Hello again. Thank you to everyone for joining us here this evening for the launch of our Community Conversations webinar series starting with the Career Switchers as part of the Department of Education Victoria - Teach the Future campaign.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land and water upon which we rely.
We pay our respects to their elders past and present. We recognise and value the ongoing contribution of Aboriginal people and communities to Victorian life.
We embrace the spirit of reconciliation, working towards a quality of outcomes and an equal voice. Before I introduce, our speakers this evening, I'd like to give a very quick overview of the Teach the Future campaign.
Teach the Future is a teacher recruitment campaign delivered by the Department of Education Victoria. And the Victorian Government is looking for new teachers to fill the growing demand across the state and investing in making sure that teachers have better pay, greater professional development possibilities and more diverse career opportunities than ever before.
For more information, hopefully, you know, you'll receive quite a lot this evening, but for further information.
You can visit www.vic.gov.au/teachthefuture where you will find heaps more information on different pathways and opportunities.
Today, you'll hear from real teachers and learn about their lived experiences and their transition from the jobs, the careers, the work that they're doing previously into becoming a teacher.
As well as from colleagues from the Department of Education. And on that note, I'd like you all to please welcome our speakers this evening.
We have Nate Pywell, a chemistry science teacher. Anna McGregor, a classroom teacher.
Kelsey Babbini, a project manager from the Department of Education. And Danni Sevastopoulos, Senior Project Officer at the Department of Education.
Kelsey and Danni will be joining us a little later for our Q&A session. So please make sure to stick around and hear from them.
And Kelsey and Danni, I'll catch up with you later. Lastly, just to remind everyone and not lastly, I'll remind you throughout the course of the evening, that please, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, anything like that.
Please submit them and we'll answer them in the Q&A session. Any questions that we don't get around to answer and today we'll include them in our post event EDM when we get in touch with you to give a run through of what we covered this evening.
Anyhow that is, I am sure we can all agree quite enough from me. So Anna and Nate welcome, good to see you. Okay. We're really, really delighted to have you both here with us this evening. And to hear about yourself, about how you got into teaching and yeah, tell us your story.
So, Anna, we'll start with you. What were you doing before you, you stepped into the world of teaching?
So, I was 20 years in finance, so I was a certified financial planner. Had been doing that pretty much.
Had been doing that pretty much since I graduated university.
Okay, and, what sort of, tell us a little bit about maybe the the work that you were doing in that arena and how you thought or when you thought that that moment, yeah, actually I think I'd like to be a teacher.
Yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed, my, my role in finance. I'd obviously been doing it for a long time.
Yeah, advising clients, researching different strategies. That sort of thing. Although always had in the back of my mind even when I was going through university an idea that I sort of would like to be a teacher and I guess that that grew in my mind after having my own children.
Doing the drop-off and the parent teacher meetings and that sort of thing and just the environment of a school.
I just, I really loved being in that environment. And then as work sort of changed, I guess, particularly going into COVID, my role changed a little bit at work in that I wasn't doing the face-to-face interaction with clients so much anymore.
I had been doing that role for so long there wasn't a lot of new challenge I mean there were challenges, but the parts that I started to notice that I enjoyed most was that interaction with with those clients that had had sort of gone a little bit in that period.
But I'd also noticed that my role took on a bit more of coaching my colleagues and assisting them and giving them support through that time with COVID, which I really enjoyed being in that sort of I guess coaching and support role and also seeing my own kids at home and then interacting with their teachers.
Made me to start to think a lot more about actually making that leap into teaching. And so yeah, I think COVID has a lot to answer to in that it made me reassess what direction and that and it really grew that passion to maybe pursue that, movement into teaching.
Oh, so I guess the chance for reflection and sort of I guess reassessing things that quite a few people found over COVID was was what led you maybe to make that to make the choice.
Nate, what about you? Could you tell us a bit about what you were doing? Before you made the before you made the the switch and yeah the moment when you thought actually I think teachings for me.
Yes, so for me I did a course in pharmaceutical science and that led me into global health research for a little while, but I kind of felt like that wasn't quite for me, so I headed out into industry and I found myself working in biotech.
Even worked on one of the COVID vaccines for a while once again COVID time when the switch happened.
