Immigrant teachers in Australia

One of the features of contemporary society is the increasing global mobility of professionals. Australia is a major immigration nation with an increasing emphasis on selecting skilled and professional applicants. While immigrant teachers have been an important component of skilled and professional immigration into Australia over past decades, there is no comprehensive contemporary national study of the experiences of immigrant teachers in Australia. This article aims to fill this gap. It draws on quantitative and qualitative research with immigrant teachers in NSW, SA and WA to provide insights into the contemporary immigration experience of immigrant teachers. The article explores a number of stages in the immigrant teacher experience: their decision to move to Australia; their experience with Australian Education Departments in getting qualifications recognised their experiences as teachers in the classroom and in their lives in their new Australian community.