Thinking of going teaching but....

userJC

Hi everyone, this is quite a personal post so I guess I'd appreciate as much advice as possible.

I have a BA in French and German. I graduated last year. I took a year out because I didn't want to go straight into a postgraduate course.

I've just felt the prospect of going abroad and teaching english for a while as a teaching assistant. Fair Enough.

Here is where it gets tricky though:
It's just regarding the medical history that I feel a little concerned.

It's nothing major, well to me it's not.

I suffered from mild anxiety and minor depression for a few years. I took medication a low dosage. I am fine now.

Obviously I will have to include this on my medical history. What I'm very worried about is that this is going to work against me and basically they won't consider me suitable to be around children. And is this going to follow me if I decide to go into teaching full time after?

I don't want to elaborate too much on those years; there were family issues and I was bullied severely for a while.

Advice/Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
J.

Dionysus

userJC wrote: »

Obviously I will have to include this on my medical history.

I don't see any reason why you would have to mention any of that. If you went missing for ten years or so there would be questions about where you've been and why but even then you could just fill in the years. People generally just want to know can you do the job and only want to know medical stuff if it's impacting on your ability to do the work.

Loads of people take a year out - and many take a lot more than that.


PS: I don't even remember a question on any of the PGDE forms about my health.

thesecretforme

For the JET programme I have to include a medical history.

I just am concerned about it.

gaeilgegrinds

Don't be worried please. Ring first to find out is you need to put it down, if you do don't worry. Anxiety and the medication associated with it are very common, it is not something to let you tie yourself up in knots over.

Dionysus

thesecretforme wrote: »

For the JET programme I have to include a medical history.

I just am concerned about it.

You actually don't have to give any information to anybody about anything. For God's sake: you're Irish - don't tell anbody anything .

In the bigger scheme of things, it undoubtedly does not matter. They want native speaking teachers, and you are one. They simply want to know can you do the job. If you have experience you will be better placed than anybody else.

But really and seriously I would not tell anybody anything and I would expect it would be absolutely fine. When it comes to the interview it is often a good idea to be more open. That's my experience, but by no means feel obliged to compromise your personal life for any interview. It's not a drama: each interviewee is just one of many. If you feel accepted in the interview and they ask the "missing" question, then answer it frankly and with humility. In my experience, that goes a long, long way in that scenario. You will probably even be very surprised with your own frankness when you emerge from the agallaimh.

Bain taitneamh as!

loveroflight

Good luck, Userjc.

I honestly think you should keep your medical history to yourself. It's your own business. It would not help when applying for jobs. And in this climate you need to give yourself every advantage that you can.

Corksham

loveroflight wrote: »

Good luck, Userjc.

I honestly think you should keep your medical history to yourself. It's your own business. It would not help when applying for jobs. And in this climate you need to give yourself every advantage that you can.

agreed completely with this poster