Go Back  British Expats > Working Abroad > Working Abroad by Profession > Teaching
Reload this Page >

Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Old Jun 12th 2008, 9:45 am
  #1  
Just Joined
Thread Starter
 
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2
Margie32 is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a PGCE in Spain? Or online? I live in Barcelona, and I really want to get into "proper" teaching, after a few years of working in academies. The problem is that I don't have quite enough qualifications to teach in Catalan secondary schools, and the biggest barrier to doing that is that the powers that be in Madrid keep refusing to recognise my degree. So I've had a re-think, and as there are a lot of international schools here, I thought that maybe doing a PGCE is the way to go. The only problem is that I'm about to get married and my soon-to-be husband cannot relocate right now, so if I only had the option of doing a PGCE in the UK it would mean leaving him for a year. Something which I'm obviously not that keen on doing!

Can anyone give me some good advice?

Cheers,
Margie
Margie32 is offline  
Old Jun 12th 2008, 9:53 am
  #2  
BE Forum Addict
 
Australia_bound?'s Avatar
 
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: In a house
Posts: 2,590
Australia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond reputeAustralia_bound? has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Originally Posted by Margie32
Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a PGCE in Spain? Or online? I live in Barcelona, and I really want to get into "proper" teaching, after a few years of working in academies. The problem is that I don't have quite enough qualifications to teach in Catalan secondary schools, and the biggest barrier to doing that is that the powers that be in Madrid keep refusing to recognise my degree. So I've had a re-think, and as there are a lot of international schools here, I thought that maybe doing a PGCE is the way to go. The only problem is that I'm about to get married and my soon-to-be husband cannot relocate right now, so if I only had the option of doing a PGCE in the UK it would mean leaving him for a year. Something which I'm obviously not that keen on doing!

Can anyone give me some good advice?

Cheers,
Margie
Doubt it'd be possible, how would you do the placements required and have some able to supervise you and assess you? Never heard of it ever been done
Australia_bound? is offline  
Old Jun 12th 2008, 10:42 am
  #3  
BE Forum Addict
 
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,905
Gems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond reputeGems has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

I dont know of any place that would allow you to do it in Spain.

I considered this when we moved to Europe and couldnt find any University that would do it. All the UK ones require UK placements.
Open University does PGCE but require UK placements. So you would need to go to UK for a year.

Only place Ive heard is I think Dubia (via UK university), and think Singapore via Australia university.

Gems
Gems is offline  
Old Jun 12th 2008, 4:15 pm
  #4  
Heading to WA
 
roamer25's Avatar
 
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 197
roamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really niceroamer25 is just really nice
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

There's an Irish one very like the British one, from a college called Hibernia, but like the UK ones, requires a placement in its country, so an Irish placement.

But, I hate to put a dampner on this... if Spain won't recognise your degree NOW, it's incredibly unlikely that doing a PGDE will alter that.
In most countries, both your main degree and teaching qualifications are checked for suitability when you apply to the relevant teaching authority.

You may have looked into this already, so I may be wrong but do be careful and check it out. The EU Directive on teaching is very clear that they look at both the BA and the PGDE before granting suitability to teach.
roamer25 is offline  
Old Jun 13th 2008, 4:54 pm
  #5  
Just Joined
Thread Starter
 
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2
Margie32 is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Originally Posted by roamer25
There's an Irish one very like the British one, from a college called Hibernia, but like the UK ones, requires a placement in its country, so an Irish placement.

But, I hate to put a dampner on this... if Spain won't recognise your degree NOW, it's incredibly unlikely that doing a PGDE will alter that.
In most countries, both your main degree and teaching qualifications are checked for suitability when you apply to the relevant teaching authority.

You may have looked into this already, so I may be wrong but do be careful and check it out. The EU Directive on teaching is very clear that they look at both the BA and the PGDE before granting suitability to teach.
Thanks for your reply. I probably didn't make my original message very clear re. recognition of my degree.

In Spain, you have to do something called "homologation of your title". I have an MA in English, so pretty straightforward you might think. But if they think that the course you did in Britain isn't similar enough to the equivalent course in Spain, then they refuse to homologate it. Which is what has happened to me.

If I did a PGCE I would bypass all that, as I would then apply to British/International schools here, who would recognise my original degree for what it is, and not require me to homologate it.
Margie32 is offline  
Old Jun 15th 2008, 5:48 pm
  #6  
Forum Regular
 
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 294
lisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant futurelisajhb has a brilliant future
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

hey margie. I know you said you didnt want to go to the uk to do your pgce but you might as well.you could always fly back and forth a bit. then you have got your pgce in your hand in no time. time flies girl. then you would be laughing and could apply to the international and british schools and so on. have you thought about getting on to a course that starts this september? may not be too late you know. stop arsing about and trying to do things by halves long distance and bite the bullet and go for it!
by the way, why only secondary? thought about primary? i am starting a pgce primary with italian this sep at canterbury. i know for a fact that they are looking for people to fill the places on their primary modern languages course. its to do with the new gov initiative to get languahe teachers into primary schools, and between you, me and the rest of the forum, they are crting out for people with languages to take up the course. look at it like a back door to the pgce, as other courses are notorously competitive. by the way you get an all expenses paid month in the country of which you are studying the language, in your case spain.
lisajhb is offline  
Old Nov 18th 2008, 10:25 pm
  #7  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1
Butt3rfly is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Hi, I was in the same position as you and decided to come to the UK to do my PGCE. However, I think that there's a university in the UK which will let you do a PGCE in Spain or Dubai, although I have to say, I feel so supported in a UK unversity - a PGCE is an incredible amount of work, and there is plenty of theory and hard work to be getting on with. Unless you live near an academic library with books in English, I can't see how doing it in Spain could possibly provide you with the same rigorous preparation for teaching.

