Jimwall

me and my wife are looking to move to Abu Dhabi.
At the moment I have a degree in English literature and I've been teaching for more than four years in korea. I was wondering what the likelihood of getting a decent job with my experience and a 120 hour tefl, 100 online and 20 in class. Would it make a huge difference if I got the celta or a 120 in class tefl? Would I even be able to get a decent job without them just based on my experience?
Many thanks.

reddiva

I don't think TOEFL people are paid very well here at all and you wouldn't earn enough to support yourself let alone your Wife.

Jimwall

Is that something you have experience with or just guessing? I've heard a lot about people moving to places like Abu Dhabi to teach and getting apartments paid for as part of the job as well a salary of 2 or 3 grand a month, I'm just checking if anyone has any exact knowledge on it and whether the CELTA or TEFL would mage a significant difference.

reddiva

Most of the decent schools in the UAE want a Masters degree or a BEd and candidates to have previous teaching experience and a teaching license from a country like the U.S or the U.K.
The ones that have the above ( I have many Teachers as friends here, I have lived here for 12 years and work in recruitment albeit not teaching now ) have the above and earn anything from 2000-3000GBP plus housing.

This comes direct from ADEC

So you want to teach in Abu Dhabi? Excellent choice! Before you apply to teaching jobs in UAE, let us review the basic requirements necessary to qualify. First off, most of the positions we recruit for in Abu Dhabi require a degree in education and a valid teaching license. When we say teaching license, we are not referring to a TEFL certificate or CELTA; you must be a licensed teacher, certified to teach one, or multiple, core subjects at the state, provincial or national level

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Jimwall

Okay, thanks for the quick response. My initial plan was to go home and get a PGCE or a masters in education, but there is a big issue with my wife getting a spousal visa for the UK, as it would be impossible if I'm going home to study.
Anyway I'll try to look at other options.

carcajou

I assume by "teach in Korea" you mean at a hagwon and not at a school.

The Gulf market is completely different from the Korean market.

You won't get anywhere with a government or private school without a teaching qualification + experience (which means you are very, very unlikely to be successful just getting a PGCE and then trying to rock up the Gulf for your first real teaching job). Up until a few years ago there were a few recruiters around who didn't realise that a hagwon wasn't a real school and that a CELTA wasn't a real teaching qualification, and so a few people could slip through every now and again. But they know that now.

Something might be around with the defence contractors wanting a TEFL teacher with CELTA DELTA etc. Also try ADVETI - they want TEFL and I think a teaching licence is just "preferred" and not a pre-requisite.

Jimwall

Jimwall

Jimwall

carcajou

Hagwons are not proper schools and do not require professionally trained staff. Hagwons are not run like proper schools (though to an untrained person - it may seem superficially similar). They also have different objectives and different legal requirements.
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This is why education departments and professionally trained school administrators don't accept CELTAs or hagwon experience in lieu of actual certification or qualification, and why you won't convince them it's broadly the same thing. Because it isn't.

Don't care if you are happy about that or not - it is what it is, and your upcoming PGCE training will highlight that for you.

In Western systems it may be possible to get a proper teaching job while studying for a teaching qualification - these temporary authorisations are called something like "limited authorities to teach" etc and are usually good for something like 2 years. In some instances the school wanting to hire you has to apply on your behalf. On some occasions an untrained teacher going through this process may get salary step credit for non-teaching professional experience. Your Korean experience may count for something there (it will definitely help in the PGCE or Masters admissions process). Be sure to obtain a formal job description for what you do now (it can't just say you were a "teacher" - it has to say what roles "teachers" performed there) so HR / personnel services can evaluate it for equivalency and possible salary step increments. You also need something that gives the exact dates you were employed through. There are different salary scales for trained and untrained teachers and these are widely published. Look for the collective bargaining agreements and not generic career web sites. When you get your qualification you will switch to the trained teacher scale but where you end up on that scale will depend on the policies of wherever you are.

Unfortunately there are no current provisions for Westerners to do this in the UAE, which only recently began a system of teacher training.

So I think you are better off exploring one of the angles discussed earlier, getting your qualification in the UK and working there for a few years, or trying a different Middle Eastern country. I believe lots if jobs in KSA for instance only ask for a CELTA or similar qualification.

Good luck.