What’s holding you back?

What’s holding you back?

Moving overseas is an exciting step to take but it can also be a bit daunting, especially if you’re in the early stages or right at the start of your teaching career. You’re leaving your family and friends behind for a time so you can get out and see the world and for a lot of us that can seem like a scary thing to do – but as is the case with most things like this, once you take the plunge you’ll wonder why you ever hesitated in the first place.

Obviously you’ll need to make sure you have a bit of money saved first to cover your airfares, visa and some setup costs until you get your first paycheck but, once you’ve got that sorted, there shouldn’t really be much stopping you from going.

Here are a few things to help you move ahead if you’re still in that rut of “should I go or not?”.

The younger you go, the cheaper and easier it’s going to be…

When teachers enquire with us, one of the first questions the online questionnaire asks is whether you are under or over 31 years old.  A lot of teachers ask us if this is because English schools only wants younger teachers.

The answer to that is no – we can place teachers of most ages in an appropriate school in England; however, the tricky part once you are older is usually the visa as unless you have the right passport, are married to someone with the right passport or qualify for an Ancestry Visa, you’re going to need to be sponsored which can be a tricky process and is not available for most areas of teaching.

Being under 31 opens up the cheapest and easiest visa for teachers from some select countries (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea and Taiwan), called the Youth Mobility Visa.  You can check out the other criteria here: https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility/eligibility

You’ll notice that you can’t bring children with you on this visa either so if you’re planning on starting a family but want to teach in England then what’s holding you back?  Get in there and enjoy up to 2 years over there while increasing your experience as a teacher and a person before coming home and settling down!

You’ll also get some pretty cool discounts from a few places if you’re younger.  Our friends at STA Travel have a special discount card for under 31s which is definitely worth a look and if you’re 25 or younger then there are some decent discounts on rail travel that you can pick up for travel around the UK via Rail Card.

Also – being younger and child-free, you’re still going to have that energy and drive to get out and visit all the amazing places you’ll have within touching distance (see our blogs on travel recommendations for different times of the year).

The schools we work with provide excellent mentoring for new teachers

If you’re in the first 2 years of your teaching career, you’re still finding your feet and honing your classroom craft so the idea of doing that somewhere totally foreign to you could be a bit daunting.  At Point to Point we are very aware of this so very early on we made the call to only place new teachers with schools who can provide proper support and mentoring.  You’ll work closely with a mentor teacher (usually your head of year if Primary or someone senior within the subject department if you’re at Secondary level) who will help you settle into your position and provide invaluable ongoing feedback to support your growth as a teacher.

You may be able to use some of your time in England towards your ongoing registration

We’ll start with the best news – if you’re a New Zealand teacher, you can use 1 year of your time in the UK towards your NZ registration, even if you’re fresh out of University / T-Col.  We always recommend contacting the Teaching Council directly and letting them know your plans in writing but essentially all you’ll need to do is keep copies of all your observations and mentoring paperwork when you leave England and come back to NZ then submit it as part of your registration process.

Now, it is a bit different in Australia as each state has their own rules on this which can range from no credit for UK time to 1 year credit so please check with your relevant authority to find out what will apply in your state/territory.

There are plenty of other reasons to take the plunge and start your teaching adventure but the biggest one is simple – you want to.  You’re here reading about it which means you have given thought to it so take the next step and get in contact with one of our experienced Consultants to discuss your own unique situation and how we can help you.