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Thread: Is it worth it?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
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    Default Is it worth it?

    Hi! I'm currently a university student in Canada and have been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do in the future. I really want to go into teaching but I;m not a 100% sure where I want to live yet. One possibility I was considering was doing my graduate degree in NZ and possibly eventually working/living there, at least for a couple years maybe. I was just wondering if it's worth it though because it's so costly? I come from a pretty poor background but because I wouldn't be leaving for another couple years anyway I have a good amount of time to save and student loans will cover most of my tuition. I also don't need a lot of personal money to make me happy, as long as the weather's fine and I'm not starving to death life is good lol

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    37,822

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    Hello and welcome.

    'Is it worth it?' Um, worth is something we all decide for ourselves, so the decision will have to be yours. Any higher education, particularly undertaken outside your home country, is expensive, so you have to balance that against what you hope to gain from it in terms of special experiences, knowledge and living in a certain part of the world. If you think your life will be better for doing those things AT ALL, then you're at the next stage of thinking if a particular university in a particular country has a good likelihood of delivering what is important to you.

    So, in detail, what do you like to do? What made you think of NZ in the first place?

  3. #3
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    Nov 2011
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    I just love to really be outside basically. I'm a really outdoorsy person and love going for walks and hikes or just lounging around in a park or hanging with friends. I've just always had a desire to travel since I was a kid. I would always watch the Discovery Channel and read National Geographics and travel books and just imagine what it would be like to go places (I've only been to canada and the US so far). I thought of NZ because I grew up seeing it on tv and in books and things and was just always fascinated by it. It just looked like a fun, beautiful place to go. Now I have friends and acquaintances that have gone there or know people that live there and they all love it. Also i completely hate Canadian winters and would love to get away from them for a while lol

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    Poole, UK to Chch, NZ
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    Quote Originally Posted by luckyclover07 View Post
    Hi! I'm currently a university student in Canada and have been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do in the future. I really want to go into teaching but I;m not a 100% sure where I want to live yet. One possibility I was considering was doing my graduate degree in NZ and possibly eventually working/living there, at least for a couple years maybe.
    hi there - I'm working in a school office, and have friends here and overseas who did their training in one country and now work in another. In all of these cases, the difference in curriculum and occasionally teaching style has definitely affected their ability to get jobs. Day relieving is fine if you're not too fussed, but even that can be hard to get with any decent regularity.

    I don't want to be too pessimistic, but it's hard to say whether teaching will be on the skills list by the time you graduate at all. Even if it is your chances of getting work in NZ will not be that high - beginning teachers are great, but there aren't always enough jobs to go round, and if there's a need for an employer to complete immigration docs too it really will put them off. A working holiday visa might help, but I'm not sure how useful that would be as you're not allowed to accept a permanent job with those!

    It's one of those irritating balance things - it would be great to go off and live dreams, have fun.. but long-term it might not be the best option. I was going to do a year in canada after uni, but cancelled so I could work and pay off my student debt. Then 2 years later I went to Australia for 3yr. By the time I came home (with a Kiwi husband in tow), all my friends had careers and owned houses.. Now we're settled in NZ, and things have worked out pretty well, but the impact of the travel on career and financial prospects was significant at the time.

    I don't regret those years in Australia though

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
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    UK
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    what is the pay like for teachers in NZ anyway?

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