Natasha Doyle

ECE relief teacher

The early childhood teaching landscape in New Zealand has changed dramatically since Natasha left for her OE five years ago.

“There’s so much more demand in the sector now – for places in centres, for centres to be built and for qualified teachers.  When I first qualified, it was really difficult finding a job in Christchurch.  Now it’s the opposite.”

Natasha feels she has benefited enormously from her variety of teaching and nannying jobs in London during her five years there.  “The experience of working in different centres and schools and for different employers has been really good for me.  The teaching in England was much more structured and so I had to adapt quickly whereas in New Zealand I was used to more of a free play environment.”

It was also the first time that Natasha had experienced teaching in such a multicultural environment.  “At some of my schools and centres many of the parents couldn’t speak English so the kids would translate for their parents.  It was a very useful and positive experience which has stood me in good stead for my current role in Auckland.”

Natasha’s role on her return to New Zealand is as a Ministry of Education ECE relief teacher in Auckland, where early childhood teacher supply is under the greatest pressure.  The relief pool has been established to support centres that are on provisional license because they do not meet the “person responsible” requirement.  Natasha relieves for teachers who need to do their practicums as part of their ECE qualification.

“Relief teaching is an experience every teacher should have,” Natasha believes. “I’m picking up loads of ideas for teaching, it’s helping me choose where I’d like to teach permanently, it’s enabled me to update my qualifications to a degree in early childhood as I’d find it difficult to have enough time to study in a permanent job, and it’s given me professional development ideas for when I have my own centre.”

“It’s a great time to return and teach in early childhood,” says Natasha.  “Come back while there’s loads of opportunities and take advantage of the International Relocation Grant for qualified teachers.”

Natasha’s parting advice is to sort out any paperwork before returning to New Zealand and to be careful about keeping registration and teaching experience up to date.  “I was caught out by the five year absence timeframe and therefore, in spite of my experience, am starting back as a provisionally registered teacher instead of a fully registered one.”