Job Discussion Forums

[cmp45]

Senario: You are hired at a college/ university with a BA + TESL cert. and have also acquired a number of years experience at the college while you completed an on-line MA.

Would/ Should the teacher be able to 'negotiate' a pay raise based upon the newly acquired MA.

It's my understanding that a teacher's pay level/ is based upon a teacher's experience acquired after the completion of an MA degree, but if a teacher has already been teaching at a college for a number of years while completing the MA, then it seems that it would be some what ambiguous in determining the pay raise or if it is even reasonable /possible to ask for a raise in the first place based upon the new credentials.

Any thoughts/ suggestions regarding this senario?

[007]

It depends on what you mean by �negotiate�?
Because with some of the SA employers your salary is according to your signed contract with your last degree obtained, and there is no room for negotiation even if you completed another higher degree while you were in college!
Some employers might say that there is no vacant position for a new post title or new salary!
I know a friend who was in the same situation but in engineering, he was employed according to his Master degree, but in the same time he was doing a PhD by distance, when he finished his Phd he asked his employer (college) to promote him in position and in salary. The college was not able to promote him, and proposed that he resigns and apply for a new contract with different position title using his PhD qualification.
Another friend finished his Master while working, and asked his employer to promote him, the employer agreed, but the promotion was not that good in terms of salary!

So, at the end it will depend on your employer and how it will interpret the rules!

[Cleopatra]

First off, have you confirmed with your employer that they will recognise an online MA? Many Gulf employers do not.

Assuming that they will recognise your MA, I would imagine that they would consider 'years of experience' to include only those accrued after completion of said degree. However, it may indeed be possible to strike a deal with your employer, whereby you get some sort of recognition for the time you spent at the college while working on your degree. Then again, they may insist that the rules are strictly applied and that you only start receiving post-MA increments the year after your degree is completed. There's no way of knowing in advance - the only thing is to discuss it with your employer and find out how they feel about it.

[veiledsentiments]

I have heard of people who have completed their MA (or PhD) and it wasn't recognized until their contract came up for renewal. If you have been there for a number of years with your previous credentials, you may find that there isn't much a pay boost to go to MA+0.

But as always, it is up to your particular employer.

VS

[cmp45]

Thanks for the input...I was just curious to know if anyone had experienced this situation.

I will complete my Masters in Post Secondary Education on-line next spring. I guess at that time I will approach admin See what they have to say.

I am content for the time being with current my situation.

[spiral78]

My uni in Nederlands takes years of university teaching experience, halves them, and adds that number of years on top of new MA. Not sure if this is typical at all, but they kindly got me into a higher pay range in this manner, so I'm not complaining...