- Assess your comfort zone.
Do you have experience living remote or rural? Or experience with moving towns and re-establishing yourself? Are you outdoorsy with experience camping and traveling far from home? Then a more remote placement might be for you. If you haven’t lived away from home or have limited teaching experience a larger rural school might be a great first placement. - Assess your needs. Such as one flight from family, access to a hospital for a health need, a high school for your child etc. This will help you narrow down the type of community and locations you can apply.
- Compare incentives and conditions of each state: Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia. Consider which states you are willing to live.
- Narrow your zone and compare schools. Which schools in your zone meet your needs?
- Ask for feedback about your shortlist on ‘Teachers In Remote Communities (Past, Present, Future)’ on Facebook.
- Consider the history of the communities– mission, station, mining town, traditional owned community. This will give you an idea of the strengths and challenges local people will face with culture, language, connection to country, intergenerational truama, trust of teschers and more. Local services will also give you an indication of the strengths and challenges such as art centre, youth centre, tourism operators, small business etc. Contact some of them and ask questions. Consider what type of community- opportunities and challenges- will work for you.
- Apply for the Remote Teaching pool in your chosen state and chosen areas (some states have restricted application windows and require placements through the pool- best to apply early).
Do you agree? What other considerations must new teachers make? Share your experiences with us.
Article written by Hakea Hustler- experienced remote teacher.
One Response
Fantastic, Hakea.
One I would add relates to how individuals handle relationships! Sometimes it’s a bit like being in Big Brother – but you don’t get to vote anyone out! How do you handle ‘irritating’ colleagues, and still work together for the kids?
Or if you are the ‘one-teacher-school’, away from family and friends, how much do you enjoy your own company?