With several years of classroom experience under your belt, you have a wide range of career options for teacher progression in Australia. Whilst many teachers prefer to stay in the classroom, there are other roles that provide avenues for you to share your expertise and wisdom.
Whether it’s leading other teachers, developing curricula, or influencing policy, here is a deeper look at the advancement opportunities available to you.
Curriculum Coordinator
Working in a Curriculum Coordinator role gives you a chance to influence curriculum development, specifically in design, implementation and assessment. With this knowledge, you can then lead professional development workshops or take on mentorship positions with peers or graduate teachers.
It’s a role that requires plenty of collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, such as other teachers and school leadership, to ensure educational standards are met.
To be successful, you’ll need to hone both your soft and hard skills. For the latter, you can consider completing a Master’s in Education as most have a dedicated curriculum field of study, such as The University of Queensland.
There are also a number of professional courses that focus on curriculum development and educational leadership to enhance your qualifications.
Mentor
If your experience level puts you in the Highly Accomplished Teacher category, you may consider using your skills and knowledge to mentor others, whether it’s graduates or peers.
Your mentor role could involve modelling different teaching strategies, observing and providing meaningful feedback. You can also assist with specific issues mentees may have, such as lesson planning difficulties, classroom behaviour problems, integrating technology, or team teaching.
Mentors also play an important role in providing support for well-being, especially to those new to teaching who may be finding it difficult to adjust to the emotional highs and lows that come with the job.
While formal qualifications aren’t usually required, completing a mentoring or coaching program can be beneficial.
Specialist Teaching Roles
Specialist roles focus on specific areas such as ESL, special education, literacy, numeracy, and gifted and talented education. These positions allow you to draw from your existing classroom expertise and develop a new skill set in a specialist area to support specific student cohorts further.
Further study is often required. Usually, a Master's or Graduate Certificate is related to the chosen subject area.
While challenging at times, becoming a specialist teacher brings great rewards. You have an opportunity to make a significant impact on the learning journey of students with unique learning needs.
Leadership
There are numerous levels of leadership within a school community, all with a central tenet – your passion for supporting and guiding leading people!
The level of leadership depends on your aspirations. You can be a:
Lead teacher – In this position, you focus on whole-school improvement and staff development. You’ll use your breath of experience gained from years in the classroom to ensure staff keep up with their CPD while taking on coaching/mentorship.
You’ll also be involved in leading the implementation of whole-school improvement initiatives, as well as being one of the ‘faces’ of the school out in the wider community.
Ideally, you’ll have at least five years’ experience as a Highly Accomplished Teacher before moving into a Lead role. You’ll need to demonstrate experience in guiding and supporting colleagues. You may also like to undertake professional development relevant to the area to further enhance your skill set.
Deputy Head – This role is a step up from a Lead Teacher. You’ll be responsible for managing a specific subject area and supporting teachers within that department. It involves overseeing all curriculum development, implementation, assessment and evaluation.
Deputy Principal – This is the second-in-command role supporting the Principal in managing the school. You’ll be responsible for collaborating on school policies and taking charge of daily school operations. You may even oversee specific areas, such as student discipline. At times, you’ll step up to the role of Acting Principal to fulfil their duties in their absence.
Principal – The highest position within a school is the principal, who is responsible for overall leadership and management. This includes strategy, staff management, financial oversight, and community engagement.
If you aspire to any of these three leadership positions, you will need a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership or Administration. From a teacher recruitment perspective, professionals who have completed leadership training programs or workshops are highly valued, especially those focused on school management, conflict resolution and strategic planning.
There are government scholarships available that allow you to study for postgraduate degrees and teach concurrently. For instance, Victoria has the Teach Today and Teach Tomorrow programs.
Education Policy and Research Roles
These roles involve analysing current educational practices, doing research and developing policies to improve educational outcomes. It’s a position of great influence and can be found in government agencies, educational institutions, or research organisations.
Most policy and research positions require a Master’s degree in either Education Policy, Educational Leadership, or a related field. It’s even better if you can demonstrate prowess in research methodologies and policy analysis – something you can learn in dedicated professional development workshops.
Making Your Next Career Move
If you’re curious about career progression as a teacher, there are plenty of pathways and opportunities to improve education outcomes at the classroom, school and community levels. If you’re an experienced teacher and thinking about your next career move, now is a great time to connect with one of our teacher recruitment specialists here at Tradewind.
With a fresh rotation of interesting and rewarding teaching positions across Victoria and Queensland available, we can help support you take that next step in your career.