Every few months, there’s a debate on international teacher forums about the necessity of having valid teaching qualifications. Whereas in countries like the UK it is a prerequisite for working in schools, International and Language schools abroad tend not to place as much emphasis on it, resulting in a teaching team with a wide range of education and experience. Many international schools insist on a bachelors degree for visa purposes, but that is often the extent of the qualification they require. So, is it necessary to have a teaching qualification? Do qualifications equal a good teacher? 

 

 

What Makes A Good Teacher?

In a recent survey conducted on my blog, I found that over half of teachers who participated didn’t have a teaching qualification because they didn’t feel it was necessary. Most had a bachelors degree, but is that enough to make someone a good teacher? 

In my experience, the ability to teach is partly something that comes naturally with personality traits like patience, empathy, ability to work with children and tolerance, however gained skills also have an essential role to play. This is where teacher training comes into play. Teacher training covers things like planning effective lessons, child psychology, behaviour management and much more, which are things that have to be taught. Nobody is born writing amazing lesson plans or with an understanding of developmental psychology, and so it makes sense that a good teacher is one who has undergone training to learn these skills. Regardless of experience level, I have always been able to tell a qualified teacher from one who isn’t, simply by watching them teach a lesson, plan activities, or interact with students. This doesn’t mean that staff who haven’t undergone training are awful at their jobs, but there is a clear difference that can’t be swept under the carpet. Every certification I’ve completed has added value to my work, and it is often when someone finally does training that they realise how valuable it really is. I’ve worked with many team members over the years who say they are excellent teachers and know it all, only to meet them after training and hear that they learned so much and are forever changed as a result. 

Being a good teacher, in my experience, means having a range of skills both inherent and learned, and so training is essential. 

 

Subject Knowledge vs. Knowledge of Teaching 

Schools often have a skewed idea of what ‘qualified’ really means, and will sometimes hire a doctor of mathematics rather than someone with a bachelors degree and a teaching license.  This is where a lot of the problem starts, as it creates a system that doesn’t value teaching qualifications. 

Being a pharmacist who likes children does not necessarily mean someone will be a good science teacher, because teaching is about more than understanding content. I once worked with a teacher who did degrees in mathematics, but when it came to teaching the concepts to children, he struggled. His in depth knowledge of math meant that he couldn’t understand why a Year 3 student found it hard to understand place value. In this case, his high level of subject knowledge and inability to understand why it could be hard for others, hindered his class’ progress. Having a teaching qualification would have done wonders to help him reach his students. 

I am a believer that someone who has trained to deliver content can teach pretty much anything. At school level, content is rarely so complex that a teacher would not be able to read a lesson plan, check the books, and teach it effectively, especially at primary level. This is why it’s common to see qualified teachers with experience teaching a wide range of subjects. Of course, having knowledge of the subject does help, but in my experience it is all about having real content delivery skills. These skills come with training. Learning how to break down any topic and teach it in a multitude of ways is an essential skill for any teacher.

What Can Schools Do?

The perception of what counts as being ‘qualified’ often comes from schools, and so schools have an important role to play in selecting qualified teachers, however many schools have unqualified workforces and feel like they can’t do anything about it. Check out my quick tips below to change what ‘qualified’ means in your school. 

• With HR, decide on a set of minimum qualifications for new hires. It is important to choose your minimum based on what is available in your area, so that you don’t set the bar too high and end up with no new staff or having to lower your standards later. It would be great to have a full PGCE qualified staff, but in countries like Egypt, a more realistic minimum for local hires would be a PED provided by AUC or a TEFL Diploma. The important part is to show you value TEACHING qualifications above anything else. A doctorate in pharmaceuticals makes a less qualified teacher than someone with a teaching diploma. 

 

• Speak with your school director and HR department about setting a pay scale based on qualifications. This gives staff incentives to train more and to seek qualifications if they are already hired and have none. Pay increases for new qualifications should apply from the beginning of the next academic year, if they can’t be offered immediately on certification. 

 

• Provide on-going professional development throughout the year for current staff, and provide certificates for it. You can bring in trainers from outside if you have the budget for it, or call on more qualified staff members to give training on what they have studied themselves. Provide your trainers with certificates saying they have provided training. I’ll post another blog next week with details on how you can create a great, low-cost PD program in your school. 

 

• Send a few staff members out to training when it is offered by Cambridge etc, and then ask them to conduct training in school for all those who didn’t attend, on the topic they took. This is a great way to get training into your school without spending a lot of money. 

 

 

It would be lovely to think that all those who teach are doing it because they felt drawn to the profession and because it was always in their career plan, but nowadays that often isn’t the case. With high unemployment rates, many people go into teaching to make money and have a stable income, often after pursuing a different career and so often entering the profession without teaching qualifications.

When I originally started studying many years ago, it wasn’t because I felt drawn to teaching, but because it was a stable job where I could make enough money to get by. Luckily, I found my passion was in Education a few years later, but for many people it really is just a job. This is especially true in countries that don’t insist on teaching qualifications to land a teaching job. Just because it’s a job not a passion for some, doesn’t mean that teachers should be negligent when it comes to gaining qualifications. We all want to be good our jobs, and teaching qualifications absolutely make us better educators. Schools can help improve their schools academic achievement by opting for the qualified teacher over someone who holds a high level degree like a doctorate, and by ensuring there is adequate, on-going professional development in place.