Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:44 pm Post subject:

Empire has gone and London has deteriorated into a Third World craphole.
There must be simlarities with Madrid after Spain lost its Empire and when Portugal lost Brazil.

France seems to be coping better, but I am not sure I would want to live in Paris on a low salary.

ChrisLV · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 1

Hi Dana,

I've worked at 3 UK universities within the last 10 years. My experience is:

A) For someone with the preferred quals (CELTA+DELTA+MA + previous uni teaching experience), getting a job on the summer presessionals is easy. The further away you get from the preferred qualifications, the harder it gets. In terms of pay, 700 per week for 4-12 weeks total is probably about average for London on these courses (as long as you're going with genuine unis and not private TEFL organisations running the presessional for a uni, e.g. ASPECT/INTO/KAPLAN).

B) Outside the presessionals, there's plenty of part-time work available, typically paying 40-50 quid per hour, but this work can be harder to come by if you haven't previously done a presessional for the uni in question (not impossible, just harder), and it's often not enough to live comfortably on.

C) Full-time contracts (with pay of 33-38K probably being typical for London) are not horribly infrequent but they tend to go to people who've been working part-time for the uni for a year or two, or who have at least done a presessional for the uni in question.

So, pretty much like Australia from what you describe.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of living in many places in the UK, but I think London's a fantastic city. I think whether or not you'll like it comes down to personality.