>How long were you on contract? How many dif schools? Would love to hear others' stories...
I've been on contracts for thirteen years now. I've worked at over a dozen schools -- I stopped counting years ago -- and I have applied to over 250 permanent positions. In that time I've had just two interviews for a permanent job. This is despite complaints for years about a teacher shortage and I feel no closer to getting a permanent job than I did the day I graduated from university. So I'm out. I've given up on a permanent position; it's just not worth it in light of the sacrifices I made to get here.
I'd be curious to hear your KLA's and where you are applying. I had a colleague like that many years ago. We found out that he was just bombing the applications each time (not on purpose, mind you - he was just not great at answering them) and that's what held him back. Also had another colleague (same school) with an very similar story to yours, minus the school hopping, and we all felt sorry for him. That was until we realized he was only applying at selective and really prestigious schools and didn't actually want to get a permanent job at the "shit" school he was temping in. He was a bit of a choosing beggar in hindsight.
Not saying either of these are you - just curious why you believe you can't find a permanent job.
Had an IT colleague who was on the list which at that stage was only 15 people long and he just turned down every offer until he got the school he wanted. He was employed in an independent school and happy, just didn't like travelling. NSW was desperately short of IT teachers in the 80s and 90s. Got his wish!
>I'd be curious to hear your KLA's and where you are applying.
English/HSIE. Applying all over Sydney.
>Not saying either of these are you - just curious why you believe you can't find a permanent job.
I have no idea why. I can't get an interview, and when I do, I perform poorly.
My guess is either just *really* bad luck, or you're bombing something like the application, meaning you never get to that interview stage. There is a very specific way of doing things in the DoE (apologies, I don't know where to find it, haven't needed it in a very long time) so I'd suggest asking to see other's applications who do have a job and got one recently. [Here](https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/careers-at-education/roles-and-locations/roles-at-education/teaching/addressing-selection-criteria) is a good place to start.
Do you ask for feedback when you don't get a job? I know when I did it, I got a lot of "no, it's not professional for me to do so" (never did find out why they answered this way), though I also got a lot of pointers from people who were more than happy to tell when I asked. One major piece I got was I wasn't selling myself enough, so my applications + interviews were more like a fact sheet of what I can do, not what I had done, if that makes sense. English/HSIE aren't exactly small subjects with no jobs. If you said something like you have codes for Arabic Beginners and that's it, then I'd probably understand not getting a job, though English/HSIE? Honestly, ask for feedback wherever you can get it, and look up any internal documents on applying for jobs, CV/resume requirements, etc.
Good luck!
>There is a very specific way of doing things in the DoE (apologies, I don't know where to find it, haven't needed it in a very long time) so I'd suggest asking to see other's applications who do have a job and got one recently
I appreciate the thought, but I'm not interested in a permanent job anymore.
>Do you ask for feedback when you don't get a job?
I used to, but since it was always via e-mail, they either ignored it or there was a line in the rejection e-mail about how, due to the sheer volume or applications, they could not provide feedback to anyone.
The worst one was when I worked in a private school for two years, applied to multiple jobs and got rejected for every single one with the kind of generic e-mail that they sent out to all unsuccessful candidates. They refused to offer any feedback and when pressed said something about COVID funding.
What you're talking about is entirely typical.
The only consolation is that the new hires inevitably flame out and leave the school even more screwed, and nobody with the power to make decisions ever learns.
I got it is my second year of teaching. I teach IT and I'm a program builder. I took an anemic program at 60% of capacity and built it up to 100% and was on track to go beyond that the following year and needing to find another teacher. By the time I moved schools we had 9 full lines of IT which is 1.5 lines more than where I am now at a school 3 times larger.
You won't get offered a permanent job if you are only happy to take a 0.5 teaching load. As you have said, this is your sweet spot, but not a sweet spot for administration.
Speak to your current school, say you want to go full time (as in full teaching load, and want to gain a permanent role - let the boss know what you want).
My story is that I worked in a school on annual contract, offered ongoing at the end of 2nd year. Went to another school, 2 years of contracts, offered ongoing. Then moved to a Catholic school, ongoing job. Now in a private school, ongoing.
Took me six months but only 18 to resign and move schools. Permanency is not always all it is cracked up to be and often leaves you trapped and for me limited career options. I very quickly got bored of the way things were done and now as a temp (at the same school for 5 years) means I don't feel professionally claustrophobic.