But. Yeah, once again. Just to reiterate kind of what Anna was saying I found I didn't really get much face-to-face interaction.
At the workplaces that I was at. And I would find that when I was conversing, it was always about like, oh, what is this, you know, task.
That we need to work on that we're going to be doing exactly the same thing day in day out day in day out and so I guess the parts that I found I enjoyed most each day like I get to the end of my week and I'd think oh that was another week gone, but then I try and find what did I enjoy from that weekend?
It was always memories of when I was chatting to one of my staff. One of my coworkers.
Either about something random or explaining to them the like what we were working on, like training them up or if we were working on the task explaining, did you know that this is actually why we do this?
Like method, why we do this in our quality control method, how does this machine actually work?
And chatting about the science behind it. I found really enjoyable. And so at first I looked into like, oh well maybe I should just be like somebody who goes around training everybody who's new into the workplace and how to conversation with.
My boss about it and then we kind of just when maybe, maybe I should just, you know, give me a teacher where you're paid to do that full time and carry that on with students.
And I figured that would yeah take what the small part of my job that I was doing that I enjoyed and just make that my entire job.
So, it seems that, for both of you, putting COVID to one side, I think we don't like to but the things that sparked the move were those moments of either collaboration or engagement or that sort of almost the bits of worth that work, the conversations with colleagues and the sort of the exchange of ideas and those sorts of conversations.
Would that be fair to say? Okay. Stick with you for a moment, if we could Nate.
So, you make the decision. It's a big decision. Now we talk a lot and I think maybe for people joining us this evening, we will talk or we touch on or a lot of things that you read.
We talk about pathways. I think maybe people involved in teaching or in education know what that means but I guess just to explain the pathway is basically the the route that you take or the things that you do to enable you.
To become a teacher. And maybe for people who are switching careers, then there are lots of different ones.
What was, what was your path? What was your sort of what did you need to do to go from making the decision to getting into the classroom?
Well for me when I ended up saying, hey, actually I should follow teaching. I had like I went home and I started looking up all the courses and I realised it was about a week until all the cutoff dates for all the unis and I was like, better research this quick smart.
Answer, I found that there was a whole heap of different types of pathways going in.
So, there's the courses where you just study at uni but then there's also the employment based ones where you can work at a school at the same time.
That you're doing your Masters of Teaching and being like, whoa, I didn't really think you plan this out too far in advance.
I should probably keep some kind of employment going on through this. And so I looked into those employment based options and I found the Teach Tomorrow program.
And so in that it's offered at a few different universities, I believe. But you spend the first year at uni and you're also doing placements at a school, but you're not employed as a full-on teacher.
Okay.
And then in the second year. That's what I got. Placed with my own classes and my own students.
So, I'd gotten a little bit of background knowledge from that first year of uni to then take in.
So, I was still studying in my second year at the same time as teaching.
So, the and from the I guess the start of that course through to the end was that a 2 year process in total?
Yes, 2 years. Yeah.
So, Anna, your pathway, you made the decision that you'd been in finance for the longest time, you may, you've decided to sort of take the plunge.
What was your what was your journey? What was your pathway?
So yeah, I made, I sort of... I guess that was still a little hesitant when I made the decision to apply
to teaching. I originally applied for Teach for Australia. And was accepted in and I would go for walks with a friend who was a teacher.
And she would tell me it's fine, you're gonna love it, it's gonna be great, I'll support you.
But I was obviously quite hesitant because, you know, I still had 2 kids at home and I felt like it was a very selfish decision to.
To leave a job that I'd been, you know, secure in for 20 years. And pursue this sort of you know crazy idea of career change.
And I was walking one day I was on a wait list for a placement with a school in the Teach for Australia program and I was on a walk with a friend who said, oh, I actually just had a meeting this afternoon.
And our principal said there's a new program that's starting and if you're happy can I drop your name and within a day or 2 I was meeting with the principal and he was telling me about this program.
And about I think it was only another couple of days and I was talking to universities and it all happened very very quickly similar to Nate in that you know I'd sort of been sitting in this process for maybe 4 or 5 months that sort of hadn't eventuated in anything and then within a week I was enrolled in university and I was it was all happening and I had a really I guess a tough decision to make.
