Hi! I’m Victoria, a teacher from Oshawa, Ontario. I travelled to Melbourne, Australia at the end of 2022 and spent a year working as a CRT before returning to Canada and switching over to work internally with anzuk Education. I’m now a Global Opportunities Consultant and I help other educators pursue their dreams of working abroad.
When did you move to Melbourne and why?
I moved to Melbourne in December 2022. I had been to Australia previously during my undergraduate degree and had been itching for an excuse to get back. The Covid lockdowns altered my original timeline, but I always had Australia in the back of my mind and knew that if I didn’t go now, I would always regret it.
Travel is one of my biggest passions and by the fall of 2022, I knew I was ready to begin teaching full-time but wasn’t ready to give up travelling – so this was the best of both worlds. While I was hesitant on Melbourne at first, I knew it was the best option for my career and was pleasantly surprised when I absolutely fell in love with the city.
How did you find your relocation process with anzuk?
Moving to a new country on your own is a huge undertaking, but having the team at anzuk made it substantially easier. There are so many moving parts that come along with the process and having someone to break down each step and be there to assist was crucial for me. Gillian was such incredible help; answering every question I had about the visa process and securing my VIT. Through the Facebook groups, I was able to find the best tips and tricks for finding a rental space.
I ended up subletting a room from a Melbourne teacher for a month when I moved over which meant I was able to explore the many different suburbs around the city before settling on a room in a sharehouse in the northern suburb of Coburg!
What was your experience working as a teacher in Australia?
I had a really positive experience teaching in Australia. I was a very new teacher after gaining mainly online experience as a student teacher and I knew coming into the year that I wanted to teach in a range of classrooms through different year levels and test out mainstream as well as SDS/SEN schools.
The schools being self-governed was an interesting concept to me, and it meant that each school had its own personality and cluster of students that matched. I found the schools that best meshed with my personality and teaching philosophy, and those are the ones that I returned to repeatedly.
One of my favourite parts of teaching internationally was getting to share a bit of Canadian knowledge, history and culture with all my students!
Why did you choose to leave the classroom?
Coming back from Australia, I was no longer excited to work in the school systems that we have in Canada. I wanted the freedom and choice that I had experienced as a CRT in Melbourne, and I knew that wasn’t what I would get working here.
As a teacher, I strongly felt that I have a calling to help people, and I realised that I can help even more students by finding exceptional educators to put in the classroom than I could do myself.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
I am most excited about meeting new, wonderful and ambitious educators and helping them discover the different possibilities that are available to them!
I also secretly love that I get to continue sharing about my time in Australia and how much I loved teaching there. My family is getting sick of hearing me gab on about how much I love this city on the other side of the world, so I’m grateful for a new audience to share that with!
Victoria’s Top Tips: Do’s and Don’ts
Do: Reach out to your network first!
Post about your upcoming move on Instagram or Facebook and ask if anyone has friends living in Australia. You never know who might know someone else living abroad and having a mutual friend is a great jumping off point to meeting someone new!
Do: Travel light and make stops on the way!
If you can, pack lightly and travel on the way to/from Australia. It’s a very long flight over from Canada and there are some amazing places to break up that distance. Whether it’s Hawaii, Hong Kong or Thailand, spending a few days along the route helps break up the travel.
Don’t: Be afraid to put yourself out there!
Making friends as an adult can be tough. Don’t be afraid to attend the social events, ask for someone’s Instagram, or join the school staff for a post-work happy hour.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY TIME ABROAD
- A road trip along the Great Ocean Road
- Spending a night on a boat in the Great Barrier Reef
- Meeting one of my favourite comedians at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
- Getting to attend an international NHL Game
- All the cheap theatre tickets
- Learning about AFL and backing Carlton! (Go Blues!!!)
- Interactive Yoga at The Lume
- Signing up and completing the RunMelbourne 5km (as a non-runner!)