Teaching in Aus

VIT (Victorian Institute of Teaching) Registration

Here is a list of the documents you need and what you need to do if you want to register to teach in Victoria.

Click here to get to the online registration procedure for Teachers 

Register for a MyVIT account, and gather your documents:

• Passport biodata page
• Driver's License (or a letter from a registered teacher confirming your address)
• Transcripts
• Degree Certificates
• Initial Teaching Training Transcripts and Certificates
• Letter from University stating number of supervised practice teaching days (45 days minimum required)
• Teacher Registration documents (OCT in Ontario or GTC in UK)
• References from previous Head Teachers (They should fill in Form B)
• Criminal Record Checks for any country you have lived in the last 10 years
• Canadian (you need to get your fingerprints done for this one!)
• UK
• Character Reference

Once these are gathered together, you can upload them to your teacher registration. If you have a question, I'd advise calling them instead of emailing. You may be on hold for half an hour, but it beats waiting for weeks for an email response!

AITSL Skills Assessment

If you are applying for a skills based visa, you will need to get your teaching qualification assessed by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership.

On the website they quote 10 weeks to process your assessment, and this was pretty bang on. Don't think you can get it fast-tracked or anything. You also need to have this when you apply for your visa, the DIAC won't start processing your application without it, so it's a good idea to get this form started as early as possible.

Forms needed similar to the VIT Registration, which is pretty annoying as you have to get everything re-certified. I have no idea why this body exists when every state has it's own teacher registration process. It seems like an unnecessary level of bureaucracy, especially now that there is a common Australian Curriculum. 

• Transcripts
• Degree Certificates
• Initial Teaching Training Transcripts and Certificates
• Letter from University stating number of supervised practice teaching days
• Australian Teacher Registration (if you have it - this isn't required though)
• IELTS Test Results (only if you did not attend uni in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, USA, or the UK)
• Passport Identity Page
• 1 Passport photo
• Payment - it was $550 AUD when I applied in April 2013

Teaching in Australia and the GTP

Prior to moving to Australia we found out that Andy's teaching qualification, the Graduate Teacher Programme, was not a recognized qualification outside of England and Wales. Even though he also has a Masters in Education, the VIT would not give him full registration to teach in Victoria.

He has been lucky to get a teaching job and provisional registration called 'Permission to Teach'. I wrote a little about that here.

Permission to Teach is only valid for a maximum of 3 years, and you have to reapply if you change schools. So we decided the best thing would be for Andy to go back to school and do a Graduate Diploma in Education through Deakin University. It was a year long programme (8 months really) that was done as a distance education, so he could continue to teach at the same time. Deakin also gave him 'credit for prior learning' so he didn't have to complete all of the units.

Andy finished his Dip Ed in October 2014, and it's all worked out pretty well for us. But if you are from the UK and became a teacher through the GTP you have to know it will be pretty hard to get a teaching job and you may have to re-train.

Your comments/questions are welcome.

Wendy