I was put on the spot a little bit with I just, once I was accepted into uni and, it was all happening.
I approached my work and said, I've decided that this is it. I'm gonna do this this change and they are a little shocked.
To say the least and were very much encouraging me to stay. And which was, you know, lovely.
And I made the decision to actually have a clean break even though income was you know it would have been nice to try and balance both which was offered to me I felt like I needed to delve very much into teaching and not be sort of settled, you know, one foot in each camp, I guess.
To do the change justice. So I was lucky enough that, the principal I spoke to said, look, if you want to be in the classroom, we can look at some education support as much or as little as you know balances with your studies to try and support and I thought that was a great option to really immerse myself I guess in education and make sure that it was
It was the right move for me I guess and to be able to see all the theory that I was learning at uni playing out with other teachers at the classroom which was really fortunate.
So I, for my university, I was doing the Masters, which was 18 months. The first 12 months was purely just doing placements similar to Nate.
And then after 12 months I was in the classroom with my own teaching load. That was 4 days a week and then I was still finishing off some study.
And then, after the 18 months I qualified and my school I was lucky enough that there was an ongoing position and I was able to secure my placement there.
So, everything that could go right in that regard really did so you were teaching where you were. That's fantastic.
Can I ask, just something that you've both mentioned, about your placements.
And we'll come on to talk at length hopefully about what's happened since you become a teacher.
But what was the sort of feeling like the first time after you've sort of made the decision your first time in the classroom.
How did you feel stepping into that? So not your first time as a teacher, but your sort of first time in that that classroom space I guess as you were learning the ropes as you as you stepped into as a student rather than a teacher.
How did that feel?
Oh, it was It was sort of exciting, I guess, it was nervous excitement. I like I said before
I loved that school environment, the vibe I guess. And the kids were so curious, you know, they're used to having adults coming in and out, but it was a new face.
For them as well. So, their interest in who I was, why I was there, was really funny.
And just that... I guess that nervousness went away when started to interact with the kids. It was it was great.
What about you Nate?
So, I remember my very first times at the school, like, because I was also like, oh, this is a new school.
This could be where I'm working. Like I better dress up nice and professional and I had like book that I'd write in because for some reason I prefer books over laptops most of the time.
And like I sat down in like the back of the classroom and all these students were like someone from the Government's here and they're going to you know, report everything we're doing.
So, we better be nice. And I just thought that was so sweet how their imaginations just absolutely go wild.
And that really, set me up to see just how much fun you can have in the teaching environment.
There was like there was a grown up there who wasn't a teacher. There was something slightly mysterious about this.
That's it. That's fantastic. Anna - thinking about So since you've started teaching, this is this is now what you do.
How have you, how have you found the change?
It's been, you know, a lot to adapt to. I still sort of don't refer to myself as a teacher.
I guess I got a bit of imposter syndrome going on. Just for so long different title, different roles.
So, I still feel like I'm gonna pinch myself and wake up. And you know it's talking to family and colleagues and friends and everything.
It it is what I expected but in a way it's not, it's better.
As much as there's so much work to be done. I come up, I smile every day.
I laugh every day. I'm interacting with people all the time. I'm, you know, just being able to reflect every day and being able to see so many different positive things.
The change has been difficult. But it's been so worth it for me.
That's, I mean, to hear about laughing every day and smiling every day in work is not it's not a bad benchmark to build up promising.
And, and Nate, how have you found the change from what you were doing to to what you do now?
Well, just to follow on from what I mentioned before, just that change in like interaction as well so where I feel like I'm quite extroverted and I recharge from positive interactions.
There are just so many that happen. When I'm at work that I am just ready to keep going like the day is over and I'm like gotta go home now?
But it is really full on. There is so much work that you have to do and it is very nice sometimes when you walk into a classroom and then your like...All I have to do at this moment is interact with the students that are in front of me and teach them what we've got to go through and the lesson ahead.
And that can actually be really quite grounding as well where everything else or the administration, everything else just kind of disappears as you can just focus and go on that learning journey with everyone around you.
