For Australian operators
You have run out of people to interview.
You do not need convincing that a qualified Early Childhood Teacher matters. You need one who will answer the phone.
The terms, up front
Flat fee per placement. Around 8 to 9% of a first-year ECT salary.
Invoicing starts when the teacher is in your building, and stops if they leave.
Replacement guarantee, at no further cost to you.
The full schedule, including the first-placement terms, is set out below.
The domestic pool is picked over.
Rooms still need to open. Ratios still need to be met. Families still expect consistency. The work does not pause because recruitment is difficult.
When an ECT role sits on Seek for six weeks, the advert is rarely the reason. Every centre within twenty kilometres is competing for the same handful of qualified people, and that pool has been picked over for two years.
TeachPath recruits from a country with a surplus.
January 2024
The pathway changed, and most of the market has not adjusted.
Before January 2024, a UK teacher on a Working Holiday Visa was capped at six months with one employer. Six months of training somebody who then legally had to leave is why most operators sensibly ignored them.
Since January 2024, childcare work has been exempt from that cap.
The same teacher can now stay with you for twelve months, renew for a second year, and move into a longer-term sponsored pathway from there if you want to keep them. If you do sponsor them at that point, TeachPath charges nothing for the transition.
Why UK-trained teachers
They suit some centres and not others.
Where they fit, they fill a role that has been open for months. They typically bring:
What they bring
- Strong spoken and written English
- Safeguarding familiarity from a heavily regulated system
- Structured literacy and phonics experience
- Practised parent communication
- Experience under high-accountability inspection regimes
- An intention to build a life in Australia rather than travel through it
Who they are
- Early Years specialists. PGCE Early Childhood or B.Ed Early Childhood with QTS. The closest direct match to an Australian ECT role.
- Primary-trained with an EYFS specialism. QTS with substantial Reception or nursery experience, and usually more years in the job.
- Newly qualified teachers. First two years, Early Years trained, and typically the fastest to move.
Every candidate’s qualification is checked for ACECQA equivalence before an introduction is made. Candidate summaries are shared anonymously first; names and full CVs are released only with the candidate’s consent.
What it costs
Nothing is payable until the teacher is in your building.
Around 8 to 9% of a first-year ECT salary, against a market rate of 15 to 25%.
AUD $2,100 on the teacher’s first day, then AUD $400 a month for eleven months.
You are never invoiced for somebody who is not in your building.
If a placed teacher leaves inside 180 days, we source a replacement at no further cost.
Nothing at all is payable until the teacher physically starts work. That gives you a way to test this without committing to a supplier relationship.
Honest answers
The questions operators actually ask.
What if they resign three months in?
You will have paid AUD $2,100 plus two monthly instalments. The remaining instalments stop, and the 180-day guarantee means we replace them at no further cost.
The structure exists because that risk sits with you, and it should sit with us.
We could sponsor a 482 ourselves for less than that.
Possibly, and we will not argue with your own cost figures. A 482 comparison assumes a suitable candidate already exists and wants the job. The open vacancy is the evidence that one does not.
Finding the person is the part TeachPath does. If you want to sponsor them yourself after twelve months, we charge nothing for that transition.
Who arranges and pays for the visa?
The teacher does. The 417 Working Holiday Visa is applied for online, costs around AUD $510, and is typically approved within one to seven days.
We guide candidates through the standard process using official government resources. We are not a migration agent and we do not provide immigration advice.
How do I know they are any good?
Before an introduction we verify the qualification and its ACECQA equivalence, check the candidate against the DfE prohibition register, and run a recorded screening call covering Early Years preference, availability and commitment.
Candidates who do not fit are screened out before they reach you.
How quickly can someone actually start?
Two different answers, and you should know which one applies before you interview. A teacher already free to travel can be with you in about four weeks, because the visa is the fast part.
A teacher currently employed in a UK school works a term's notice, so you are planning for the next intake. We tell you which you are looking at up front.
Why are you cheaper than everyone else?
We place one role type on one route. No branch network, no consultant commissions, no national advertising. The fee reflects our overheads and says nothing about the candidate.
The process
Six steps, and you control every one of them.
A short staffing conversation
Fifteen minutes on what you are filling, where, the age group, salary range and timing, and whether a UK-trained candidate is realistically suitable.
Anonymised candidate summaries
If there is a fit, you see profiles without names.
Interview
A Zoom interview between your centre and the candidate.
Offer
Made by you, directly to the candidate. We step out at that point.
Onboarding
We support the standard relocation and onboarding process using official resources and keep the candidate moving.
Start date
The teacher arrives and begins. On a first placement, nothing is payable until this point.
Who this is for
- Long day care centres with open ECT roles
- Multi-site operators carrying recurring vacancies
- Centres in Sydney or Melbourne
- Operators who want to stop competing for the same local shortlist
Who it is not for
It is probably not right for you if you only hire locally, or if you cannot consider a candidate on a Working Holiday Visa. We would rather say that now than waste your fifteen minutes.
Tell us what you are trying to fill.
No obligation, and we will tell you honestly if we do not think we can help.
Or email william@teachpath.co.uk directly.
You are a recruitment agency?We work on a split-fee basis with agencies who have operator relationships and no international pipeline of their own.
See how that works