Young Graduate Teachers – Where to go September 2012 –Advice

1Elainey1

Hi everyone,


I’m an English and History teacher with R.E. certificate currently scratching my head trying to cover all bases for September. I taught for a year in Ireland with Donegal VEC, and then moved to Glasgow to do my PGDE in English. I’m currently finishing my probation year in Dundee Scotland and will be finished end of June and lost!

What do you reckon are the realistic chances of a 26 year old with English/History/R.E. a Masters and 2 years teaching experience landing a job in Dublin with these retirements?

I state my age, because I’ve no ties at the moment, should I bog off to
Abu Dhabi for 12 months as I’ve filled out an application withTechAway.Inc
Any advice on looking for Jobs in London or Belfast?


I’ve a bit of a hankering to come home to Ireland but I can’t go rural after living in cities, or am I being fussy, I guess so.
What are other twenty something teachers doing come September if you have no jobs?


At 26 should I just up sticks and head to Australia like everyone else?!

Any advice from other graduates and sagely wise teachers would be hugely appreciated


Im having a quarter life crisis

chippers

It is possible the job situation will improve in Dublin with all the retirements but there will be a lot of competition for any positions so keep your eyes peeled to the job websites and put your name in the hat.

Looking on the optimistic side of things it sounds like your in quite a good position. Your 26, have two years experience and open to travelling to work in a new country / city. If I was you I would take the opportunity of working in a different country and experiencing a different educational system and culture. In terms of working as a teacher in Australia, i've heard that it can be quite an ordeal getting registered as each state has a different process and that there in not a lot of jobs once you have registered. But keep your eyes open to opportunities. This time last year I wasn't sure where I would be working for the teaching year and i've ended up teaching Geography and History in Madrid!

raytray

Can't comment on the situation in Ireland but you would get a job somewhere in London with English as your subject. As it is a core subject it is one of the better subjects to have. I doubt Belfast would be an option. I work with a girl from the North and she said, like the south, the job situation has never been good in Belfast and is very bad at the moment.

icescreamqueen

chippers wrote: »

It is possible the job situation will improve in Dublin with all the retirements but there will be a lot of competition for any positions so keep your eyes peeled to the job websites and put your name in the hat.

Looking on the optimistic side of things it sounds like your in quite a good position. Your 26, have two years experience and open to travelling to work in a new country / city. If I was you I would take the opportunity of working in a different country and experiencing a different educational system and culture. In terms of working as a teacher in Australia, i've heard that it can be quite an ordeal getting registered as each state has a different process and that there in not a lot of jobs once you have registered. But keep your eyes open to opportunities. This time last year I wasn't sure where I would be working for the teaching year and i've ended up teaching Geography and History in Madrid!

How did you like Madrid? I'm thinking of going for a year in September. I visited the city before and I loved it but what's it like to teach there? I just want a change of scenery for a while.

dory

I'm eyeing up a job in Mongolia. Anywhere is better than Ireland at this stage.

chippers

icescreamqueen wrote: »

How did you like Madrid? I'm thinking of going for a year in September. I visited the city before and I loved it but what's it like to teach there? I just want a change of scenery for a while.

I'd definitely recommend the city. There's loads to do and always a good buzz about the place. The cafe / bar / tapas lifestyle is great. The metro and bus system is excellent and I've found the city to be very safe. It's not as cosmopolitan as say Barcelona and you won't get away with only speaking english. But to be honest I think that's a good thing as it has forced me to try hard at learning the language. In terms of weather it's been about 15 - 20 degrees every day for the last week or so which has been perfect. It was very cold in January and it's meant to get very hot in the summer (hitting 40 degrees).

I'm in a public secondary school and the teaching is tough enough. There isn't a great authority structure in place in school and the behaviour of the kids is not great at times. They can be extremely talkative and sometimes don't know when to shut up. But I think this is just a cultural difference as spanish people in general talk a lot! Small things can be turn into dramas very easily. The day is a lot shorter compared to back at home - it begins at 8:30 and finishes at either 2:30pm or 3:30pm. Primary school is actually longer and goes on until 5pm in a lot of schools. But I can only talk about the public schools, most expat teachers teach in private schools so their experience would be totally different to mine.