The other thing I want to mention as well is when I was at my past workplaces like you get to the end of the week in like a blink and you kind of felt like nothing happened. In that time just pass by but since I've been teaching like I come home at the end of the day and I start like, you know, just talking to whoever's around just offloading about the day and there are things where I go to say like last week and I'm like wait no that was like halfway through the day like every day seems really packed where there's just a lot of different things happening all the time that you feel like you cannot possibly have experienced all of them a single day, which is pretty great.
So, this sort of, is that something that you recognise as well, Anna? Richness, I guess, of those interactions that are just, they, they lift you, they power you.
Is that, is that something that you experience in, when you are in the classroom?
Absolutely. Yeah, I thrive off the relationships. And it just it keeps that motivation really high, you know.
Like Nate was saying, it's, it's busy. And there's so much that happens in a day.
But it's all those micro moments with each of the different students and even with colleagues and like it's just those interactions that just keep propelling forward.
Just Yeah.
I especially love the idea of micro moments. They're fantastic. Sort of. The catch hold up I guess over the course of so many interactions conversations.
Since you... I guess since you entered the classroom since you've started. Have there been any sort of, I guess bumps in the road that you've encountered?
And if so, is there any maybe advice that you would think about, how you might handle those challenges when you came up against them?
I guess thinking, you know, about, people, joining us this evening who are, looking to do what, you and Nate have done.
I guess the challenge is... have really been about managing workload and being able to prioritise a little bit and making sure that the focus is on the right things at the right time.
Particularly with the pathway that I had where it was an accelerated pathway over that 18 months being organised was really important.
But also, I guess there's a lot of there's a lot of things that go on in the day.
And being able to take time to process those things but also distance yourself from those things at the end of the day has been something that I've needed to be really careful of.
Making sure that I've got that balance between finishing the day at school and doing everything I need to do there and then being able to switch off and be present at home for my family.
Has been something that I had mentors mentioned early on when I was studying. That I've been really conscious of making sure, that I try and set those boundaries. So having a process where I can reflect and process the day. Stay organised and on top of things, but also get that work, life balance has been really important.
Right. And, Nate, how about you? Any sort of issues challenges or bumps in the road and any as a as ever being so generous with any any advice to go along with that.
Yeah, so I'd say that I have shared some of those exact same experiences as Anna there.
I'd like to build on that as well. And with that whole prioritising sort of thing that you've got to do is when I started I definitely was trying to make too many changes too quickly and you want to be the best teacher that you can be.
But there is only so much time in the day and your day is already going to be loaded. So I definitely tried to do too many changes too quickly and my advice for that is to think about when you were in your last field.
You're already an expert. You've already practiced everything and you've already got it down to a tee.
But moving into teaching, it's its own entire field to learn and it's not the same as anything else and so don't expect to should be perfect.
Don't be hard on yourself to think, oh, I made these mistakes. I should have been better prepared.
It's just pick one thing and just improve on that one thing for the next few weeks and then pick another thing and improve on that for the next few weeks.
But you're not going to be able to do everything that you want to and imagine the first time around.
It'll be a few years before you're the teacher that you want to be.
But it's a process not an event these things will take some time. Okay. Yeah. I can see that very much.
I guess building on this, I mean, I'm certainly not looking for the challenges, so we're not, we're not seeking out the negative.
But if you were to do it all again and I'm sure neither of you ever will. But if you were to, is there anything, anything like that you would do that you would do differently?
For me, I definitely put my focus on getting the inquiry cycles. Done and started a little bit earlier.
So, what I mean by that is in your final year of your teaching course and as well in your first or second year of actually being a teacher, you'll need to go through an entire like teaching and learning cycle, document all of that in an inquiry project.
And so, you might think, oh, I just need to write down everything that I do and talk about it.
Can't be that hard. You don't realise how much you do in a day. You already feel like you do a lot.
It's entirely different kettle of fish when you go to write out how much you've actually done.
And so, just for me, if I were to do it again, would be to start writing up all those projects in advance.
Because you'd be shocked at how much you actually do for the students.
That is a very specific but very sage piece of advice by the sounds of things. And, Anna... is there is there any, is there anything that you would do differently?
No, I don't think so. I, it's always sort of been in my nature to be quite organised and straight onto things as soon as I get.
