Dealing with DUO (and UNISA)

Aweh, guys!

So, before we even thought about leaving South Africa, I got it into my head that I wanted to become a primary school teacher. This was also quite a painstaking process. I had to enrol with UNISA (the University of South Africa – they strictly do correspondence courses) for the PGCE – Postgraduate Certificate in Education for Foundation Phase - and because things are never easy, I had to do two years to catch up on prerequisites for Psychology and an additional African language (I chose Afrikaans).

Once I had finally done my 10-week practical, submitted my portfolio, kept up to date with assignments, written exams and met my financial obligation I finally qualified through UNISA. I only got confirmation a week before we left for the Netherlands which made things tricky. UNISA is not the most hands on of institutions which makes correspondence difficult. I couldn’t find out whether or not my certificate had shipped (apparently it was supposed to be done the day we had received our certificates in abstentia) and I had to get in touch with “my guy” (thanks Steven Shabangu) who helped me track it down.

Luckily my awesome sister, Caitlynne, was able to go to the post office on my behalf. The first time I had been given an incomplete tracking number so once that was sorted, she went back again and was able to collect it. She also has some contacts in shipping, and I received it a few days later with a lovely letter of support.

Now to register with DUO (Dients Uitvoering Onderwijs). In order to teach, my qualification would need to be recognised by the Dutch government and therefore it needed to be converted. Luckily this was all done online on their website. I filled in their online form, submitted my documents including my degrees, academic records, proof of residence and CV and then the wait began.

DUO will not send any confirmation by email so it’s all a waiting game with the post. The first letter I received, about two weeks later, requested proof that I was an English speaker even though all my correspondence was in English and for the fact that I was an English teacher for five years. I sent through my TEFL certificate and a quick English proficiency score from Education First.

Then I waited another two weeks before I received another letter requesting a letter of proof sent by UNISA to confirm that I did, in fact, study there with my full name, date of birth, degree title and when my studies were completed. I groaned inwardly knowing that UNISA would be a tricky fish and the fact they only gave me six weeks to get this done…

Luckily, “my guy” Steven stepped up to the plate and had me sorted in about a week or so. And about two weeks later, I received my “verklaring” in the post. I am finally certified to teach in the Netherlands!

Now the job hunt begins…