Learning Josh

Over the last couple of days, the financial situation in the US has been the top story and people involved with the stock markets are concerned and on their toes. CNBC personality and money expect, Suze Orman has her own show and offers tips and advice to viewers on how to effectively use their money. If you have foxtel, watch her show, she is full of wisdom!

Now, I don’t have shares, I really don’t have a credit card, my HECS debt is increasing and I don’t have any investments. I am definitely not a financial expert (yet), but I will not be ashamed to say that I know how to budget, I know how to save and I know how to be generous.

With money being a very important factor of our lives, I think teachers need to introduce the concept of saving money and even investing. I know teachers are doing all sorts of things such as reward systems that get students used to earning, saving and spending. But why should we teach the concept of investing? Because if kids can learn that money can work for them and they make sound decisions with their finances, they can set up a secure financial future for themselves, their families and even others.

People in all professions (especially teachers) complain about their pay because they have a family to feed, mortgage to pay off, bills, taxes etc etc. Fair enough, but imagine if they learnt how to save money, invest wisely and learn how to be generous with their money when they were in school – do you think the way they handle their finances now would be different?

But what does being generous got to do with it? I have learnt with my experiences, that If i give a portion of my pay to a charity or organisation, that I obtain a different mindset towards my finances. I suddenly feel as if I don’t need to hoard all of my money but I have control over it! Not only do you make a difference but I believe the benefits you get back are more than rewarding. And not once have I ever gone bankrupt.

So, the question is, how can I educate myself and my students on how to effectively deal with money? What strategies can I use in the classroom to promote earning, saving and investing?

Well, I’ve applied for it and we have to wait and see if I get it. Every year, the WA education department offers ‘final year teaching scholarships’ to student teachers embarking upon their final year of uni or doing a Dip Ed. This year, they are offering up to $60k in scholarship money, but that’s only if you sign up for a 4 YEAR contract with the department and work in hard to staff or rural areas. I thought 4 years was a bit too long (it’s half a decade), so stuck with 2 years where I would get half that amount but more freedom come 2012.

I must say, the department is offering quite a generous amount this year to primary teaching students compared to lastyear (they only got around $6 000 to $20 000). But I reckon this has to be one of the most generous scholarship offers in the country. It is taxable, so I guess I have to consider that too.

So why do they do it? I think it’s because they want to attact teachers to hard to staff or rural areas in WA. The media has been saying that there is such a big teaching shortage, but what they aren’t saying, is that there isn’t that much of a teaching shortage in the city. It’s in areas such as the pilbara, goldfields and the wheatbelt towns that need them the most.  In my opinion, I think the teaching shortage will be so big that it will be easier for most graduates for find a job in the city.

The trouble with working in mining towns like Port Hedland or Kalgoorlie, is that yes the liklihood of finding a teaching post there is very high, but that’s the problem - It’s too easy. You are actually one of the more lower income earners in the town if you compare yourself to a maintenance worker for BHP who can get $150k/year.

Personally, when I take up that scholarship and if I agree myself to work in a mining town like Newman, I don’t see myself wanting to work on the mines. It’s not really about the money, but I know that if I do work on the mines, I just won’t enjoy it. It’s not me.

So, I think the real issues are – how do we get teaching back to the status where the best of the best were applying for teaching degrees? And most of all, how do we retain them?  It seems like the government is luring student teachers like me with financial incentives to work in the country.

I must say part of the reason why I am choosing the scholarship is because of the money, but it’s not the only reason. It’s because I want to see what it’s like to teach and live in a rural area. It is definately not in my comfort zone, as I know I will have to change parts of my lifestyle to suit the rural lifestyle - Learn how to cook, how to change a tyre, how to look after a car, play some team sport, how to deal with town gossip, etc (I guess this also applies in the city too). But whenever I go out of my comfort zone, I embark into new territory – and that’s what makes life exciting!