Them and then I and then I sit and procrastinate when it's been finished. I sit and procrastinate for the next 2 weeks before things are due and like nick pick at them and to the point where my husband ended up just submit it.
You've done it, submit it, stop it. I think I'd probably take his advice I guess next time.
To not try and be a perfectionist all the time and I guess it goes a little bit back.
to what Nate had said in that. Being an expert in the field beforehand. In the prior role you can hold that same expectation coming into teaching and going through uni.
You know the best learning experiences are through trial and error, you know, and so trying to hold myself at, you know, that high level the whole way through.
I probably didn't need to do that. And to, I guess. I would have reached out sooner to colleagues and peers, when I did when I went, oh, I don't.
You know, the wheels completely fell off this lesson, you know. I sort of took a while to actually go, oh, I've done something wrong.
You know, and I, kept that in my own head and my own thoughts for a while, I think if I was to do it over again I would have reached out to my colleagues or peers and said oh those wheels fell off my lesson or off my assignment or whatever it might have been because what I noticed from doing that was that they go, oh yeah, that always happens and you know.
They go, oh yeah, well we can help you with that. That's really easy. Let's do this.
And so, I think communicating sooner when I was noticing there was something I needed to work on would have been beneficial.
And just to pick up on that and Nate, as well to both of you. So when you when you did make the right decision to sort of reach out to colleagues, you found more support than you could you could wish for there.
So, there was you were pushing on an open door as it were.
That's fantastic. And have you found that sort of same level of support from colleagues Nate in your school?
Yeah, absolutely. And like our school, we've got our mentors, we've got our coaches, we got our check-in chain, so you know if if even it's not even like directly on the class that you're doing, something's happening in school.
Does somebody dedicated for you to communicate with but even in addition to that, you just walk into the staff room.
You give a sigh and everyone turns around and it's like, oh what happened, you need? Is there anything I can do to help you out and yeah...
There's, yeah, there's always support when you need it. Or when you just have to.
Let people know.
Completely. Okay. Not a trick question, but maybe a slightly tricky one.
I maybe kick off with you, Nate. What do you find most rewarding about being a teacher?
As big as little as obvious or sort of, you know, unusual as you like, but I guess the, most rewarding thing.
Okay.
Yeah, that's kind of a difficult question. There's a lot of different small things that are wonderful.
Think for the thing most rewarding, I'd say...when you have a student I guess that's is not always displaying the most savoury behaviours in class or in learning and they are just so harsh on themselves and they feel like everything's already over because for them like, that's all they've experienced in their life so far.
They don't realise how much more there is in their future and how good things are going to get for them.
And, so with those students it's just being able to build like for building relationships with the kids is like 100% like the best part of the job, but when you have a student who is feeling so down in the dumps that in class they're not doing their work they're not doing whatever it is the expectations that you're set for them and then you get to connect with them and they start to trust you and then as they feel like they've got a safe space with you their entire work behaviour starts to just turn around and like it's it's always a slow process but you go from the start of the year somebody coming in kicking their feet up on the table and saying I'm not doing any work and by the end of the year they're happy to come in, they're actively working and like you know when something gets distracted you look over and they go up let's get back to work but just the sheer difference and that improvement it's just that's the best part for me, absolutely.
That does sound like quite the reward. For you Anna, what is the most sort of rewarding?
Other thing or aspect of your life as a teacher.
Just so similar to Nate.
Seeing the kids. I guess recognise that they can do something. And recognise their achievements because they're, they're always their harshest critic, you know, they don't see all the achievements that I see and all the good that I see in them. And to see them finally, recognise it and that pride in their face.
Is priceless. And that change in the attitudes and behaviours towards learning. From that first day, first term to now we're at the end of term.
And we're in, we're in sort of a transition space at the moment and I've got so many of these students that are now in the next year-level class coming back going I can do it and I've got this new teacher and I'll do and they're so happy and they're you know, they're ready to go on and seeing that sense of I can do this and I am gonna take this next step. And I do have a positive future and a positive outlook is priceless. It's the most amazing feeling to have been part of that journey with them over the year and to see them ready to take that next step.
Nice thing.
Okay, following up from one tricky question, maybe with another we know that I am sure that no 2 days in the classroom are ever the same. But I am now going to ask you to give me a rough overview of what a normal day the classroom is like.
