PGCE with QTS no experience advice
If you're someone who has recently completed a PGCE with QTS in the UK, and also has TEFL, CELTA, and TYLEC certifications, but has no post-PGCE experience yet due to wanting to head straight to Korea without doing ECT years in the UK, what would be the best teaching job to go for in Korea for the first year? As I presume most international schools would want at least a year or two of teaching experience regardless of being qualified and having those certifications.
Would I be right in the thinking some lower, 'fake' international schools would still accept? Which would then allow moving from them to a better one after a year or two? Or would the best bet be to just work at a hagwon or public school initially? (while obviously trying to get best possible conditions due to being qualified and having certifications compared to only having TEFL). I've heard some international schools that teach the British curriculum could actually be used to complete said ECT years, however I imagine those kind of places would need experience anyway.
For what it's worth, I have a Korean partner and we're going through the process of getting an F6 Visa for me, so how much of an added benefit would that give in terms of getting the best job possible prior to applying for really good international schools that are more strict in terms of requiring experience? I guess there's also the potentially better option of working two part-time teaching jobs when making use of the F6 Visa flexibility? Or would decent international schools be quite strict about what kind of experience you have and be dismissive of, for example, part-time kindergarten teaching experience?
What would you do in my position? 😆
Thank you very much!
Posted Sep 3, 2025, 6:19 PM UTC