Hell Fire's blog

I’m not much of a blogger, but I am a regular here on Neo so I figured it’s a good idea to experiment with this. Myspace blogs seem to be an outlet for ranting, whining and bitching about life. I never really saw the point of that since I’m generally an easy going person and apart from moronic bike riders taking up the road, nothing really gets to me. This was until a week or so ago when I was told I wouldn’t be getting a job, after spending a year studying education at Uni.

Quick context: I’m 21, my undergrad was Communications (media and film) and I decided to do an extra year of study to become a teacher (media and computer studies). Over the past few years our beloved Department of Education (DET) have spent millions on advertising campaigns emphasising the need for teachers, and how enjoyable and rewarding a career in it would be. 12 weeks off a year? 20% pay rise? Hot year 12 girls? I was sold.

My pracs at various high Schools were really enjoyable. I, along with many fellow graduates went on a pub crawl after our final prac, swapped classroom war stories, and drunkenly announced crazy teaching related plans for next year. There was a buzz in the air and everyone was excited for what was to come. A year of incredibly hard work was over (It was a graduate Diploma, meaning they basically condensed a 4 year course into one year), and we were all counting down the days until we officially started. All we had to do was wait for the call, which would determine where we were teaching.

December passed and the New Year came. The majority of us still had no placements (excluding all the country folks, but there’s no way most of us were teaching there). Anxiety began to rise. Mid January came, and still nothing. We figured they were doing the final placement allocations (since they’re soooooo short of teachers) and they’ll let us know the following week. The week before school commenced finally arrived. In general, a teacher will have to plan a semester’s course for about 6 different classes. How are we meant to plan with less than a week before we start? I guess it didn’t matter because that week was concluded, and we still had nothing.

A few days before the students went back, a couple of notable newspaper articles were released: “WA importing teachers from Overseas”, and “700 graduate teachers unplaced”. For lack of a better reaction, this is *bleep*ing ridiculous! How can this government organisation who have been claiming to be short of teachers for the past couple years, *bleep* up so bad? 700 graduates? That’s about 95% of metro bound teachers! That’s 700 people, who were basically ensured a job, shot down at the last minute with nothing to do. And for the icing on the cake, they were IMPORTING teachers from foreign countries. Oh, and wait. There’s more icing. The morons at DET are still advertising for teachers. What will that be, an additional 700 graduate teachers without jobs next year? This cake just keeps getting tastier.

I feel bad. In November I urged my best friend to do the same course, since she finished her degree and wasn’t sure what to do. She was pumped, and successfully enrolled. Now I have to tell her that she probably won’t get a job, and will be wasting a year of her life like I did, along with 700 other formerly excited future teachers. If you can take something from this, just remember that DET are morons, and if you’re an Aussie, and looking into education in the next couple years, definitely reconsider. I guess you students out there will have to put up with your old over-weight maths teacher from hell for another year, while the fresh batch of young inspiring teachers sit on the couch watching the cricket.