Job Discussion Forums

[EnglishBrian]

I'd be interested to hear of anyones experiences of adding to their initial CELTA + degree(s!) in order to make more money once they are actually in the teaching trade. I'm sure that getting the Diploma (Trinity) was what upped me from a dreaded "good local salary" in Eastern Europe, to a relatively well paying job with the BC. Now I'm toying with the idea of a masters (already have one but totally irrelevant to TEFL) which I'd like to do if only out of interest, but at around 6 grand It'd really have to pay in the long term.

Has anyone here actually got richer out of doing business teaching courses, CELTYLs or MAs etc? - and I mean by taking the course, not by providing it!

[merlin]

Rich? Surely you jest.

What Masters level studies has done for me was provide me with opportunities for Integrative Learning Experences, also known as "Ah-HA!" or "lightbulb" moments.

Once you're in this mode of thinking it seems you never really come down. At least that's my experience.

So far this has enabled me to find and keep a few more better paying students who have special requirements, so an extra 10% increase in income, let's say. But I'm only 1/2 way through with my degree.

I don't ever expect to be rich.

[younggeorge]

Hardly "rich" - this isn't the business for that - but the MA opens a lot of doors. Not all of the MA-essential jobs pay better than all those that don't require it, but the average goes up and you have less risk of being stranded without a job at all.

[31]

[quote="younggeorge" you have less risk of being stranded without a job at all.[/quote]

Not much chance of being stranded without a job in tefl. With the astronomical turnover in tefl you can always find a crappily paid job. Anyone wanting a five pound fifty an hour job with no work permit, no holiday pay, no social security, no guaranteed minimum monthly salary in Istanbul-PM me. Please no married people, nobody with kids, nobody with debts or any kind of responsibilities back home, nobody with health problems and definitley nobody over 40.

[merlin]

[EnglishBrian]

I use the term richer in its most creative sense here. I think you're hitting the nail on the head tho'. I wondered if anyone could really say that they did X course and it led directly to getting Y job (with Yipee! salary), but it seems the benefits are less tangible.

For me aswell, when I'm looking for a new job, having the dip. means I don't have to take the first offer that comes along - I can hold out longer (even tho' I've got wife and kid to support now) knowing I'll get something decent eventually - that security/confidence element. Maybe you can be up for jobs with longer holidays too (some institutions in the ME?) Maybe it gives you a confidence in teaching - gets you (fractionally) more respect from sts?

But in purely disposable income money terms it seems although there're more good paying jobs demanding MAs or other TEFL certificates, it aint essential, and it might be factors other than that piece of paper that lead to you getting one. I mean I was working in Hong Kong and all I needed for the job was 2 years exp. and a CELTA - lived well and saved a grand a month.

Merlin, do you think if I get an MA I could one day have an office just like yours? At BC in Hong Kong I didn't even have a desk - just a shelf and things kept falling down the back of it.

[merlin]

[moonraven]

Let's put it this way: I was making a lot more money before going into TEFL, because I was directing divisions of universities in the US. TEFL is generally a low-paying field, and anyone who goes into it for the money is deluded.

That does't mean it's not a satisfying field to be in--but the satisfactions are not monetary.

[31]

[moonraven]

Folks who have jobs as deans and directors in universities in the US make a lot more money than folks who are teaching EFL--or even working as deans and directors--outside of the USA. That is what I mean.