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Thread: UK Primary Teacher

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    54

    Default UK Primary Teacher

    Hi,
    I am a qualified Primary teacher (PGCE 1995) with over 10 years UK teaching experience and my husband and I are thinking about moving to the Otago area. My husband is a museum educatior with a Masters Degree.
    I have just submitted my EOI (think that we have 150 points) and so I am now starting to think about finding jobs and would welcome comments to do with how other UK teachers have found the move from teaching in the UK to NZ. Advice on the current job market, where to source jobs etc would be most welcome. Is a teacher's standard of living roughly the same, higher or lower than in the UK?
    Thanks
    Lisa

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Warkworth , NZ
    Posts
    1,404

    Default

    Hi Lisa,
    Welcome to the forum from another primary teacher looking for a job.

    The best place is to look at this site :http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/vacancy.php.

    You can get daily emails from them according to the areas you are interested in. You will need to get your degree assesses by NZQA and then apply to the Teachers Council; not sure how much you know yet so won't go into details but happy to if needed. Then in theory you just apply.....however I've only had 1 interview so far(not successful), so outside of Auckland don't know how successful UK applicants are, as seem to be enough Kiwi teachers. But go for it and good luck!
    Ask anything else you need to know! Or use the search engine for eg salaries.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    54

    Default

    Thanks for the advice Carey- good luck with the job hunting !

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    MacAndrew Bay, Dunedin
    Posts
    34

    Default

    Hi Lisa,

    My wife and I are both primary teachers hoping to go to NZ this September, then job hunting in October. There certainly seemed to be lots of jobs on offer over last autumn in both islands but we didn't apply as had house to sell.
    We now seem to be v. lucky as have sold house and were just picked from the pool last November with 120 points. We think we'll hopefully get a Work to Residence Visa which at least will give us parity with NZ teachers on applications (in theory), and 9 months in NZ to get a job with small cash reserve!!!!!

    Was interested to hear you had an interview John, was that from an application in the UK? Did you fly over? What was it like compared to UK? Good luck with the next one!

    I wonder if there are any other Primary teachers on the forum?

    Regards Mike

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Halifax,UK -> Auckland
    Posts
    93

    Default

    Hi Lisa

    I signed up with all the recruitment agencies mentioned on the NZ immigration website and only one got back to me. www.oasis-edu.co.nz. I am a secondary teacher but I know that they have a primary dept. They had some good advice for me and even managed to get me a job. Might have been lucky but this is probably the right time to apply as the school term is just starting and schools are eager to get teachers in. I did say that I would start in mid Jan but then looked at flights. I then said that the beginning of March would be more convenient and the school said no problems. If you can't make it this year then this Xmas would be a good time to apply.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    north of Wellington
    Posts
    2,202

    Default

    Hi guys
    I guess I'm one of those teachers....have taught here for 10 years after moving here almost 12 years ago.

    My biggest shock if you want to call it that was how I was put on the salary scale - I was given half a year for each year I had worked in the UK - so in effect was well down the salary scale.
    Not sure if that still applies or not.
    You will find details of salaries etc on here
    http://www.nzei.org.nz/teachers_prim...conditions.htm


    I had been used to teaching in an "integrated day"type of classroom so found NZ classrooms to be much more rigid funnily enough in their expectations of teachers. I got used to it eventually.
    And if I'm truly honest - because I am science/maths/ICT skilled - I found teaching Maori really difficult as I found it so hard to learn for myself. lol That said - I've grown to really appreciate the cultural side but leave the expertise for the maori teachers in schools. :-)

    Also handwriting.....I still find it weird how they teach it here - and from the state of all my own kids' writing, I'm still not convinced it works.

    On the plus side - the kids are generally well behaved and the schools supportive. Of course that really depends on where you teach - but there ARE some fantastic schools out there.
    I STILL appreciate the fact that SATS do not exist here (and you don't spend a year teaching primary kids with them in mind....)

    But I have to say I found the 10 week terms very very difficult.
    It is just too long without a break in the middle for the kids.



    I have actually left teaching for a while to pursue another career.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Suffolk UK
    Posts
    139

    Default

    Another primary teacher here! Just started researching the possibility of emigrating.
    Keen to know whether Kiwi teachers need to work the '8.00 till 5.30 and then 2 hours at night and Sunday afternoon planning' kind of hours to get all the paper work done......( if yes, I will look to change career) or can you work together with children to help them be happy and confident in their learning and have children that are keen to learn?

    Not sure how qualifications will be worked out. B.Ed degree and 19 years experience. Have had conflicting info on whether primary teaching on list or not for skills shortage. Any advice??

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Warkworth , NZ
    Posts
    1,404

    Default

    Primary teaching is on immediate skills shortage list. This doesn't help with points towards Skilled Migrant catagory but means that if youa re offered a job your application will be processed more quickly. I understand there are opportunities in Auckland and Oasis recruit primarily for the city.
    You will get 50 points for your degree and more for 19 yrs experience - do the quick points check to see your total.

    Good luck!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Suffolk UK
    Posts
    139

    Default

    Thanks, By the way, we are in Suffolk too!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    MacAndrew Bay, Dunedin
    Posts
    34

    Default

    With primary teaching being on the ISSL now I think that this means you can apply for jobs in NZ on an equal footing with New Zealanders, whereas before an employer could only offer you the job if there were no suitably qualified NZ teachers applying. [ which seems a bit unlikely unless it's in the worst areas.] They would also have had to complete a form NZ1113 I think , declaring this to the government, which must have put some employers off overseas trained staff.

    I do hope that NZ schools truly are more reasonable over workload than here, I do know of a primary teacher who has recently settled in NZ and she had found Part Time in the UK to be practically full time and hated it. Now she has done a year of PT in NZ and enjoyed it so much that she has applied for FT posts!

    Regards Mike

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