Associates Degree

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meganeruss
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: 26 Jan 2016, 19:16
Status: Prospective Teacher

Associates Degree

Unread post by meganeruss »

Hello,

I am an American planning on obtaining my TEFL Certification in the very new future (looking at program through either i-to-i or possibly TEFL Heaven) and my eventual goal is to get a job in Japan after I become certified and have spent a few months teaching in my training country.
My question is this- although I know many higher paying companies in Japan prefer a Bachelors degree, what kind of jobs would I be looking at if I only had an Associates Degree (in the field of Social Work) with 4 years experience teaching ages 4-12 (basic teaching, not teaching ESL)? Would I have difficulty finding a job with just this degree and teaching experience combined with my TEFL Certification of 120 hours?

What if I had no Associate's at all and just depended on my 4 years of experience combined with my TEFL Cert.?

Sorry, I am very new to the process and although I've been doing a bit of research, I was hoping to hear more from those who may have more direct experience with the situation. I have not yet finished my Associate's Degree and if I decided to do so it would postpone my ability to do the TEFL Cert. program for another year, so I was hoping on obtaining the best advice.

Thank you in advance to all who read and reply! :)
Briona
Top Contributor
Posts: 199
Joined: 29 Jul 2009, 20:33
Status: Teacher

Re: Associates Degree

Unread post by Briona »

Hi there,
meganeruss wrote:... although I know many higher paying companies in Japan prefer a Bachelors degree, what kind of jobs would I be looking at if I only had an Associates Degree (in the field of Social Work) with 4 years experience teaching ages 4-12 (basic teaching, not teaching ESL)?
First off, in Japan (and almost every country in Asia) a Bachelor's degree is a requirement of the work visa, and you will not be able to find work without one. Associate's degrees are as good as useless since they are not recognised outside the States.
meganeruss wrote:What if I had no Associate's at all and just depended on my 4 years of experience combined with my TEFL Cert.?
Neither experience nor TEFL certificates will be accepted in Asia in lieu of a Bachelor's degree. So, if you want to teach in Japan/Asia, you will need to invest in one.

Hope that helps, and if you have any other Qs, please ask.

Briona
Experience teaching in Vietnam, Portugal, Poland, Spain, the UK, and Qatar
meganeruss
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: 26 Jan 2016, 19:16
Status: Prospective Teacher

Re: Associates Degree

Unread post by meganeruss »

Thank you Briona for your reply.

It's unfortunate to know that without a Bachelors degree I will have difficulty finding work as an English teacher in Japan/Asia in general.
That means staying in the United States for another 2-3 years at minimum to complete my degree part-time in order to work as well as I am currently doing now. I guess I will need to start look at alternative options to get my degree finished as quickly as I can so I can begin teaching abroad as soon as possible.
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