Hi all,
I currently teach in the UK as a French teacher in an academy. It's my 2nd year of teaching. I have a PGCE in MFL + QTS and Induction completed (NQT). I also hold a BA in English done in France.
I am an active Search Associates candidate because I was thinking of starting an international career abroad next year as a French teacher (August 2017, I am considering Germany especially to start with, Asia later).
Now the thing is, having taught for 2 years (3 with my PGCE) I now know that it might not be the career I'd like to pursue in the long-run. In fact, I have always wanted to become a librarian, so I am thinking that instead of moving abroad straight away to find a job as a French teacher, I could do a CILIP master in Library Science in the UK. Then I would become a qualified Librarian, and could potentially use my 2 years teaching experience to find a job as a librarian in an international school straight away after my master, which would be August 2018.
My question :
- Do you think that BA + PGCE + 2yrs teaching experience in the UK + MA in Library Science could get me a position as a librarian in an international school (I would consider many countries, especially China). I want to think it is possible but would appreciate any advice, especially regarding the fact I'm not a native speaker (French) + would have no library experience except the MA.
Thanks
MFL teacher in the UK considering IS Librarian positions
Response
Librarians are a niche field. A lot of them in IE have a lot more experience than the minimum entry into IE, and they have experience operating a library program which now includes a lot of technology proficiency.
Your resume is a lot of white space as it is, as a librarian its even whiter. How would that interview go "Can you provide us some examples how library services can integrate within the classroom?" You can pull something out of the air, but it wont be experience, or actual implementation. "What role does technology have in shaping student use of the library?" Your going to theorize some hypothetical response, but you dont know if it works, would work, or can work.
What are your technology skills and proficiency? In a lot of small ISs the technology department are locals who just replaces hardware and reinstall disk images. They will change a lamp in your projector, run you cable, reset a password but Instructional Technology is provided by the librarian. A librarian is often a junior administrator, on the same level as the counselor. In an IS with a light leadership team, you may find yourself being the academic coordinator/AP/VP/DP. You may also find yourself being a technology IT, or a number of other tasking roles.
Understand with your resume, what type of library do you think you will have? Some IS libraries are really little more than a media center without any media. Imagine a classroom, in one corner on the side you have a blanket or rug on the floor and some throw pillows. In the middle of the room are a handful of computers running pirated or open source software. You have 6 book shelves, 3 on each of the side walls. One wall is all instructional reading guides and ESL support books. The other wall contains some copies of Harry Potter, Twilight, the Hobbit, and some extra copies of classroom book sets with some old magazines. Your circulation database is a spreadsheet, or an app youve downloaded to your iPhone that scans a bar code, because your IS wont pay for a proper circulation database and tracking solution.
You start your day by spending a couple hours of the day cleaning up your computers and trying to get them to work. Then you go through your circulations and email parents about items your students have checked out. Then you go to a meeting where you find out you have some administrative documentation task. In the afternoon ITs int he primary division bring their students down for reading time, so that they can get 30 minutes relief and prep time. You spend 3 hours reading the same story in a plastic chair while the students stare at you from the reading area. After school your ASP is students who want to borrow items. As your about to leave, you get an email from the principal that a student will becoming down at 9:00 for language and reading support for 45 minutes, and you have no idea what to prepare. Not every library is a SOTA resource, media and learning center.
You dont like what your doing now as a classroom IT, but understand that students dont take exams or receive marks in library. Library funding and resources can be highly unstable, they are one of the first high cost and expenses an IS can cut or reduce, and not see appreciable effects for a year or two. That happens because your job becomes keeping everything together, because if the IS cuts the library (and it happens), they dont need a librarian anymore. A n increasing number of ISs are shifting to virtual stacks or outsourcing library resources to municipal libraries. The rational is, if your not going to do your library well, than dont do it at all. Its much cheaper to create a media center and a portal to external resources than it is to maintain your own collections. An ISs library services can be very volatile.
I understand the attraction. If you are well resourced, once youve established your program, youc an spend a lot of time watching cat videos on you tube and you can go to the bathroom when you want, and dont have to deal with parents. Most leadership leaves you alone, except for the meetings and the occasional "do you need anything?) In that scenario, your only bad days will be when the IS WiFi goes down, and your computers are all wired.
The rule is there is an appointment for anyone if you will accept any thing, you just might not like where you have to be for a number of years until you get somewhere that starts to resemble what you are looking for.