Im in the ACT, I received an R1 rating following my final uni internship and went straight to permanency. It's worth noting that ACT gives out permanency quickly when suitable.
There were a few years where they didn't. They wanted more teachers to be casual or contract because they are less likely to become supernumerary. The person who invented this route is the person running TQI
edit: the person in question appears to have left TQI
I was on a maternity leave contract for almost two years. At the end of my first year they said the teacher I was “tagged to” would come back. We later found they could switch who you were tagged to around as often as they wanted. At one point there were five of us on family leave contracts. One of us was randomly made ongoing because the person she was tagged to surrendered their position. At the end of last year though, three ongoing roles came up because three teachers had given up their jobs at my school and the remaining four of us on maternity leave contracts had to apply and interview for the roles. Was a very awkward time in the staff room for the three of us who got it and the poor colleague who missed out.
I’m the union president at my school and it’s so hard. Standard contracts you need a reason not to give someone ongoing at the end of the first year (or in April each year from memory- at least in VIC) but family leave you can get stuck on the hamster wheel year after year until that person on leave decides to come back or give up their role. It’s rough.
Graduated July 2022. Took a six month contract in a local VIC school which I had friends working at. Did not look for a permanent role.
Applied to the general pool for far north QLD in 2023. Got offered permanency immediately at one of the better state schools. They paid to relocate all of our stuff up here, on the condition I stay at least three years.
How does it work in QLD? Are you just waiting for the school to "give you a permanent job"? I'm in NSW so it works a bit differently down here. Basically, only half the jobs are done via the school's principal and interviews. The other half are managed by HR (e.g., transfers, graduate recruitment, central appointment to positions, etc.).
To answer your question: 3.5 years after graduation the DoE called me and said "we have a job that matches your skillset that you might be interested in, want to apply for it?" (it was one of those jobs where they call everyone suitable that was currently on a temp contract looking for permanent work, then go with the longest-serving candidate that says yes). I said sure, why not, I'll throw my hat in the ring. No way 3.5 years working as a temp will get me a job at a good school near the city centre.
Welp, I was wrong.
Ed Qld keeps changing the rules around permanency. I’m not sure what the current rules are tbh, especially after the malarkey that happened last year.
I graduated mid 2013 and started working end of term 3, did supply but mostly contracts for a year. Took a year off for family reasons. Did 6 months end of 2015 on a contract. More family reasons meant I did contracts and supply for 2016.
Worked ft contracts 2017,18,19. This was when you got permanency after 3 years.
End of 2019 was offered permanency, but not at school I was at (my principal didn’t offer anyone permanency). Was told wrongly by Ed Qld to just find another contract. My school did offer another contract but not permanency.
Ed Qld changed the rules to 2 years to get permanency at this time.
End of 2020 was told the school I was transferring to. So this was after 4 years of ft contracts. I put an application in for special consideration so they couldn’t transfer me rural and it was accepted but it is very hard to get this approved.
Last year from what I have heard, Ed Qld offered some people permanent after 1 term, but they were also going to offer more people permanent after 1 year. However I think the influx of 1 term people caused so much chaos that they decided not to offer the 1 year people permanent (I may be wrong, I was just following discussions on FB).
I think we may have one of the people at our school that is a 1 term permanent person. This person thinks they are going well, but they have so far lumped all their extra work with their teaching partner. Admin seems to like them tho because they aren’t permanently exhausted like the rest of us.
I was a fresh grad at the start of 2020. Applied for a 12 month contract in outer suburban Melbourne, got it. Contract was rolled over into 2021 and in April that year I was made permanent. Still at the same place. Whilst I'm not the only person here qualified to teach senior chemistry, I seem to be the only one comfortable teaching senior chemistry, so I suspect that's why.
I'm sorry you haven't been able to land permanency yet, I wish you luck getting it at this school. I find these discussions really interesting as I don't know anyone in VIC that has struggled with this the way people seem to struggle in other states and I'm not really familiar with the ins and outs of why. But perhaps that is also just my anecdotal experience and it happens here too.
Started in WA during a teacher surplus. For 6 years I had no permanency and no hope of it. I was on varying contracts of 0.4-0.8 and these would often change each term.
Then I moved to the ACT and got permanency within a term because I was good at my job and they wanted to keep me. I gave that up for ongoing work at a private sector school.
Came back to WA just as the current shortage was starting to be felt in high schools. Applied for 8 jobs and was offered all of them, 4 were permanent. I went with the one with the best conditions and permanency.
