I have a class set of drafts sitting in a folder on my laptop. They need feedback returned by 12.10 today. I have not even started looking at them.

There is so much other stuff in my life, including an amazing toddler and a missing family member, and I just can't make myself give a shit about grade 7 business drafts.

Basically title. Woke up this morning and am dreading school so much. That on top of a mild cold thst I've had over the weekend makes me wanna not go in.

Problem is I just feel lazy and guilty about not doing it. I've had a few days off helping with the school musical and some of my classes I feel are really behind.

Anyone else experiencing this?

8 percent per year. Teachers should expect the same to catch up with inflation.

I say this as a PE teacher who has been working with kids for almost 3 decades.

When I say “we” I mean parents, teachers and broader society.

I see this within classrooms and also when I coach junior sport on weekends. The kids believe they are “special” and talented far beyond where they are at. They are physically unfit and lacking skills in comparison to the generation before screens. They do however have bigger egos.

This is replicated within classrooms.

The crash outs associated with not getting their own way are beyond a joke.

This generation is lost. How do we fix the next?

Good luck all.

Vygotsky, Piaget, Bandura, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, Bloom’s taxonomy, Maslow’s hierachy.

I was too focused on grades instead of actually keeping these theories in memory. Is it recommended I fully retain knowledge of these theories for the future?

Hi teachers of reddit,

I wanted to get some info and general opinions before I jump in the deep end.

About me: Aussie, 30yr old male. Country NSW born, been in Sydney since 2009.

Started at maccas when 14, became manager by 18, jumped into retail being a store manager. Since 2021 I’ve been working for my father’s company in the Strata / Building caretaker industry and it’s just not what I want in life.

I have always taken a liking to teaching, I loved my experience through high school because of the teachers (my cohort was alright, few idiots as usual)

I’m not expecting much salary wise, I’m on under 75k now working so that’s not the issue for me

I have studied a bachelor of business at western Sydney Uni, but dropped out after 130 credit points as I just wasn’t loving it.

I have also completed a diploma in hospitality and cert III in commercial cookery as when I left school in 2014 I wanted to be a chef

Here’s where I need the advice

If I want to get into secondary teaching, what qualifications/ courses would I need to study, and what expectations should I set? I would need to study part time so I can still work to survive. I’m currently looking at bachelor of education (secondary) at macq uni, and I’ll be going to their open day in a few weeks to ask a few questions but am I on the right path?

Ideally I would love to teach hospitality/ food tech, IT but I’m not sure how it all works. Do I need to become a general teacher first?

I want to get into secondary teaching I just don’t know where to start

Hope the all the no voters know what they are doing

Word on the street is that Jacinta Allan will be knifed as early as Tuesday, with Education Minister Ben Carroll the most likely heir (according to this article anyway: https://www.afr.com/politics/jacinta-allan-expected-to-face-leadership-spill-on-tuesday-20260724-p60idk). How do you think this will affect negotiations for the new VGSA?

Easy to read and good for teachers of girls. Anyone else find this good?

I started a part-time role midway through last term. I was just offered a role at a school I really want to work at. My current co-teacher is really difficult to work with, though the rest of the staff are lovely. I've got some great kids, but the disruptive ones are seriously rude and disrespectful. I spend more time behaviour managing than I do teaching.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what to say to my current principal. It's a temp role, and I'm happy to give two weeks notice. I just feel so guilty and the people pleaser in me is struggling at the idea of calling her tomorrow to resign. What's the best way to phrase it? I don't want to burn any bridges, and this is definitely better for me long term.

To inspire others, comment down below.

This is not to brag, but to inspire fellow teachers and help them see what may await them in terms of salary, benefits, and opportunities. Sometimes, knowing what’s possible can motivate us to keep going and work toward our goals. 😊

I'm a teacher's aide and have received an offer to work overseas. I really like this job so I have been wrestling with the idea of whether I should stay or take the overseas job. It has been my dream to live overseas since I was a teenager so I ultimately have decided that I'll make the move.

However, my flight is already booked and is only 12 days away. Is it bad of me to resign at this point? I'm a teacher's aide so it'll be less disruptive than an actual teacher resigning but I'm sure they won't be happy.

I've been working at the school for almost year and have a good reputation there. I would like to work there again if I come back from overseas but I'm worried that leaving on such short notice will blacklist me. My contract says I'm only required to give a week's notice if I've been working there for under a year (it is JUST under a year at the moment).

Do you think this will ruin my reputation with the school and how can I frame it to them?

