A good Masters

[seanyc4]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently teaching in Japan in a senior high school and I was thinking fo doing an online masters degree in English teaching to further my job prospects.
Can anyone recommend any good masters programmes?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[PsyGuy]

It depends what your goal is in regards to increasing your job prospects?
Do you want to teach in ESOL or teach in K-12 education?
Do you want to move into tertiary (Uni) education?
Do you want to stay in Japan or have another destination in mind?

[seanyc4]

I think long term I'd either want to teach at a university or an international school. Id like a better job with a higher salary I can make a career out off. The lower level TEFL world isn't great to be honest - working condition, pay etc. I'm probably one of the lucky ones on the JET programme.

Theres' so many different teaching English qualifications im really confused. Ive been researching a PGCEI not the full QTS one.

[PsyGuy]

Those are two very different career paths:

University TESOL:

Status means a lot, if you can find and get into one of the global "Ivys" to do your degree either online or by distance that is something that is going to be marketable to university appointments in ESOL. Otherwise there isnt much of a difference in marketability a Masters is a Masters as long as it isnt from some for-profit online univeristy, there are many traditional Unis that have online programs in education with concentrations in TESOL. What does matter is academic experience, you wont have access to being a TA (or RA, or GA) or ny real exposure to graduate life and its opportunities. In addition to your masters many Unis want you to have 2-5 publications, and thats harder to do without academic facilities.

IE:

If you want to teach in IE (International K-12/KS education) what you need is a professional educator credential, and while some programs will give you that as part of a Masters, and some programs will give you some graduate credit, you dont need to do a course leading to or as part of a degree to get one.

In IE there are three distance/online options and providers that can get you a credential, and it really depends on what access you have to a classroom to do your field work (student/clinical teaching, practicum, internship).

Teach Now: This is an American program that works with D.C. (District of Columbia), as part of a cohort you participate in online seminars and sessions that provide your the academic Meds/Peds portion of professional education. Its a cohort model so while its flexible, you have deadlines, and required online meeting you have to attend at certain times. You move through the program with your cohort. As part of the program the field experience is 12 weeks long. You need a cooperating IS that is accredited and approved by the program. One of the ISs leadership will be your site supervisor and recommend you for the credential when you are finished. the program takes 9 months and cost about $6K There is a Masters program component you can complete as part of the program that takes an extra 3 months, but the Masters is worthless and accredited. Teach Now uses an assessment called the PRAXIS which you can take at test centers around the world. You do not need to be a US Citizen to receive the D.C. certification.
This is the option best for a candidate who already has access to a classroom and already has an IT appointment

Teach Ready: Is a program in Florida (FL). It also has an online academic delivery, but it is self paced, and doesnt use the cohort model. You have a lot more flexibility. The field experience for Teach Ready is only 5 days long/one week. There is an option of transferring a handful of credits to their Masters Program, which is accredited, but would considerably expand the time for your studies and increase the cost. FL uses its own assessment instrument which woudl require you to travel to the US (and likely FL) to complete your assessments. The program also costs about $6K (plus travel to the US). If you are not a US Citizen you can not get FL certification, you would instead receive a letter of program eligibility that you would have to take to another State and apply for a credential (Hawaii and D.C. would work).
This option is more suited to a candidate who doesnt have a current IT appointment but has a cooperating IS thats willing to give them a class for a week. This is a much easier sell than 3 months. ISs are fee generating institutions and parents arent paying coin for their kids to be used as lab rats for unqualified ITs.

PGCEi: Are academic programs offered by a number of UK Unis (Nottingham is the most popularly cited). In addition to a introduction seminar you have to travel to as part of a cohort, the entire program is online/distance delivered. You can move at your own pace, as all the activities and requirements are individual, but there is a completion time requirement. There is no field experience requirement. This is entirely an academic program, and completing it will earn you a years worth of applicable credits towards a masters. As you identified you do not receive QTS as part of the program, but this is a working credential for lower tier ISs.
This option is best for a candidate that doesnt have access to a classroom for field experience.

