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A guide for Ireland-trained teachers

Your next classroom could be in Australia.

Thinking about CRT days in Melbourne, a longer school contract or a fresh start with your family? Make a plan around the teaching you want to do, the life you want to build and the approvals you will need.

For primary and post-primary teachers, including BEd and PME graduates. Information checked 16 October 2026.

Book Consultation Explore the practical steps
Teacher leading a classroom discussion
Illustrative classroom photography.

Start with your classroom, then build the move around it.

You may be looking for a year abroad after qualifying, more variety than another round of subbing, or a school where you can settle for the long term. Those are different moves. The right starting point is your teaching stage, preferred location and appetite for casual or contracted work.

This guide focuses on qualifications from the Republic of Ireland, with a practical Melbourne and Victoria lens. If you qualified in Northern Ireland or another UK jurisdiction, your training documents follow that system. Your citizenship and the passport you use are separate questions, especially for a Working Holiday visa.

I want to try Australia

Explore a short-term stay, registration and casual relief teaching. If you are eligible for a Working Holiday visa, plan any second-year requirements before choosing your first job.

I want a school to settle into

Look at fixed-term or ongoing roles and whether the employer can support an appropriate visa. A vacancy, an offer and a sponsorship commitment are different things.

I am planning a longer-term move

Review your qualification evidence, occupation, experience and family situation alongside employer-sponsored or points-tested options.

What changes when you teach in Australia?

Your classroom experience travels with you. Some of the names, calendars and expectations will be new.

From subbing to CRT work

In Victoria, day-to-day replacement teaching is commonly called casual relief teaching, or CRT. It can introduce you to different schools and year levels. Ask how bookings, cancellations, travel and daily pay work before relying on it as your only income.

A January-to-December school year

Victoria works across four school terms. For 2027, government-school staff start Term 1 on 27 January and students on 28 January. Check the calendar of the school employing you; a summer arrival can leave a gap before paid classroom work begins.

A different curriculum to get to know

Review the Victorian Curriculum for the year levels you teach and the relevant senior-secondary study designs for subject roles. Ask about assessment, reporting, behaviour support, child-safety induction and mentoring. Allow time to learn the local context, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.

Victorian Department of Education: casual relief teachers · Victorian Government: school term dates · VCAA: Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0

Choose a place that works on a school morning.

Melbourne can be an appealing base, but a workable commute and a realistic budget matter as much as the weekend plans.

  • Compare a few school areas before committing to a long lease. For CRT work, check whether you can reach bookings reliably at short notice.
  • Build a start-up budget for accommodation, a bond, transport, registration, document checks, travel and weeks with little or no work.
  • Consider regional Victoria alongside Melbourne. Ask each employer about housing, relocation support and local transport rather than assuming incentives are included.
  • If a regional visa is part of the plan, check the exact postcode. Skilled-migration regional rules and Working Holiday specified-work rules are different.
  • Keep space in the decision for life outside school: friends, sport, time outdoors and the cost and time involved in visiting home.

Home Affairs: designated regional areas

Find the role before assuming the visa.

Australian schools recruit across government, Catholic and independent sectors. The employment type affects your pay, planning and visa options.

Casual relief teaching

Day-by-day work can suit a flexible stay. Available days and locations vary, and a quoted daily rate is not a guaranteed weekly income. Confirm who employs and pays you, what is included in the rate and whether bookings fit your visa conditions.

Fixed-term and ongoing school roles

A school-employed role may be offered for a defined period or on an ongoing basis. Check the contract dates or continuity, teaching load, salary classification, recognition of Irish experience and school-holiday arrangements. Discuss sponsorship separately from the contract type.

Explore teaching jobs in Victoria

For Victoria, start with the government’s teaching-jobs guidance and the recruitment pages of the school or sector you are targeting. Recruitment agencies can assist with vacancies and CRT bookings. Ausdirect’s role is immigration advice and the migration work agreed with you. A fixed-term or ongoing school-employed role may support sponsorship where the position, employer, proposed employment period and candidate meet the relevant visa and nomination requirements. Sponsorship is not limited to ongoing employment, and a fixed-term contract does not qualify automatically. Ask the school about sponsorship separately from the contract type.

Victorian Government: applying for teaching jobs · Victorian Department of Education: casual relief teachers · Home Affairs: employer-sponsored visa comparison

Your Irish training is the starting point. Your documents do the explaining.

The Teaching Council’s current Republic of Ireland pathways include a four-year undergraduate initial teacher education programme, or a Level 8 degree followed by the two-year Professional Master of Education. Primary and post-primary training are distinct; for post-primary teachers, your degree subjects and teaching specialisms matter.

