Job Discussion Forums

[PeterDragon]

I'm currently in the U.S. pursuing an MA TESOL but want to also have a teaching certificate in something. (Could be English, but there are other subjects I'm qualified to teach.)

My goal is to go abroad again, so I'm looking for a teaching certification that would be accepted by an International school. My university can get me initial licensure in TESOL in 3 extra semesters (beyond the two years it takes to get my Masters), but I'll take shortcuts if I can.

Here's one American certifying org that exemplifies the kind of "shortcut" I'm sizing up: http://abcte.org/teach

I'll spare you the trouble of reading the website and summarize the basics: The teaching cert on this site costs 2000 usd, takes a year of part time online study, and requires very little actual classroom observation/student teaching. It is accepted in 9 American states (not ones known as being the absolute tops for education, but not all bad states per se-- Pennsylvania and Utah are included on the list.)


These 9 states will issue an ABCTE graduate a standard teaching license, the same as they'd give someone who took a better, more real teahcing certification course.

The other 41 states won't recognize an ABCTE cert as valid.

Pretty much every other shortcut I'm looking at is a lot like this one.

How well would such a credential (plus a Masters) be received by international schools in Asia, South America, the Middle East, Europe, etc...?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I was looking at that program too, actually. From what I gleaned, that certification would be good overseas.
Good luck!

[tttompatz]

It's all about the state license to teach, not how you got there.

If you are licensed by the state as a teacher (without restriction) then you are a licensed teacher.

.

[powerrose]

From my observation, the international school that would reject that certification would be more likely to reject you for not having 2+ years teaching experience in the US.

There are many international schools that require that teachers have a degree in education to retain their certification. That means even a B.Ed. Most of the schools I check out have their faculty pages prominently listed, and they seem to like having a long list of teachers with masters degrees. So, international schools hire based on three factors:
1) What do they need to be certified
2) They want teachers to look good on paper for marketing purposes
3) Who is available. I know plenty of uncertified people, without degrees, who work at international schools. Sometimes a school is just short on staff, and 1 & 2 go out the window.

FWIW, here are the qualifications guidelines from ISS:
Candidate Selection Criteria / Two out of three required
-A Bachelors degree in the subject area you want to teach.
-K-12 Certification
-Two years of current, successful full-time teaching in a K-12 school.
Additional Recruitment Information
-A Master's degree for specialists, guidance counselors, administrators or department heads.
-Teaching teams (or teaching/administrative teams) are welcomed.
-Candidates should consider at least two large geographic areas (e.g. continents) for recruitment.
-Candidates with more than three non-teaching dependents may have limited opportunities.
-Profile preferences for administrative positions may include teaching experience, current administrative experience, graduate degree in curriculum and/or administration, and overseas experience.

[Chancellor]

[PeterDragon]

Chancellor said:

"Oh, I want to be a teacher but I don't want to have to put forth the effort to become one; what's a good shortcut to take?"

Well, I've already taught public school in South Korea for three years, passed my PRAXIS exams (U.S. national School Board examinations) and I'll be spending the next two years getting a Masters in ESL Education. So I think I've "put forth.... effort" already. And I don't think I "want to be a teacher", I AM one. As far as I'm concerned, a certification is a hoop I need to jump through, not training I actually need--- I already know how to teach. Viewing a certification as such, I'll do what I can to make the process of getting one eat up my life as little as possible.

Sorry, but I couldn't let that needless snark go unreplied-to.

Powerrose--- Good thoughts there--- I see a lot of international schools that want applicants to have two years' experience in their home countries, a lot of them that don't seem to care (including ones that say "newly certified teachers welcome", or ask for international rather than domestic experience), and a handful that don't seem credential conscious at all (this seems most common in Latin America and East Asia). I notice the ISS criteria strongly recommends 2 years of K-12 experience but doesn't actually specify where that experience needs to be--- in theory I could gain that experience in Cambodia, the UAE, Ecuador, etc...

From the comments I've gotten so far, it sounds like an ABCTE certificate is better than nothing, but would limit my options in some ways. As far as exeperience, getting that cert could land me a placement in a "high needs" school in Florida, SC, or Miss, which could be a way to get my two years' experience down. I guess I need to do some soul searching as to whether I want to tread water for a couple years in the darkest corners of the American South's awful, awful education system.

My main goal is to NOT remove myself from full time teaching for more than two consecutive years. I badly want to start working again right after my Masters. If I reach a point where I tire of the limitations of a kind of BS teaching cert, I can always go back to school one more time later on in life.

[Chancellor]

[PeterDragon]

Chancellor raises some interesting points.

Actually, three years in South Korea teaching children does look very appealing to alternative certification programs, schools of education and employers here in the U.S.--- I was accepted into several alternative certification programs that I ultimately decided not to go into. In each case, the administrators mentioned my experience in the SK public school system as part of their reason for accepting me. But it doesn't hold any *formal* weight. And experienced teacher is not necessarily a certified teacher.

Chancellor misunderstands the PRAXIS a bit, but is right to say it's not exactly a national school board certification test, as America doesn't really have a national school board. The PRAXIS is mandatory for teacher certification in the vast majority of states; the only two states I can think off offhand that don't accept it are California and Illinois. (This is a testament to the ETS Corporation's stranglehold on standardized testing in the U.S.)

Which brings me to this question:

But if you've already taken some of the Praxis exams, why would you need to even bother with the ABCTE? Why not find a state that requires the Praxis and get your teaching certificate from there and work there until you have the experience needed to get into whatever international schools you might be interested in?

Mere passage of the PRAXIS could land me a paraprofessional job (probably low pay, probably not full time), but not a proper teaching job. The PRAXIS is a very basic prerequisite for teacher certification--- other coursework is required on top of that. How much coursework varies widely depending on the individual school district and the job itself. Since I already know how to teach, I'm looking for the least amount of coursework possible. (ABCTE actually requires the PRAXIS, as the states they work with are all PRAXIS states.)

There are schools that call themselves "international" but are they really?

Well if a school has high employee satisfaction, decent pay, and a commitment to actual teaching/learning, I don't care if it's genuinely international. Having said that, most of the schools that meet that criteria want a teacher who is--- at the very least--- credentialed in their home country.

[somewhere_else]

[powerrose]

Yeah, but look, there is no magical qualification that will get you hired everywhere in the world. (and at some point, you start to have so many qualifications, that people will think you're overqualified and will be "bored" in a school)

As far as I see it, you're doing this all wrong. You need to chose 2-3 places that you really want to live.

And then you need to start a dialog with international schools in that area.

That's it. Better yet, on your next break, go there. Articulate, native speaking teachers don't walk off the street, and every place I've gone has been incredibly kind and told me exactly what they want from a teacher (if not offered me a job outright).

To give you one example, I was told at one school that I could start immediately as a sub and would be strongly considered for a position when an opening became available. The week before, I had applied through their website, which had a long wishlist, and gotten a form rejection. In my experience, there is a huge gap between what schools tell recruiters, or list on their website, and what they actually say when you talk to them in person.

One more thing is that these schools really struggle with recruiting people from the US/Canada, and having them quit because they don't enjoy living overseas. In my opinion, you're disregarding your overseas experience, which is a much bigger selling point with intl schools than some silly certification.

[Chancellor]