Primary School Teacher
What the work is
Teaches a range of subjects within a prescribed curriculum to primary school students, and promotes students' social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Delivers differentiated learning programs in literacy, numeracy, the humanities, arts, science, technology and physical education to primary school students
- Guides discussions and supervises students' work in class
- Employs effective classroom management skills to maintain a safe, supportive and positive learning environment
- Prepares, administers and reviews assessment tasks to evaluate students' progress
- Maintains records of students' progress
- Discusses students' progress with parents and students, and prepares written reports on a regular basis
- Participates in staff meetings, educational conferences and workshops
- Contributes to the development of curriculum programs and resources
- Performs extra-curricular tasks, such as assisting with sport, concerts, excursions and special interest programs
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a Year 4 classroom in a public primary school, with a shared staffroom and a noisy playground. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A child who said they hated reading asks if they can borrow the book to finish at home
- A tricky maths idea clicks for the whole class at the same moment
- A former student waves at you in the supermarket, years later, and tells you what they do now
Hard days
- Wet lunch hour, thirty restless children and an assembly you forgot to prepare for
- A parent emails at night upset about a mark, and you want to reply well in the morning
- Marking and planning at the kitchen table while everyone else is relaxing
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 251231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.