Page 16 - ELG2301 Jan Issue 483

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SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

How to get ahead in

your career

Post-graduate education can lead to more opportunities, says Melanie Butler

his supplement is not for people looking to move into EFL. private language sector suffered a huge financial hit during Covid – the
Not that there are many looking to do that – the numbers money to pay for them.
on four-week certificate courses are very low pretty much What this supplement is concentrating on is the two qualifications
T everywhere, from Aberdeen to Auckland. which can get you out of the private language sector and into the
This supplement is for teachers who want to stay in EFL – or mainstream: a Master’s degree and the new international Postgraduate
even get back into it – but who want to work in good jobs, at Certificate of Education, or iPGCE.
liveable wages and in a profession which doesn’t dismiss them As we explain on page 18, the iPGCE is designed to be the main
as ‘just teachers’. teaching qualification for British-style international schools. And, as
You’d think this was the time anyone could just walk into such a long as you want to live abroad, the pay prospects are great, but it’s not
job. There is a world shortage of EFL teachers qualified to work in currently accepted for state school jobs in Britain.
private language schools, but there isn’t a shortage of people who There’s nothing new about a UK Master’s qualification, though
have taken a four-week training course and are therefore qualified innovative new programmes like the one at the University of
to teach it. However, many looked at the meagre wages on offer Chichester (see opposite) are coming on stream. A must-have
in the job ads when they finished the course and decided to forget for university jobs, it is also widely accepted by independent and
the whole thing. Others taught for a couple of years and then got international schools as an advanced teaching qualification.
‘a proper job’. Prices have stayed stable and there is lots of publicly available
Still more were laid off during Covid and forced to get other work, information about each course, from how good a department’s
and found that a permanent contract and a secure salary meant they research is to how amazing each university in England is at teaching
had a much more comfortable life. “I’d love to come back,” one UK its students. On our grids (pages 21-25) we have added all the
EFL-teacher-turned-prison-officer told the owner of their former information we have to help you make good choices.
school. “I love teaching, but I can only afford to come back if I have
a secure job.”
If you want a secure job and a liveable salary then that almost
certainly means leaving the private language school sector. And Contents
that, in turn, probably means getting another qualification.
In the past, in most of Europe, that has meant getting a diploma
and moving into management. But this supplement isn’t covering
dip courses. As we explain on page 19, Brexit has reduced the job
opportunities for dip teachers, and outside of Australia and New
Zealand, there simply isn’t the demand for them – or, since the THE LOWDOWN ON IPGCES
What they are and why you might
18 want one
19

FURTHER QUALIFICATIONS
Three good possibilities

UNDERSTANDING OUR GRIDS
How to get the most from our
20 Master’s list

21
THE MASTER’S LISTINGS
Where to go for what you’re after

PHOTOGRAPH WIKIMEDIA 26 A look at the changes in ELT

WHAT NEXT FOR TEACHER
EDUCATION

King’s College Arch at the University of Aberdeen instruction
16 January 2023