primary school teachers

[ails]

hi primary school teachers,
i know there are a few of you out there because i have been reading your posts over the past year or so. i am moving over at the end of july to the Fulham area (alone!) and hope to get contract/relief teaching work in a primary school. i was in adelaide at easter to validate visa and check out schools and i learnt a lot. however, it appears it may be more of a challenge than i first thought to get work (and i did think it would be difficult anyway!) i'm just looking for advice really. i will register to teach and do necessary courses on arrival.
my background: 4 years teaching - i came to it later than usual! - 2 x year 4 then 5 and now 6; i'm a leading literacy teacher which means i do outreach in local schools to improve literacy teaching; completed NCSL Leading from the Middle course; plus all the obvious.
any advice? - thanks in advance - sorry if it means people repeating themselves from earlier threads.
Ails

[Libby1971]

There are alot of teachers in Adelaide, not all of them employed. You may find your experience an advanatge. I know teachers who have more than 10 yrs experience who are not getting interviews, never mind contract/ perm work. In High school it very much depends what subject you teach.

My OH is looking for a p/t teacher position, pref in PE but other than that year 5-7. Not an interview in almost a year. Not a lot of positions to go for anyway, but hard when you don't get an interview.

[ails]

thanks Libby
i have changed my plans over the past month because of the potential job situation and am now not shipping all my belongings; i am going to try it for one year and see what happens. luckily, as it turns out, i could not sell my house so i will rent it. i have also wrangled a year's leave of absence from school here. i'm not pessimistic, just realistic. i've got family in Adelaide and have met a couple of teachers so i'm hoping the network will help too.

[Libby1971]

Good for you, I think it is a safe option.

One thing I would say is that there are rumblings that the Nat Curric will be implemented here in 2010/ 2011 and if that happens there could be a mass exodus. The average age in the staffrooms I have come across is about 45-55 and certainly with the older teachers, many of them are talking about taking early retirement if they have to do more changes. Alot of teachers here also think the Nat Curric is a voluntary framework so you don't have to do it, so who knows?

[Rachiegarlo]

Libby you know that ed dept rumblings are like Dept Health rumblings, they either get implemented in a mad panic OR more usually require many meetings, much research, much training and testing before rollout. If a system is supposed to be implemented in a timeframe probably best to double it or even triple.....

[Libby1971]

This is the event they've been talking about for the last 20 years. But they have started writing things up now and that means it might happen...

[ails]

i'd heard that the NC was imminent too. i'm hoping so because it gives us a little advantage in the job market. i was told by a HT that the average teacher age was quite high and there might be more opportunities over the next couple of years - hope so. it just means being able to get through the harder times - i may have to rely on my office skills once in a while to pay the rent!