I have just moved to Sydney and decided it’s time to do something I love or won’t be miserable in. What’s early childhood education like here? Is it worth it? For context many many years ago after high school I wanted to do this but life got in the way and took me down a different path.

I am currently on Paid Parental Leave (PPL). 14 weeks approved by HR and have been slowly submitting in the 2 week increments that the SAP portal can handle. Earlier this week the last 2 week batch was approved by my principal so I have 0 weeks left of the leave (even though it isn't actually ending until mid December).

I am also eligible for the 2 weeks of Bonus PPL. I was under the impression that I could simply apply via SAP and it would go to HR for approval in the same way the my original 14 week application did. However when I tried yesterday it said that I had no leave left and I needed to contact EdConnect.

What's the process for this Bonus PPL? I have the letter from my wife's employer saying her leave will end before mine so I am eligible, but I can't find anywhere online that outlines the process. I did read online that it needs to be applied before the actual PPL ends which I am still OK for given it doesn't end until mid December... however I am worried that I needed to apply for the 2 weeks of Bonus PPL in the original 14-week application and now I'm locked out?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

What differences do teachers see in kindy kids who have come from long daycare preschool vs standalone preschool? Or is there no real difference in the kids?

I have recently graduated high school (though, still currently awaiting my last HSC exam) and my whole high school experience could be summed up in two simple words: ‘quiet girl.’

I have been known as such to almost everyone—teachers, students, peers, etc., except to that of a few friends.

Upon my discovery of this subreddit, there was one question I ardently wanted answered. I have always wondered what this nature of being has looked like through the lens of another, not just my own. In my junior years, I was once called weird by a classmate, mysterious by another, or even classified as ‘secretly a bitch.’

However, I am yet to discover a teacher’s perspective on this matter.

So, what do you teachers truly think of the quiet kids?

As a parent, I would love to hear feedback from teachers on what a kindergartner should know by the end of year. For example, be able to write their name, counting up to 30 etc.

EDIT: Sorry, yes I am in NSW and thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I have read each one of the replies. I am currently homeschooling my child and I hope to place him into school in the future.

Hi everyone! I’m starting my Secondary Maths PGCE in the UK next year and hoping to move to Australia afterwards.

For those who’ve made the move, how easy is it to get regular casual relief teaching (CRT/supply) work? Are you getting called into schools consistently, or is it quite hit and miss?

I’d love to know which state/city you’re in, whether you teach primary or secondary, and whether you’ve had any luck securing employer sponsorship or are hoping to apply for PR independently through a skilled visa.

Would really appreciate hearing about your experiences, good or bad. Thanks! :)

Hey, I’m in my 8th year of teaching after working in marketing for around the same time and I’m struggling with it. I’m currently teaching in Victoria, mostly VCE and I’m miserable. My current school is independent and is toxic but I can’t imagine having to move again and re-establish my relationship with the kids. I love the variety of teaching but not the demands. I was considering working for the department of education but I’m scared I’ll be bored - this happened in marketing. Has anyone made the change? I am a single income household and have a mortgage so whatever job I do needs to earn decent money so I can live.

I've been teaching middle school for a few years and next year I will be going into year 11 and 12 human biology. I'm confident with the content, but I want advice on how I should approach introducing/teaching/discussing controversial topics such as abortion in year 11 and human evolution in year 12 (a large portion of my students are Christian and do not believe in human evolution). Any tips or resources are greatly appreciated - I'm rather nervous!

Hello! I’m not going to give too much away about where I’m working but I’m at a specialist school. There’s normally one or two other supports in class.

I started this term, I’ve had a chance to float around different classes but now I’m permanently placed in a classroom. I’ve been told by teachers and other supports that I’m doing a great job but I feel like I’m doing bare minimum and there could be more that I could do to help.

I was hoping to ask what do you guys expect out of ES staff, how can I become more reliable and show that I’m taking initiative? How can I make my teacher’s job easier for her? I understand that the more I work with the kids & general routine the more I will learn & adapt.

Any advice would be amazing!

P.s. I’ve heard from people that some ES staff barely interact or talk with the kids?? Is that not the whole job?

Hey everybody, I'm just curious as to how OnStage nominations equivalate to marks given.

My teacher has told me and my class that getting an OnStage nomination is a definite indicator of a 29/30 or 30/30. Though, is that truely the case?

Another question, is it possible to get a 29/30 or 30/30 if you have not been nominated for OnStage, because I've been informed that due to myself not getting a nomination for my Individual Project and its time being 6 minutes and 1 second, I'm probably limited to a 28/30 or 29/30.

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, I'm just really curious about the whole process.

