Job Discussion Forums

saren · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 70

How is the teaching English market in Sydney (and other larger cities) these days? Is there a boom, or a decline? What can an experienced, qualified instructor expect to earn per hour teaching Business English (corporate) to Adults, and 2nd choice, teaching General English. I'm looking for casual, per/hour work based on wage, without a lengthy contract as I'm on a working holiday and a native speaker. I'm sifting through the internet looking for a long list of English schools, language centers, tafe colleges, elicos, ames, etc.. whatever many contact email addresses I can gather to send out my CV online. I'm avoiding international schools, and universities because I prefer a more casual job. For example, 4 hours with one English center, 2 hours with another, 8 with a private (arranged via a school), altogether adding up to a weekly total of 20-30hours/week, something like that. It worked well in Beijing,and Barcelona, hopefully can try Sydney as well.

krayola · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 38

How'd you go?

There are definitely jobs here and this will only improve as the Aussie dollar drops.

Seems you have experience, which could be a hinderance. Our teaching pay scale means some schools may find you too expensive to employ or, alternatively, may hire you for your experience but not intend to pay you for it by not counting your overseas experience on the pay scale!

Practically no schools will offer you anything other than a casual contract. Student numbers fluctuate too much over weeks, months or terms to offer anything else. Most contracts will then be 20 hours a week over 4-5 days teaching plus about 5 hours unpaid where you're expected to be at school planning for lessons.

You'll mostly find well paying privates at university jobs, in my experience. Students studying at General English schools will be too busy working, and generally finding Sydney so expensive, that they'll be unwilling to pay anything more than $25-$30 p/h for private lessons. University kids have $$$$ from their parents, so that's where to look.