Abstract:
This paper investigates how overseas trained teachers gain recognition for their qualifications and work experience to meet local Australian employment requirements so they can meet expectations about maintaining Australian teaching quality. There are concerns about whether immigrant teachers who have had length teaching experience overseas should be judged as beginning teachers in Australia; and if not should they be able to reclaim their previous level of status in accordance with their work experience and teaching competences. The problem is that it seems that they require local qualifications and experiences. This paper focuses on the problems and difficulties overseas trained teachers face under the current NSW teachers registration and employment process. Immigrant teachers, face difficulties, if not barriers blocking their registration for employment as teachers, jobs hunting and securing on-going employment as teachers. These barriers impact on their confidence and self-determination. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field are used to interpret the practices of immigrant teachers and those whom they engage. It analyses official documents, survey and interview data to identify the kinds of barriers that impede immigrant teachers in developing their teaching careers in NSW. This paper provides analysis of evidence relating to registration, acceptance, employment and language barriers, the main barriers confronted by the interviewees. The evidence helps us to understand how immigrant teachers think about how they are positioned in the Australian education context. Most of the interviewees were well-trained and experienced, but some could not find proper teaching positions or quit the profession. The paper recommends that professional and personal support could lead to changes so that more immigrant teachers can continue their career in Australia. This assumes that the experiences and qualifications of the immigrant teachers are acceptable and valuable under Australian guidelines.