You can use the credentials from either of the two American programs and apply for and receive QTS almost immediately and the process is easy. You can also take the PGCEi and apply for full certification in D.C. through transcript -, though the process is more risky, and would require you to complete some formal examination assessment requirements. Once you have the D.C. credential you can apply for full QTS. In essence turning a non QTS PGCEi, and waiving induction into full QTS.

Of course another option is to do an academic program in education that includes a US credential (there are options at the undergrad and graduate level that often are part of a degree) or doing a PGCE or Masters program that gives you NQT. You can now do induction at an BSO (A British IS) that has been inspected. There are 1 year (12-18 month) Masters programs that include certification, and a PGCE isnt the only way to get QTS, there is an assessment only option as well as school direct.

For both CAN and AUS you would have to do a Uni program either a B.Ed (1 year) or a Masters (2 years) depending what your supporting undergrad degree was in. AUS no longer has transitional 1 year B.Ed programs that qualify you for full registration. A one year transitional B.Ed is only available for primary grade education in CAN.

You can do a PGCE or US certification program in TESOL, QTS is not grade or subject specific outside of assignment restrictions used by maintained DSs, and a number of US jurisdictions including DC allow you to add certification/endorsements based on completing an examination.
In general a Masters is not a teaching credential in IE, but there are low tier ISs that are desperate that will take what they can get.

There is a lot of animosity in IE about ETs, ISs get flooded with applications from ETs who dont have professional educator qualifications and believe that teaching in an Eikaiwa/Hagwon or English/Cram school is "teaching". Anything in ESOL that isnt done with a professional credential (not a Delta/Cambridge, or other ESOL certificate) in a recognized IS doesnt count and is treated like poison in IE.

It really depends how important the Masters is to you and if Uni instruction is where you want to go. Unis dont care about K-12/KS licensing and credentials, they dont see "teachers" as academics but as babysitters. The same is true in IE, ISs dont care about your research or publications or how intelligent/educated you are in a specific field. They care if you can transfer knowledge to children. There are some very brilliant people in their fields that cant teach themselves out of a box.
Both Teach Now and Teach Ready will get you US credentialed and full QTS in less than a year, its very difficult not to complete those programs successfully. There are a lot of ways to get QTS and they arent exclusive of each other. You could do a PGCE or school direct and get your NQT, you could do a PGCEi teach in lower tier ISs and then apply for the assessment only route while being a lot closer to a Masters than the US routes.
The Uni route is easier, find a Masters program in as socially recognized/status granting institution as you can. An M.Ed in TESOL from Harvard, OxBridge, etc. is far, far more marketable than a degree from somewhere else.

[Dredge]

My suggestion, do a Masters program that allows for advancement, i.e., something in curriculum and instruction, or admin leadership, alongside an initial licensure track, if possible. That is, if you want to stay in international education.

[PsyGuy]

I disagree in part with @dredge, a C&I Masters isnt going to advance an IT into anything. Where i agree is that within IE if your going to do a Masters it should do more than get you into a classroom. I do agree with the advancement opportunity, do a Masters as an IT in Ed.Ld if your wanting to move into leadership or something like librarian, counselor, or Technology Coordinator.

[joe30]

I think any prospective IT should be looking to complete a masters as early as possible, simply because most school will pay an extra couple of thousand USD a year for it. The ROI of completing it in your mid/late 20s is thus a lot better than waiting until you're 50, and adds up to a not insignificant sum of money over a working life.

I'm planning to immediately enrol on a distance learning masters in Educational Leadership after finishing my PGCE. They cost around $7000-$10,000 in the UK, so it should pay for itself in 4-5 years. And you never know, it might get me into a leadership role one day, in which case it will have paid for itself several times over.

