IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning vs IB Workshop

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JasperTheCat
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2020 7:47 pm

IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning vs IB Workshop

Post by JasperTheCat »

Is there a different between IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning and IB Workshop Certificate? Which carries more weight? Also in terms of cost and duration, which cost more and which takes longer to complete. Is there a preference of one over the other by the prospective employer?
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning vs IB Workshop

Post by sid »

The first represents having taken a few graduate courses. The second is simply attendance at a three-day workshop, no course work component.
Obviously the first is more rigorous but neither is a teaching qualification so don’t get too excited.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

The T&L certificates are typically part of a degree program, often at the graduate/Masters level, they are typically rather involved. Workshop certificates represent about 17 contact hours often over a weekend if F2F or several weeks if online.
It depends who you ask, strictly apart from any degree, T&L certificates have more value at very foundational IBWSs and at IB regional offices, but outside that few IB ISs know or value them very highly. The rule is no amount of training equals any amount of experience, no one thinks youre a better or even capable IB IT based on certificates absent experience
dragonguy
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:09 pm

Re: IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning vs IB Workshop

Post by dragonguy »

I'm currently wrapping up my PYP T & L Certificate (of course they offer MYP and DP as well), it's 4 ½ University Courses:
Curriculum Processes
Teaching and Learning
Assessment and Evaluation
Professional Learning
Professional Learning Community (this is a less time consuming course requirement)


Each course is 10 weeks long. I chose to do mine via the University of Windsor, the total cost was $3000 Canadian/$2,300 USD. That was the cheapest program/University I could find. If you're working full time, taking one course at a time is manageable (I spend about an average of 4-6 hours a week working on it). If you take classes during the summer or not working you could take 2 classes at a time and finish rather quickly. I will have finished my program in less than a year.
I chose the T & L Certificate over taking workshops mostly because my current school has a pretty generous PD fund, I had extra time due to Covid and not being able to travel and all online teaching and of course, I do feel the certificate holds more weight than the workshop(s).
There’s about 40 Universities all over the world that offer online and face to face courses but like PsyGuy said, most are in conjunction with a Master’s Program. Since I already have my Masters, I wanted the quickest and cheapest way to complete it.
Like the others said, this is a certificate, not a certification. Time will tell, with me weather it was worth it or not but I figure if I’m a strong candidate for a job vs. another strong candidate and I this certificate and they don’t, at least I can talk the talk a little bit and some IB schools might be happy they won’t have to pay for some of my training. Like the others said, nothing beats actual IB teaching experience but for me, I’m too late in my career to go get that experience in Tier 3 schools in mainland China or the Middle East. Come job hunt time, If a IB better school in a better location was willing to hire me and having this certificate has something to do with, then it will be worth every penny. I might also play out the rest of my career never using or needed it and continue working in international schools that aren’t IB.
chemteacher101
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 2:57 pm

Re: IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning vs IB Workshop

Post by chemteacher101 »

An experienced, qualified teacher with a 3 day IB recognized workshop is worth more than an unqualified teacher with the IB T&L certificate.

If you are a qualified teacher with some IB experience, it's not worth getting the certificate over a regular workshop, unless you are doing it as a part of a Master's degree IMHO. Once you are qualified and have some IB experience, there is no extra benefit from that certificate over having done the 3 day Category 1 training...

If you are an unqualified teacher, I don't think either of those would make much difference. If you are qualified and have no IB experience, maybe the certificate might give you a slight edge, but probably it would be insignificant.. an experienced IB teacher with a workshop would still get the job over an inexperienced teacher with the certificate. Again, just IMHO.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

This is why the rule is no amount of training equals any amount of experience. To expand on @chemteacher101, an unqualified, uncredentialed IT with IB experience is more marketable than a qualified and credentialed IT without experience.
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