Teaching Down Under Just like the United States, all states in Australia have their own requirements and procedures to certify or register as a teacher (Australia Teachers, n.d.). In general to register as a teacher one but receive an approved teacher degree or a satisfactory completion of a primary or secondary education of at least 4 full years or part-time of equivalent duration which includes practical student teaching at a school (Teachers Registration Board, 2013). The practical must last a minimum of 45 days. Australian teachers are not perceived to have high social status. Teachers learn at universities. Universities and colleges hold different levels of higher education. Colleges hold higher standards than universities. Nurses and doctors learn at colleges. Australia does not see it fit for teachers to have the highest level of education. An interesting fact, schools postponed World Teachers Day until October 31 for school holidays (Wiltshire, 2008). Teachers are not regarded highly in society. There are, however, multiple job opportunities for teachers in Australia. Just this week, there are 252 new job openings (Australia Teachers, 2013). An estimated class size for Australian schools is 18 students (Rogers, 2012). The school year is about 200 days, 20 more than the United States and 40 less than Japan and Germany. Secondary education teachers spend about 600 hours per year teaching, where as the United States, who spend the most time, teach approximately 1,100 hours per year (Rampell, 2009). Australia received a C on the global report card. Year 4 students ranked 27th in reading. The United States ranked 6th and Hong Kong was ranked number 1 (Dodd & Mather, 2012). In math Australia ranked 18th and 25th in sciences.

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