Job Discussion Forums

[Prof.Gringo]

Hello everyone. I am wrting this post about working for SEP. I have a part-time job working for one of the SEP CECATI institutes. CECATI is a vocational/technical school system run by the SEP. The pay is OK and I am hoping to make it full-time someday.

I was talking with one of the teachers at the school and we started talking about buying a job at SEP. It turns out that the SEP and the teachers union SNTE sell hours for about 100 pesos per hour. So, if you want to have the max. hours for your bi-weekly pay (42) you just pay $42,000 pesos and you are a full-time teacher for life. At least thats how it works according to two different SEP teachers I talked to.

[geaaronson]

So let me get this straight. For a job that pays at the most $15,000 you have to pay the union $4200. why when I was a union member at the age of 16 working at Bradlees, my union dues were less than 4%. Are you nuts or something? Get a job at a prepa and you won`t have to pay dues.

[Samantha]

The way I understand it, it's more complicated than just "buying a job". What they are referring to is tenured SEP positions. These tenured positions can't be held by anyone other than a SEP approved teacher. The credential or degree must be earned in a SEP approved school, and SEP does not recognize degrees earned from non-SEP schools. The procedure is very complicated for a foreign teacher to get their foreign teaching degree SEP approved.

[MELEE]

At least in the state of Oaxaca, tenured primary and secondary postions are hereditary, you can pass the position on your one of your children when you retire. In that case, the person who inherits the position does not have to be a graduate of an approved Normal (teacher's college).

Even if a foriegner when through the trouble of getting the SEP to recognize their education (I believe Freddy did this a couple of years ago) I would strongly discourage any foriegner from getting envolved with SNTE. You can get meaningful jobs with better pay less headaches and even less danger elsewhere. Like geaaronson said, at a prepa, or public university or how about trying at a Casa de la Cultura/Centro Interactivo Juvinil (those two would be the real bottom end of the pay scale, public service type jobs) if you want to work in the public sector.

[FreddyM]

I still haven't actually gone to the trouble of getting SEP's stamp of approval on my credentials. And the whole business of buying and selling plazas is a risky endeavor at best with no guarantees. You may end up shelling out a lot of money and get nothing for it in return with no legal recourse whatsoever to help you out. If you're not even Mexican, I think this is a good way to flush some money down the toilet.

All that being said, there are some primo SEP positions that pay really well with tons of benefits and vacation time, comparable to anything you'd find in a rich country. But those types of positions are hard to get a hold off, you really have to know someone and rely on nepotism to get them. And if someone were selling such a plaza, I can bet you that it'd cost you much more than $42,000 pesos, after all, it's a position for life. I've heard of plazas being sold for $20,000 to $50,000 DOLLARS.

Unless you're really informed about how the union works and know some powerful people in it, I wouldn't even attempt doing anything like that.

[Prof.Gringo]

Well, I wasn�t that serious about it, as I don�t plan on living in Mexico forever. As for contacts in the SNTE and SEP, My wife�s uncle is personal friends with La Maestra, Elba Esther Gordillo and I am personal friends with the director of the SEP CECATI that I will be working at.

Anyways, at least this post got more replies than my other one about good schools in the DF.