Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Career change : how to get into teaching? (without going back to school)
Having spent the past ten+ years facing a computer screen I have decided to dedicate the rest of my working life to people. Nice thought, but how do I get about it?
I'm in my late forties, have changed directions a few times, needless to say that I have more skills than qualifications and that I do not have a proven experience of working in my new chosen field. As a qualification I have what I think is an equivalent to a foreign BSc, but I couldn't even tell if this counts as a degree. I have taught skills to people along the way through my different jobs, but this doesn't exactly make it to my CV. Finally, I only want a part-time occupation once I'm in, which I guess rules out a lot of options. And, no, I am not a parent, forget about mum jobs. The only positive is that I have been doing some voluntary work with kids since earlier this year.
I thought of becoming a teaching assistant, someone else said I could become a mentor, either way I know I'd be good at it (I would!) but... this is such a maze! I don't know the education system over here, but can't face going back to school for a year or more to study. Can I start somewhere and get training along the way?
Does anyone here know about the teaching world and could give me some advice?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
-
As I understand it, NARIC is empowered to issue an official document attesting to which UK qualification a foreign academic qualification is the equivalent of. So far as EU qualifications are concerned, the UK is required to have such an official body precisely to ensure that the EU freedom to work can be effective despite differences in academic qualifications within the EU. My former wife was able quite easily to obtain a document saying that her Bulgarian qualification was equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree. I don't see why this should be a free service and, so far as I recall, the fee was simply an administrative charge related to the cost of providing the service. Moreover, the result is a document having an unambiguous official standing.
-
Permalink Reply by Martina Dervis on
-
A document like this might indeed be a good thing to have to prove the value of a qualification to an employer. Whether or not it is really that unambigious, is another matter, especially if the qualification is quite old and if it is below the level of a BA/BSc. I've moved between countries more than once, and I've been through the same process in France, Germany and England, and unfortunately it is hardly ever straightforward. But it all depends on how accurate you want it to be -- in my case it was all about the question whether or not my degree was the equivalent of a BA with or withoout honours which is something that maybe a university is much more interested in than a potential employer...
-
-
In terms of options of getting into teaching, the GTP (Graduate Teacher Placement) allows you to go straight into a school, to spend a year working, observing and teaching and gaining a teaching qualification along the way without the university-based study of a PGCE.
-
-
But presumably this only works if one has the equivalent of a UK degree, or am I missing something? A DEUG is roughly equivalent to two years of undergraduate study here, so it would be a foundation degree or diploma.
-
Permalink Reply by Isabelle on
-
But is a foundation degree still a degree?
And can't the following 20+ years of professional experience in various fields account for the 'missing' third year of study?
I also followed a couple of one-year course some time after my DEUG (in other unrelated areas) – though one was part-time and the other remains officially unqualified because I never completed my end-of-year work placement (however got plenty of professional experience since). Would any of these count?
-
-
It all depends on what you want to do and how you explain it. If, for example you wanted to do a postgraduate course but you don't have the right qualifications, you might still be considered (although this would require faculty approval, so is more complicated) if you can somehow convince the people involved that you are up to it. (And professional experience does count). There used to be various 'top-up' routes for adults but many have disappeared recently because the funding has been cut. If you were considering topping up your foundation degree one place that might still offer suitable routes is Birkbeck. (Or if they don't they might know where else you could look). Did you get a qualification for your post-DEUG part-time course?
-
-
Frankly I can't remember. I was working as a (unqualified) graphic designer in London and thought I ought to learn some basics, so I enrolled on a part-time course, the exact name of which I forgot but could possibly dig out. It was brilliant and I certainly attended it right until the end, so I possibly got some academic credit for it – could one day a week for one year mean a qualification?
-
-
What exactly would you like to teach? I am wondering whether there might be quick routes into language teaching for young children (don't know whether you fancy that). If French is your mother tongue, then you might not need a degree in French to get on to one of the fast-track routes. I have no idea how this works these days because it's a long time since I looked into this... (I did teacher training in Germany and worked as a language assistant in a French lycée for a year. That was before I had even finished my degree. As far as I can remember, it would have been possible to get a placement for becoming a German teacher in England, despite the fact that my degree is in French rather than in German. When it comes to language teaching, I guess your mother tongue does count for something!)
-
-
Frankly... I would hate to teach French!
I have helped some kids along the way with their French homework, but was appalled by the lack of basics they showed after a year or two of learning French. They were being pushed too far too quick (for the sake of a curriculum), resulting in not learning anything, losing interest and wasting their time. Even when they had some personal genuine motivation – which wasn't their hopeful parents.
I guess I'd rather teach maths or art. Though I'm not really bothered – ha, no, I couldn't teach history! What I'd really like to get initially is experience of being around children in a learning environment, so the subject doesn't matter (perhaps it's something I would develop afterwards).
-
-
Dear Neil Armstrong,
I'm thinking vaguely about a part-time job in rocket science or being an astronaut or something. I wonder if you or anyone out there still has NASA contacts. I read a Ladybird book on Rockets back in the 1960s. But I could only do mornings three days a week and, maybe, Thursdays between 2.00 and 4.30pm.
Yours,
OAE
ps. Sorry, someone just said you were dead. Is it true?
-
-
Dear OAE,
There might be a part time job in the analysis of the tensile stresses induced in fuel injector bolts due to thermal influences on re-entry to athmosphere. We might have someone to give you guidance for first couple of weeks.
You are much too grumpy to be an astronaut though.
Regards,
Neil.
(Not dead...In rest mode).
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
