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asalak
Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 27
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 Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:42 pm Post subject: ESOL -the glory years |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| EFL is a game for losers - especially in the UK ! |
Can I just suggest that while scot47 may have a fair point regarding EFL, this should not be taken as the case with ESOL, particularly over the past decade since the Moser report.
I suppose I can only really speak of the place I've worked which is not anywhere that could ever be described as a top destination for anyone bar brummie dole-trippers, but there were a couple of glorious years around 2005 when a huge pot of cash was made available and the EU expanded, there was work to be had and pretty good money to be made in FE colleges, despite the inevitable form-filling.
That is now sadly ebbing away, funding is dropping and the tories are attempting to turn ESOL over to its voluntary roots once more, but let it be recorded in years hence that there was a time, not so long gone, when UK ESOL was a pretty good place to be.
Last year I was on a contract over 30K and teaching about 18 hours / week, for instance.
OK, OK, there's the tax, Ofsted and the funding body obstacle course to negotiate, but on the other hand, you do have rights here and some union protection, and the students are generally super-keen to learn.
By the sound of it, such perks may be limited to ESOL, but I think it's only fair to redress the balance -it ain't, or certainly hasn't been, as bad as some on the board would lead you to believe.
Of course, some may beg to differ, and the glory years are coming to an end, in my view, which is why I'm looking elsewhere. |
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artemisia
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 875
Location: the world
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| ..funding is dropping and the tories are attempting to turn ESOL over to its voluntary roots once more. |
The above quote is the key point, I believe. I first moved to the UK in 2003 - not for ESOL work - but I took note of what was around at that time and recall quite a lot of opportunities with many adverts for jobs. One area of work was with refugees but there were opportunities for work in FE and HE around, too. Without proper funding all those areas will dry up and work conditions will worsen for those remaining.
I read recently that David Cameron has slashed funding to community groups and organisations that support homeless people - get them off the street, help deal with the conditions that put them there in the first place and offer (re)training. At the same time laws have been or are going to tightened up regarding sleeping on the streets. This is presumably to prevent the cardboard sleeping 'cities' that sprang up everywhere during the long (so very long) Thatcher years. This wouldn't look good next year when London hosts the Olympic Games.
While funding to education would, no doubt, have also been reduced under Labour, the Tories are certainly back in business. |
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slapntickle
Joined: 07 Sep 2010
Posts: 270
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, the glory years of ESL are definitely over . . . and not just in the UK. Having said that, there are still some lucrative opportunities in the UK with the universities, especially the summer presessionals. However, once the summer is over, you're unemployed once again, unless you have friends on the inside . . . |
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