Job Discussion Forums

[Marcoregano]

Many courses are lousy and many well qualified teachers are lousy teachers and many unqualified teachers make great teachers. However:

Qualifications + Experience = Salary. This will never change.

[foster]

Denise, must admit that teaching a class of 4 year olds fills me with a dread that is not asuaged by my teaching degree. I would sooner attempt to teach proper essay and research format to college bound kids than a room of screaming 4 year olds.

I feel that if you are in a proper school setting, you should have a degree. MANY local teachers in HK are degreeless and to some extent, it shows. My local teachers who teach English are constantly making with flagrant and repetetive mistakes. As a native speaker, it drives me nuts.

For conversation schools or tutorial centers, TEFL or the like with a degree of some sort would be fine.

Although I have a BEd, I would never say I am a better teacher than a non-BEd person. I would however, be frustrated and annoyed if a non-BEd teacher took my job.

[denise]

Foster--I agree about the kids. I am fully qualified for my job, but completely unqualified for children. Sure, on paper I should theoretically be able to handle them, but paper qualifications aren't everything, and I know very well that I don't have the right personality to teach children.

Qualifications + experience do, often, add up to more than just higher salaries. They quite often--at the risk of being flamed--add up to competence.

d

[Roger]

This whole thread - especially the answers provided by Glenski and Denise as well as struelle and others - made me realise one important thing: that if you have no relevant qualificiations you are more likely to drift in and out of teaching, and if you do have qualifications you are likely to stay and make a lasting contribution; then also you will widen your professional horizon and probably learn how to do your job in a different and potentially more challenging environment.
While I was sufficiently prepared for my college students I had to learn most ropes when I was hired by a kindergarten; I did this most successfully (and it gave my self-esteem a big shot in the arm!).
Now I can handle "adult" students a lot better. It shows in every day class management!

[foster]

I think that is a fair point Roger. I feel that sometimes the ones who are not qualified are not as concerned about their kids/students/adults as we who are (dare I say) professionals.

Yes, some days I could cheerfully throttle my kids and not blink an eye. But when I mark a composition and I see improvement or when more than 50% of my kids get a passing grades on the cracker-jack standarized test in HK (DO NOT get me started on uniform testing), I feel all warm and fuzzy inside...that job satisfaction feeling.

When my kids ask why I was not at school and if I feel better, which shows me that despite the abuse they heap on teachers, they do care, I am glad I am in a school.

No two days are ever the same, which I kind of like.

With my B.Ed, technically, I *could* teach elementary school...however, I do not need a criminal homicide on my record...I like kids...I do...in small doses and in even smaller groups. All it would take is one "Teeeeeaaacccchhhherr...he looked at me...wipe my nose...tie my shoe..."etc etc and I would be wringing a neck. I do have to give elementary teachers a LOAD of credit.

[Celeste]

[Snoopy]

I took the trouble to become qualified at my own expense, giving up my Jobseeker Allowance, and recouped the cost in a very short time moonlighting in the Kingdom of Stupid @rseholes. It was also a good experience to review teaching techniques and mix with people from a wide range of backgrounds to share ideas. Get it done!