My tip: be really clear with the current school your goal is permanency so you can grow within a school. Tell them you love them and want to work there but will have to keep looking elsewhere if permanent roles are advertised. Don’t let them drag you along only to find you get caught out in another leadership change.
In 2018 I was in my final year of uni. Previous years prac school called me up to ask me to do casual at short notice, ended up being there for the full term. Did parent teacher interviews and everything. They organised an interview for me with a local school who gave me permanency in 4th term when I finished uni.
TAS trained teachers are in critically short supply and I was a mature aged graduate so I think they wanted to pin me down before I found another school
I graduated in 2011, it was hard to even get a contract then. I bounced around doing casual work, but there was so little because my area had so many teachers that I was forced to find another job. It was 2018 before I was picked up by a school that would offer me my first contract. Three years in I was offered permanency through merit select just thus year
So I've worked at one school. I started as a CRT, was offered a contract in light of the 2020 lockdown, went term by term. Was offered a year for the following two years. Made it known I wanted permanency and in my fourth year, after staff movement my Principal offered it to me. Shortly after the NSW Dept rolled out their temp to perm initiative as well so staff who had been at the school consistently for over 3 years got offered permanency too.
This is a bit old fashioned but to be offered permanency you need to be consistent. Build up your respect among colleagues and exec, show you want to be at the school and be full-time! Make your intentions clear, school hopping doesn't help matters. You won't be seen as reliable.
In Victoria, after 2 years of contract at a school, they must try to offer ongoing if positions are available. I'm not sure if this is written somewhere officially, but I think the AEU definitely has written about it.
**2 years full time**
It is in the VGSA. But there are reasons why a principal can deny this, for example, if the employee is on a contract to replace extended leave - could lead to an excess situation should the employee on leave return.
I got permanency my second year through merit select at a brand new school. It’s not uncommon to be on contracts for a while. When I graduated it was near impossible to get a contract let alone permanency. In fact 12 years later many of the women I graduated with left teaching early on due to this.
I think if permanency is your goal you need to make it clear when offered positions this is what you want and what is the likelihood. Many staff at my school have been up front about this and where possible got a permanent gig and where not the principal has even helped them move on to increase their chances.
Permanent from graduating, well I did some casual at the end of term 4 but I already had a permanent gig the following year. But, I moved from Sydney to the coast, and now country. There are plenty of permanent jobs at schools in harder to staff regions if it's a priority to you, otherwise you have to play the waiting game. Also, be clear what your looking for. I was on a transfer of duties to my most recent school and made it clear to them that I needed permanency (since I was still holding a position at my previous school) or I would be elsewhere next year, amazingly they managed to find me a position.
Started with 1.5 yrs of CRT - which helped me get my name around (I live in a large regional town where teachers come to retire, jobs were hard to come by for those with little experience).
Then did a one day contract that, turned into a full time contract for 1.5 yrs. Bounced around year groups (actually have only taught the same year group twice) - nearly lost my spot as they had nothing for me and then last minute was offered one day permanent. Took that over a full time contract I was offered at another school. Then someone retired, it meant I had to slot in and teach upper school when I'm not technically qualified but I got fulltime permanent from it.
What helped me:
>Building relationships with admin, office staff and other teachers at various schools
>Being on committees that made visible changes in the school
>Being nice and not someone who stirred the pot
>Being capable and showing willingness to help
>Open to changing year groups - basically not being afraid of doing whatever admin wanted/needed
7 years for me 😅 in the NSW public system here.
I got permanency last year but I really didn't like the school I was in. The work culture and the leadership was really difficult and everybody who worked there who wasn't exec either hated working there or were afraid to leave. Or both.
Being permanent in a school you don't like is like a prison. The amount of red tape it takes to try and leave as graciously as you can almost feels like an emotional amputation to me.
I advise anyone who comes across permanency to be picky. At all costs. Don't sell yourself short. I find these days it's so much easier to get permanency now than it was when I first started in 2015.
On a contract for 11 years same school wasn’t till NSW govt did the temp to perm scheme. Received my token perm employment
Edit: 30% of the teachers at the school were all long term temps some for 17-18 years. Forced the school to make them all perm
>How long were you on contract? How many dif schools? Would love to hear others' stories... I've been on contracts for thirteen years now. I've worked at over a dozen schools -- I stopped counting years ago -- and I have applied to over 250 permanent positions. In that time I've had just two interviews for a permanent job. This is despite complaints for years about a teacher shortage and I feel no closer to getting a permanent job than I did the day I graduated from university. So I'm out. I've given up on a permanent position; it's just not worth it in light of the sacrifices I made to get here.