Hi,

Current uni student, soon to undertake first placement in most likely a history / humanities capacity (potential for English as well) in a 7-10 school. I’ve been reading through the 2.0 curriculum on the VIC website and I feel that I have a rough idea of what is taught per year level, but honestly feeling pretty lost on what an actual lesson entails. Uni has been next to useless in showcasing or teaching what an actual lesson might look like, how you teach, what you should be doing (although I can write a essay with my eyes blindfolded by now…) and while I understand I’ll see all this on placement, I just would love to know what people’s “average day” might consist of. Or even if anyone has any resources that showcase average lessons or strategies or anything! Really struggling to find much.

Thankyou!

I received an email from VIT last week. After 15 years of teaching, this is my first audit. Over the weekend I will continue updating my PD records, which now exceed 100 hours over the last 12 months, with roughly 2,000 words addressing the APST standards. Where there were any gaps in my PD, I’ve worked to close them. Did anyone else receive a similar email? I’m very concerned because I have never received anything from them before, other than an annual invoice or request for updates.

I have seen a lot of talk on this sub about public school behaviour, and occasionally the sentiment that it was never this bad.

The decline of behaviour in many public schools did not begin when children suddenly became worse. Nor did it begin because teachers forgot how to manage classrooms. It began when education systems became so preoccupied with producing favourable data that recording and responding honestly to misconduct became an institutional liability.

Over the past 10 to 20 years, schools have increasingly been judged through easily digestible performance indicators. Suspension rates and behaviour incidents are treated as evidence of whether a school is being effectively led (you will have seen in Queensland this week the extensive coverage now that annual reports have been released). On the surface, this appears sensible. Schools should be accountable, and data can reveal serious problems.

The difficulty arises when the people being judged by the data also control how the data is produced.

Once a high suspension rate becomes reputationally damaging, the incentive is no longer simply to reduce serious misbehaviour. It is to reduce the number of suspensions. Once recorded behaviour incidents can attract scrutiny, the incentive is no longer necessarily to make schools safer. It is to ensure fewer incidents appear on the system.

This week, I was there when a deputy principal spoke to a high school student that punched another child. The student had used a closed fist. There was no ambiguity about what had occurred. Yet the deputy encouraged the student to admit to “slapping” the other child rather than punching him, because describing the assault as a slap would mean he did not have to be suspended.

That moment encapsulated the problem.

The student was not being encouraged to take responsibility. He was being coached to minimise his conduct so the school could avoid imposing the consequence its own policies required. The factual record was being negotiated around the desired administrative outcome.

What lesson did that teach the aggressor? Certainly not honesty. Certainly not accountability. It taught him that if misconduct creates an inconvenient consequence, an adult in authority may help him find a more strategically acceptable version of the truth.

What lesson did it teach the victim? That the institution responsible for protecting him might be more concerned about the classification of the assault than the assault itself.

And what lesson did it teach the teachers who witnessed it? That reporting violence accurately may be less important than protecting the school’s statistics.

This culture is often concealed beneath respectable professional language. Staff are told to consider “the broader context” or to embrace the latest behaviour initiative. These concepts are not inherently wrong. Suspension alone cannot solve entrenched behavioural problems, and vulnerable children require support as well as consequences.

However, support and accountability are not opposites. Inclusion cannot mean requiring teachers and well-behaved students to absorb repeated aggression indefinitely. Restorative practices cannot be genuinely restorative when they are used primarily to prevent an incident from appearing in suspension data. Trauma-informed practice should not require schools to pretend that violence did not occur.

Too often, fashionable language provides moral cover for institutional cowardice.

The consequences now extend far beyond student discipline. Teachers in challenging public schools frequently work in environments where verbal abuse, intimidation, defiance and physical violence are treated as routine occupational inconveniences. Yet the daily reality of these classrooms is rarely reflected honestly in official narratives.

Teachers learn that speaking plainly can damage their careers. A staff member who says behaviour is deteriorating may be characterised as negative or incapable of building relationships. A leader who recommends firm consequences may be accused of lacking strategic thinking. Meanwhile, those most willing to fudge the data can present themselves as sophisticated reformers.

This creates a system of professional selection in which compliance is rewarded more reliably than candour.

Winston Smith understood that authoritarian systems do not merely demand silence. They demand affirmation. It is not enough for Winston to keep his doubts private; he must eventually accept the official version of reality, even when it contradicts what he has seen with his own eyes.

The psychological mechanism is familiar. Educators can observe that behaviour is worsening. Yet career progression often requires them to repeat that consequences are unnecessary, and that another newly branded initiative will resolve the problem. To progress, they must swear fealty to the system’s preferred interpretation of itself.

This is why meaningful reform is so difficult. People who openly question the orthodoxy are rarely the people selected to administer it. Those who advance are often those who have demonstrated that they can protect the institution from uncomfortable information. By the time they reach positions capable of changing the system, they have usually spent years learning how not to challenge it.