I think it is the University of Sunderland which provides the course - see http://pgcespain.com/en/who.php for more info.

Hope that helps
Butt3rfly is offline  
Old Nov 20th 2008, 4:56 am
  #8  
¿Dónde estoy?
 
lynnxa's Avatar
 
Joined: Jun 2004
Location: my paradise - Jávea
Posts: 13,330
lynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond reputelynnxa has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Originally Posted by Margie32
Thanks for your reply. I probably didn't make my original message very clear re. recognition of my degree.

In Spain, you have to do something called "homologation of your title". I have an MA in English, so pretty straightforward you might think. But if they think that the course you did in Britain isn't similar enough to the equivalent course in Spain, then they refuse to homologate it. Which is what has happened to me.

If I did a PGCE I would bypass all that, as I would then apply to British/International schools here, who would recognise my original degree for what it is, and not require me to homologate it.


the PGCE is almost totally classroom based - so I don't quite see how you could do that in Spain

you might, however find that some International schools will take you with your current degree


AFAIK you are actually 'more qualified' than the heads of the International schools around here. I know that the head of one of the upper schools has just a BA, and I believe that at least one primary school head has no degree at all
lynnxa is offline  
Old Apr 27th 2009, 12:19 pm
  #9  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1
battie is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Hi,

am thinking of doing the same myself. check out
http://pgcespain.com/en/who.php
they've been offering a PGCE in spain for 3 years - done as correspondence course with british university, all practicals in british schools in spain.
battie is offline  
Old Dec 11th 2009, 5:01 am
  #10  
MrB
Just Joined
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4
MrB is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has started this international pgce course? I am teaching English in Japan at the moment and hope to come back to Europe in 2010, ideally Spain.

I have contacted the school but am struggling to get information about the course. My main concern is the fact the qualification will not allow you to teach in the UK or Ireland after. This is not a priority at the moment, but who knows about the future. Also, given the current job situation perhaps I might not be able to get employment in Spain directly after the course.

I have an easy, secure job here in Japan, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush as they say, but I would dearly love to live and teach in Spain.

OK, thanks for all your help! Very appreciated.
MrB is offline  
Old Dec 15th 2009, 1:27 pm
  #11  
Forum Regular
 
grapefruit's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 94
grapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nicegrapefruit is just really nice
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Originally Posted by Gems
I dont know of any place that would allow you to do it in Spain.

I considered this when we moved to Europe and couldnt find any University that would do it. All the UK ones require UK placements.
Open University does PGCE but require UK placements. So you would need to go to UK for a year.

Only place Ive heard is I think Dubia (via UK university), and think Singapore via Australia university.

Gems
The Dubai one is through Sunderland but it's not the same as a proper PGCE, there's a question mark about your status at the end of it.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/university-...rland-pgce.php

I thought there was another PGCE started this year in Dubai. I forget which university and can't find it now. Will update if I do. Stafford or Strathclyde I think.
grapefruit is offline  
Old Dec 15th 2009, 10:11 pm
  #12  
MrB
Just Joined
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4
MrB is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Yeah they are all PGCE international. I have enquired with PGCE Spain as thats where I would like to teach for a few years, same thing. They explained that you have 5 years to return to UK and get QTS status, but she could not say for definite because nobody had ever done it!!
MrB is offline  
Old Dec 17th 2009, 4:07 pm
  #13  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 25
spanishdancer is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

I am supposed to be doing the course which will be done in conjunction with Nottingham University. They haven´t given me much info despite already asking for the fees to be paid. They say that it is starting in February but I am still waiting for term dates, course information etc. I am starting to worry as they don´t seem very organised. The lack of QTS status worries me a bit having chatted to teacher friends but since I don´t plan to return to the UK in the near future I am not too worried. Nevertheless, I cannot afford to spend money on a course which might not lead to anything.

PM me if you want to chat PGCEi.
spanishdancer is offline  
Old Dec 18th 2009, 1:05 am
  #14  
MrB
Just Joined
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4
MrB is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

I tried to msg you but I need to make 3 posts on forum before I can pm.

I completely understand your feelings on the course, basically it is the exact same for me. Everything seems chaotic, the email responses, the information available. Were you included on the mail last last week about the course deferred until february? It all seems strange. Plus the added doubt over future QTS status.

Hopefully I can pm you now!
MrB is offline  
Old Dec 18th 2009, 7:50 am
  #15  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 25
spanishdancer is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Doing a PGCE outside of Britain

Yes I did receive that email. When they say the course starts in Feb I haven´t a clue what they mean. Will there be meeting for us all? I would a least like to be able to plan my year.
spanishdancer is offline  

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.