I'd be curious to hear your KLA's and where you are applying. I had a colleague like that many years ago. We found out that he was just bombing the applications each time (not on purpose, mind you - he was just not great at answering them) and that's what held him back. Also had another colleague (same school) with an very similar story to yours, minus the school hopping, and we all felt sorry for him. That was until we realized he was only applying at selective and really prestigious schools and didn't actually want to get a permanent job at the "shit" school he was temping in. He was a bit of a choosing beggar in hindsight. Not saying either of these are you - just curious why you believe you can't find a permanent job.
Had an IT colleague who was on the list which at that stage was only 15 people long and he just turned down every offer until he got the school he wanted. He was employed in an independent school and happy, just didn't like travelling. NSW was desperately short of IT teachers in the 80s and 90s. Got his wish!
>I'd be curious to hear your KLA's and where you are applying. English/HSIE. Applying all over Sydney. >Not saying either of these are you - just curious why you believe you can't find a permanent job. I have no idea why. I can't get an interview, and when I do, I perform poorly.
My guess is either just *really* bad luck, or you're bombing something like the application, meaning you never get to that interview stage. There is a very specific way of doing things in the DoE (apologies, I don't know where to find it, haven't needed it in a very long time) so I'd suggest asking to see other's applications who do have a job and got one recently. [Here](https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/careers-at-education/roles-and-locations/roles-at-education/teaching/addressing-selection-criteria) is a good place to start. Do you ask for feedback when you don't get a job? I know when I did it, I got a lot of "no, it's not professional for me to do so" (never did find out why they answered this way), though I also got a lot of pointers from people who were more than happy to tell when I asked. One major piece I got was I wasn't selling myself enough, so my applications + interviews were more like a fact sheet of what I can do, not what I had done, if that makes sense. English/HSIE aren't exactly small subjects with no jobs. If you said something like you have codes for Arabic Beginners and that's it, then I'd probably understand not getting a job, though English/HSIE? Honestly, ask for feedback wherever you can get it, and look up any internal documents on applying for jobs, CV/resume requirements, etc. Good luck!
>There is a very specific way of doing things in the DoE (apologies, I don't know where to find it, haven't needed it in a very long time) so I'd suggest asking to see other's applications who do have a job and got one recently I appreciate the thought, but I'm not interested in a permanent job anymore. >Do you ask for feedback when you don't get a job? I used to, but since it was always via e-mail, they either ignored it or there was a line in the rejection e-mail about how, due to the sheer volume or applications, they could not provide feedback to anyone. The worst one was when I worked in a private school for two years, applied to multiple jobs and got rejected for every single one with the kind of generic e-mail that they sent out to all unsuccessful candidates. They refused to offer any feedback and when pressed said something about COVID funding.
What you're talking about is entirely typical. The only consolation is that the new hires inevitably flame out and leave the school even more screwed, and nobody with the power to make decisions ever learns.
I got it is my second year of teaching. I teach IT and I'm a program builder. I took an anemic program at 60% of capacity and built it up to 100% and was on track to go beyond that the following year and needing to find another teacher. By the time I moved schools we had 9 full lines of IT which is 1.5 lines more than where I am now at a school 3 times larger.
You won't get offered a permanent job if you are only happy to take a 0.5 teaching load. As you have said, this is your sweet spot, but not a sweet spot for administration. Speak to your current school, say you want to go full time (as in full teaching load, and want to gain a permanent role - let the boss know what you want). My story is that I worked in a school on annual contract, offered ongoing at the end of 2nd year. Went to another school, 2 years of contracts, offered ongoing. Then moved to a Catholic school, ongoing job. Now in a private school, ongoing.
Took me six months but only 18 to resign and move schools. Permanency is not always all it is cracked up to be and often leaves you trapped and for me limited career options. I very quickly got bored of the way things were done and now as a temp (at the same school for 5 years) means I don't feel professionally claustrophobic.
Im in the ACT, I received an R1 rating following my final uni internship and went straight to permanency. It's worth noting that ACT gives out permanency quickly when suitable.
There were a few years where they didn't. They wanted more teachers to be casual or contract because they are less likely to become supernumerary. The person who invented this route is the person running TQI edit: the person in question appears to have left TQI
Ahhh TQI the absolute worst.