[Dredge]

@psyguy.... C&I would lead you to Curriculum Coordinator, then to Academic Director, of course there are other paths in IT, as in any private profession.

[PsyGuy]

@Dredge

Ed.Ld leads to there as well, and C&I programs are less likely to include a professional credential as part of the C&I track.

[seanyc4]

Thank you very much for your thorough and detailed answer. I can't thank you enough for helping me make sense of all the different routes. You're a star!

[shadowjack]

Please also be aware that more and more countries, especially in the Middle East at the moment, are refusing to recognize online education credentials. I know of a uni where you can work an 18 hour contact week for 5K as a lecturer in great housing and with good benefits - but they wouldn't hire anybody with an online masters.

My advice would be to try and do a blended masters - that way it meets the onsite requirements and you don't have to worry about any country you want to go to.

[PsyGuy]

Theres some validity to @SJs comment. The issue becomes more of what name is on the diploma and transcripts, and what does the Uni put on the transcripts (or not on the transcripts). If the Uni puts "online" or distance education of some kind than yes you will have problems. If the Uni is one of those for profit online Unis like UoP you are going to have a lot more scrutiny, and probably have the same problems. If your Uni is a traditional brick and mortar Uni (like a state university) and you just did the program online but it doesnt say so on the transcripts or degree then you will be fine.

[joe30]

Personally I think this program looks good, and am looking to complete it post-PGCE.

http://www.port.ac.uk/courses/education ... anagement/

Distance learning for two years at the University of Portsmouth. 4,200 GBP, or $5,500. You get an MA in Educational Leadership and Management - so will potentially be useful to access leadership roles. Even if you never end up getting a leadership position, just having an MA will give you $1000-$4000 more per year in many international schools, so it should pay for itself in a few years providing you get a school that pays a masters premium.

It's true that it's online so not great for the Middle East, but taking a year out to do a masters course on campus is much more difficult to justify from a ROI perspective. Let's say instead of doing an MA, you could earn $40,000 a year working in an international school. I'll throw in $5,000 worth of benefits too, so $45,000 total that you're foregoing by not working that year - plus the cost of an on-campus MA, which is going to be $5,000 at least. Now all of a sudden you have to claw back $50,000 extra with your MA before you're seeing profit, which while not impossible is certainly much less a value proposition than a cheap online MA just for the salary bump.

[vincentchase]

"The ROI of completing it in your mid/late 20s is thus a lot better than waiting until you're 50,"

@Joe30 - This is a good point and one that is often lost on people.

To put this into figures, let's say a teacher obtained a MEd at age 25 and received an annual stipend of $2000. If invested at a conservative annual return of 7% per annum, this teacher would have an additional $276,473* by the age of 60.

If the Med was obtained at age 50, then a relatively meagre $27,632* would be gained, barely cover the cost of the course.

As such, obtaining a MEd closer to 25 than 50, carries with it huge financial benefits.

* Note these calculations are not taking into account inflation, so the final figures could be considered to have a purchasing power equivalent to today's dollars.

[PsyGuy]

@vincentchase

Thats BS, first you have to assume that you will get a $2K difference in salary, and that the difference between service step and salary band is still weighted towards the salary band (if it takes you 2 years to get the advance degree, and your not working during that time, its 2 years of experience your not advancing on step).
Second, a 7% rate of return is not conservative, its more fantasy. An aggressive portfolio under very ideal conditions would see a 4% rate of return.
Third, you have to account for the loss income while pursuing the Masters, at the average IT salary you are looking at $30K over two years is $60K.
Fourth, as an entry level IT you may be pricing yourself out of some opportunities, you cost more with a Masters but as an entry level IT you dont bring much added value.
Finally, theres the attrition rate in education, spending $10K on a M.Ed if you leave the profession shortly after is coin wasted.

An IT shouldnt get a masters until the masters will do something more for them such as entry into administration, librarian, counselor, or tech.