Teaching elsewhere

Ok Gonzo, a question for YOU...

from a dabble with the Googles, it seems there's a teacher shortage on the horizon in Oz. Some large percentage of teachers in Oz, like half of them or something, are just a few years shy of 55, an age where if they have the right super fund, they'll make more money if they formally retire (and maybe do some casual work to keep their hand in, but possibly not face-to-face teaching). Apparently too in surveys they say their intention is exactly that. So....

would any of us get hired in their place? (And would we have to work in a rural school?) What qualifications would be needed? (And would Malaysia be any different?)





addendum to becster: my hand's up too for hearing about the PGCE, Miss.

Any decent university will do an online PGCE. Try the internet.
And my suggestion to the OP earlier regarding Malaysia as an option was completely ignored: I feel that my input here is a waste of time.

Sorry I didn't ignore it on purpose I just don't log in here much at the moment and only replied to the most immediate people on the thread

I've not really looked into south asia at all, for some reason it's never appealed to me, I know nothing about Malaysia to be fair...

Ahh, guys, be very careful here. The key is the "i"= PGCEi. This is NOT end with teaching licences of any sort. I am doing mine through the University of Nottingham and it's held in increasingly high regard- you CAN get work in international schools (like here in SE Asia), and it's currently in the process of IB accrediation (possibly, but a couple of years off I found out talking to the course leader) but you need QTS or equivalent in your home country. They really emphasise this on the course so you know what you're getting into.

They have intakes around the world several times a year. One of my colleagues started in October and got his recommendation for it. You MUST attend a 4 day induction (details on the website) somewhere in the world- my colleague's was in Shanghai, I missed this one, so the one I went to in January was in Singapore. Really great 4 days getting to know your classmates and the nitty gritty of the course over the next year.

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/prospective/pgcei/pgcei-introduction.aspx

So, that looks a lot like a course of study an institution might like you to get on their dime (hahahahah! I crack myself up) assuming they were into professional development of their staff. What was the attraction of this one for you, Becster? Were there other courses that might have fit a similar bill? Why this one?


(Sorry if too many questions. The process of choosing to invest in some qualification or other is horrible, and tips about how other people make their choices would be great.)

That scares me as well, I'm assuming that getting a qualification will take a year or two and a lot of money but which does what etc?

Admittedly I've never done any serious research into this and that would help....

Nice that the PGCEi can be applied towards an MA.
I'm currently working on my MEd. 
When I finish, I will probably start a second masters.  However, I may look for a hybrid program that would allow me to start an EdD, PHD or DMA on-line and later complete any residency requirements on location.

So just taking Nottingham's offerings as an example, there's PGCE and PGCEi. The PGCE is the real deal, full time, one year, and you get placed in classrooms as a teacher. Once done, you're qualified as a teacher (for, I presume, secondary school). The PGCEi by contrast is available online and part time, needs you to have access on your own to classrooms of students (ie probably already be employed as a teacher), and doesn't formally qualify you as a teacher. The PGCEi is an enrichment course.

What else is out there, I wonder. I'm kind of old to be getting new qualifications but I think becoming a subject teacher for high school could be worthwhile. Tertiary teaching needs formally fewer teaching qualifications but in principle if you're teaching in a university, you're supposed to be interested in academic research too. (I know it's in my contracts that they'd like it if I did papers and published them under the school's name.) And I think, given my relative late entry into teaching subjects other than English, then teaching at an introductory, or at least not the academically snooty, level could be a good fit. But it looks like teaching qualifications are required. Ads for positions teaching my preferred subjects, Business Studies (yay) and Economics (boo), seem to ask for PGCE and 2-3 years experience teaching secondary.

What's an old yet not retired man to do?!

Ads for positions teaching my preferred subjects, Business Studies (yay) and Economics (boo), seem to ask for PGCE and 2-3 years experience teaching secondary.

What's an old yet not retired man to do?!

Why (boo) Economics? I love economics. Regardless, in another topic I believe you said you're teaching econ and or other business courses now? It's possible that in a year or two that might gain you access to business teaching at an international school, with or without a PGCE, though as you know the PGCE positions naturally pay more.

So far the international schools I know of require your presence 8-4 (more or less) Monday through Friday. That does not bother me but may not suit others.

Anyway, I certainly wish you good luck with your goals.
 

I am endeavoring to love Econ, as it and Biz Studies tend to appear in the same job ads, one teacher to teach both. But it's not love at first sight like it was with, say, marketing or competitive dynamics. I've actually only just finished teaching it for the first time, last semester. It'll grow on me, I'm sure.

I did try out for a job teaching both about eight months ago. It was with a company that taught A Level syllabus to high school students bound for UK universities. For what it's worth, the HR person regretted that my experience was only with university students.

:shrug:

I just took a certification test to qualify me to teach high school English (not ESL, but literature, composition, rhetoric ... what we took in high school). If I passed the test, I have 12 weeks of student teaching to do and then I'll be a qualified to teach in American high schools and international schools all over the world.

I am doing my certification through iTeach Texas. They have certification programs for several states and the student teaching portion of the program can be completed overseas. For the Americans among us it is something worth looking into. It is very reasonably priced as well, totally doable even on a teacher's salary. http://www.iteachus.com/

TLD - I've also been looking into this program for a little while now. I still want to pursue my MA in Linguistics the year after next, but this program seems to fit the bill better in terms of both cost, flexibility and perhaps employ-ability [is that a word?].

What encouraged you to choose this as opposed to other online options?

I am endeavoring to love Econ, as it and Biz Studies tend to appear in the same job ads, one teacher to teach both. But it's not love at first sight like it was with, say, marketing or competitive dynamics. I've actually only just finished teaching it for the first time, last semester. It'll grow on me, I'm sure.

I did try out for a job teaching both about eight months ago. It was with a company that taught A Level syllabus to high school students bound for UK universities. For what it's worth, the HR person regretted that my experience was only with university students.

:shrug:

I guess we're opposites. I'm completely uninterested in marketing.
I like the IB approach; the AP apparently only tests economics in China. Next year (Sept.) I will use an IB textbook to teach an 'overview of business' class. I agree that the high schools want HS experience but I don't know why.

Do you have a business background? Keep trying, I think you'll get lucky.

TLD, thanks for the Texas iTeach info. Quite interesting.

TLD - I've also been looking into this program for a little while now. I still want to pursue my MA in Linguistics the year after next, but this program seems to fit the bill better in terms of both cost, flexibility and perhaps employ-ability [is that a word?].

What encouraged you to choose this as opposed to other online options?

Well, Texas is where we'll ultimately end up living when we go back. I recently bought a house there and most of my family is there, so I wanted a program that would work in Texas. This program is also, like I mentioned before, affordable and it will allow you to do the student teaching portion overseas as well. When I first started looking into getting my teaching certification a few years ago it was pretty much a given that I'd have to go back to the States to do that part, but with this program there's a lot of flexibility.

So far I don't really have any real issues with it. A couple of the instructors are kind of nitpicky (on my very first assignment I was graded down for capitalizing the names of courses, like History and English, which I suppose isn't done ...?) and I can't seem to get the highest mark on my subjectively graded assignments, which sort of bugs me as I'm used to being a "straight A" type student but that's kind of a lame complaint since it doesn't really affect my overall performance on the course.

One of the good things about getting teacher certification in Texas is the ability to add certificates by test only.  At least that's what I did some years back.

Right, if you get your initial certification you can add more subjects by taking the TExES tests for that subject.

I took the English language arts and reading test for grades 7-12 a few weeks ago but I do plan on eventually also taking the test to certify in history grades 7-12.