The International Schools Review Forum

Currently I'm a grade 7 generalist overseas and I have a geography degree. Next year I will be teaching grade 7 science and math only. I am quite happy about this, as this is what I enjoy teaching the most.

Now I'm thinking perhaps I should up my qualifications in math. I could go one of two ways; I could do a masters in math / science education or do a few undergraduate math courses. I quite like the idea of doing undergrad courses as I can do them at my own pace. I wouldn't be aiming for a particular time scale, but would aim for doing 30 credits over the long term.

I have no intention of going beyond grade 8. What would give me the greater advantage, doing a masters or accumulating additional undergrad courses?

I do not think that doing a few maths courses at UG level will help much, schools will be looking for a maths qualification.

The MA will open many doors later in your career, but would take longer to do.

To be clear, do you have a Master's degree in any subject? If you do, then undergraduate courses would be fine. If you do not already hold a Master's degree, I would get one. Math being a great field in which to do so.

The main 2 things that are important are your certification and experience.

I am doing a ACP for my mathematics teaching license. I only have a business degree though, so I will have some more hurdles to overcome than you.

Can you not just study yourself, and do an add on license for middle grades math? I would do that.

Then later on I would get my Masters in Administration.

My certification is K-12, it is not subject specific, so there is no need to get an extra license where I come from.

I don't have a masters. I have a four year BA Hons and a 18 month B.Ed.

I guess what I want to do it make sure my resume looks good and doesn't throw up any worrying questions for recruiters ("he's teaching math and science, but he doesn't have a qualification in either").

As mentioned, I don't want to teach beyond grade 8. I guess I am trying to move from being an upper elementary teacher to a middle school teacher.

I'd be interested to hear about your course, Calipro.

Most states allow you to add on a certification if you already hold one by simply taking and passing the required exam.

So you wouldnt need a program like im doing imo

But the program I am doing is teacherready.

I imagine you are coming from Canada? There are no states in the USA that have an EC-12 generalist certificate.

Certification makes you legal, but really what recruiters and admins want is someone who knows their subject, especially when it comes to something like math, where many teachers have none math degrees and backgrounds and when coming from somewhere like the USA where math skills arent as strong as say S. Korea, many teachers struggle with advance mathematics.

Having a background/experience in middle school grade 6-8 math is not going to impress a recruiter, where the expectation is that a secondary teacher is expected to be able to teach 6-12, even in IB schools where your hired for MYP, that still goes through 10th grade an a recruiter is going to expect that you could step into DIP as well.

Additional hours or an advance degree are not going to mean much when directly considering your goals. A recruiter and admin is going to assume that if you can teach grade 7 math you can teach grade 8 math. it would be odd having a candidate who declared that they were comfortable teaching 7th grade math, but 8th grade math would be outside their skill set.

A masters degree will increase your overall marketability, and math education would be a good option, but any M.Ed is going to add about the same value to your resume.

PsyGuy - Not to thread hijack, but would someone with a B.S. in Mathematics, 1 year of experience as a High School math teacher at a Thai bilingual school, and a new teaching license in Year 6-12 Mathematics (also through TeacherReady) be in a good position to find employment at an international school? I have an additional 4 years of overseas experience teaching ESL, but I assume that won't count for anything.

So, what I've taken from this so far is that, as K-12 certified teacher, but basically an elementary generalist (albeit, up to grade 7), there is no way to become a math teacher up to grade 8 (covering middle school where I qualified), without having a math degree. Also, no amount of extra credits (lets say 30 additional credits) in relevant math courses is going to make me appealing to a recruiter as a math teacher (up to grade 8).

That's a toughy. I'm going to teach math and science next year anyway, because, 1. I have been requested to do so, 2. that's what I enjoy, and 3. I think I'm pretty good at it (yes, I realize this is my opinion only).

How would it affect me when applying for elementary positions in the future?

Marieh, you are going to get a lot more responses if you start your own thread.

Marieh,

you can likely find a job at a 2nd tier school. You most likely won't find anything right away at a first tier. Note that there are always exceptions, hence the "likely" parts!

Hope that helps!

@marieh

The ESOL experience counts for nothing. Would you be in a "good" position, no, but you would be marketable in the lower tier schools. The problem is your resume is light on experience but solid on credentials. the 1 year math in a "thai bilingual school" isnt really better then the ESOL experience, and since you just got certified (im assuming the thai school is where you did your certification field work), you really have zero experience. You are certified and actually have a degree in maths, and thats the strongest part of your resume. To a recruiter that means i can put you in calculus and feel comfortable you know your stuff. As a recruiter my concern would be "Can you teach it?" Lots of really smart people are experts in their field, but cant transfer that knowledge. However, most admins believe that they can "mentor someone to be a teacher".

Third tier schools will take a shot on you, 2nd tier schools in hardship locations may as well, and thats all you need to build the experience needed to move up the IT career ladder.


@Helen Back

In secondary at an IS your not an anything teacher if you cant teach it up to grade 12. If you had 30 hours of math courses assuming they went up to Calculus, then your no longer an "up to grade 8" math teacher, your a math teacher. The self imposed limitation of "grade 8" just doesnt sell for a recruiter. Why higher a math teacher that can only teach 3 of 7 years, when what matters for a school is the qualification level (A levels/6th form/IGCSE/AP/DIP/Dip) of their program. Its purposely handicapping the school.