Take APS Graduate Program Offer or Stay in Teaching?

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  Donaldhump on 14/11/2018 - 20:02

  -3

  I would like to teach at independent private girls school too, so any tips appreciated

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  tassieeagle on 14/11/2018 - 20:32

  Is teaching a passion for you or just a job? I think the answer to that will help you a lot.

  • 

    Julius on 14/11/2018 - 20:48

    You can ask that question to those seeking any white collar job.

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    Findo on 14/11/2018 - 20:50

    I genuinely enjoy teaching. I gave up some other job opportunities whilst on my first placement block because I really did enjoy it. My only concern moving forwards is the relentless workload.

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      stirlo on 14/11/2018 - 21:14

      Pay for both teachers and APS is not particularly high at the moment. Teaching you get school holidays off, APS you get more flexible working hours. Neither is a career you want if your aim is to buy a house in Sydney…

      I’d probably lean toward APS because if you’re a good teacher you’ll always be working more hours than you get paid for and if you don’t you’ll just end up being an average/uninspiring teacher which I doubt you’d enjoy. Better to just be an average public servant where you won’t get burnt out.

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        shaybisc on 15/11/2018 - 18:58

        Take the APS job, get out of Sydney and never come back. I am assuming the job is in Canberra.

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        Findo on 16/11/2018 - 00:00

        What exit options are there for public servants?

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  itsdougie on 14/11/2018 - 20:56

  +1

  Public service is just public service, good 1 year and bad the next. Many political factors dictate this and is out of your control. If youa re passionate about teachinbg then you should stay in the industry

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  try2bhelpful on 14/11/2018 - 21:21

  The teaching members of my family seem to be happier in their jobs than the APS members. Is there anyway you can take a teaching sabbatical to do the APS for a year? If you teach STEM and have built up a reputation taking a year off should be OK. I have friends who are Private School teachers and it 'aint easier. You are expected to participate in "out of school" activities, like weekend sports, camps, etc and you, probably, won't get extra money for it. You will also have to deal with parents who have high expectations - if little Tarquin is failing then it must be something you are doing. If you want to work in Private schools have a long chat with people who are currently working in the schools you are looking at.

  Maybe what is worth looking into teaching at a smaller school in a more country setting - there are some really good coastal community areas calling out for teachers and you can surf in the morning before school.

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  Quantumcat on 14/11/2018 - 21:39

  Do what you enjoy at the end of the day. I was a public servant for 4 years but I wish I studied teaching as it is what I really enjoy (I tutor maths).

  Also what department is the graduate program in? Smaller ones are better, and ATO are good. The bigger ones tend to lose you in all the noise and you could get stuck doing something boring for a long time.

  • 

    Findo on 14/11/2018 - 21:53

    Social services, in payment policies

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      Quantumcat on 14/11/2018 - 22:06

      +1

      Social services is probably a nice medium size department. It could help your decision to find out exactly what rotations you'll have during your time, and what automatic promotion you'll have at the end (will it beat your current teaching salary). If you don't get automatic rotations stay away, you'll just languish in one unsuitable place until you can organise your own rotation :( (this happened to me in DHS).

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        Findo on 14/11/2018 - 22:42

        APS 3 for 10 months, then straight to APS 5. It won’t beat teaching salaries, but the work hours might be much less…

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          Quantumcat on 15/11/2018 - 06:27

          @Findo: Will probably be 7.5 hours a day but you'd have to check on their enterprise agreement. Something I like about public service is flex time, if you have extra things to do one day you can stay later and go home early another day or save up for an extra day off.

          But you don't want to take a job just cause the working hours are less, if you don't like the job you'll be miserable. If you take it, and then 2 years later decide to return to teaching, can you pick up where you left off or would you have to work your way up again?

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            Findo on 15/11/2018 - 08:02

            @Quantumcat: It’ll be hard to pick up where I left off because people I have in different schools would’ve moved on. How much work is there to take home with an APS job? Will there be an expectation to pull an all nighter every now and then?

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              stirlo on 15/11/2018 - 08:28

              +2

              @Findo: LOL, no, you do 7.5 hours and that's it. They might ask you to work more hours for extra pay but you would always be compensated extra and it would not be forced/expected that you do them. Flex time provisions normally allow you to work longer hours and take more days off per year if your manager approves. You will never be expected to take work home with you (it would probably breach all kinds of privacy requirements).

