TeachNow - Is it worth it?

Post Reply
markadams384
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 1:28 pm

TeachNow - Is it worth it?

Post by markadams384 »

Hi Everyone!

Im a 25 year old British Kinder English Teach currently working in Istanbul, Turkey - I have 3 years teaching experience and this year I work for the Semi-International IB school in Istanbul. I am doing my IB training and currently hold CELTA, and a Masters degree in Chemistry. I am now determined to become a licenced teacher but going back to the UK to train is not an option. My aim is to become competitive for international schools in Japan where I aim to move in 2 years.

Ive been looking at the Teach Now course : – it looks fantastic, easy to do whilst working and gives a state licence in the District of Colombia. From this course, there is no certificate awarded at the end, after completing the course and the required state exams you can directly acquire the state teaching licence.

This sounds great to me but I was wondering how useful this would be in reality – would international schools value the person for having the state teaching licence but no official teaching certificate? Or is the teacher just having the teaching licence the main thing that international schools look for in a candidate?

TeachNow also offers the opportunity to continue the course and also attain a Masters in Education – this is only 3 months extra work (but 7000 USD more!). The MEd is issued by their own school ‘Educator’ and not from an official university. Do you think this would add significant value to me as a candidate international teacher, or the teaching licence and experience would make me a strong candidate by itself? Do you believe the online courses are respected enough in the teaching world?

It is also not NCATE accredited, but has Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).Is this valued and respected?

This seems to be the only option to get a teaching licence for someone doing it online from outside the US or UK. Is there any recommendations - do you think getting the masters MEd from Eductor is worth it? Should I just leave it and go with my current certificates?

Thank you for any advice,

Mark
shadowjack
Posts: 2138
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: TeachNow - Is it worth it?

Post by shadowjack »

Do the Teach Now in Chemistry. also see if you can add physics. Can you teach physics? have a solid minor in it?

Then get out there - or teach while you are training.

I would not do my master's through them. As I recommended to another poster, try to work your way to a school that offers a SUNY master's cohort and cheap prices.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

@SJ

You cant practically do Teach Now in Chemistry, not unless you are already a chemistry IT in an accredited IS. The Teach Now field experience is 12 weeks, and no IS is going to give a laboratory class to a visiting IT for a term (since your not going to assign a partial term to a qualified IT, and bench them for 3 months supervising a visiting IT). At anything but a very large (elite) IS your not going to find more then one classroom and laboratory for chem. Its a very similar scenario for physics

You can do general science with teach now at lower secondary in multi-use classroom space, and then add chemistry and physics endorsements by examination after you are certified.
cleanplanet
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 8:29 am

Re: TeachNow - Is it worth it?

Post by cleanplanet »

I think it might be an interesting opportunity.
Post Reply