Job Discussion Forums

[austeacher]

Have you been confused by others about the need to study for a Cert IV TAA? I have, simply because they want you to study for something you already have or know of. A Cert IV TAA is for trainers who do not have a University or Teaching background. But a few years ago it was decided by all and sundry who are in training that you must have a Cert IV to work for their organisation. The Cert IV in TAA is not worth the paper on which you have been conferred the qualification; you are repeating ad verbatim everything you were taught in your Grad Dip.

The gravy train is a virus. Cert IV is merely an assessment tool by which you gauge a learners progress in formative study and assessment. What a trained teacher will have studied for at University level, in teaching primary, secondary or any other Graduate Diploma will be covered already in their course of study at academic level. But when money talks you have no option but to follow the sheep.

While I am here I will vent my spleen about another matter. V.I.T approves of courses that a University request to have a course approved by V.I.T. Confused? I am too. So when is a University going to have all Grad Dip courses in TESOL approved? I'm talking about Unis like Deakin, La Trobe and R.M.I.T.

I thought a Graduate Diploma In TESOL was targeted at schools where ESL was taught. Nope. It has changed again! They don't teach ESL anymore they teach English because ESL is no longer a lucrative source of income. So now you must be a V.I.T approved teacher even if you have studied for a TESOL diploma or M.A. Really? I'm happy to stay on the dole but will an advisor in V.I.T please request to the minister of education training and welfare have my dole increased because I am finding it rather difficult to support myself on disability welfare. I suffer from a condition called demonic dementia. It is an obscure disorder found genetically among life long learners that don't get recognition for their achievements by their envious peers whom have not tried hard enough.

OK, I will stay calm. So V.I.T is waiting for those Universities that offer higher Ed Training in TESOL request endorsement and approval of those courses; eventually, I say eventually, teachers like me can enter colleges without worrying about if I am a real teacher or not? What time do the cows come home? Looks like I have to return to asset maintenance again. I'm wondering if the principal of Stotts college is reading this?

If the lapidary phrase: "she'll be right mate" applied to every context in Australian society, then God help all those "Mates" because one day you will need it.

Dear moderator, please search for Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddam and you will realise why I used that title. It has nothing to do with implying racial conflagration.

[bje]

OUCH! What a BAD state of affairs. As for the CERT IV, mere mention of this scam makes my blood boil...

[austeacher]

Here is one subject area of study related to English learning and studying. For contemporary purposes.

VCAL. The teaching method required for VCAL should be ESL. To teach VCAL, one needs a working practical knowledge of English and there is no better method for teaching VCAL literacy than ESL. Why?
Because ESL is a subject method aimed at learners who require scaffolding of language in areas for practical and survival purposes.

Unlike the English Literature method on its own, learners are not studying Shakespeare to use for practical daily purposes, but I can not make the decision about who is elligible to teach VCAL because I am merely a mendicant TESOL instructor with a NEAS recognised and VIT mandatory applied Teaching round.

However, to some employers it would make more sense to hire an English Literature teacher to teach VCAL to International students. Please tell me hirers and firers how Shakespeare's English is relevant to the work place?

English and languages evolve over time; Ditto. Now if I am going to teach literacy or numeracy, I would be relying on an ESL method to teach English as it is ad hoc for the usage and context in which it will be applied, I would not be using an English literature method as Shakespeare's century of English is past its use by date.

Will the principal of Stotts colllege prove me wrong?

The English Literature method of subject teaching is best usefull in the areas of Journalism, Writing and Editing and text analysis for professional purposes of interpreting language according to writing and reading contexts.

So will someone please tell me how that compares or how usefull the English literature method will be usefull for the VCAL curriculum? Maybe Marguerite can answer that question.

[Insubordination]

I have a Grad Dip and a TAA. Instead of arguing with reality, I just sucked it up and did it. I did learn things I didn't learn in my diploma (such as running validation sessions and working your way around a training package) but I agree the course is a bit of a crock and not suitable for teaching English. Still, a minimum standard isn't a terrible idea.

[austeacher]

I spoke generally about the need to complete a Cert IV TAA. My Cert IV was approved verbally by my former University Lecturer as he too said the Cert IV is for people in vocational employment who were to take up teaching and or training in their area of expertise. He made the claim himself the Cert IV was for non teachers or trainers without prior academic study or qualifications.

Subsequently, I had a provider in the area of training who realised there was no need for me to undertake study in Cert IV as he too endorsed my Grad Dip as the sole method for delivering formative and summative assessment tools.

However, I still stick by what I said in my earlier posting. The Cert IV is a tool for assessing people in employment and not in the formal learning environment of language. I basically undertook the assessment unit of study at University but it was much more in depth than the Cert IV and more relevant to ESL as the unit encompassed areas of assessment that would not have been covered in the Cert IV TAA.

News flash: It would be extremely helpful for job applicants like me who don't get interviews or rights of reply off employers why we have not been shortlisted or told where we failed in the application process. The statements such as '' Only shorlisted candidates will be contacted '' are rather ineffective at pointing out why one does not get a reply or an interview. I see, Cert IV applicants are considered a priority over applicants with a Graduate Diploma in teaching. Isn't that right recruiters at Ozford?

If I have jeopardized any prospect of ever getting a job interview from Ozford I have nothing to lose as I have neither gained at this stage; considering they only hire Cert IV trainers. And if you don't like paying taxes that contribute to my welfare payments you only have yourself to blame. A Cert IV qualification is now a bench mark to teach ESL is it?

Insubordination: A Cert IV as a minimum standard for what? So now a domestic painter or bricklayer can teach ESL based on the criterion they possess a Cert IV?