Job Discussion Forums

Sheila W · Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Guatemala

Does anyone have any experience doing pre-sesional teaching in the UK? Any tips would be useful. How easy/difficult is it to get these jobs? Where are the best places? etc.

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

Anything else?

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

Sheila, don't worry about Thrifty; he's the resident depressive and finds it impossible to be otherwise.

I think pre-sessional work is widespread with any uni with a big overseas intake doing them. I think they're quite difficult to get (but I didn't have much experience when I tried) as they are only short term and as they are fairly lucrative in ESL terms tend to get tied up by locals in situ and those with appropriate and previous contacts. Have a look in The Guardian sit vacs and Times Ed Sup for possibilities. Bit late for this year, I would have thought.

Hopefully the ever helpful Will will contribute. YOO HOO WILL!

Londonlover · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 90 Location: London

Hi Sheila,

Pre-sessional courses are usually summer courses which last between 4 and 8 weeks on average- thus by their very nature they only offer temporary employment opportunities (terminating in September.) However, the pay is good (around �35 an hour in London) and once you get your foot in the door, sometimes other work can ensue in the future.
The are demanding courses to teach, pretty intensive with usually a lot of marking and they focus on EAP stuff such as essay writing skills, listening and note-taking and giving presentations.

Quite a few universities will advertise for summer Pre-sessional staff -from late Feb/early March onwards. Keep an eye on the website www.jobs.ac.uk and in the British educational press (Guardian/TES.)
You will need to possess the right to work in the U.K and have a Diploma in TEFL or Masters TESOL/Applied linguistics. (Some unis may accept you if these qualifications are 'in progress') You will see universities advertising into May and June too. The jobs are quite competitive and once secured you have to accept that you're not going to have a summer!

Hope this information helps. Good luck.

Russell Hadd · Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 181

There usually plenty of adverts for pre-sessional work. However, the worrying development for universities to contract the courses out to language schools means that wages are not likely to rise but culd get depressed.