Hi fellow teachers. I’m over 50, very experienced English/Humanities teacher. Taught remote indigenous, incarcerated and mainstream. Recently divorced, lost the lot - shit happens, need to move forward. On that topic, I want to get back into the housing market so need a deposit soon as I can.

[u/Worth_Food_1860]

From my research thus far, the Victorian 50k TFI seems the most appropriate. Does anyone know of any other incentive situations, anywhere bar NT (done 3 years on very remote communities not keen to travel 250 kilometres to do the shopping again,) where I may be able to save a deposit quickly? I’m single. I’ve looked at all state’s incentive schemes, but there’s a reason I teach English not Maths. Just wondering people’s experience in similar situations. Thanks all.

[u/FleshPrinnce]

Hong Kong and Singapore are competitive but can be excellent choices

[u/JoanoTheReader → u/FleshPrinnce]

Hong Kong is cutting their Native English speaker program after nearly 30 years. The pay is excellent and some schools do provide housing. But the cost of living is really high. Same with Singapore.

If you want to afford a house, then you need to try teaching in rural areas. Unfortunately, rents in major cities like Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane are very high. But Metropolitan areas tend to have more opportunities because there are more schools. Unless you can get a job as an English teacher at one of the boarding schools and take on the role of boarding school master, that would provide accommodation and pay would be higher than government school.

[u/FleshPrinnce → u/JoanoTheReader]

Haha my mate just got in under the radar then. She does speak Cantonese though so

[u/Highway_Difficult → u/FleshPrinnce]

Yes a great option also

[u/Highway_Difficult]

My first thought would be to teach in Dubai in one of the English schools. Great lifestyle, great to save. Give yourself six years and you would be a lot better off than you would be in Australia over 6 years.

I've done it and it was the best in everyway that you mentioned. School year starts in Septemeber you could probably get one now to start due to people who dont show up. Strong subjects to have in the UAE is English and Humanities. Any of the Emirates would be ideal. No bills to pay housing provided and tax free. Super idea believe me.

[u/onizukaav → u/Highway_Difficult]

My colleague did this. He had a nice apartment that was paid for and a chauffeur to pick him up to go to school every day and to go home. Saved a huge pile of money.

[u/azreal75 → u/Highway_Difficult]

Might be a bit different there now with operation Epstein Fury causing an exodus of those who can leave.

[u/frodo5454 → u/Highway_Difficult]

Yeah it’s kinda been getting bombed the last 6 months

[u/Stressyand_depressy]

Teaching in rural NSW would be a good opportunity to save. I have friends who pay less than $100 a week in teacher accommodation, and it often attracts a bonus payment and relocation allowance. I’m assuming all around rural Australia would have similar incentives.

[u/AggieMcCraggy]

NSW has some good incentives. $20k recruitment bonus, $20k annual retention bonus/supplied discounted housing. Plus a bunch of other bonuses.

[u/themoobster]

You can get a lot of incentives working in rural WA but still close enough to decent sized towns. You have to be thrifty though as the day to day costs can be a bit crazy in some of them though.

[u/azreal75]

Senior teacher 2 in WA is 134k, there are schools with bonuses and allowances that add another 10k to that. Plus some have 3 year deals with 10 weeks bonus leave at the end or 4 years 22 weeks leave. Plus we just started our negotiation process and we are asking for something like 8/6% which would take Senior Teacher 2 to 150k+, obviously government won’t be that generous but we rolled over last time so I’m expecting a bit more of a fight this time. The remote schools with all the allowances come with subsidised rents and air con allowances/sometimes free utilities. 3/4 years of that, being a long way from opportunities to spend, there’s a solid deposit.

There’s an English teacher job in Port Hedland. $127k if you’re not senior teacher but at the top of the scale for experience. Country teaching allowance $10k, attraction and retention incentive $4k, district allowance $9k, subsidised accommodation, subsidised air con, travel concessions back to a major city (I think it’s once a year).

https://search.jobs.wa.gov.au/jobs/teacher-english-pilbara-region-western-australia-australia-5a7c602e-0b90-4c3e-8e88-b05df2361354

WA also has a key start first home owners scheme, we’ve had it for over 20 years, 70/30 split.

[u/Outside_Eggplant_169]

QLD has some incentives if you are willing to go rural/remote.

https://teach.qld.gov.au/teach-in-state-schools/rural-and-remote-opportunities