A BEd, PME or older qualification should be reviewed as a complete package. Neither the qualification title nor Teaching Council registration automatically determines the Australian result. Keep your degree and teaching qualification transcripts, completion evidence and a university statement of supervised school placement together.

Your professional position in Ireland

Teaching Council registration

Evidence of Irish registration and any conditions can help explain your background. It does not transfer automatically into Australian state registration.

Evidence for a migration pathway

AITSL skills assessment

Where your visa pathway requires it, AITSL assesses your nominated school-teaching occupation against its criteria. Relevant ITE, total higher-education study, supervised practice and English evidence matter. A positive assessment does not give permission to teach or grant a visa.

Permission to teach locally

State or territory registration

Apply to the regulator where you plan to teach. Victoria uses VIT; NSW uses NESA. Registration, employer approval and work rights must all fit the role you intend to start.

Qualified in Northern Ireland or elsewhere in the UK?

Use your actual training route and awarding institution, alongside GTCNI or other relevant registration evidence. AITSL treats QTS as professional accreditation, not an academic qualification. Irish citizenship does not turn a UK qualification into a Republic of Ireland qualification.

GTCNI: getting registered · AITSL: advice on United Kingdom qualifications

Explore our UK-qualified teacher guide →

Teaching Council: becoming a primary teacher · Teaching Council: becoming a post-primary teacher · AITSL: skills assessment application FAQs · AITSL: supervised teaching practice · AITSL: Australian teacher registration · AITSL: teacher regulatory authorities · Victorian Government: applying for teaching jobs

Heading to Melbourne? Put VIT early in your plan.

If you trained overseas, VIT requires your qualification package to be pre-assessed before you apply for teacher registration. You can start that qualification step before moving. Prepare the requested academic documents and placement evidence rather than relying on your Teaching Council certificate alone.

VIT generally directs overseas applicants to apply for registration after arriving. Limited applications from overseas are possible within three months of arrival with specified evidence, such as a Victorian school or teaching-agency offer, or evidence that registration is needed for your visa pathway. Check which timing applies to you before promising a start date.

You will also need to satisfy VIT’s identity, suitability and other registration requirements. Overseas criminal-record evidence may be required. Experienced teachers arriving from Ireland should not assume that Irish full registration means immediate full VIT registration.

English evidence depends on the rule being applied.

For AITSL, the study route generally requires four full years of eligible higher-education study in specified English-speaking countries, including the Republic of Ireland, with recognised ITE and its supervised placements completed in those countries. An alternative is the required Academic IELTS evidence. VIT has its own English-competency rules. An Irish passport alone does not automatically satisfy either professional assessment. Visa English rules are a separate check.

AITSL: English language proficiency · VIT: qualifications and prerequisites for new teachers

VIT overseas qualification pre-assessment

VIT guidance for overseas teachers

Find another state’s teacher regulator

VIT: pre-assessment of overseas qualifications · VIT: interstate or overseas teachers

Compare the pay you would actually receive.

Keep casual work beside casual work and salaried roles beside salaried roles. Use the correct sector, classification and effective date. Euro and Australian-dollar figures alone do not tell you which move leaves you better off.

Republic of Ireland: qualified primary casual substitution

Effective 2026-06-01 · EUR per day

Entered teaching on or after 1 January 2011
EUR 227.82; annual-leave accrual EUR 28.16
Entered teaching before 1 January 2011
EUR 234.77; annual-leave accrual EUR 29.02

Annual-leave value is shown separately from the ongoing rate. It accumulates under the applicable arrangements; it should not be presented as extra take-home pay received that day.

Official Circular 0055/2026, Appendix 3, page 8 (hosted by INTO)

Republic of Ireland: qualified post-primary casual substitution

Effective 2026-06-01 · EUR per hour

Entered teaching on or after 1 January 2011
EUR 49.70; annual-leave accrual EUR 6.78
Entered teaching before 1 January 2011
EUR 55.55; annual-leave accrual EUR 7.58

These are hourly rates. Use the paid teaching hours in your actual booking; do not multiply by an assumed full school day to manufacture a daily comparison.

Official Circular 0056/2026, Appendix 3, page 8 (hosted by ASTI)

Australian example: NSW public-school casual teaching

Effective 2026-10-09 · AUD per day

Casual Teacher 1
AUD 480.43
Casual Teacher 2
AUD 538.73
Casual Teacher 3
AUD 599.85

These are NSW public-school rates, not Melbourne rates or Australian averages. NSW describes its casual rates as including a component for sick leave and holiday pay. Your accreditation and recognised experience determine the applicable band; do not assume the highest one.

