Teaching in VEC & FE schools

Pubcloser

I am 38 and in full time employment as a HR Manager and I have worked as a HR or health and safety professional for the last 10 years. I have just received my registration number from the Teaching Council that allows me to teach Economics and Business in VEC and FE schools.

I desperately want to teach and would be happy to take a salary drop, however I have a family and need to work full time or close enough to it.

I may be looking in the wrong place but I cannot seem to find any jobs for VEC's or FE schools advertised and on top of this all the doom and gloom on the boards about no teaching jobs has me pretty deflated.

All I want is a chance and I know I am made for teaching. has anyone any tips, advice, experience that you could give me.

I have experience tutoring FETAC courses at night.

gaeilgegrinds1

Well the lack of jobs isn't a new thing but has got steadily worse. What I would say about VECs from my experience is ANYTHING can make you stand out, athletics experience, musicals, debating, anything. I went for an interview in the VEC and all those things were brought up. I trained a team while still doing my degree, that school could not keep me on but the over-the-phone reference I got was a definate help. I know when you have a family etc it is hard to get around to all that but I think it might just be about thinking outside the box when writing CVs and in interviews. Other than that, have you tried all the Youthreach, Traveller Centres and Dochas? Once you get any job you are more employable in my opinion. Best of luck

TheDriver

Welcome to the profession pubcloser. I'd say you are up against it to be honest and theres a right flood of business grads teaching in last number of years. You might pick up hours etc but with a family to support, that probably wouldn't be enough.
Best of luck, its a tough road ahead of you.
P.S. Be prepared for questions at interview about why you didn't go teaching 15 years ago, it gets asked a good bit recently with all the people getting into the profession.
Lastly, you don't seem to have a PGDE done, that could right come against you even for VEC schools as its expected.

Pubcloser

Thanks folks for the honest feedback. All I can do is apply and apply and hope lady luck is on my side along the way.

Unfortunately I feel deep down it may be an unattainable dream, but who knows.

looksee

If you have Teacher Registration you must have a teaching qualification at this stage? I don't think you can be registered without one.

You may have to be prepared to take hours in a couple of different places to start with. You will not do any better than getting hours at this stage and you would need maybe 14 to make a minimum income.

There would be no harm sending a simple cv to the fetac providers in your area - not the VEC, the actual colleges. Most if not all of them will say no thanks, but your name is there (that's how I got my job, but there were some exceptional circumstances which worked out for me). VEC jobs in my area were advertised over the past month.

Try and find a special point in your experience that would be useful. You might be employed as a Business teacher, but if you can offer other skills it might just swing the job for you. Work experience modules come to mind. How are you with computers? Is there a useful program you could offer? Have a look through the courses offered by the various providers you might contact and see if there is anything you can offer that is in that area. Don't necessarily claim to be able to teach it, just mention that you have a sound knowledge of it.

Definitely make contact with the place where you have done evening classes - send in your cv and mention that you have been doing evening classes etc. Try and get more hours in evening classes, it can be a good way of getting your name and face known.

And as gaelgrinds1 said, try Youthreach, FAS, etc, they are all routes into the same area.

missmol2010

mmmm you're in a tricky situation, economics is rarely if ever a PLC subject and business teachers in FE/plc colleges are plentiful and usually management struggle to fill the timetables of all those permanent staff. A lot of those would also teach computerised accounts, communications etc too.

In the colleges that also have a secondary school attached you would be steeped in luck to get a job because they will definately require a teaching qualification and the secondary school business teachers with this often pick up hours in the plc dept.

You probably need to build a stronger cv at the very least for the time being because as you have realised you are in a battle for scarce jobs and teaching council registration is only a bare minimum recognition of the suitability of your degree for specific subjects. Plus you dont mention any kind of teaching or training qualification, even the Train the Trainer one, that wouldnt help with trying to get work from private providers who dont need to recognise teaching council registration. You could look at the part time postgrad in teaching in DCU also.