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              Quantumcat on 15/11/2018 - 09:22

              +1

              @Findo: Never - you work your hours and go home. You'd have to be reasonably high up to be given a Surface so you can work at home (probably only EL1+). There's lots of regulations around being allowed to remove any documents or files from the building.

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  ms_caz on 14/11/2018 - 21:49

  +5

  Firstly, I’m not sure that teaching teenage girls is any easier than boys or in mixed classes or schools - just different. I’m not sure that teaching in an independent school is easier - you might have fewer classroom management issues ( might!), you might have more resources to deliver your curriculum but you might also have other demands that make your workload harder, more time consuming, stressful.

  In answer to your question, does the workload get easier, the answer is both yes and no. Once you become more familiar with your course content you may not have to spend as much time developing resources and instructional materials. You can go back to something you have used before - in theory. Or at least you will have a repertoire up your sleeve. Anybody who have ever taught the same subject to two or more different classes in the same year level group at the same time will tell you that it’s just as much work - students are different and their learning needs are different. You may save some time setting up templates and rubrics, in doing the admin stuff for your classes, but managing the teaching itself is still a major workload issue. Other issues such as pastoral care never reduce, but you yourself may learn to be a bit more resilient and perhaps not let things overwhelm your life as much ( in my experience young teachers sometimes get caught up in over-caring. It makes me sound hard but knowing how to be supportive without losing yourself in the process is something that you will learn and will make the workload a little easier to bear). Admin and bureaucracy will never decrease. I think this is the major source of stress and pressure for teachers, along with student management, which is becoming harder and harder.

  Finding work life balance is hard for all of the teachers I know. Yes we have those cruisy working hours and long holidays (I say in jest). We also have students lodged in our heads, in our hearts and in our wallets. And mountains and mountains of paperwork. I know that others work long hours too, and often in poor conditions, with overwhelming stress. I’m not saying we have it worse. I am saying that you will work hard, and then after a while it will still be hard - but different. And you will get to do lots of new things and take on new roles and then it will be hard and overwhelming all over again. You’ll learn to draw the line to protect your relationships and your own sense of self, and to not feel quite as guilty if you can’t be all things to all people. You’ll limp towards the finish line of every term and then spend the holidays planning so that you can do it all again. And if you love teaching, like I do, you’ll get through the hard stuff and rejoice in those classroom moments, the opportunity to solve problems and be creative in your delivery, in the constant learning and changes and the bloody never ending circle of “new” initiatives. I worked in industry for a year, in an office to myself, with a window and my own phone and the chance to plan my day in whatever way I saw fit. I never felt like I needed a holiday, was never sick, had time to read and relax - and I hated it. Who knows what the APS role you have in mind might be like. But nothing will ever compare to teaching, and only you can know if you can handle that.

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    Findo on 15/11/2018 - 01:28

    How long did it take you to feel like you weren’t treading water day in day out? I’m enjoying every moment I spend doing school-related stuff, but I’m worried about my time - it takes at least 1 hour to prepare one lesson to the detail I’m happy with (often too much detail), but if I don’t spend that amount of time prepping, I feel like I’m not on top of the content.

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      ms_caz on 15/11/2018 - 10:52

      I've been teaching for forever, so I can't remember how long it took to cut down on the time spent prepping. You will become more familiar with your content and you will become more confident with your teaching strategies so you won't have to second guess every step. You'll become better with your classroom management. All these things will come with repeated practice. You'll become flexible, able to think on your feet and to relax into the process, and in doing so the time you spend preparing will naturally decrease. The young teachers/recent grads around me still spend hours but they are learning from each other and from more experienced staff rather than just doing it alone. Hopefully your school will have a similar environment where you support each other so that you don't drown. And sometimes you do have to trust yourself that what you have done will be good enough and that you don't have to over plan.

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  Icecold5000 on 14/11/2018 - 22:43

  +1

  Always take the job. Get the work experience and money rather hanging around uni incurring more HECS. You can alway use the APS to transfer elsewhere if it sucks.