[stevekinfrance]

hi
I am new to this site but I hope someone will be able to help.

I have been in FRance for 8 years and 3 years ago decided to change from being a plasterer to an English teacher. Not such a massive move as I was a designer/salesman who owned companies in UK.

Recently I had an offer from a school to teach 18 hrs of English, they knew I had no 'Licence' nor a UK degree but such is the lack of teachers they asked me if I could start almost immediately . They said the Rectorate would not be an issue _ sadly I think it has become so.

Does anyone know of teachers allowed to teach without a licence or similar uk qualification. I teach for GRETA some french companies and for parents of kids at the very school I appear to be being excluded from by officialdom!

 

[_Sarah_]

In what sort of school have you been offered a job exactly?
In the public school sysem, teachers must have a Masters degree (a recent requirement) and must have passed the revelant national 'concours' (eg: CAPES exam for highschool teaching).

If it's a private language school or institution, I don't know if there are any regulations or if it's up to the discretion of the employer....

 

[Bevdeforges]

I don't know the specifics, but I do know that several years ago there was a push on in France to offer English training in the lowest grades in the school (maternelle or primaire) through games and songs with the kids. The schools in the Paris area started to hire a few American and British mothers (some with foreign teacher training or experience) but they were paid one-third to one-half as much as the lycée teachers who signed on for this "extra duty" in the primary schools. (One of the American mothers I knew at the time was married to a teacher of English in the lycée, so knew exactly how much less they were being paid.)

The program ended, and since then I haven't heard anything more about the public schools looking to hire outside the usual channels like that. Just be aware that being paid a fraction of what a "real" teacher (i.e. fonctionnaire) is paid may be one of the foregone conclusions, even if the rectorat comes around.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[Guest]

Maybe the job corresponds to that of an "assistant" ie foreign national, generally a student, who spends a year in a college or lycée as part of their own university course. In that case you would not need to be qualified but the pay would be pretty poor.

The Rectorats or Académies do offer jobs for foreign nationals without qualifications, usually on a short term basis. I was recruited through the site RECRUT'LANGUES to teach during the school holidays for groups of students wishing to improve their language skills. I didn't take it up in the end as I wasn't free when they needed me.

I also taught primary school children (CM1,CM2) when I lived in the Pyrenees for a couple of hours a week at the initiative of the Town Hall and paid for by them. This was in the 1980s. I don't have any teaching qualifications (I was a medical secretary).

So there is limited scope for unqualified foreign nationals, mainly though on a temporary basis.

 

[stevekinfrance]

The school is a college. Just to be clear this was a job as a supply teacher for short periods (I would not want to be a full time teacher) god forbid!

I teach outside the school system and many parents tell me they don't like the french way of teaching. many of my clients kids are left behind by teachers who pick up mixed ablity classes at 11 and cannot cope.

I have close links to the UK it's culture and music and kids love the interaction with teachers who have an english attitude. As I owned companies in the UK and have pattented ideas and machines I use life situations to teach. I can't believe it is possible that noone in france without a masters is used to teach 2nd language subjects, is it?

 

[contentedscot]

What could be the case here is management in the Rectorat making it quite clear to the staff in the school that they are in charge, not the school staff. I have come across this attitude in other fields - the superiority of management must be maintained even if this is to the detriment of children's education.

An ex- Minster of Education here was quoted last year as saying that half the senior civil servants in his ministry (including senior civil servants in the regions) should face a firing squad, and the other half should go to the gallows. Shades of Yes Minister.

It is probably a case here of the school needing to fight with the Rectorat on your behalf, if they really want you. Parents too are quite good at staging sit-ins.

Good luck.