So, if you could just maybe start with you Anna and just walk us through. If there's not a normal day, what a day could look like?
Just, you know, from a time you rock up to the time here you leave at the end of the day.
What sort of what? What do you get up to?
Well, as you said, there's no 2 days the same. But yeah, turning, coming into school, I'll possibly have a morning briefing with other staff members.
So, we'll have a campus briefing a couple of mornings a week. And we just go through, what the what the outlook for the week ahead is like any key things that we need to be aware of that are different to the normal.
If there's no briefing then I'm usually in my office with some colleagues just preparing for the day usually in sort of half an hour, 40 minutes before the other, before the students arrive.
I'm usually out in the yard having a chat to the students as they're coming in as well.
We have breakfast club a morning a week as well. So, when that's happening, there's always a bit of a buzz in the yard.
So, I like to be out there amongst it. Then classes will start. I've got years 7 8 9 and 10.
So, depending on my schedule, I'll have a mix of classes throughout the day. And
I'll have a couple of yard duties in there during the week as well so we usually put in our nomination forms on what we would like I've loved doing morning crossing duty because you you get to welcome the kids to school each day and that's always been fun but I also love doing my lunchtime yard duties because I usually have a little posse that come with me around the yard of all different year levels, lots of kids that I don't actually teach seem to you know come and tell me their stories which is great.
If I have a period where I'm not face to face teaching, I'll be in my office planning or I'll be in supporting another teacher.
Because we have some erratic classrooms sometimes particularly if we've got and a teacher that's not the regular teacher often when we don't have our own classes on, we will, you know, just keep an eye out for each other and jump in the classrooms and just sit and chat with a table of students.
So, it's yeah pretty normal to have more than one adult in the room in in our school and wandering in and out all the time. And then at the end of the day, if we have a couple of meetings scheduled in.
So usually we'll have either a campus meeting or I'll have a collaborative planning meeting so that's where all the teachers of humanities.
As I'm a humanities teacher, we all get together, and we look at the planning ahead, the assessments, things like that, or we might moderate some of our assessments together.
And then usually the car park starts to get fairly empty. I guess, around that half past four.
I tend to be one of the later ones leaving for the day, but that's just my own choice in that.
When I've finished work for the day, I try not to start back up when I get home as well.
So yeah, usually half past 4 5 o'clock that car parks pretty empty and we're heading home to our families.
Wow.
That's I mean that's a regular day. I'm not sure what I would do with a, with a very busy one.
Nate, I'm not sure how your sort of tallies with that, if there's similarities or differences, but.
Take us through your the sort of beats of your day.
Yeah, well just in the no 2 days the same even just our timetable at our school can be quite interesting where there's different finish times for teachers on different days depending on if there's meeting times and then for students even, they don't finish necessarily at the same time each day, cause on a Wednesday there's a newly finish and then there's junior time, so you 7 to 9 is separate to the 10 to 12 timetable. And so there's always different like breaks and recesses.
So that means some days I'm on three sessions in a row of teaching sometimes. And then other times it'll be like one and then a half hour break than one and then a half hour break.
So that even just the timetables can be different, let alone the actual teaching experience.
And, so, yeah, for example, each morning I get in preparing for classes, it's usually, you know, the big rush at the printers.
Who gets to do the giant bunch of printing while everybody else waits around and then I head over to my classroom and I have a morning circle with my students.
So that's where we all gather out together as a class and you know, have a greeting, make sure that everybody is, spoken to and has chance to interact with their classmates as kind of a positive primer.
Before we go into the day. Then I'm teaching years 9, 10, 11s this year and so I kind of cycle between those classes a bit. I'm teaching chemistry. And, I'll often have pracs that I'll need to have prepared and tested.
The day and then walk in there's a lot of setting clear expectations this is what we're doing with this chemical this is what we're doing with this chemical note put this chemical down the sink... so lots of fun with that.
And yes, students get so excited whenever we do pracs. It's just all absolutely wonderful.
Then yeah after those lessons like in between that you might have students coming over to the office and being like, hey, can you help me with this?
Can you help me out with that? I didn't do well in this assessment. Is it possible that I can catch up and so you have your lunch break but you're usually eating while conversing with one person or another teacher or student.
