Job Discussion Forums

[Lally]

Hi,
I am an Irish trained Primary School teacher hoping to work in Canada next year. I was just wondering if being a qualified primary teacher is enough to get a job or would I need to do a TEFL or CELTA course?
Is it possible to get work in a subbing capacity?
Thanks for your help!

[canadashirleyblue]

In a word 'No".

I don't think there is anyplace in Canada where you can teach in a publically funded school without being certified in that province.

You would have to have your qualifications reviewed by whichever province you were going to. You would probably have to take extra courses. (For example in some provinces to be a primary teacher you would be required to take Canadian studies, math, English lit at the university level).

There are private schools. Many of these are evangelical Christian schools. I 'think' (check it out) you could work there theoretically. In actual practice there are many unemployed Canadian teachers who would be considered more suitable for the position unless you have something special and unique to offer.

[spiral78]

Will an Irish citizen be able to get a work visa for Canada as an ESL teacher? Unless there is some commonwealth agreement, I'd be pretty sceptical that this would be a possibility.

[Symphany]

I don't have a lot of in depth information about the following program, but I know it is affiliated with swap, which is a work abroad program for people from 18-35 years of age operating within Canada. Its Website is www.swap.ca There are programs for working young people from outside Canada who want to work here and are under 35 years of age (if you fall into that age category) described on the swap website. Its also a temporary work program, if you are still interested you might want to look at the link below:

http://canada.usit.ie/

[windstar]

For work permits and work related matters, you can visit www.cic.gc.ca and for other provincial websites you need to google. www.edu.gov.on.ca is for ontario, www.edu.gouv.qc.ca for quebec etc.