# Teaching in Melbourne?



## lehine (Jul 16, 2012)

Hi guys 

this forum was so helpful for us when we started collecting all the evidence for our partner visa application (309, offshore) and I got very good advice from some people  thank you for that!!
Now, it seems that my partner visa gets granted within the next few weeks after I have returned to Germany as I am currently visiting my partner here in Melbourne  yay!

next step: moving to melbourne! 
problem: I need a job! 

I am a fully qualified vocational _(German "Berufskolleg")_/secondary school teacher with 2 years of working experience (I think the German _"Referendariat"_/teacher training program I had to undertake after finishing unversity counts as working experience here). The main subjects I am teaching are English and Economics _(Business Administration, Financial Accounting, economics)_ ..... thus not very good subjects to teach here in Australia as a non-native speaker unfortunately  

My question is:
How hard is it to get a teaching position here in Melbourne? Do you think I could teach German although I have not studied German as a subject? And I guess it would be nearly impossible to teach in a primary school as I have not studied primary school teaching?

I went to the Victorian Teaching Institute and it should not be a problem to get registered as a teacher here as it comes to fulfilling formal requirements such as University degree etc (but I have to pass the IELTS with an overall band score of 7.5 or 8 - which scares me quite a bit!)

The main problem is: at which schools can I apply? The lady from the VIC teaching institute could not tell me as they don't have "Berufskollegs" (vocational school) here in Australia... of course they do have vocational schools but different ones.. back home I am teaching office clerks, storemen, Industrial clerks, retailers and other pupils in (Business)English and economics.
I know that sometimes schools are searching for an ESL teacher (English as a second language) and they always require an ESL certificate IV or a certificate in training and assessment etc.

I mean, I AM teaching English as a second language back in Germany, cause English is my pupils' second language... but we do not have such a certificate.. you just study English for teaching at university. Do you think I'll need to do a course again just to gain that certificate?

Ah ... I have so many questions and I am pretty scared. What if I cannot find a teaching job?? My university degree in teaching (5 years at uni + 1 1/2 years teacher training program) won't count anything for other jobs...

And I've been reading here on the forum how hard it is to get a job, even for highly qualified people... 

I would be grateful for any advice! thank you so much!!


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