Qualification quandry

[tinopener]

I am British guy who worked in ESL positions in east Asia for 3 years, but for the last two years have been working as an English/Liberal Arts teacher at an IB-certified school in Tokyo, albeit a very low ranking and low paying one.

Because of commitments, I’d like to continue living and working in Tokyo but desperately need an internationally recognized teaching qualification (something like a PGCE or the American equivalent) so that I can gain some valuable knowledge and compete for some of the better schools here.

I really don’t want to leave Tokyo whilst gaining this, and don’t relish the idea of returning back to the UK and forking out a lot of money to live like a student again, if possible. I’m not sure if I will be in Japan more than five more years, but I don’t intend to return to the UK, so would most likely aim to work at IS in Europe.

Can anyone recommend a route to gaining certification that would be recognized by international schools in different countries, but can be studied overseas?

If anyone has experience of doing this, I’d be especially keen on hearing how their course went and what their job prospects were like after.

[giraffe0345]

Have a look at Sunderland uni, they do a PCGE(i). I know people who are teaching internationally with it.

[shadowjack]

Teach Now out of Washington DC - one year program, 6,000 USD.

[tinopener]

shadowjack wrote:
> Teach Now out of Washington DC - one year program, 6,000 USD.

Thanks. Do you have any experience with this qualification?

[munybse]

Teacher Ready is a good program. Not sure what how it would work for a Brit through the American school though.

[shadowjack]

I know people who have gone through it. It is a bit intense, but you get Washington DC certification, so you are certified.

TeacherReady leads to Florida certification, but you have to go to Florida to write your subject exams...

[El Churro]

I did the TeacherReady program last year and it was quite good. Unless there was a major change in the program, you do not need to take any of the certification exams in the state of Florida. TeacherReady contracted the certification testing process to Pearson Education, and they have testing centers all over the United States. The only exceptions are Art, Music and Foreign language certification exams, as they have different requirements and are only offered in Florida. Best of luck!

[shadowjack]

El Churro - clarification, I am thinking of posters who did teacher ready overseas, who I believe (and Fine Dude or others, please correct me if I am wrong), had to go back to the USA to write the exams as they couldn't be written overseas.

Then again, I could be going old and senile (Lord, why me? :-)

[Rhysboy]

I know of someone who did the i-PGCE from Sunderland and is now teaching at an IB school in Hong Kong.
Internationally there will be no problem with doing the i-PGCE but if you ever plan to return to the UK, then I'm not sure that schools in the UK will recognise it as a teaching qualification (I might be wrong here, but you have completed your NQT year).
You also need a school where you can do the teaching practice but I am not sure how you would go about it. I can't imagine that there are many schools in Japan where you would be able to do this.

[shadowjack]

One is no better than the other (Brit vs North American), but the UK now recognizes teachers certified in North America as qualified teachers and they no longer have to jump through all the hoops they used to.

[munybse]

shadowjack wrote:
> El Churro - clarification, I am thinking of posters who did teacher ready
> overseas, who I believe (and Fine Dude or others, please correct me if I am
> wrong), had to go back to the USA to write the exams as they couldn't be
> written overseas.
>
> Then again, I could be going old and senile (Lord, why me? :-)

Yes you would have to come back to the US in order to take the exams.

[PsyGuy]

Teach now would be difficult for you to do overseas. The requirement is that the school has to be regionally accredited to do your field experience. Teach Ready has the same issues. They may accept your school, they may not. Teach Now accepts the Praxis, which is much easier to take overseas (you can take it at a testing center in Tokyo). Teach Ready would require you to come back to the states to sit for your exams.

The advantage of an American certificate is you can apply very easily and quickly for QTS and with the new Teachers College self serve the certificate looks exactly the same. There is an issue of curriculum though, best practices are best practices, and while A levels, IGCSE, AP, and DIP arent earth shatteringly different from one another understanding how the systems work is going to increase your marketability.

Sunderland and Nottingham in the UK offer a PGCEi, I know people teaching with it, but in real British schools it does not generally impress. A British IS school is going to ask where you did your QTS, and you cant get QTS without induction if you have a PGCE (it was a personal mess for me, as I got QTS before completing my PGCE, which required a special dispensation from the Board of Governors). The benefit of the PGCEi is that it really is a distance program with few complications.

You will find a lot of colleges and universities (especially in the States) that will take your money and promise you a certification.

Personally, Id recommend looking into the Uni of Bath, but they have no open PGCE cohort program at the moment.