000 a year, i no alot of people claim they do, but they dont.

as a a grade sparky $1200-$1500 a week is an average rate, considering hours, conditions etc teaching looks pretty good at times. but i guess tradesmen dont make good money either

[CSP]

I only know one tradie and he does alright for himself!

A carpet layer I know works for himself contracting to carpet retailers for work and pulls in around $250,000 a year between him and the one other bloke he works with.

[minux]

thats just a stupid comment, most teachers are NOT crap, and rest assured no amount of money will give you an intelligent politician, ie, current Vic government.

Interesting, my mrs is a teacher and she agrees most teachers are crap. Sadly they keep lowering entrance rankings so we keep getting idiots who know **** all to begin with.

[sleepa]

My girlfriend is a first year out high school teacher for a catholic school in a large country town and is on $54,000 a year at the moment, will only go up. She got offered straight away too, apparently they need a lot of teachers in the country, not sure about primary school tho.

hat said it is a bit more difficult to get a job in the city. My friend has just completed his diploma for teaching primary school and has been looking for a job in the eastern side of melbourne for 6 months now.

[sleepa]

Interesting, my mrs is a teacher and she agrees most teachers are crap. Sadly they keep lowering entrance rankings so we keep getting idiots who know **** all to begin with.

Agreed, but there are some really good teachers too. that's about it tho.

[Ace_VP]

There is a shortage of teachers, but this is in highschool and is in the subjects of science, maths and computers mainly.

Teaching has a high drop out rate because the general age of teachers at the moment is quite high alot are reaching retirement age. If she gets a teaching qualification she will get a spot for sure, it may take a while and will depend on where she is willing to wait, a spot on the northern beaches of sydney may be harder to get than a spot at Mt Druitt for example. But in the end she will be on a list and she can casual teach whilst she waits and there will be plenty of work for her doing that.

But in the end there are more primary teachers out there looking for work than highschool teachers.

[Ace_VP]

For a tertiary qualified person teachers are paid shit, most tradies get paid heaps more hell even my husbands trade offsiders get paid more than that. If you mother thinks the conditions are great she would have to be the only teacher I know of ever to say this because all they do is bitch about the conditions, their extra workload and their crap wages.

This is true to an extent. The comparison is that a tradie gets paid for their 4 years of training, teachers dont. Whilst an apprentices wage isnt much they are still straight into the work force earning money. A teacher needs to leave school and then go to UNI for 4 years and pay HECS fees plus their living expenses. Then when they get out they are on $50000 or there abouts, when I started in 2003 i was on $41500, when i finished up in May last year i was on just under $70000. Its not so much that the pay is shit its that the fact that they have trained for 4 years at their own expense isnt recognised and recouperated as quickly as it should be. Im still paying my HECS bill. Matt

[MasterOfReality]

Interesting, my mrs is a teacher and she agrees most teachers are crap. Sadly they keep lowering entrance rankings so we keep getting idiots who know **** all to begin with.

Case in point.

One of my best mates is a high school deputy principal and head of department, at 30.

Over $100k a year and he isn't exactly an intellectual powerhouse.

I simply would not feel comfortable if I had kids that he was teaching.

The reason why he is in such a good position now is because he did the hard yards at schools in western sydney nobody would even touch.

IMO, the pay is not shit when you take into account the entry requirements and the holidays.

[minux]

Case in point.

IMO, the pay is not shit when you take into account the entry requirements and the holidays.

I disagree, my wife works from 7:45 to 4:30 at school. At home she does at least 1-2 hours every night. During the holidays she is lesson planning. Teachers in relaity get no annual leave, not the good ones anyway. My mrs had a 93 enter, deferred out of Melb Uni in bus mgmt to go to do primary teaching. The system needs an overhaul. Problem is, good teachers are masked by shit ones. Good teache rgets kids that are shit thanks to previous teacher, gets them up to standard, following year shit teacher undoes all the work.

I feel for anyone being taught by Gen Y's.

[CSP]

Craig your wife would be in the minority of teachers that do a good job!

But I second your comment about anyone being taught by a gen Y teacher. It's hard enough when you have them reporting to you in IT. They do know everything after all.

[MasterOfReality]

I disagree, my wife works from 7:45 to 4:30 at school. At home she does at least 1-2 hours every night. During the holidays she is lesson planning. Teachers in relaity get no annual leave, not the good ones anyway. My mrs had a 93 enter, deferred out of Melb Uni in bus mgmt to go to do primary teaching. The system needs an overhaul. Problem is, good teachers are masked by shit ones. Good teache rgets kids that are shit thanks to previous teacher, gets them up to standard, following year shit teacher undoes all the work.

I feel for anyone being taught by Gen Y's.

My mate works for a lot of his holidays, so in reality he might have around 4 weeks, but then again thats like everyone else. Thats why he gets paid a decent amount for.

It does need an overhaul - current entry requirements do not stack up to the existing salaries and the required level of respect for teachers. I think a lot of teachers are simply overpaid to be honest - your wife seems to be an exception. My cousin's parents are both teachers (one highschool the other primary) and they milk it for what its worth. I feel sorry for the kids in their classes.

If they toughened the entry requirements, and actually made sure teachers are qualified to teach in their specific area, then I would support an increase in salaries and respect. My mate, who failed high school maths suddenly found himself teaching high school engineering science. Wtf?

He did tell me once that a lot of the agitation for payrises and general bullshit by teachers was mainly driven by the older teachers who were on the old super scheme, and weren't generally reflective of the teacher population.

Maybe performance based pay would be a better idea to reward hard working, better quality teachers?

[minux]

Simple solution, privatise all schools. There is a reason private schools are better. They employ and sack the best and worse. If schools were run as a business they too could employ and sack the best and worse...although, with fair work around good luck with it. Off topic but check this for a laugh..Child porn offender Steve Wilson unfairly sacked by Nestle | The Daily Telegraph sad times.