NSW Department of Education: salary of a teacher · NSW Department of Education: employment types

For a Melbourne offer, ask the school or agency for the current gross daily or hourly rate, employment basis and treatment of superannuation. Check the Victorian Department’s pay guidance alongside the written offer. Government-school, Catholic, independent and agency arrangements can differ.

  • Expected paid days or hours, including quiet weeks and school breaks
  • Base pay, casual loading, holiday-pay treatment and whether superannuation is additional
  • Recognition of prior service and the employer’s written salary classification
  • Tax, pension or superannuation deductions, exchange rates, rent, transport and relocation costs

Victorian Department of Education: salary rates

Irish passport? Plan the first year and the next one.

An eligible Republic of Ireland passport holder can apply for a first Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) at age 18–35 inclusive. The first stay is generally up to 12 months from entry. Teaching is possible only when your registration, employment requirements and visa conditions are satisfied. You cannot include family members in a 417 application or be accompanied by dependent children on this visa.

Your passport matters

The UK exemption from specified work applies to qualifying applications made using a UK passport. It does not extend to an Irish-passport application simply because you trained in the UK, live in Northern Ireland or work as a teacher. Dual citizens should check which arrangements apply to the passport used.

Home Affairs: UK passport arrangements

A second year needs its own plan

For Irish-passport applicants, a second 417 generally requires three months of eligible specified work, and a third generally requires six months. Normal school teaching is not automatically eligible specified work, including in a regional town. Check the industry, location, timing and evidence before relying on a job to qualify.

Home Affairs: specified subclass 417 work

The employer limit is a separate rule

The usual six-month limit with one employer has exceptions and a permission process. Home Affairs includes state and territory schools at different addresses in its different-locations guidance, provided work at any one location does not exceed six months. Check your own employment structure and conditions; an exception to that limit does not make teaching eligible specified work.

Home Affairs: six-month work limitation

Do not treat a Working Holiday visa as an automatic three-year teaching visa. If you want to stay longer, review options while you still have time to gather evidence and make an informed choice.

Home Affairs: first Working Holiday visa 417 · Victorian Government: applying for teaching jobs

Read the Working Holiday guide →

There is more than one way to plan a teaching move.

The relevant options depend on your occupation, qualifications, experience, age, passport, location and any employer support. A school’s willingness to hire you does not settle the migration requirements.

PATHWAY 1

Working Holiday

Eligible Republic of Ireland passport holders aged 18–35 may consider subclass 417. Plan specified-work requirements for any later visa and check employer work limits and teacher registration.

Explore this visa pathway →

PATHWAY 2

Employer sponsorship

Plan around a school role or an eligible training arrangement. These options use different sponsorship, nomination and visa requirements; choose the framework that fits the position and your circumstances.

482 · Skills in Demand

For an eligible teaching role with an approved sponsoring employer. The position, salary, experience and registration requirements need to align.

Explore this visa pathway →

407 · Structured training

Eligible graduate or early-career teachers may work in a paid school-based role with genuine, tailored occupational training. A stay of up to two years may be available, subject to the training category, supervision, registration, approved Temporary Activities Sponsorship and nomination where required.

Explore this visa pathway →

186 · Employer-nominated permanent residence

A permanent pathway with stream-specific employer nomination and personal criteria. Holding a temporary visa does not automatically lead to permanent residence.

Explore this visa pathway →

494 · Regional employer-sponsored work

A provisional pathway for eligible roles in designated regional areas. Assess the role, employer and teacher together; any later permanent pathway has its own requirements.

Explore this visa pathway →

PATHWAY 3

Skilled migration

For teachers exploring independent, state-nominated or regional pathways, including 189, 190 and 491. Check occupation, skills assessment, points and invitation requirements; meeting minimum points does not guarantee an invitation.

Explore this visa pathway →

This is a starting map, not a prediction of eligibility or an invitation. Check the current occupation rules and requirements for the exact pathway before committing to a job, move or application.

Get these six things moving before you book the one-way flight.

  1. Define the teaching move

    Choose your preferred state, primary or post-primary focus, subjects, employment type and realistic arrival window. Include your partner or family’s needs if relevant.

  2. Request your academic evidence

    Obtain award and completion documents plus complete transcripts for your degree and ITE. Ask your university for a signed placement statement showing duration, student age range and school setting.

  3. Keep professional and work records ready

    Gather Teaching Council or other registration evidence, any conditions, references and service records. Ask prospective employers what they need to assess prior experience and salary placement.

  4. Check the two assessment tracks

    Work out whether your migration pathway needs an AITSL assessment and which regulator handles permission to teach. For Victoria, build in VIT qualification pre-assessment.

