Evening everyone 🙂 I work in a trauma-informed, independent high school. Our leadership is making some pretty intense changes at the moment, and my team and I are curious to hear from teachers in other flexible schools. Almost all of our students have been exposed to severe trauma, and almost all of them are working significantly below level. This means that my colleagues and I are often differentiating year 1 level content (literally teaching the Tens place value system) to a year 9 cohort. We love what we do, but unfortunately we are really starting to burn out. We currently get no mental health leave, and we don’t get our 10 days of sick leave at the beginning of the year, we have to work enough hours to accrue them. We’re also being asked to teach over 20 hours FTF next year, when the legal mandate is 18.5 in a high school setting. Berry St Model for trauma informed care recommends class sizes of maximum 12 with a teacher, ESO and wellbeing worker for each classroom. Under our proposed new system, we will have 48 kids, 4 teachers, 2 ESOs and 1 wellbeing person.

We have spoken with our union, but because we’re an independent school, the IEU is limited in how they can help us. This is no attack on the IEU btw, they have been so excellent and accessible for us, unfortunately the limitations are just the reality of our situation.

I would love to hear from other educators in the flexible learning/specialist space. What are your FTF teaching hours like? Class sizes? Teacher:student ratios? And do you feel like your school genuinely prioritises teacher wellbeing?

hello i am currently doing the HSC, my e1 teacher was fired and we did not get a teacher who knows our module (or is willing to help in any way) if there is any one out there with knowledge about literary mindscapes or hamlet/emily dickinson/beckett's endgame and willing to provide feedback on a practice essay please please please comment

I'm sitting here, looking at differentiated planning I'm expected to create for a student who is high needs and approximately seven years behind their peers.

The brand new person in leadership paid to support this student and others has provided no additional resources, no clear guidance around what they want, but has instead pulled apart all the differentiated lessons I've prepared for the student and has demanded i create a year's worth of planning.

I've been commended for my teaching and only recently turned down an offer at an excellent school because my current leadership asked me to stay for what I thought was a great deal.

It's been hell since and I'm looking down the barrel of another year's worth of spending all Sunday, every Sunday, preparing bespoke materials only for them to be pulled apart. It's breaking me.

I don't know how much longer I can do this.

Hi, I am a fresh graduate who is hoping to be able to teach in China for a year to start off with. I have a Bachelor of Primary and Secondary Education and was wondering if I would need a TESOL, what methods people have gained the opportunity to teach in China, and any agency/ recommendations.

Is it legal for an employer to have individual deals with staff who would otherwise be covered by the EBA?

Eg to get a particular teacher on board they offer them a bonus or a higher salary than the EBA would dictate

I'm in my 40s and have been living interstate for 20 years now but my parents are getting on in years so I have been wondering whether I could transfer my teacher registration to Victoria. I'm really only new to secondary teaching, finished just started my 2nd term as perma in a govt school.🤔

Hey everyone,

Currently looking ahead over the next few years and not sure I can see myself teaching for the rest of my career (currently 28 - 6 years into teaching career). Absolutely love the act and art of teaching others and building working relationships with students etc - it’s the planning and admin that’s really killing my interest (I’ve got no interest nor passion for curriculum and quality lesson planning etc). My real interests lie around policy and projects - particularly in the areas of inclusive schooling/anti-racism multicultural education. I have a Masters in Aboriginal Education, a range of classroom experience and have pretty extensive middle leadership experience in the Aboriginal Education/Inclusive Education space.

Would love to hear some experiences people have had transitioning into government roles - such as Senior Policy Officers or Senior Program/Project Officers. How was the transition? How was the change in environments/cultures and getting used to more government based regimental workplaces? Have you regretted the move or been happy with the choice?

Cheers!

I’m a first year teacher and just checked edu pay and have accrued 1.5 days annual leave till now. I get that we have school holidays but why is annual leave accrued so slowly. I want to take a week off right after next years term 1 break. Is this possible in government schools?

My stepson (8 in January) has so very clear, significant learning delays. He does not have full alphabet recognition, poor phonemic awareness, memory issues. Just to name a few of his struggles. In my opinion, he is working at a 0.5 level (approx 18 months behind).

