Thoughts from a pre-service teacher in August
Man it's been a tiring few weeks. I've just finished week 4 of my second teaching prac, this time at St. Laurence's College. It's an all-boys catholic "private" school with a student population of about 1400. It took me a bit longer to settle into the school and feel comfortable (as compared to Brisbane State High), but I've kinda got there and it's going ok. I'm teaching three classes - year 10 science, year 10 maths, year 11 biology. Good lessons, good kids.
And that's about all I have to say about that, really. This prac hasn't felt as exciting as my previous one, but I need all the teaching experience / feedback that I can get, so it's been still valuable.
I have just begun applying to schools for next year. To teach in state schools, you apply to Education Queensland (EQ), who after interviewing and approving you will pretty much chuck you into any state school in the state. The thing about EQ is that they require all their teachers to have taught a few years in a rural/remote school, that is, far away from Brisbane. That's because many schools outback are fairly understaffed and not doing well attracting teachers to them. So what else can EQ do but make it compulsory. Now that's not actually a bad thing...except it means having to uproot myself (and Claire) and move someone pretty remote for a few years. I'm not closed to the possibility, but you can see how it will be challenging.
There is a way to "escape" this, however (again, not that it's the worst thing), and that is to teach in private or independent schools. The tricky thing is, applications for employment in 2009 in all these private schools close either this past week or this coming week, and I only just found that out 3 days ago! So I've been pretty frantic lately, putting my CV together, finding referees, getting references, filling forms and shooting these off in the mail. There are about 60ish private schools in the Greater Brisbane area, and perhaps 30 of them in a 15km radius of my residence in Indooroopilly. After going through lots of school websites and looking for employment vacancies, I have decided to apply to 7 of those private schools (over the next week or so). These schools are (in alphabetical order):
My reasons for shortlisting these schools are a mixture of location, vacancy, familiarity and interest. 2 of these 7 schools aren't actually offering positions for science teachers, but I thought I'd give it a shot. The way I see it, it's better to over-apply, because at most I'll just have to choose between several job offers. And I'd be pretty happy to work at any of these schools really. Some more than others, admittedly :p
Having said this, if I don't get offers at any of these schools, it would be fine too, because I'm really quite ok with teaching in state schools. Since science teachers are in such demand, I apparently shouldn't have too much difficulty getting a job. And if everything they say about our massive teacher shortage is true, well I shouldn't have to worry too much.
Although, because I know God is in control, I really shouldn't be worrying at all. It's not a blind hope that some invisible force has determined my fate - it's an evidence based belief that a loving God has my life in His hands. So while it may seem like I pick schools and schools pick me, it's really God who's calling the shots. And that's a good thing to know.
But the LORD directs his steps
Prov 16:9
