Job Discussion Forums

[james_baldrey]

So here is my situation......graduated from UK uni with BA and MSc in Business Management and international Management. Did 2 years teaching english at a Thai college. Then went back to UK to do my CELTA (grade A) and then came to Korea where i wll finish my one year university contract next February. After this contract i hope to have been involved in the publishing of an ESL text book also.

I had planned to do an MA in TESOL in Thailand, but now i am sooooo confused! I would like to teach at a good universitiy so will a master degree from Thailand hold any weight when i apply for jobs at universities? After all that (Sorry!!) what advice would you give in terms of the next qualification i should do in terms of getting a good job? Any advice woudl be most welcome!! (By the way i am English)

Cheers!

[Chris_Crossley]

That rather depends upon which universities you want to apply to. Did you mean unis back here in Blighty? I don't think that MAs in TESOL from Thailand would carry any weight in the UK, to be perfectly honest.

My advice would be either to get a DELTA/Trinity Diploma or else a master's degree from the UK (e.g., Open University) by distance learning if you are really set on getting a postgraduate degree. I myself am going to start the O.U.'s M.Ed. degree next February, although the fee for the first module (out of three) is 1,525 GBP for those studying outside the British Isles. Can you afford that?

My intention is to do it in China (where I have been since October 2001) and then - so the plan goes - get a job back in Blighty, by which time I should have accumulated between 7 and 8 years' experience in teaching English.

If you still intend to stay overseas, then maybe you need not undertake an MA at all. I wouldn't, if I intended to stay in China for the next X years (where X > 4). As it is, my Chinese wife and I will come to the UK when our little one is old enough to start primary school (in 2009); hence, the need for me to get an M.Ed. before I get back rather than afterwards.

[Russell Hadd]

I agree with CC as far as UK HE is concerned unless you are going to try to get in via the lottery of the pre-sessional route. In that case you can get in with normal degree + EFL qualifications in some places (although more each year ask for Masters).