The value of getting an additional degree?

[Phil]

I have a dilemma. I´ve got a 5-year degree from a European University from a few years ago that officially translates to a master of education (including two subjects to teach+ pedagogics). I have no bachelor degree. I have since taken three full semesters each in two additional subjects that I´d like to teach. My original plan was to leave it at that, but I´ve noticed that a lot of recruiting sites are only interested in your degrees, not in additional separate course work. The only way for me to include these courses in a degree is to take out a bachelor degree. This would indeed condense them into a degree, but it would also look pretty weird, having a bachelor done after a masters. The worst problem is that I´m afraid that for someone quickly browsing my CV, it would be interpreted as being my first degree, an hence that my masters degree is only two years, instead of the actual five. My claims to be qualified to teach four subjects would then not be very credible, especially since the education system my degrees are from will already be unfamiliar to a recruiter used to British and American degrees. For this reason I´m leaning towards not getting the degree. Any opinions?

[tdaley26]

As I see it your dilemma is lack of teacher certification. To teach in most schools you need to be certified to teach by a Government Agency responsible for education. Does your masters in education qualify you to teach? Most countries require an induction or probation period before issuing a teaching certificate or license. There is also the issue of curriculum. Most international schools run a version of the UK, US, or IB curriculum. An experienced teacher could switch from one to another, but a new teacher with no experience of either would find it hard to be hired. I hate to be discouraging, but to teach internationally, you need to get experience teaching in your present location.

[Phil]

Thanks for your reply! I forgot to mention that I have a teaching certificate and four years of employment at a high school. I´ve been teaching in English, but unfortunately in the not so well known national curriculum of my country.

[tdaley26]

Then in that case, I see no reason not to apply to international schools. While it is true that some prefer to have teachers whose certification is from an english speaking country, many schools hire teachers with certification from all over the world. The thing is that both your written and spoken english have to be fluent. In my school, we have a teacher from India, one from Malaysia and a Czech. But as a general rule they prefer native english speakers since english is the language of instruction. If you are a native speaker who just happened to have studied in a different country, that might actually be a point in your favor.

[Phil]

Yeah, I will definitely be applying, and I know my English will not be too much of an issue once I get to an interview, although I´m not a native speaker. My concern in this post however, is how to portray further education to an employer in a succinct enough way. Ideas anyone?

[lemonlily]

Two ideas....

You could have a Post-Certification Education category on your CV. OR You could include your post-cert courses under your Professional Development category.

For example, my CV has, in order:

Education
Certification
International Teaching Exp.
US teaching Exp.
Professional Development
Curriculum Experience
References

That's just my un-professional idea. I don't really see a point in getting a second BA. Can you get certification in the subjects that you took courses in? That would probably be the best way to market your versatility.

[Phil]

Yeah, getting the subject into my certification is not an issue, but since it´s a certificate from Scandinavia, recruiters will know very little about what weight that carries. In fact, because I´ve taken a large number of subjects, it may seem like they are handing out certificates left and right.

I´m certainly listing the courses on my CV. If the recruiter gets that far in his reading I don´t have a problem any more. The problem is that ISS, SEARCH, COIS, etc are mostly interested in registering your degrees. For example, I have done three full semesters of History (90 ECTS, with progression, long essays, etc). This would be enough to include in a degree, and enough to teach the subject in most schools, but on its own it seems to often be overlooked. The fact that many of my courses within the subjects are taken at different universities is not making a quick overview any easier. I have also heard that some schools will not/can not hire a teacher if the subject he is about to teach is not part of his degree. An additional degree would condense what I´ve done into something easily identifiable, but I see no way of doing it without causing further misunderstanding.