Job Discussion Forums

[JarnAu]

Hope I'm safe from reprimand here in the noob forum because here come some intro level questions...

What are the employment prospects for Australians in Western Europe?

What are the challenges involved in getting a working EU visa?

Do extra options exist for people who are already teachers in their country? e.g. Employment at a state education level without speaking the native language?

I guess to summarise the situation...

High school teacher in late 20s. Two Bachelors degrees. Have a top six list of Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Athens or Barcelona but don't know how to get there.

[coledavis]

Seek a school teaching British English rather than American English, as Australian English is closest to the former.

Your qualified teacher status is useful. You may still want a TEFL qualification to tune you into teaching English to foreigners.

Western Europe isn't the easiest of markets, I'm afraid, even for native speakers with EU passports (mainly UK and Irish), so expect difficulties. We don't have the novelty value we have out east, as most Dutch speakers for example are almost as good as native speakers (well, better than many native speakers if the naked truth is to be told).

As a qualified teacher, however, you may want to consider mainstream teaching. Capital cities tend to have a British and/or American and/or International School, for diplomats' and expats' children, also the children of the local rich (although note my previous point about US English).

[Insubordination]

If you're in your late 20s, you can get a one-year Working Holiday Visa for Germany or The Netherlands.

You may not be able to work for the full year however. Check the details of the program. At least you could check things out legally.

If I've misunderstood your age, then it's much more difficult.

Here's a link to the Dept of Immigration website with info about WHVs.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/australians-overseas/


Austria, Spain and Greece don't appear to have a program but there are a lot of other appealing European options like Italy, France, Belgium and Scandinavia.

A lot of times international school require a good knowledge of the local language (and fair enough too) but sometimes they don't. Other posters might be able to help out with the prospects and will have better knowledge than I do.

There's an international secondary school in Bremen (not far from Hamburg) whose principal is Australian and I'm sure there are others around. Actually, I have met a lot of Australians in Germany.

What else? Do you have a European parent or even Grandparent? Sometimes it's an 'in' for citizenship or an ancestry visa. For example, my Dad is English (though has lived in Australia over 40 years) and I got British citizenship because of that.

Good luck with your plans.

[JarnAu]

[spiral78]

That's why I was curious about the state education systems themselves. Possibly finding a job as an ESL teacher their due to already having a Bachelor of education and obtaining a Celta before making the trip but the lack of native language would hold me back I'm guessing. Hopefully someone else might know.

In the market you describe, you're competing with local teachers of English. I'm in the Netherlands, and I can say with a high degree of certainty that the Dutch teachers of English are quite good, and have the market cornered, for sure. I cannot imagine a school jumping through the legal hoops to hire a non-EU English teacher at this level.

Ditto for the other countries you mention, I expect, unfortunately.

I am a non-EU teacher at a university here, but I've got legit specialist quals, and the uni was able to successfully make a case that no EU candidate could match my CV. I've also got local contacts - utterly invaluable in such a case!