Lastly, I would strongly suggest looking at the FSs and lycee ISs.
Your resume is a lot of white space as it is, as a librarian its even whiter. How would that interview go "Can you provide us some examples how library services can integrate within the classroom?" You can pull something out of the air, but it wont be experience, or actual implementation. "What role does technology have in shaping student use of the library?" Your going to theorize some hypothetical response, but you dont know if it works, would work, or can work.
What are your technology skills and proficiency? In a lot of small ISs the technology department are locals who just replaces hardware and reinstall disk images. They will change a lamp in your projector, run you cable, reset a password but Instructional Technology is provided by the librarian. A librarian is often a junior administrator, on the same level as the counselor. In an IS with a light leadership team, you may find yourself being the academic coordinator/AP/VP/DP. You may also find yourself being a technology IT, or a number of other tasking roles.
Understand with your resume, what type of library do you think you will have? Some IS libraries are really little more than a media center without any media. Imagine a classroom, in one corner on the side you have a blanket or rug on the floor and some throw pillows. In the middle of the room are a handful of computers running pirated or open source software. You have 6 book shelves, 3 on each of the side walls. One wall is all instructional reading guides and ESL support books. The other wall contains some copies of Harry Potter, Twilight, the Hobbit, and some extra copies of classroom book sets with some old magazines. Your circulation database is a spreadsheet, or an app youve downloaded to your iPhone that scans a bar code, because your IS wont pay for a proper circulation database and tracking solution.
You start your day by spending a couple hours of the day cleaning up your computers and trying to get them to work. Then you go through your circulations and email parents about items your students have checked out. Then you go to a meeting where you find out you have some administrative documentation task. In the afternoon ITs int he primary division bring their students down for reading time, so that they can get 30 minutes relief and prep time. You spend 3 hours reading the same story in a plastic chair while the students stare at you from the reading area. After school your ASP is students who want to borrow items. As your about to leave, you get an email from the principal that a student will becoming down at 9:00 for language and reading support for 45 minutes, and you have no idea what to prepare. Not every library is a SOTA resource, media and learning center.
You dont like what your doing now as a classroom IT, but understand that students dont take exams or receive marks in library. Library funding and resources can be highly unstable, they are one of the first high cost and expenses an IS can cut or reduce, and not see appreciable effects for a year or two. That happens because your job becomes keeping everything together, because if the IS cuts the library (and it happens), they dont need a librarian anymore. A n increasing number of ISs are shifting to virtual stacks or outsourcing library resources to municipal libraries. The rational is, if your not going to do your library well, than dont do it at all. Its much cheaper to create a media center and a portal to external resources than it is to maintain your own collections. An ISs library services can be very volatile.
I understand the attraction. If you are well resourced, once youve established your program, youc an spend a lot of time watching cat videos on you tube and you can go to the bathroom when you want, and dont have to deal with parents. Most leadership leaves you alone, except for the meetings and the occasional "do you need anything?) In that scenario, your only bad days will be when the IS WiFi goes down, and your computers are all wired.
The rule is there is an appointment for anyone if you will accept any thing, you just might not like where you have to be for a number of years until you get somewhere that starts to resemble what you are looking for.
Lastly, I would strongly suggest looking at the FSs and lycee ISs.
Re: MFL teacher in the UK considering IS Librarian positions
Thank you so much for your detailed reply psyguy. A lot of food for thought so I can take an informed decision.
Can I just ask what you mean by: "Lastly, I would strongly suggest looking at the FSs and lycee ISs."
FSs = Free Schools? Do lycée ISs tend to hire native french among their staff even in Admin position such as librarian, or did you suggest me to have a look as a French teacher?
Thanks again psyguy.
Can I just ask what you mean by: "Lastly, I would strongly suggest looking at the FSs and lycee ISs."
FSs = Free Schools? Do lycée ISs tend to hire native french among their staff even in Admin position such as librarian, or did you suggest me to have a look as a French teacher?
Thanks again psyguy.
Reply
@sliHSK
FS = French School, the network of oversea French ISs abroad (outside of France). FSs and Lycess hire non french staff and faculty. The system gets little attention in IE, because french fluency (at near native level) is often required as French is the language of instruction.
FS = French School, the network of oversea French ISs abroad (outside of France). FSs and Lycess hire non french staff and faculty. The system gets little attention in IE, because french fluency (at near native level) is often required as French is the language of instruction.