  5. Match the visa to the offer and timeline

    Review work rights, employer limits, any training or sponsorship requirements and the next step if the initial stay is temporary. Confirm approval timing before committing to a start date.

  6. Budget for the gap before the first payslip

    Allow for document and registration costs, travel, accommodation, transport and unbooked days. Confirm the school calendar and keep a reserve rather than assuming immediate full-time CRT work.

AITSL: supervised teaching practice · VIT: pre-assessment of overseas qualifications · Victorian Government: applying for teaching jobs · Home Affairs: first Working Holiday visa 417 · Home Affairs: employer-sponsored visa comparison

Bring the teaching plan. We can help with the migration questions.

Ausdirect can help you understand the visa pathways worth investigating, organise the migration evidence and coordinate the immigration steps with your wider teaching plan. If a school is considering sponsorship or structured training, the employer requirements need to be reviewed alongside yours.

Schools and recruitment agencies handle vacancies and appointments. Teacher regulators decide registration outcomes. Ausdirect provides immigration advice and application assistance within the agreed scope; it cannot guarantee a job, registration, a visa or permanent residence.

  • A review of your goals, training route and relevant experience
  • A clear explanation of suitable visa options and material limitations
  • Help identifying the migration documents and decisions needed next
  • Employer-side immigration support where it is part of the agreed work

Tell us where you qualified, what you teach and whether you have a preferred state or an employer offer.

Book Consultation

Practical questions, clear next steps.

Can I teach in Australia with an Irish PME?

A PME can form part of the evidence, together with your undergraduate degree and supervised placement records. The relevant regulator and, where needed, AITSL assess the full qualification package. Acceptance is not automatic from the qualification title.

Teaching Council: becoming a post-primary teacher · AITSL: skills assessment application FAQs · VIT: pre-assessment of overseas qualifications

Does Teaching Council registration transfer to VIT?

There is no automatic transfer from Ireland. Overseas-trained teachers follow VIT’s qualification pre-assessment and registration process. Irish professional registration can be supporting evidence, but it is a different approval.

VIT: pre-assessment of overseas qualifications · VIT: interstate or overseas teachers

Do I need AITSL before I can apply for teaching jobs?

AITSL is a migration skills assessor, not the state teaching regulator. Whether you need an AITSL assessment depends on the visa pathway. The registration and employer requirements for a job must be checked separately.

AITSL: Australian teacher registration · Victorian Government: applying for teaching jobs

Will I need an English test if I am Irish?

Not necessarily, but check the evidence rules. AITSL and VIT assess the relevant study history and their own English criteria. Citizenship or an Irish passport alone is not a professional-assessment exemption. The visa may apply different rules.

AITSL: English language proficiency · VIT: qualifications and prerequisites for new teachers

Does teaching count towards the 88 days for another Working Holiday visa?

Ordinary school teaching is not automatically eligible specified work. A regional postcode alone is not enough. Confirm that the actual duties, industry, location and dates meet Home Affairs’ requirements before relying on the work.

Home Affairs: specified subclass 417 work

I have Irish and British passports. Which rules apply?

Your qualifications are assessed on where and how you trained. Working Holiday rules depend on the relevant citizenship and passport requirements, including the passport used to apply. Check the UK-passport arrangements separately rather than assuming the Irish rules apply to both.

Home Affairs: UK passport arrangements · AITSL: skills assessment application FAQs

Will my Irish teaching experience increase my Australian pay?

Ask the employer to assess it and confirm your classification in writing. Experience recognition and pay structures vary by employer, sector and state. A day-rate example does not establish the rate you will personally receive.

NSW Department of Education: salary of a teacher · Victorian Department of Education: salary rates

Can a school sponsor a newly qualified teacher?

Possibly, but the pathway must fit the teacher and the proposed activity. The 482 Core Skills stream includes a relevant-experience requirement. A 407 programme may suit eligible structured training, with a proper plan, supervision and approved sponsorship and nomination. Neither option applies automatically to every graduate or vacancy.

Home Affairs: Skills in Demand 482, Core Skills stream · Home Affairs: Training visa 407

Can Ausdirect find me a teaching job?

Ausdirect’s role is immigration advice and agreed migration assistance. Contact schools, education departments and recruitment agencies for vacancies. If an employer is interested, Ausdirect can help review the immigration side within the agreed scope.

Keep your plan current.

General information checked 16 October 2026. Pay schedules, registration requirements, visa rules and programme availability can change. Individual eligibility and outcomes depend on the evidence and the rules applying to your application.

Official sources

Review note: this draft awaits owner and qualified professional approval for replacement of the main website.

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