Job Discussion Forums

[Jeff Mohamed]

I'm going to be advising students who are completing their MA TESOL. Some have previous classroom teaching experience and some don't.

I'd be grateful for any info. about what this difference will mean in terms of job possibilities in Eastern European countries.

Jeff

[spiral78]

Yes, of course any reputable employer will obviously prefer classroom experience over none. However, there are likely to be bigger drawbacks than this distinction in this region.

The biggest problem I know of in Central/Eastern Europe with a Master's is that pay at state universities and schools (where one would usually expect to teach with an MA) is direly low in most cases. It's a holdover from old times - public sector workers outside politics tend still to receive lower pay than workers in private sector jobs (teachers and health care professionals being the most notable examples I can think of).

I've got an MA TESL/TEFL and 12 plus years of experience. I'd absolutely love to be teaching in the Czech Rep, which is my 'home,' or somewhere in the greater region. But I simply can't afford to, as I need to live beyond subsistence level. That means in a situation where buying a pair of jeans doesn't require a week or two of advance planning.

I have one or two friends who live in the CR with quals at this level. One runs a teacher-training centre, a CELTA equivalent sort of thing. The other does corporate work in a neighboring country (markets himself directly to companies) and does well enough to afford to live here - though he's struggling to figure out a way to buy a flat. So, possibilities exist, but these independent sorts of niches take some time and usually local language skills and local contacts to build up, or money to invest, obviously.

There is always the public sector market, of course, (meaning private language schools) but wages are subsistence level throughout the region here as well. If your grads have any student debt to pay off, they'll struggle.

My personal experience is more in Central Europe, and perhaps some of the real Easterners will see some differences, but I've worked in Russia and have teaching friends and contacts in the East - and I'm pretty sure the low public sector pay rates are region wide.

[Jeff Mohamed]

Thank you very much. That is certainly worth knowing!

Jeff

[spiral78]

Regarding Central/Eastern Europe, I'd like to expand on Jeff's inquiries by adding a bit more about my impressions on the job market for MA+ qualified teachers, and asking whether others in the region see the same aspects - or not!

I feel that the native-speaker aspect is generally seen as less important here than in some other regions (Asia, for example).

I think that in the past teachers of languages, whether Russian, English, or German, were typically non-native speakers of the target language, but were locals who specialised in the L2. I guess that this has left a lasting impression that native speaker status is not 'necessary.'

Further, there is more awareness of 'international' contexts, where mixed groups use English as a common language, though many/most of them are native speakers of another language. Again, this fosters the idea that 'native speaker' fluency and status is unnecessary for effective communication in international academic and business contexts (I agree with this, by the way).

The lack of an emphasis on native speaker teachers most likely is a strong factor in keeping the market relatively small, and salaries low, though I believe that teaching salaries in the private sector are low overall - not just for languages.

I think the (highly qualified) native speaker teacher market will be strengthening over the next few years, but with more emphasis on Intercultural Communications and 'soft' skills and less on pure language. I guess that the expanding markets will be in the corporate sectors, and in universities that are focusing more on internationalisation.

I'd be very interested to hear the perspectives of others in the region on this.

[artemisia]

I don�t have experience of working in Eastern European countries and my German experience is not that up-to-date given that I left Germany years ago. However, I doubt the university teaching scene there would have changed greatly in terms of qualifications required to hold a fulltime teaching position. A Masters would be an absolute must but no guarantee of anything. I�d agree with Spiral that native speaker status is not as pushed as it is in other regions, and certainly not when it comes to teaching translation courses at university, although it was seen as important in company classes.

In general in Europe, and especially in Germany, there�s been a gradual change of policy so that English is now introduced into schools at a much younger age. The style of teaching has also changed significantly and is now far more communicative. As a result, young Germans are now leaving school with a degree of fluency and facility in the language that was previously unheard of.

I met quite a few European school leavers of all nationalities with a seemingly incredible level of English (as most of our communication was done in German, I�m not sure how good they really were). Increasingly, I too, can see English teaching in Europe moving beyond simply attaining a certain level of the language (because that will already have been achieved) and more in the direction of intercultural relations in business contexts. While being native speaker did have a great deal of importance, Germans who were English language teachers didn�t seem to suffer from a lack of work and German companies have always highly rated business qualifications and/or experience over anything else.