Hi Everyone,

I'm currently teaching English in Switzland in a private language school for adults, but ultimately I would like to work in a berufschule as there is more security in regards to hours and benefits.

I am a mother tongue English speaker and I have a CELTA and that was enough for me to work in the school I'm in now, but I don't think it's enough for a berufschule, does anyone know what qualifications I need? I don't have a university degree, which I think I need but I have 2 years of experience teaching in Switzerland, I've heard different things from different people regarding this, so if anyone can provide me with clarity it would be excellent.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

I believe it depends on the canton. Don't go looking for work in Canton Schwyz. Your qualifications will only allow you to keep teaching at language schools.

Good luck.

You can contact EDK.ch to have them look at your degree and where it puts you in terms of requirements for public schools here. You might start looking for courses in a local pedagogical university, though, degrees are required these days. You willl also need a local language certified at B2, if you need to teach in a public school. To study university here (or Haute Ecole Pedagogique, as we call them here) you need local language, so start with that, check out their sites. There are slight cantonal differences, though, check with your local Berfuschule what they need. You can also register with them, as a sub, and see if they call you when they need a sub. Teaching in a beruschule is not like teaching adult courses in a language/private school, you have a curriculum and objectives that are different. If you motivation is job security and benefits, though, you might be demotivated fast, since it is not always easy to work out the dynamics of berufschule's classes, discipline issues, etc. Good luck! It's fab though, working with young adults. Love it.

You'd be expected to offer a vocational subject as well as English but without a degree nor teaching qualification your only choice is to go back into education and get qualified.

That depends. Some berfuschools, maybe it is regional, employ specialists not only generalists. The only subject this is done with, on quite a few schools, is English. It wouldn't hurt contacting the school OP wants to teach in and see if they take him part time/sub, on short contract, etc.

You could start by working as a replacement teacher either in secondary school or in one of the vocational schools (Berufsschulen). Beeing a native English speaker you shouldn't have any problems in finding something suitable. In the meantime you can sort out the basis as Musik Chick described. For jobs have a look here: http://www.educajob.ch

Sorry, even down in the less civilised parts of Switzerland I don't believe that CELTA will get you any kind of teaching job in a state school.

Oy!

Long term, none do, I agree. So the push for edu really is correct. And for subbing, they usually use their own teachers, more and more, since the level of EN of any teacher is improving, fast.

Anyhoo, the Op might want to try the private sector - maybe as a classroom assistant in a bilingual school?

Even with a Master in English you will only get a part-time employment with a max of 12 lessons a week (Canton Zürich).
For a full time employment you need the SIBP (Schweizerisches Institut für Berufspädagogik) certificate or a university diploma of a higher pedagogic institute. Many language teachers give ABU lessons (Allgemeinbildung: Gesellschaft, Sprache und Kommunikation) in German as their main subject.
Get in touch with rectors/secretaries of vocational training schools in Zürich, Winterthur, Bülach, Horgen, Dietikon, Rüti, Uster, Wetzikon.

Be aware, teaching a bunch of disinterested unruly teenagers has nothing in common with teaching at private schools.
Good luck.

Oy.

It can be a lot more rewarding. And if you are a good teacher, they are a lot more interested and grateful than anybody else...Fun.

Thanks very much for all of your advice. I think you can understand why I've been having problems finding advice which is black and white, as many of you seem to disagree on this subject.

I'm living in Richterswil at the moment, which is in canton Zurich but also very close to canton Schwyz, canton St Gallen and Canton Zug. So I could travel to any of them if the work was there, does anyone know if the requirements would be the same across these Cantons? Also do you know if the subject I study matters if I do a degree? I was thinking of doing English or Humanities through the Open University, but is it just a degree of any sort? If so, I might look into others too.

Thanks very much for this, anymore help would be great!

Hi,
I think, the point the others were making here is that you should forget about English degrees (like Open University), and think about getting a Lehrdiplom in one of the accredited Swiss Universities in a local language (they do not offer this kind of training here in English, only in German, French or Italian, depending on canton). Even if you want to teach English as a foreign language, to be integrated into Berufsschule life, you need to speak the local language, and one of the admission criteria to earn Lehrdiplom is that you can study (and teach eventually) in a local language.

I was quick hitting "submit" button, and would like to add one more comment to my note above.

Another requirement for studying towards Lehrdiplom (which you will normally need to teach in Berufsschule) is that you have earned a degree (normally, Masters) in the subject you want to teach in, and that can be in from any country/in any language, provided it is certified by EDK / accepted by the university where you want to earn your Lehrdiplom. Therefore, if you do not have this yet, you may do this at Open University in English (but I would check before whether it would satisfy Swiss requirement for studying towards Lehrdiplom). I guess, EDK would be the best point of contact for this.

Hi. I didn't understood very good and I have a question. If someone has a university diploma in Letters (French and another language) from a EU2 country, this person has few years teaching experience in the other language from the diploma and 6 months teaching French language he can work as teacher of, maybe, French language in Switzerland?

For teaching in swiss public schools you allways need to have a diploma as a teacher, at the minimum for the corresponding school-level.
Ex: if you want to teach in a swiss public gymnasium/gymnase/licée/liceo you need a teacher for gymnasium-level diploma.

Experience in the field/or subjects (as language here) is part of the prerequisites but not enough.

The principle is:
to teach in a class you need both competences in pedagogy and didactics and competences/knowledge/command in/of the subject you teach.

Exceptions are to be decided by each canton.

Good luck

Depends on how advanced your students are. You can easily teach English with B2 level, in fact that is the minimal language requirement. You don't have to be fluent, but show effort and everyone in the team will help you towards your fluency. Start with advanced kids, work your way down in lower level but same school type, where you need a lot more local lingo.

I think Open university wouldn't satisfy the teaching practice hours requirement that EDK matches up with the local Ped Unies. Not only foreigners, but also local teaching schools grads have to go through the nostrification process, some of them have to take the extra teaching practice hours, some stage stuff or theory courses since their cantonal program does not correspond with the requirements of canton they want to teach in.

I would like to ad this remark to be complete:
Your contract in a public school here runs at least one school-year (please experts here correct me if I'm wrong).
That means you can't leave after 1 month if you don't like it but have to stay in the school a more or less long period (generally till the end of the school-year ...and that can be very loooong).

Teaching in a swiss public school can't compare with teaching in other countries.
IMO sample experience here as a substitute teacher at first in said schools is a must.

Subbing is the way, for sure. Subs do not have trial period. But there always is a trial period, for the regular year contract. If you start as a non sub, you won't get more than a year contract. Being a sub, though, does not entitle you at all to be able to continue.

Teaching in a local school does compare, actually. Some things are easier, some harder, but kids are pretty much same all over. It's never bad, though, to continue with studying while you are simultaneously teaching.

... and pretty much all of this boils down to: speak to the EDK, & the Cantonal education authority in any canton(s) in which you wish to teach. You may find the EDK will insist on fluency in a national langauge in order to teach (in addition to appropriate tertiary qualifications), while the Cantonal authority will just want your tertiary qualifications recognised by the EDK and give you some leniency on the language fluency (while working under their jurisdiction).

If you can identify a local school which really wants you to work for them then they'll be a great help in terms of identifying the hoops through which you need to jump, and helping you jump. Doing it on your own would be a tough slog.