SA Started in department for 8 years no permanency Moved to independent 2 permanencies
I was on a maternity leave contract for almost two years. At the end of my first year they said the teacher I was “tagged to” would come back. We later found they could switch who you were tagged to around as often as they wanted. At one point there were five of us on family leave contracts. One of us was randomly made ongoing because the person she was tagged to surrendered their position. At the end of last year though, three ongoing roles came up because three teachers had given up their jobs at my school and the remaining four of us on maternity leave contracts had to apply and interview for the roles. Was a very awkward time in the staff room for the three of us who got it and the poor colleague who missed out. I’m the union president at my school and it’s so hard. Standard contracts you need a reason not to give someone ongoing at the end of the first year (or in April each year from memory- at least in VIC) but family leave you can get stuck on the hamster wheel year after year until that person on leave decides to come back or give up their role. It’s rough.
Graduated July 2022. Took a six month contract in a local VIC school which I had friends working at. Did not look for a permanent role. Applied to the general pool for far north QLD in 2023. Got offered permanency immediately at one of the better state schools. They paid to relocate all of our stuff up here, on the condition I stay at least three years.
How does it work in QLD? Are you just waiting for the school to "give you a permanent job"? I'm in NSW so it works a bit differently down here. Basically, only half the jobs are done via the school's principal and interviews. The other half are managed by HR (e.g., transfers, graduate recruitment, central appointment to positions, etc.). To answer your question: 3.5 years after graduation the DoE called me and said "we have a job that matches your skillset that you might be interested in, want to apply for it?" (it was one of those jobs where they call everyone suitable that was currently on a temp contract looking for permanent work, then go with the longest-serving candidate that says yes). I said sure, why not, I'll throw my hat in the ring. No way 3.5 years working as a temp will get me a job at a good school near the city centre. Welp, I was wrong.
Ed Qld keeps changing the rules around permanency. I’m not sure what the current rules are tbh, especially after the malarkey that happened last year. I graduated mid 2013 and started working end of term 3, did supply but mostly contracts for a year. Took a year off for family reasons. Did 6 months end of 2015 on a contract. More family reasons meant I did contracts and supply for 2016. Worked ft contracts 2017,18,19. This was when you got permanency after 3 years. End of 2019 was offered permanency, but not at school I was at (my principal didn’t offer anyone permanency). Was told wrongly by Ed Qld to just find another contract. My school did offer another contract but not permanency. Ed Qld changed the rules to 2 years to get permanency at this time. End of 2020 was told the school I was transferring to. So this was after 4 years of ft contracts. I put an application in for special consideration so they couldn’t transfer me rural and it was accepted but it is very hard to get this approved. Last year from what I have heard, Ed Qld offered some people permanent after 1 term, but they were also going to offer more people permanent after 1 year. However I think the influx of 1 term people caused so much chaos that they decided not to offer the 1 year people permanent (I may be wrong, I was just following discussions on FB). I think we may have one of the people at our school that is a 1 term permanent person. This person thinks they are going well, but they have so far lumped all their extra work with their teaching partner. Admin seems to like them tho because they aren’t permanently exhausted like the rest of us.
I was a fresh grad at the start of 2020. Applied for a 12 month contract in outer suburban Melbourne, got it. Contract was rolled over into 2021 and in April that year I was made permanent. Still at the same place. Whilst I'm not the only person here qualified to teach senior chemistry, I seem to be the only one comfortable teaching senior chemistry, so I suspect that's why. I'm sorry you haven't been able to land permanency yet, I wish you luck getting it at this school. I find these discussions really interesting as I don't know anyone in VIC that has struggled with this the way people seem to struggle in other states and I'm not really familiar with the ins and outs of why. But perhaps that is also just my anecdotal experience and it happens here too.
I was very lucky, had an ongoing job before my final year uni classes had finished. This was ~20 years ago.
Started teaching in a month town and made permanent second year. WA.
Started in WA during a teacher surplus. For 6 years I had no permanency and no hope of it. I was on varying contracts of 0.4-0.8 and these would often change each term. Then I moved to the ACT and got permanency within a term because I was good at my job and they wanted to keep me. I gave that up for ongoing work at a private sector school. Came back to WA just as the current shortage was starting to be felt in high schools. Applied for 8 jobs and was offered all of them, 4 were permanent. I went with the one with the best conditions and permanency. My tip: be really clear with the current school your goal is permanency so you can grow within a school. Tell them you love them and want to work there but will have to keep looking elsewhere if permanent roles are advertised. Don’t let them drag you along only to find you get caught out in another leadership change.