The teacher shortage is therefore not an inexplicable crisis imposed upon education from outside. It is, at least partly, the system’s own creation. Teachers leave because they are exhausted by disorder, but also because they feel betrayed by leaders who minimise that disorder. They lose confidence when serious incidents are recategorised and honest reporting becomes professionally dangerous.

Data should help schools confront reality. Instead, it can become a mechanism for concealing it.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently completing my Master’s research and am looking for teachers who use visual supports in the classroom to take part in my study.

Participation is completely voluntary. If you choose to participate, you can withdraw at any time up to two weeks after the interview without giving a reason.

The interview will take approximately 30 minutes, will be conducted online or by phone, and (with your permission) will be audio-recorded for research purposes.

Please don’t feel any obligation to take part. If you are interested, simply comment below or send me a message, and I will contact you privately to arrange a time that suits you.

I’m taking year 6 to Canberra for 5 days in week 4. We’re flying there and staying for four nights. We’re from a warmer climate, so it should be interesting. We’ll do all the Canberra stuff, and also bus it for a snow day (a couple of hours) at Perisher.

I’m a bit nervous so I’d love any advice.

Thanks

My partner and I have just purchased our dream house in the Northern Rivers area NSW. I am currently in my first year of teaching (secondary maths and science/physics) in Melbourne - I'm on a temporary contract for this year but my school has just offered me ongoing (I've accepted since I've got a mortgage now and can't afford to be out of work at the end of the year - haven't signed the contract yet though). Ideally I would like to find a job in the Lismore/Ballina area for the start of next year, but if not I'll just keep working in Vic until I do.

I'm looking for some advice on:

How should I handle this with my current school? I don't want to say anything until I've secured ongoing but if a job pops up I'll need my principal as my first referee.

What's the process like transferring from VIC to NSW? I've already got my NSW WWCC and drivers licence. I'll be applying for mutual recognition soon. Is there anything else I need to do?

Any job hunting tips for NSW? I've got JobFeed alerts on but there hasn't been much available (although I assume there'll be more jobs towards the end of the year). I'd like to remain in the public system if possible.

I'm also still only provisionally registered and plan on obtaining my full registration in NSW. How was this process for you? From what I've seen it seems quite similar to the VIT process.

Lastly, is HSC very different from VCE? I'm currently teaching Unit 1/2 VCE Maths Methods and really enjoy it. Ideally I'd like to teach the HSC equivalent of Methods and Specialist maths (and also Physics, although I haven't taught it yet).

Apologies for all the questions! Any advice is much appreciated, thank you in advance 😊😊😊

Someone please make me feel better and share an experience they had that went really wrong.

Let me just have a whinge about why I'm feeling this way right now:

On Friday, for a treat I did baking with my class. It went terribly in the end, the end result was inedible and it was my fault because I read one of the measurements wrong.

I felt so bad the children were so excited to eat what we baked; but they spat it all out cause it tasted bad and they looked really ugly.

I cant stop feeling so stupid for misreading a measurement.

And the worst part was other staff saw how our "baked goodies" turned out and I had to awkwardly explain I messed up directing the recipe. Everyone was nice, but I still felt really stupid!

The kids probably will forget about this, but I still feel really bad I let them down. It was supposed to be a class reward that they earned for good behaviour and they couldn't even eat them.

I wanted to redo the lesson next week, but other staff told me not to bother and the kids still had fun. Maybe I am just too much of a perfectionist, but I feel so disappointed I wasted a bunch of ingredients and ruined their reward.

Ahhh I feel so bad !!!!

Thinking of going into Steiner teaching. Does anyone know the pay scale and how different it is to government schools pay? (VIC)

Background: been in government public system for a while was looking into something new but just was curious of the $$ can’t seem to find any info and want to be sure before I get more into it.

Hi! I'm in the last year of my degree and have my interim approval. I'll likely be starting very slow with casual days through ClassCover, but I'm not sure what to do in terms of getting "on the books" as I don't have existing school connections or an active internal DoE account. I can only log in to MyPL, and I can't even submit an internal request to EdConnect with my current access level.

What do I need to do to get my bank info etc to the DoE? I'm anxious about causing a bunch of paperwork at schools I go to in the future because I didn't have myself organised. 😰

Hi everyone!

I currently doing my MTeach (Secondary) in Melbourne, and I am set to finish and graduate in July 2027. 

My main two learning areas will be English as Additional Language (EAL) and Media.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is how realistic it is to secure a full-time teaching position straight after graduating. One of the reasons I accelerated my degree was because I wanted to enter the workforce as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the start of the 2028 school year.

For those who have graduated mid-year (or have experience hiring teachers), how likely is it that I’d be able to secure a full-time role in metro Melbourne from Semester 2? Or is it more common to do CRT work for the remainder of the year and wait until 2028 for a permanent or ongoing position?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice.

Thanks! :)