As the school year gets underway, use some of that new energy and make a conscious effort to reflect on your first week of teaching in Australia. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. How much of an effort did I make to get to know my students?
2. What do my students know about me?
3. What did I learn from my students this week?
4. Did I set my classroom rules and have I been clear in communicating them?
5. Did I spent some time getting to know new colleagues?
6. Have I asked for help when I needed it or offered to help a new teacher?
7. What is my plan to communicate with the parents? When do I want to do this?
8. What are some new teaching techniques that I want to try this year?
9. How do I want my students to remember this year?
New and experienced teachers may have different things to reflect on, but for anyone starting in a new role there are a number of practical things everyone should check off to ensure a smooth transition. As the school year continues and things get busy take the time reflect on who you are as a teacher and what are the most important lessons you want your students to learn.
There are plenty of books and online materials to walk you through the steps of writing a winning resume. Since we cannot possibly cram it all in here, consider the following do’s and don’ts when writing your resume to be helpful and simple reminders to help your resume stand out. If you have crafted a resume and consider it an inspiring piece of art, that’s great! Remember, it’s never a waste of time to keep it fresh in your mind and revisit it from time to time. Keep it current and recheck for those sneaky grammatical and spelling errors. These mistakes happen to all of us if we are not careful.
Edt! eidt! Edit!
It is not enough to read it over yourself. A second and third set of eyes will be invaluable to catching errors that you may have overlooked. Read it out loud. This is the best way to see how it will read to someone else.
Design
Be consistent with the format you use and how you list your information. Choose one and stick with it. Be mindful that you are not changing the format from one section to the other (spacing and margin alignment).
ridemcowboy_69@
When including your personal contact information, be sure to include the most up to date and appropriate data. Your contact phone numbers should have voice mail, preferably a message that does not include “what up” or ” leave a message okie dokie!” Stating your name is always helpful.
If you have not already created a separate professional email address, may we suggest you do it. While hotpants or cuppycake may be a well earned and fun nickname, this is not the best way to set you apart from the rest of the candidates. A simple combination of first initial and last name will do and look far more professional!
Know Yourself Don’t shy away from the great qualities you have to share. As you already know, this is the point of a resume, and it doesn’t hurt to add more and or refresh some of your strengths. Spending one-on-one time with your resume and rewording it also helps you keep the language fresh in your mind. You want to be able to recall your assets and strengths during the interview. Your work ethic, quiet confidence, sense of humour, flexibility, adaptability, positive outlook, initiative, leadership qualities, efficiency, open-mindedness, resourcefulness etc. will shine through.
Helpful Tip: Applying for a teaching position overseas suggests that you have an adventurous spirit and that is half the battle. Experienced and inexperienced travelers are prone to encountering some “culture shock” and it doesn’t hurt to read how others worked through it. Our article on culture shock in Australia may help you generate a few qualities to include in your resume. Qualities that highlight your willingness to learn from a new culture and share your own. These will go a long way.
Think of your resume as your introduction and first impression. Take the time to review and revise. We already know you are awesome teachers, let your resume reflect that.
After teaching here for 3 years, I can’t think of an Australian school where the students do not wear a uniform.
We seem to gauge teacher-dress by student dress, no matter what society you are from. So I’ll explain explain what you need to pack when you’re moving from Canada and coming to teach in Australia, based on what the students are wearing in this school.
Private (Independent) Schools:
If you are working at an independent school, you will have strict dress code
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to adhere to. Students will be wearing blazers, ties and full dress shirts and pants.
Thongs style shoes are not allowed. Any teachers who teach in a lab must wear close-toed shoes. You are usually not allowed to have facial piercings (seemingly tattoos are more acceptable in Australia however).
You will have to wear a suit (with a tie if you are a man). Women wear the female equivalent, but somehow the clothes that are made for us are STILL not that professional-looking in Australia. Just try to buy a non-turtleneck top that does not have frills or a neck low enough to show both your cleavage and the women next to you.
You will see evidence of Australia’s 1950 mindset in their school uniforms: girls are expected to wear dresses/skirts and boys pants/shorts. And nobody argues about this (and if they do they are made fun of–by adults! …it’s enough to make you want to Guy-Smiley-hit-your-head-on-the-piano-keys).
Catholic Schools
Unlike Ontario, Catholic Schools are considered Private schools in Australia. You will have to look “professional” which is dressier than “business casual”.
Independent Schools:
NOTE: This genre of school gets a bit confusing, because to Canadians, “independent” or “private” schools are schools where the families pay tuition.
However, Australian schools are more similar to British schools, in that they use the term “public” school to mean “private” schools. Thus, your principal might tell you that you will be working at an APS school (Australian Public School) which is in fact, a tuition-paying school.
Public/Government Schools:
In Public Schools the student uniform is at least a shirt and dress pants.
The dress code for public/government schools is often area-dependent.
So make sure you err on the side of “too professional”, rather than have to buy a bunch of suits and tie-outfits over here.
Clothing is expensive, and the material and style is NOT as nice as Canadian clothing.
Sometimes you might get a school that has a limited dress code, from casual (jeans) to business casual.
But most often Public schools have all the same standards (and finances) as independent/private schools, including the same dress code.
Private Schools vs. Government Schools
This is the way it was explained to me:
Tuition-Paying schools are subsidized by the government in Australia. Government schools could probably be on more equal footing if this was not the case (some schools are really impoverished).
Thus, some government schools (primarily those that are situated in higher socio-economic class areas) have learned to cope by having very strong parent associations which allow the school to purchase more resources. They are effectively government schools which are running like a private school.
It’s Day 4 of my three-week Vietnam tour during the September holidays — just one of the four term-break holidays during the school year in Australia. (more…)
Don’t shy away from the great qualities you have to share. As you already know, this is the point of a resume, and it doesn’t hurt to add more and or refresh some of your strengths. Spending one-on-one time with your resume and rewording it also helps you keep the language fresh in your mind. You want to be able to recall your assets and strengths during the interview. Your work ethic, quiet confidence, sense of humour, flexibility, adaptability, positive outlook, initiative, leadership qualities, efficiency, open-mindedness, resourcefulness etc. will shine through.
