Teaching | BSSCcareers&pathways

Careers in Teaching

The Education industry employers a variety of teachers and support staff. Below are some of the different teaching occupations within this large industry:

*Roles in blue require a vocational qualification: TAFE Certificate IV or Diploma.

*Roles in green require a university level qualification: Bachelor Degree.

Did you know there are also a variety of non-teaching roles in education? They include:

Office Administrator
Welfare Worker, Social Worker, Psychologist
Accounting, Human Resources, facility management, IT, and more!

Am I Suited to Teaching?

A lot of students are attracted to a teaching career because they believe they will have:

a guaranteed job
have lots of free time (school holidays and early finish times)
and it will be an 'easier' option that other careers

The reality is that teaching is a demanding profession. You should think carefully to find out if it's for you!

It can be hard to obtain full-time ongoing employment at your ideal school when you first start. You might need to be flexible and relocate to a different town, work in less desirable locations, take up contract work and/or emergency teaching.
It might seen that teachers have a lot of free time. The reality is that they usually work after school and during the holidays (planning lessons, marking, liaising with parents, researching and attending professional development, etc).
Principals and schools want to employ teachers who work hard, apply themselves, enjoy inspiring young people, and are enthusiastic about education. Teaching shouldn't be a 'fall back' option if you don't have other career plans!

To help you explore teaching as a potential career, you could try the following:

Do work experience at a school. Explore primary, secondary, special education and other settings.
Speak to your current or previous teachers about their careers and study pathways.
Attend TAFE/university Open Days or other events to find out what the teaching course will be like. At Open Days you can also speak to current students and ask questions about their experience.
Think about and write down the reasons why you want to be a teacher.

Study Options

TAFE

If you want to work as a Childcare Worker or Education Aide, you should look at TAFE training and/or a traineeship. Bendigo TAFE offers a Cert III in Education Support. Other TAFEs might offer more course options. You can search for education courses such as Certificate IV and Diploma in Children Services, Education Support, Teacher's Aide, etc at the Victorian Skills Gateway website.

UNIVERSITY

If you want to work as a teacher, you will need to study at University. There are two main pathways to qualifying as a teacher:

doing an initial teacher-education degree (e.g. Bachelor of Primary Teaching, Bachelor of Secondary Education, etc) OR
doing a non-teaching degree (e.g. Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc) and then doing a Master of Teaching afterwards. If you are not sure if teaching is for you, this pathway might be more appropriate.
A summary of the main teaching courses available in Victoria can be found here.

Year 12 students planning to apply for teaching degrees via VTAC will need to be aware of the selection criteria for courses. This will include:

Subject prerequisites and minimum study scores
CASPer test results
Minimum ATAR (70)

Back up courses – Victoria

Concerned you may not receive the ATAR to get straight into your desired teaching courses or don’t have the prerequisites?

Each university has pathway courses into their initial teacher education degrees. For most pathway courses, you can add them into your VTAC preferences. The following are examples:

Contact the BSSC Pathways team to discuss your options. We are here to help you!

Subject prerequisites

Each course will have a minimum English study score and most will have a mathematics requirement.

Prerequisites for courses can be found via the VTAC Course Search

CASPer Test

If you are in Y12 now and applying for teaching courses, you will need to register for and complete the CASPer Test by the 9th of December to be eligible for Round 1 offers. In order to complete the test you must establish a CASPer account and book a test at least 3 days prior to the test. The remaining test dates for 2018 are:
- September 25, 2018 (Tuesday) 8pm AEST
- October 14, 2018 (Sunday) 1pm AEDT
- November 29, 2018 (Thursday) 6pm
- December 9, 2018 (Sunday) 1pm AEDT
The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) has developed a fact sheet that can be accessed at this link - http://vtac.edu.au/files/pdf/publications/CASPer.pdf
Another useful document about CASPer can be accessed here.
You can also watch a recorded webinar explaining the CASPer test.

Minimum ATAR requirement

Applicants will need to achieve a minimum ATAR of 70. Some universities may have a higher ATAR requirement.

With academic and/or equity bonus points, applicants may be able to access courses below this ATAR.