Answers to questions asked by new australian primary school, junior school teachers

1. How much do Australian primary school teachers earn?

2009 Australian Teacher’s Salaries

Salaries	QLD	NSW	VIC	WA	NT	SA	ACT	TAS
4^yrtrained Beginning Teacher	$52,000	$52,500	$52,500	$52,500	$54,000	$51,500	$52,000	$48,500
Senior Teacher	$74,500	$78,500	$77,500	$77,000	$76,000	$71,000	$74,000	$71,000
Principal	$105,000	$119,000	$124,500	$105,000	$110,500	$103,000	$120,500	$113,000

The above table is an estimate of Australian Teachers Salaries for 2009. Due to the recent enterprise bargaining in some states the amounts listed above will increase over the next couple of years. A teacher’s pay scale is also determined on a number of different factors such as the number of years a person has trained and how many years they’ve been teaching. Other states also offer further incentives with their salary packages. Therefore, to obtain a full understanding of your personal salary I would advise you to contact the Education Department in your local area.

2. What are the things that can make a classroom stressful for primary school teachers?

Teaching children can be a very rewarding experience. It can also be a very stressful experience, particularly for beginning teachers. The key is to know how you can reduce that classroom stress and after years of teaching the best place to start is with Organisation.

Knowing what you are going to teach and how to teach it is extremely important. Being organised for yourself, your students and your classroom parents is vital to minimizing behaviour management and the key to a smooth running day.

A Survival Guide for Beginning Primary School Teachers focuses on getting you prepared right from day one with information on how to set up your classroom, what to have prepared for the first day, the first week, your first month, as well as complete lesson plans for the first five weeks of teaching.

3. What are some helpful teacher resources to have in your classroom?

For a beginning teacher building up valuable primary school educational resources is a must. This can be quite a daunting task as there are thousands of educational resources on the market. So I thought I would help you out by listing some of the primary school resources I use year after year in my classroom.

Some very helpful educational textbooks are:

The Pocket Basics for English and Maths by Lyn Magree
Crafty Rhymes by Helen Fletcher
Classroom timesavers by Ashton Scholastic
Multiply you maths marks by learning your times tables the fun and easy way by Gillian Miles
A Sound Way by Elizabeth Love and Sue Reilly
Proofreading and Editing by Gunter Schymkiw
M100W Magic 100 words by Marcella Reiter

Other everyday classroom resources which are a must in the classroom:

Daily lesson plans
Weekly plans
Whole term overviews
Stickers
Hat, whistle & coffee cup
Assessment folders for each child
A Dictionary
Alphabet charts
100 Most commonly used sightwords charts
Numbers in words & numeral charts

Lastly my number one must have is my quick Five Minute Fillers which I use on a regular basis everyday in my classroom and that is why I have given them as a bonus for anyone who purchases my book online.

These are just a few from my essential resource kit which I rely on very heavily throughout the year. In my book A Survival Guide for Beginning Primary School Teachers there are many more resources listed for every KLA subject that you are required to teach.