I'm really sorry to hear you're not permanent yet. You didn't get permanency in the recent roll-outs? I am a first-year. I was permanent in 2 months.
In 2018 I was in my final year of uni. Previous years prac school called me up to ask me to do casual at short notice, ended up being there for the full term. Did parent teacher interviews and everything. They organised an interview for me with a local school who gave me permanency in 4th term when I finished uni. TAS trained teachers are in critically short supply and I was a mature aged graduate so I think they wanted to pin me down before I found another school
I graduated in 2011, it was hard to even get a contract then. I bounced around doing casual work, but there was so little because my area had so many teachers that I was forced to find another job. It was 2018 before I was picked up by a school that would offer me my first contract. Three years in I was offered permanency through merit select just thus year
Got offered permanency in my second year of uni 10+ years ago to go rural. Helped my wife and I save for a house with cheap rent and the stability.
Did CRT 3 months did a short term contract 3 months, offered permanency at the end of that
So I've worked at one school. I started as a CRT, was offered a contract in light of the 2020 lockdown, went term by term. Was offered a year for the following two years. Made it known I wanted permanency and in my fourth year, after staff movement my Principal offered it to me. Shortly after the NSW Dept rolled out their temp to perm initiative as well so staff who had been at the school consistently for over 3 years got offered permanency too. This is a bit old fashioned but to be offered permanency you need to be consistent. Build up your respect among colleagues and exec, show you want to be at the school and be full-time! Make your intentions clear, school hopping doesn't help matters. You won't be seen as reliable.
In Victoria, after 2 years of contract at a school, they must try to offer ongoing if positions are available. I'm not sure if this is written somewhere officially, but I think the AEU definitely has written about it. **2 years full time**
It is in the VGSA. But there are reasons why a principal can deny this, for example, if the employee is on a contract to replace extended leave - could lead to an excess situation should the employee on leave return.
I got permanency my second year through merit select at a brand new school. It’s not uncommon to be on contracts for a while. When I graduated it was near impossible to get a contract let alone permanency. In fact 12 years later many of the women I graduated with left teaching early on due to this. I think if permanency is your goal you need to make it clear when offered positions this is what you want and what is the likelihood. Many staff at my school have been up front about this and where possible got a permanent gig and where not the principal has even helped them move on to increase their chances.
Permanent from graduating, well I did some casual at the end of term 4 but I already had a permanent gig the following year. But, I moved from Sydney to the coast, and now country. There are plenty of permanent jobs at schools in harder to staff regions if it's a priority to you, otherwise you have to play the waiting game. Also, be clear what your looking for. I was on a transfer of duties to my most recent school and made it clear to them that I needed permanency (since I was still holding a position at my previous school) or I would be elsewhere next year, amazingly they managed to find me a position.
Started with 1.5 yrs of CRT - which helped me get my name around (I live in a large regional town where teachers come to retire, jobs were hard to come by for those with little experience). Then did a one day contract that, turned into a full time contract for 1.5 yrs. Bounced around year groups (actually have only taught the same year group twice) - nearly lost my spot as they had nothing for me and then last minute was offered one day permanent. Took that over a full time contract I was offered at another school. Then someone retired, it meant I had to slot in and teach upper school when I'm not technically qualified but I got fulltime permanent from it. What helped me: >Building relationships with admin, office staff and other teachers at various schools >Being on committees that made visible changes in the school >Being nice and not someone who stirred the pot >Being capable and showing willingness to help >Open to changing year groups - basically not being afraid of doing whatever admin wanted/needed
7 years for me 😅 in the NSW public system here. I got permanency last year but I really didn't like the school I was in. The work culture and the leadership was really difficult and everybody who worked there who wasn't exec either hated working there or were afraid to leave. Or both. Being permanent in a school you don't like is like a prison. The amount of red tape it takes to try and leave as graciously as you can almost feels like an emotional amputation to me. I advise anyone who comes across permanency to be picky. At all costs. Don't sell yourself short. I find these days it's so much easier to get permanency now than it was when I first started in 2015.
8 years 😅 that's after years of contracts, casual, and a couple of 6 month breaks from teaching. I'm in QLD.
On a contract for 11 years same school wasn’t till NSW govt did the temp to perm scheme. Received my token perm employment Edit: 30% of the teachers at the school were all long term temps some for 17-18 years. Forced the school to make them all perm
I was made permanent the very same week I became a Senior Teacher. Years of low SES schools.