teacher

elementary school teacher

teacher's aide

high school teacher

EDUCATION QUEENSLAND

Teaching is a lifestyle. It consumes you and if you are committed to doing the best for the students in your class you are fine for a while. I never regretted the amount of work I put into teaching as the personal satisfaction is rewarding. But, it takes a lot of planning, research and emotional energy. Your working day does not end when you leave school grounds each day. The pay certainly does not reflect the skill level or investment needed to be a good teacher.  The pay, status and recognition is NOT worth it long term but the skills you acquire are so useful for other jobs and life generally. Eventually the system beats you down, especially if you don't have an excellent leadership team. If the principal is not forward thinking or invested in their teachers, the teachers suffer. There is little recognition of what you actually achieve and in recent years there seems to be huge demands by parents and society of what can be achieved within a school day especially if you are in a school that is under resourced. Where principals decide the money is prioritised is very important. Class sizes ARE important especially now that there are so many children with diverse needs and so little specialist funding. I taught internationally with 15 students in my class and they advanced twice as fast as Aussie kids with bigger class sizes.

I love teaching, but I never enjoyed being a teacher, and the fact that those two things are very different makes me sad. It's a very cutthroat industry, and schools know it. They pile the work on top of you until you have 0 free time, barely sleep, and walk around like a zombie. If you can't hack it, they don't renew your contract. Also, as a first year teacher, schools get a bonus for hiring you, so you're hot stuff. Same for a second year teacher, but a slightly smaller bonus. No bonus at all for third years, so, all of a sudden, I found that the schools that had all been breathing down my neck the following year weren't interested anymore. I took to supply (casual) work, which landed me in big financial problems, as I barely got any work. I sought help from the 'supporting organisations' for teachers, and was simply told that it was a tough business. 
On the plus side, teachers are incredible people and you meet some amazing souls doing this job. The kids are awesome, even the naughty ones. It's a pity that teachers are treated so very poorly by their governing bodies, because, if I had been looked after, I'd never want to do anything else.

A typical day at work would start with photocopying work and activity pages for the day's lessons while the teacher prepared the class for the day ahead and took the roll. Students would then separate to their tables of 5 or 6 and begin the first activity. I would either be assigned a table to help or circulate to give help where needed. At break times I would roam around my designated patrol area to ensure the children are playing safely, assess hurts as to whether they need attention or just reassurance and keep an eye out for trouble. Some days I was assigned to the Special Education Unit to work one on one with children and support them through lessons in the classroom. I found the staff, including principals, at Annandale State School to be friendly, encouraging and helpful. The culture there was supportive and inclusive. I found no major hardships in doing my job. The most enjoyable part is when you see a child master something they are being taught.

Day starts at 7am prep for the day then teaching classes and doing a variety of duties according to the roster. Day finishes around 5 - 6pm with marking and meetings and prep for variety of activities. Workplace culture depends on the school you are at and the administration team, some are fantastic some should not be there. The hardest part of the job is the continual change of requirements for teachers, reporting, assessment marking and the daily prep. The most enjoyable part of the job is the students and knowing that you are helping them develop knowledge and their social skills. It is the I get it moments when the students understand what they are learning. It is when teachers work as a team/community to help children achieve their potential and when the students want to talk about what they have learned and then take it to the next level with their understanding and you have a WOW moment.

The management within the school and how staff are treated are poor. There needs to be multiple opportunities for staff to be supported and receive benefits to ensure teachers are building on their skills. I am lucky that I have a well grounded team and we work together well. Management need to be more involved and understand the level of work and effort that goes into the students learning outcomes. Human Resources aren’t valued when they are the most important resource. There needs to be less money spend on unnecessary resources eg. uniforms and needs to be spend in an appropriate way that benefits the school as a whole and not a small sector. 

The expectations from the assessment is over complicated and not age appropriate for a lot of the children. The achievement standards do not require you complete certain tasks that come from the assessments.

I started my career with Education Queensland on a positive, with lots of opportunities to encourage students, families and support my colleagues.

I had lots of opportunities for personal and professional development.

After 9.5 years of giving my all to EQ, I was let down when I made a career mistake, which led to depression and illness. I believe I was not given the support and information from my peers and employer, and thus I was pretty much `on my own'. This led to my ultimate resignation.

I still have a passion for teaching, especially in the areas of Learning Support, but am now left to my own means for doing further study to improve myself (regain my confidence) and finding a job; now that I am healthy again.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The students and seeing them learn and grow

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The pay for the workload and violence and abuse you put up with. The fact you only get paid 5 hours a day. 50 hours a fortnight. And part-time lsl. Ridiculous. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Depends on the school and the leadership. Small amount of great leaders creating beautiful cultures in schools. A Lot of schools have a horrible culture and it comes from poor leadership/management that don't value their teachers and the teachers time and don't support their teachers. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Teaching for 5 hours a day and doing duties (playground and admin) during the other hour. But only being paid for the 5 hours.

I start at 4.30 am for a 4 hr shift then go home then back at 2pm for a  3 and a half hr shift then if I am rostered on at my second job I go there for a 7 or 8 pm start and finish at midnight . I have learned to use a number of machines in my working life and I have obtained the knowledge to problem solve under pressure and maintain and repair most of the equipment I use. I have the ability to organise myself and those working with me to get the best result in an achievable time frame.  I work well in a team enviroment and encourage my fellow teammates to aim for quality, accuracy and speed in their work as we work under a strict timeframe in both my jobs. The hardest part of my work is making sure that I'm not letting any of my team members down and am pulling my weight . The enjoyable part of my work day is working with the people in my teams .

A typical day at work will consist of many jobs needed urgently and being able to successfully prioritise and complete jobs correctly and efficiently.  I work with great a bunch of co-workers, who love having big morning teas together and some on school holidays occasionally catch up for lunches.  The most enjoyable part of my job is knowing I have completed and met turn-around times. 

The hardest part of the job is putting up with lazy people who don't do their fair share of work. I pride myself on using iniative and always do more, than what is asked of me.  Management is mostly good, however, they could improve when it comes to consultative processes with staff.

A very collegiate and supportive workplace.
A diverse range of student abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds
Not a 9 to 5  job. Hours would average from 7.30 to 4.00  and even 5.00pm on some days with  staff meetings
Most co-workers are genuine team players. Professional jealousy very rare.
Time engaged with students is the most stimulating aspect of teaching in any environment
After school meetings are a drag at times especially after a long challenging day in the classroom. If you cant work in a team  the job is not for you

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 8 salaries reported	$97,672 per year
Elementary school teacher 7 salaries reported	$84,857 per year
Teacher's aide 3 salaries reported	$31.67 per hour
High school teacher 3 salaries reported	$99,000 per year

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