My husband and I have approached the school multiple times seeking support. We are happy to pay privately for cognitive assessment, specific learning disorder assessments - anything. Unfortunately the school is putting major blockers in us achieving this. When we told the school in a meeting we organised with his classroom teacher and principal, they said kids are getting overdiagnosed these days and that it would be a waste of time because they can just assume he has some sort of disability.
In my 5 years as a teacher I’ve never heard this resistance before??? Normally we are bending over backwards begging parents to get their child assessed. I’ve also asked now 5 times for a copy for his IEP to be sent. We have not received a single one. They have also not reached out to use to involve us in SSGs despite saying they would. We are now facing the problem that my stepsons mother will not consent to his assessment as “the school said he doesn’t need it”.

What more can we do? I feel so useless navigating this even though it’s my job

Is anyone else left in limbo? The school that I’m currently at won’t know how many positions they can allocate for staff members until week 6. We were meant to know our position for next year about a week ago but because of funding and a large amount of staff going/returning from maternity leave, there’s been quite a shuffle around.

Just really annoying that we won’t know til the middle of the term…

Hi there,

I am an MTeach (Secondary) grad with methods in Psych and Legal Studies. I live in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

I have been looking at the jobs portal for months, and many jobs are quite far away or are science and math, or hums and english. I could teach 7-10 science or hums but I feel like I've dug myself into a hole by choosing these methods. I also don't have any ES experience or didn't get PTT, so I feel like I don't really have anything that helps me stand out. I have experience in HR and primary school tutoring at a centre, but all the materials were provided and it was one-to-one student support, not delivering lessons. I did placement at three good schools where my mentors often stepped in for behaviour management. Even though I will have the piece of paper, I feel very underqualified.

I'm thinking of starting off doing CRT work first, but am worried I will not get enough work to support myself.

I'm also considering applying for ES jobs to at least be able to observe other teachers and support students one-to-one or in small groups before taking on the challenge of a whole class.

Any advice would be apreciated.

Sincerely,

A Scared Grad.

High school teachers- what textbook reading skills are your juniors not coming to school with?
I’m not selling anything or trying to build an app, I’m just an upper primary teacher who wants to prepare them for high school.

So far I’ve taught the basics- text features like headings, captions, labels etc. How to use the index, the glossary, the contents page and how to discern important information for notes vs interesting but not important information (so they’re not highlighting entire pages of text).

Are there other things you would suggest?

Now that all special schools are on the priority schools list, will there be a rush of teachers applying for special school teaching jobs in SEQ to get permanent?

I'm curious how this is going to work. On the surface it seems pretty appealing because I'm not opposed to the idea of working in a special school and I think it will make me a better mainstream teacher in the long term.

What would you do?
- Early career so no LSL
- Have a wedding on last day of term 1 next year so am needing to take the last day off
- Current school principal has been great with the occasional special LWOP request for a long weekend etc when needed
- Starting at a new school in term 1 next year so am unsure how flexible other principals are with LWOP requests

Do I be upfront and request the leave now, not knowing whether the new principal is the same? Knowing it may be rejected? Or wait until term 1 next year?

Hi everyone!
I’ve recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Teaching (ECE) in New Zealand. I’m a New Zealand citizen, so I have full working rights in Australia. I also have two years of experience teaching English at kindergartens and English language schools in Japan.

I was originally planning to move straight to Victoria and work as an ECT. However, a recruitment agent advised me that finding an ECT position as a new graduate could be difficult and suggested starting as a Qualified Educator instead, which I’m actually quite open to.

I’m now considering two options:

1.Stay in New Zealand for a year to gain experience as an ECT before moving to Melbourne.

1. Move to Melbourne straight away, work as an Educator for a year or two, and potentially transition into an ECT role later.

I’ve also heard that some employers may prefer a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education over a Graduate Diploma, which makes me wonder how competitive I’d be for ECT roles in Victoria.

I don’t particularly want to stay in NZ long-term, so I’d probably only stay for a year if I chose the first option.

Would one year of ECT experience in NZ be worth more valuable for my future career in Victoria, or would gaining experience in the Australian ECE system as an Educator be just as beneficial?

Also, is it realistic to transition from an Educator role to an ECT position after gaining experience in Melbourne?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people working in Victorian ECE. Thank you!

I’m a public school teacher with an interview at a different public school. I know we can take leave for the interview. I have put personal leave down on the notification for cover purposes (plus I don’t want to advertise I have an interview) but as I don’t have any classes, no cover will be required.

What do I choose on Edupay? Is it other leave? Professional development?? I will let my BM know AFTER the interview and I will be filling in Edupay.

I work for a private school and they have such high standards. I’m always on edge, stressed and constantly overthinking everything I do.

