Korean Job Discussion Forums

[grainger]

Hi All.

I have started thinking about going back home and I was just wondering if there are any other Canadian Teachers out there that can give me the inside scoop on how the teaching profession in Canada has been going these past 4+ years.

I'm Ontario certified but I could go anywhere. It's not that hard to switch over your qualifications.

I was looking online. BTW: I absolutely hate that Apply To Teach website. The idea of asking someone who probably doesn't have a job to pay in order to apply for a job just seems a little out there. Anyway, lots of LTOs and the like but there never seems to be anything permanent. I left teaching in Canada because I got sick of switching schools every semester with as little as 10 days notice. Plus, never knowing where the next pay check is going to come from is highly stressful.

So I guess I'm just looking to share advice on the job hunt and hear people's suggestions.

Cheers.

[oldtactics]

All the teachers I know use
http://www.educationcanada.com

The industry is at a standstill right now, you need to be aware of that. I have three friends who finished teacher's college in the last couple of years and all three are currently teaching on native reserves in northern Ontario/northern Alberta. There's really no other work right now unless you have contacts, or you're qualified to teach in the Catholic system.

That said, there are LOTS of jobs on the reserves up north, if you're interested in working on them - definitely not easy work, but very fulfilling.

I'm certainly not an expert, but from what I've heard from friends and professors, it's going to be another 5-10 years before long-term jobs open up b/c so many of the people who were going to retire have had to stay on longer due to the recession.

[Captain Corea]

[youtuber]

I have taught in the public system in Alberta and the teaching profession in Canada is a joke for several reasons:

1) My uni (the UofA) graduates over 1200 teachers PER YEAR. Way too much supply for what is needed in Alberta. Plus there are several other unis in Alberta that graduate teachers.

2) No support for discipline. You are effectively neutered.

3) Nepotism for hiring (wrt to teachers' children) is rampant.

4) The respect just isn't there.


If you want to be a teacher, stay in Asia - for teaching, it is heaven.

Teaching on a Reserve would most definitely be NOT interesting or fulfilling. Way too many social problems, murders, ect ect. A person would have to be out of their goddam mind to leave teaching in Asia for a Reserve.

[D.D.]

Each time I move back to canada I think it is so difficult there that I leave after a few months. I watch my siblings run around like chickens just to pay all the basic bills. Taxes , car payments, food, house are just so expensive. I enjoy a way better life in Shanghai working 4 days a week.
My father was a teacher and I think it is a hard job with low take home pay and not much chance to live well if you have kids. Two teachers married together would be ok I guess.

[grainger]

I would agree, hands down, that Asia offers an easy lifestyle, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life here. I miss the great Canadian outdoors. The plan was to come here for 5 years - get the student loans paid off - and go back to Canada with a clean slate.

I've considered giving up teaching and doing something else. Any teachers out there who have used their teaching degree in a new and interesting way?

[PatrickGHBusan]

Right now the market for Teachers in Canada is DEAD.

The mass hiring period was in the early 2000s and now the hiring shop is closed for a while.

There are retirements coming within the next 5 years however.

As far as topics-subjects are concerned the demand (when there is one) is for science teachers, French Teachers in the English speaking provinces and English Teachers in the Q.

Tenure is not really available for now so you will have to do with the supply-sub list or with half time work.

The sad thing is that Teacher Colleges across the country are still cranking out Teachers like there is no tomorrow...

What you CAN do while you live in Korea is re-orient your career and work in fields that value your experience abroad and as a teacher.

This means upgrading your qualifications (online education is your friend here!). This can also mean CREATING your own job.

[grainger]

Any ideas on that last part. I've considered starting a home stay program for overseas students, I've thought about starting a day care or even a tutorial or home-schooling situation. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.

I've started taking online aq courses, but it's expensive and seems futile. I could take special ed and get a job but I really don't want to.

[Tundra_Creature]

[grainger]

Thanks for the info. I've thought of trying that myself but I'm not sure I want that level of isolation. At least not for the first year or two. I want to reconnect with the family before it once again becomes impossible to visit me without a plane. ;D

[thomas pars]

A friend of mine went to the reserves in northern Saskatchewan.

It was pretty much what you would expect. Dark and desolate.
At times pretty dangerous.

That being said I've always wanted to go to a reserve preferably
in Quebec/ BC. Beautiful country there. The amount of knowledge
you could learn about the natural world (birch bark canoes, cedar carving)
from the elders would be worth it alone I think.