Job Discussion Forums

[Will.]

A week away and it looks like the UK TEFL scene is gaining a bashing...again.

Here we go again,

It sucks here in the UK..for a newbie returning from a first posting abroad.
There are some, who gaining an A on a TEFL/TESOL course, are recruited and remain here but most go abroad. This makes them, mainly, fit for sumner school on their return and if that doesn't send them abroad again the cost of living will, especially here in London. There are lowest wage examples of job offers from London schools on the UK forum, posted last year, the lowest was �5.50 an hour. There are schools offering this kind of money and people who, lacking opportunities elsewhere, or from NEW EU states, will take them. It is a money motivated operation from school owners. Mammon rules ok. The basic priciple is profit

The opportunities are there if you have qualifications, from the same company that sold the CELTA to you. Higher up the ladder there are opportunities, but you need to be established in the UK.
Many of my well qualified and experienced colleagues have short-term, part-time positions that would never be taken seriously by other professions and they have an extremely high job turnover; a year ot two in each job then move on.
I returned here after some 25 years abroad and have been here for six years.
Some examples from this time frame

2000/1 �25/hr 24hrs a week �600 a week. LSC


2002/3 local FE College �21.40/hr and later 28,500 a year 21 hrs a week+prep
2003/5 Goldsmiths College �21+ an hour 15 hours a week
Kings College 3 hour session for �100
Holiday pay was unforthcoming in one of the above. Professionalism was absent in another. One closed, one short term. None was that satisfactory

In this time frame I was also offered a DoS job from a language school at �16,000 a year! Don't make me laugh! They were serious too!

Hardly hitting the next tax bracket is it?


SO...
Now, and since 2004 �250 an occasional day as an ELT consultant, but currently not working...Examining �140 a day.

Supply teachers earn about �140 a day in agency work and the agency gets paid about 40% on top of that. EAL offers opportunities but QTS is needed.

The detail of TEFL being a profession is down to those of the TEFL team who behave as professionals, and are seen to be such by their peers, who then offer the plum jobs to those who they know. �35 an hour is not uncommon in the HE sector but you have to get there first. rtemaining as a teacher of EFL is not going to bring much money in. It is a case of diversify and bump up the qualifications on the CV, go to the odd conference and network. It is a profession if you treat it as such.

I can understand how many must feel when the long awaited return to the UK is taken up with RENT and TAX and TRANSPORT. All of which is SOOOOoo expensive, so that at the end of the week there is little enough left to pay for the 74% taxed beer and fags for the weekend. Small wonder there are complaints about EFL here being crap.

[Will.]

Oh yeah
The OP
breaking a contract is often the only way to escape from between a rock and a hard place, and if the people who enticed you into it won't help you out of it you have no alternative.
Who would not feel better for breaking an EFL contract in similar conditions or for better money better facilities or just a bit more respect for your CELTA?

[Henry_Cowell]

Will. --

What are your qualifications for English-teaching jobs? If it's only the CELTA, then you should be happy to be offered jobs earning as much as 28,500 and 31,200 per year in the UK. The CELTA is an entry-level, minimal qualification. Things begin to look better when your qualifications and credentials move you up from the lowest rungs.

If I enroll in a one-month course in blood laboratory analysis, should I expect to be hired as a credentialed, licensed nurse??

[paulmanser]

If you are to TEFL then it has to be abroad.

The only reason why I'm choosing to TEFL is to work abroad, and for other PERSONAL motives behind my chosen country of choice.

[Henry_Cowell]

[paulmanser]

I just wonder why ppl TEFL in their own country. UK for example.

I can't see how it would work out. Mostly summer camps. Earn enough money wise to afford flat ect.

*anyway*

[Henry_Cowell]

In English-speaking countries with millions of immigrants, the need for TESOL is huge and daunting. Teaching in summer camps is a very small portion of the profession (and definitely the worst paid). Aim higher!

[thrifty]

HC

Please give me the contact details of that job you claim only requires a CELTA and pays in more than 32000. I will contact them to check and then if I can find a TEFLer here with such an advanced qualification I will pass on the details.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[paulmanser]

I wish there was a TEFL job that pays 32 grand lol, with only a TEFL certificate/degree.

[thrifty]

Don't we all.

The TEFL fantasist is one of the classic TEFL stereotypes.

[Henry_Cowell]

I've already done plenty of searching for you guys to prove you wrong about "decent/adequate" pay for minimal qualifications. Go find your own jobs.

[thrifty]

You have done the exact opposite.

I knew you would never come through.

[thrifty]

[Henry_Cowell]

[Henry_Cowell]