Options to speed up career

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USinVN
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:38 pm

Options to speed up career

Post by USinVN »

Hey all, like so many others, I'm a TEFL teacher living overseas who has taken a non-traditional path to get my teaching license. I went with the Teacher Ready route and have my Florida license in social science 6-12 and ESL K-12. I got my license very recently. I have 2 questions that I'd like help with, if possible.

1: My bachelor's degree is in a non-education field and has no relation to any school subject, really. To level up and make myself a more appealing candidate, I plan on getting a master's in education. I see that there are master's in education with a focus on teaching social studies. I could otherwise get a master's in education for about $4,000 less and in less time. Would it make sense to take the longer, more expensive route? Would it likely pay off in the end, or with a regular M.Ed or MAT and a license would I be just as appealing a candidate?

2: I'm currently working in a public school, teaching ESL using the Cambridge curriculum. The program I'm in is basically a bilingual program that the government has contracted out to my employer; the admins that I work with are Western, following Western teaching methods, etc. I may have the opportunity to teach social science in a local private school; a bilingual school, not an international school. To do this, I'd have to break my contract with my current employer and of course they wouldn't be pleased. I'm not sure if teaching in my desired subject would be worth burning a bridge. Is gaining experience worth losing a positive reference?

Thanks in advance for any help or thoughts.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

In direct reply to your inquiries:

1) No, not unless HOD is really your goal. A Masters should ideally do more for you then just get into a classroom, your already credentialed so any legitimate Masters will get you a coin increase in salary. If nothing else an Ed.Ld Masters has far more utility if nothing else interests you, otherwise your just paying more for essentially the same increase in coin and taking longer to get there.

2) Experience with utility is worth more than a reference, provided you dont need the reference to get the next job, as you can bury the current reference (even ghost it if needed) over the next and upcoming job and reference. Even if it wasnt the current reference doesnt sound like it would be worth much as its coming from the ESOL field.
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