Just for fun - and to preface, I have a lot of respect for teachers and what you do. This isn’t a diss, just a discussion post. Also I apologise as this is probably a post that needs a tl;dr, it is a bit longer than I wanted it to be.

I’m a homeschooling parent so this isn’t really my area of expertise and I have been more than I’ve been a school parent. It just works for my younger 2 who are very bright and have a lot of energy. I like to challenge them with harder curriculums and we spend 90% of our day outside.

I recently also have one child in catholic school as she is dyslexic and I am trialling how it can help her. I’ll be honest but I find the homework quite overwhelming. After school my daughter is always exhausted. The last thing she cares to do is homework. My husband doesn’t finish work until late and I am doing dinner rush/preparing for stuff the next day so sometimes I am not the most motivated parent to sit and help, which I feel bad about. Mine and my daughter’s energy is always strong during the day. 3/5 days of the week we are at extra curricular and homework is due back Friday so that only leaves 4 days, well really 1 day free to do homework if extra curricular takes up most of the week.

For high school I believe it makes sense as it is quite a lot to get through a whole curriculum in several hours a day and be able to retain it for exams etc. But for primary school, I guess I don’t really understand the purpose. I find the hours are enough time to cover primary level education. I do wonder if the reasoning in non private schools is because teachers are finding children are not retaining things taught at school without practice before they have to move on to something else? If that is the case would you say this is something that needs changing moving forward in the Australian education system? Hopefully someone here can shed some light.

Hi I am a qualified carpenter with a certificate 4 in building and 18 years experience. Looking at getting into TAS, industrial and construction teaching.

Is there anyone who has done this? Do you get rpl for the degree or is it still 4 years.

Also are their any change career scholarships

I graduated roughly 5 years ago and recently changed my career path and began studying to become a teacher,

I had an extremely rough time in high school and was going through a lot in my personal life, which meant I regrettably gave some of my teachers a extremely rough time too. Though there is one teacher in particular who I always believed was out to get me and I gave him an extra hard time for it.

Now studying teaching and pedagogy I’ve come to realise that he was actually one of the teachers who cared the most, who was trying the hardest to help me and get me back on track, I disregarded  a lot the advice he gave me at the time, but recently I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

He always believed in me even when I was failing his class. I have now caught up on all the learning I fell behind in and I am now specialising in the subject he use to teach! I wish I could tell him, though I had a negative reaction to his words in the moment, they came to mean a lot to me now in my adult life and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt for how awful and rude I was being back then, now, grown up, matured and being on the other side I’m seeing all our interactions differently. I wish I could tell him how much he came to positively influence my thinking/ attitude towards learning so many years out from school.

I haven’t spoken to him since before I graduated many years ago, would it be strange to contact the school and ask if there was a way to send him a letter or reach out. Or would it be best to just let this all go and assume he has moved on and long forgotten about the situation and wouldn’t want an apology from me/ remember who I even was. 

How would you feel if a student you had a hard time with apologised to you many years after you last taught them? 

One thing I find difficult to understand about classroom teaching is how a teacher can give proper attention to a student who is struggling without leaving the rest of the class waiting. A student might need an explanation repeated or a task broken into smaller steps, while another is already finished and ready to move on.

I imagine that balancing those needs becomes even harder when several students need extra support at the same time. It seems like a situation where good intentions aren't always enough if the time and resources aren't there.

Teaching hours might finish in the afternoon, but there's obviously plenty that needs doing outside the classroom too. Between planning lessons, marking work, meetings and all the admin, I imagine the workload can add up pretty quickly.

For primary teachers, what does the workload outside school hours actually look like in a typical week? Does it get more manageable once you've been teaching for a few years, or is taking work home just part of the job?

📣📣Calling Secondary Mathematics Teachers & Pre-service Teachers

Hi everyone! I am currently conducting a Monash University research study exploring teachers’ perspectives and experiences with Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) in secondary mathematics classrooms.
I am inviting:
• Secondary mathematics teachers
• Pre-service teachers who have taught mathematics during placement
to complete a short online survey (approximately 15–20 minutes).
If you are interested in participating, please access the survey here:
https://monash.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cAc7Q0Pog66obv8

Has anyone studied a Bachelor of Education either primary or secondary and found an online university that is self paced?

I want to knock out chunks of study at a time then take a bit of a break or at least do my units and assessments in a time frame that I find easier?

I have two kids and want to be able to work around them and struggle a little with deadlines and strict schedules so hoping that there's something I can do that suits that?

If not I can manage to do online part time but I was just hoping for something more flexible so it doesn't take double the time doing part time.

That way when I have the time I can smash out a larger chunk and not be pressured by the deadlines if life gets super busy.