But like you kind of want to do it like while you're eating because you haven't, you're like you're enjoying it.
Like each and every day. And then we usually have like an assembly. On like a Wednesday afternoon, where we celebrate student achievements.
And there's big lists where we have all the values of our school and we assign a student to each value.
And kind of celebrate that or any other. Then sporting achievements, and sometimes we have like performances and stuff from students going on in there.
And of course, on top of all that, you usually have like one of those memorable days down there, we got to wear a particular colour, clothing item, or, bring in something from your heritage stuff like that.
So that'll be going on at the same time as everything else and we celebrations during recess and lunchtime.
Yeah, and then you finish off with some meetings. Not every day. It's just 2 days a week that we finish up with meetings.
And so there's one that's like curriculum, and then one that's more like behaviour and expectations and where we want to move students in there.
You know positive behaviours.
Wow, I mean it is it's quite inspiring and also quite humbling to hear. What you managed to pack into into one day which is it's quite extraordinary.
We have... and this is my fault, we have chatted a little too long. So, but we do have a minute left.
If there is anything else ideally something a little short but anything else that you'd like to add that you may have missed off just you know before we before we wrap up our chat. Any advice, sage words or anything at all?
So definitely something I learned early on. Don't take it personally if the students acting up or not saying something nice to you.
They don't actually mean it against you. There's some unmet need. Often they can be quite complex.
And it can take some time to work out what they are. But as soon as we figure out what that need is and we address it.
That fades away and they never meant any of it to you. So yeah, don't take it personally.
Don't take it home with you and be like, oh no, I really upset this one person because odds are you didn't really it's just something else going on and
Be kind to yourself.
Anna?
I'd just say that if you're thinking about it, definitely explore it. It's definitely a rewarding career.
I'm working with some of the most wonderful people. Colleagues and students alike. And I'd really encourage anyone to explore it because it is a It's been a fantastic change for me and I wouldn't have done anything different I'm really glad that I took the leap of faith. I feel like I've landed in the right spot.
Well there's, it's not much more to add, I think. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for sharing all of your experiences. It's been as I say, beyond insightful and helpful.
So, thank you so much, Anna and Nate. Now we're gonna pick off, our Q&A session.
So, please welcome back our panelists, Kelsey and Danni from the Department of Education.
Welcome back both. Anna and Nate will still be around as well if there's anything for for them.
So, bear with me as I try to juggle the chat questions and speak at the same time.
We've had a number of questions popped into the chat over the course of the session. So thank you so much.
And I thought we could just kick off with the first one, which is, I already have, an undergraduate bachelor's degree.
What further study do I need to do to become a teacher and if there is further study what is that?
Kelsey, could I hand that one over to you?
Sure, thanks, Luke. So, you need a qualification in education. So, whether that's your undergraduate or a master's in education, you need some kind of qualification and education.
At the moment there are so many different pathways that you can go through to get into, teaching.
They are 11 ITE providers in Victoria that you know you can definitely explore a lot of their courses.
There are online and in person courses that you can take but one thing that the Department has invested in is employment based courses you know as you can see from Nate and Anna it's really good experience to jump straight in there.
Get in the classroom and study at the same time. It's not going to put you back with salary because we'll find you a job in a Government school.
There are scholarships available and, you know, it's just a different way to train yourself to get that real practical experience on the ground and it's a really, really big investment, the Department has put into these employment-based programs.
Good. Thank you so much. Okay, another one, which I think I can pick up actually.
I've just moved to Australia as an international student. What are the the requirements?
Visa and residency requirements. I'm sorry to work in a Victorian school. So this is a very, fact based answer.
So, to be able to work in a Victorian school, you will need to be an Australian citizen.
Permanent resident of Australia. And have a visa that lets you work in Australia. And the visa and migration requirements to studying, to study teaching.
If you plan to study in Australia, you need a visa. Depending on the type of study, make sure that I word this accurately and the length of time you plan to be in Australia, you may need a student visa, a training visa or a visitor visa.
I think the most helpful thing I can direct you to do is to visit the studying in Australia section of the site.
All of this will be bundled up in the EDM that goes on at the end of the session.
