Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Suwoner10]

Is it possible to get a reputable teaching certification through a distance learning or online program? My situation is this: I held a teaching certificate from back home, however, upon renewing it, found out that the certification program I was in required that I teach in that district for 3 years to obtain renewal. I only taught in the district for 2.5 years. Now I am stuck without certification, though will file suit, as I can't believe my semester of student teaching is completely worthless...after assuming I was licensed. It's basically an MA/Certification program inner city schools in the US are doing to get teachers to stay in the inner city schools. I thought I met my obligation (2.5 years+ .5 years of Resident, full-time student teaching), but now find out several years later it never counted (for renewal).

So, I need to find a teachers Certification program, and a long-shot if they will take previously documented student teaching in lieu of another go-around. If anyone knows what a good course of action would be, thanks.

[laogaiguk]

No, there is not one way that I know of that will give you "teacher certification" for any Western country that you can do by distance. They all have major practicums which I doubt teaching in a Korean public school would help. Sorry. There are ways you can do it without studying though. America, Canada and the UK (only ones I know of) can have you train in a school, take a few courses in your spare time and get a certification for whatever state or province. You can also look into inner city school teaching. They give tonnes of bonuses and certification if you stay a couple of years or more.

There might be courses that you can take online that would shorten a BEd or PGCE, but as far as I know (I looked into it) you can't.

[tob55]

One thing I was looking into for the short term was to get a one year sub license with a state even though I would remain in Korea. After having my MN teaching license for more than 17 years I had no choice but to let it expire since I was not working in a MN school district at the time it ran out. The MN Board of Education allows for renewal if you have completed additional training ,which I did, but it had to be from a MN sponsored program, and it wasn't. So, now looking for a licensing agency that would provide credentials, but nothing exists for that purpose. The main thing in the USA is that it's all about the money. I just missed the lifetime license benefit many of my associates had taken advantage of. The State Ed Boards began to realize they could justify their existence by charging 3 and 5 year renewal fees for people, thus opening the door for a myriad of other useless programs that simply justify them having a job to start with. This is what I tried to escape by coming to Korea, but now I am in a position that it would be nice to have some "legitimate" International recognition, and there just isn't anything out there.

[thegadfly]

Suwoner,

Were you initially certified but your certification lapsed? That ought to be pretty easy to correct once you get back to the US. Were you never really certified?

To keep your teaching license, many states require continuing education and employment within that state. I held a teaching license in Michigan for 10 years, met all of the requirements, and it lapsed last year -- I have to teach three years in Michigan every 5 years to keep it, and I have been in Korea for the last five years...so if I go back to Michigan, I will have to reapply for a teaching license, and I will likely be given a year to take a test and a few classes (there is also a continuing education requirement -- 12 credits every five years, I believe)...if I get that done during the 1-year provisional, I should be able to get my continuing certificate again....

Then again, I have a lifetime license from Texas, so I may just hope for some reciprocity, but TX certificates didn't used to be worth much....

[Suwoner10]

[Atavistic]

Can you just go back to the state and do one more year or two? I mean, can they reissue the emergency certificate?

Or, did you take any sort of teacher's prep program where you can earn an initial certificate in another state? (I've been told Iowa is easy.) I know VA requires 3 years of full time teaching in order to apply state reciprocity (which I JUST met, whew!) but some states don't.

I just had to renew my GA certificate. It was a clear renewable and luckily I finished my Master's before coming here, so I had enough credits to renew without any problems. I had to pay a $20 fine since I don't live there, but that was it.

I also went through an alternative prep program, but once we were done with our year of student teaching/classes, we took the PRAXIS and got clear certificates. Student teaching only counted to get the recommendation for the initial certificate. You just gave me one more reason to be leery of the fast track "get them in the classroom yesterday" programs.

Good luck.

[thegadfly]

Suwoner,

Yeah that sucks, but student teaching isn't a paid position -- you have to GET paid for it to count...volunteer work wouldn't count either, unfortunately.

Sorry about that, and I hope your lawyer can get them to waive the 6 months (since it is no longer a requirement) or somehow get your student teaching to count....