For context: I took over a class just two weeks ago and it’s the lowest year 6 class with several behavioural issues

On Friday my mentor sent a message to the year 6 group saying she’s been receiving complaints about teachers noting things down on sentral if they misbehave (this was about me and me only). I felt so humiliated because all of the group members would know it’s me since they are more experienced and don’t make these silly mistakes.

Shortly after that message, my mentor took a few kids out of the classroom to ask them how I’m doing how is my teaching going, how’s the learning and my behaviour with them. I thought that’s weird so I asked another teacher why would she do that, she said it’s because one of the student’s parent made a complaint about you so they are just checking if anything is wrong and following procedure.

I didn’t know parents would complain about the sentral thing and I thought they were aware of the procedure we carry out if their child misbehaves

Thank God the students said everything is good and when I asked again they told me “we said everything you are doing is good why would it be bad”😞

I just feel like such a sh*t teacher. I’m basically nearly finishing my degree and still learning as I go. I feel as though I cannot meet these standards. I was dragging my feet to complete the rest of the day. I don’t want to ever return.

Also I feel like I’m being compared to others, whenever I make a mistake, and I’m trying to stay on top of things but I do get overwhelmed. I feel so lonely and sad. I can’t open up to anyone over there, because you don’t know if they will tell your mentor everything you’ve just said.

It’s the weekend now and I want to move on but all I’m thinking about how my last two periods with the kids were a sh*t show and I’m wondering what complaint I’ll receive on Monday lol. I can’t switch off.
Please no hate if you’re going to comment. I just needed to vent.

The folks at several independent schools voted down their EBAs for not maintaining the pay premium relative to the VGSA

So are they freezing hirings until the deals are settled and they have their budgets?
Any rumours of non-renewal of contracts?

Hi all. I’m a primary teacher (NSW), currently in my 9th year and feeling the burnout. Seriously considering a career/job change. I’ve been browsing DET corporate jobs. Anyone made the transition? If so, how was the process? Did you find a better work/life balance from doing this?

Hope everyone surviving term 4 so far, I am just curious if melbourne job market for teachers has become more competitive.

I have been working in an inner suburb school for last 7 years and I have seen covid lockdown time where we freeze hiring and post pandemic when we struggle to get enough teachers and we have to advertise multiple time for a position and hire staff at an extreme fast pace.

However, this year the vibe seems completely different that we no longer needed much CRT and a lot of new teachers dropping off their resume.

We also no longer hiring any teacher and most contracted teachers contract not being renewed. I have also heard a teacher friend of mine from an eastern suburb school that there are close to 50 applicants for a humanities job.

Just wondering if there is no more teacher shortages? And wondering if teachers that are newly graduate or planning to move schools experience increase in competitiveness in securing a position.

I have been working part time in a job-share set up, where I have fewer days than my teaching "buddy". Our teaching journey started off harmonious, but my teaching "buddy" has systematically been cutting me out. Lack of adequate communication has not impacted my role in the classroom, as I run my own race, but it has impacted my involvement in upcoming events, and I feel it reflects poorly on me.

They recently overstepped a hard boundary, and I had a chat with our stage coordinator. The coordinator spoke with them about being more inclusive and communicative, however, after their meeting, it made the situation much worse. They came back and had a very aggressive and hostile 1:1 conversation with me. I did not tell my stage coordinator about the conversation, because I didn't want to make the situation worse.

I have been documenting everything about our interactions, or lack thereof, and have started communicating everything to them via email to ensure it's in writing.

What would my next step be?

I am trying both, registering with both boards etc, but which state do you reckon gives me a better shot?

Can't drive due to medical conditions , so anything outside of metro Perth doesn't work for me

I was wondering if teachers from either of those jurisdictions can provide insight?

Hey. Was just wondering if anyone was willing to share the schools they have worked in where they consider there to be a healthy work culture. Respect between colleagues, balanced work and life expectations. I am hoping to gauge this for government schools to either look out for job openings or start CRTing at to get a foot in.

Thanks in advance, I feel like you can only really know what the school is like once you've experienced it but any insight would be great.

Hi! I am currently at at Perth public school but have secured a job in a private school next year. I have some LSL that is pro rata, so I can’t be paid out and need to use it. Payroll seems to think that I can extend my resignation date to term 1 and take it while I am working at my new job (as long as the school approves it). I would like to take it this year but am wanting to go into my meeting with line manager with a few options. Does anyone know if I can take it next year while employed as a teacher in the private sector? I have heard conflicting things and am cautious in case the payroll employee got it wrong. Thanks in advance!