But those are the sort of broad requirements.
Okay, another question here. What other different options or pathways.
So, someone's been listening. One of the different pathway options to becoming a teacher. There's quite a few, but Kelsey, do you have a rattle through a few of them for us please?
Yeah, sure. I mean, there like I said, there are so many different pathways that you can go go through to get into teaching.
And I think I should probably also mention that there are so many different types of education degrees as well. You know, you can get primary education, secondary education, early childhood education.
There are so many out there. That are registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching. Which guarantees your registration to actually teach in the classroom.
So, I think the best advice I could give is honestly just have do your research have a look at each of the universities that do offer education degrees.
It doesn't need to be a specific teaching degree. It can be, you know, any kind of degree in education to enable you to teach.
It can be subject specific, so it really does depend on your life experience, your career. What your background does look like there are a number of courses that also.
Include applied learning, which you know takes into consideration what your experience is. And what you are you know qualified to teach in a classroom as well.
So that would be my best advice is just do your research, have a look online. There's so much information out there but a lot of the pathways you know, depending on if you are doing a undergraduate or a master's, they do range between 18 to 24 months for a masters and up to 4 years for a undergraduate so
So, I guess the, just to keep in mind that whichever pathway you choose, there's a there's a significant sort of time commitment that goes alongside that.
Yeah, yeah, and look, and this is why we, the best advice to give is to do your research as well, just purely because, you know, you, know what your individual circumstances are, you know what you can and can't do.
If there are questions around, you know, if you have specific questions around what your current lifestyle will actually allow you to do the best place to go is to each university and query it with them. They they will give you the best advice.
Thank you so much. So, another question.
I don't want to do a huge amount or too much additional study to become a teacher. Is there a way to Is there a way to accelerate this to accelerate my study?
Yep.
Yeah, I can answer that one Luke. Yeah, there are accelerated courses that can be done within 18 months.
So, if you have, an undergraduate degree and you are looking at doing a master's degree.
It can be done within 18 months, whether that be through an employment-based degree or a standard master's degree, most of the IT providers now have accelerated options. So yeah, like I said, it can be done.
It is, it is extremely hard, I think, and I can let you know how much, how difficult it was for her to do it in 18 months but it was really rewarding for her to do it.
That you know just for the practical experience to be in the classroom.
That's great. Thank you. I'm aware that we won't be able to get through all of the questions, but we'll do as many as we can.
Someone has asked if I need to do a master's, does it have to be a master's in teaching only or can be an education as well.
I think I kind of touched on that. Yeah.
That's great. That's good. We can put that one down.
Someone has asked, how much money will I make as a teacher? I do have some sort of, the overarching figures to hand as ever as Kelsey has said there is more information or far more details about rates and bans and things on the on the website details of which we'll give that at the end.
But a teacher salary is determined by individual skills experience and sort of career path in. So these are some indicative cost as a graduate teacher in a Victorian public school.
The base salary currently begins at $76,484 but in time can progress up to $124,490 as a as a leading teacher or a learning specialist.
There are options within those for career progression, for assistant principals starting at $124,551 and principal starting salaries of $148,747.
They are some very sort of broad figures from across a huge array so you can see the full breakdown of teacher class salaries in Victorian schools on the website, the details of which we'll give us at the end. And in the EDM that follows this.
We have 1 minute to go. I'm not sure if we actually have time to in fact maybe we once I don't want to start an answer and then have to cut off.
I think there's a couple that we haven't managed to get to. Apologies for which, but we will make sure that they are all followed up in the EDM that we send out at the end of at the end of today's webinar.
Well, I'm sorry, it's a little bit of a race to the finish there. But, thank you so much for, for all of your questions.
Real apologies for those that we didn't quite reach. We will absolutely, we will absolutely pick those up.
So said in the EDM. But all that's left for me to do is to say, obviously a huge thank you to Kelsey and Danni for joining us from the Department of Education, but also a huge thanks to Nate and Anna for being so generous with their time. And their experiences talking to us around their transition, their shift from one world of work into the other and becoming a teacher.
Thank you again for everyone else for joining us. You'll follow up as I say with an email that you'll receive with full of information and next steps and thank you all for your time.
Thank you so much.
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