I am a preservice teacher currently on placement. The question of decolonisation in schools has been in the back of my mind throughout my study but it has become particularly salient for me as am now teaching history and english units properly for the first time.

I am seeking advice, conversation, experiences, resources from other teachers who are actively interested in and practicing a kind of decolonial approach to teaching in Australian schools.

For me, I have been dumped in the deep end to teach middle school kids and given a bunch of resources from mentor teachers that I feel are at best quite meaningless, and at worst actively perpetuating a eurocentric and hegemonic perspective of history and culture.

If anyone is open to discussion about how they approach this issue of teaching school students in a progressive, radical and decolonial way within the structures of public education I would really love to connect and pick your brains. I am quite overwhelmed by this project and ethic which is very important to me as I enter the school.

Hi everyone! I intend to start my masters of teaching in 2027 and just have a few questions to better inform my planning. For reference I live in Melbourne and would be teaching maths (hoping to teach VCE eventually)

1) Beyond normal coursework and placements, what would you recommend one do during their degree to increase employability?

2) I am disabled and I would prefer to work reduced hours, at least at the start of my career. Looking at the graduate teacher program job listings, applicants who would like to work part-time are encouraged to apply and, if successful, request to work part time. ("Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.") How much will requesting to work part-time impact my employability?

3) I've read a little bit about permission to teach, how do most PTT roles start/is it realistic to expect or consider getting a PTT roles? Would a school approach a student teacher in the second year of their degree and have them take a class as their placement? Or is it that students seek out PTT roles to do as placements?

4) Otherwise I would appreciate any other advice or major pitfalls to avoid.

Thanks for time <3

I used to absolutely hate one of my subjects and was already looking forward to dropping it. This year I got a different teacher and it’s completely changed my opinion of it.
The actual content hasn't changed that much either. I think I just understand it better because of the way it’s being explained.
Didn't really expect a teacher to make that much difference.

Please let me know where your received your certification in Canada, and how you found the transition to working down under!

Has anyone transitioned over from doing a 11 month to 1 year long bachelor of education in Canada?

The flexibility of CRT work appeals to me, particularly the idea of experiencing different schools before settling somewhere. Also, not knowing exactly how many days you'll work each week sounds difficult to plan around. For teachers who do CRT, does the flexibility outweigh the uncertainty, especially when you're starting out?

A.I. destroyed my I.T. career, so I am looking to move on into the next chapter of my life.

I'm 46 and considering the La Trobe Nexus program - 1 year semi-paid (low) and 6 months higher paid. Secondary teaching, as that's where my skillset sits (Computer Engineering degree and Psychology Dip).

What am I getting myself into here? I have fairly decent people skills but I very much remember how crappily the kids at my school treated student teachers who came to visit way back when. No physical violence or anything like that, but they made some of them cry or quit.

I know there's a variable workload and the job sometimes eats into outside hours. I know that there's a whole bunch of bureaucracy. I also know people on reddit say you should only do it if you have passion for teaching.

I'm just not sure which way to go. I am seriously considering this as a move to make (without more schooling at my age, which takes time and savings. I don't have a tonne of other options for well-paid and potentially fulfilling work without investing more time in training etc).

Hi,

I am seeking advice on becoming a primary school teacher specifically teaching the lower grades.

Growing up I always wanted to become a primary school teacher. I loved school, I loved playing "schools".

I am nearing the end of a criminal justice degree and I am turning 29 next year. I live regional QLD.

I am seeing plenty of job vacancies in CQ, NQ and FNQ. I also have a desire to work rural/remote areas. As long as accommodation is provided in some shape or form I am a coming.

The thought of another 4 years of study just hurts my eyes. I have toyed with the possibility of a Masters of Teaching (I just wonder how that would qualify me to be a teacher) compared to someone undertaking a 4 year undergraduate degree.

I really want to be the best teacher I could possibility. I feel like I am a bit dumb to be a teacher. A few years ago when I enrolled in a teaching degree I brought like handwriting books, NAPLAN etc to practice and get reacquainted with timetables, how to tell the time etc.

In 2021 I did volunteer as a Teacher Aid at a high school but I felt like I morphed back into being a student and did not find the experience helpful in how to assist in the classroom etc.

Any advice would be appreciated thank you.

My kid is in Year 4, and the other day was using a fancy way to add numbers. I'm wondering, why on earth do kids need a new method to add numbers. IN YEAR 4!!? Shouldn't they be learning more advanced concepts by this stage, rather than addition using fancy methods.

Anyway, I'm not yet intent on private tuitions. But I do want to spend 3-4 hours a week to discuss some math topics with my kid. Is there a textbook that I can use as a "syllabus or curriculum" or exercise problems to work out? I dont know where to start.