Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

[nomad soul]

Will the TEFL market in KSA be flooded with MA TESOL degree holders over the next 5+ years? What is the prognosis for job seekers with less qualifications?

[natsume]

I'll most likely be one of them.

[RustyShackleford]

Same here.

[pooroldedgar]

Yup.....sorry.

[currentaffairs]

I have my doubts about many MA in TESOL programs as I have mentioned before. Teachers with PGCEs and DELTAs will often have more training in the classroom rather than an overly theoretical background. Of course, some MA programs are very good you just have to check what is offered.

Teachers with x amount of teaching experience (preferably at universities) will still be in demand, especially if the mass proliferation of TESOL degrees continues..

[veiledsentiments]

No one here has ever claimed that those with MAs are better teachers (because our experience has shown that it definitely isn't true). And our personal opinions as to which is better for the students is irrelevant.

The reality is that the Gulf Arabs love those bits of paper that have "prestige" and those are MAs and PhDs. Those applicants will end up at the front of the queue... next will be those with lesser academic qualifications like certs and significant experience... etc

Hard to guess whether more MAs will show up or not... with the stagnant or even dropping salary/benefit packages around the Gulf plus the rising cost of MAs... who knows...

VS

[balqis]

Any ''mass proliferation'' becomes eventually cheap mass quality.

And such departments, where all faculty have an M.A. in Tesol, such departments and classes will eventually become unbearably boring, with teachers pouring from empty into the vacuous...

balqis

[currentaffairs]

Yes, I don't think VS has quite twigged on to this point. If there is such a proliferation of MA degrees of which some of them may be questionable in quality then this has an effect all round - and not just for the students. Employers will start becoming more picky (and we have already seen the trend in many Gulf countries to not accept online degrees).

With the TEFL certs it has been commonplace for employers to ask for 120 hours/6 hours observed teaching. I wouldn't be surprised to see similar happening with MA degrees.

I think ultimately the people at the front of the queue will be teachers with verifiable teaching experience at the university level and whatever bits of paper they possess.

[nomad soul]

[veiledsentiments]

[scot47]

In my time at KFUPM there were many teachers there who had no MA.

[nomad soul]

[MixtecaMike]

There was a window that opened about 8 years ago when for some reason unis and colleges had to lower their sights and accept experienced BA holders, due to regional instability if I recall. I got in then, and completed my MA (online) over the next couple of years. I was regularly told I would get a promotion from "Instructor", but of course that never happened. However in recent years the institution in question just lost interest in hiring English teachers. The salaries being offered (to MA holders) are allegedly about SR5000 less than I started on. This is still enough to get by on, given the other benefits, but if you don't like the salary offered don't accept it, as it is extremely rare for any promotions, raises (apart from the annual increase), at least where I worked.
All in all, I wouldn't say an MA in TEFL or whatever is a worthwhile investment if you plan to raise a family or get old, but if you already have one (MA, not family) and want to travel around a bit then good luck. I suspect the glory days for EFL in Saudi have passed, but maybe that's just me justifying my leaving.

[currentaffairs]