To hope to teach in the UK as a non-native speaker?

[Gizmoreturns]

Posting here for traffic mainly, sorry.

Quick background: my partner is from the UK - I am not. We have been together for twelve years, have two kids and are currently living in my home country. We're considering a move to the UK for various reasons.

However, what's holding me back is that I am quite worried about finding a job there. I'm in education, currently teaching the equivalent of primary 5 in my home country. Before that, I spent years teaching a so-called "bridging class" (here kids between 8 and 12 who are new to the country & don't speak the language spent a year in "bridging class" before enrolling in a local school. The focus is on language acquisition, but also not letting them fall behind in other subject areas like maths. I've taught kids from over 60 different countries - best job I ever had).

My English language skills are generally strong; I have lived and studied abroad in the US and the UK & after graduation spent a few years as an English teacher at the local university (mainly taught academic writing and business English). We speak English at home as well, of course. People generally notice I am not a native speaker only after a while. But yea, I know my limitations. I did not grow up in an English speaking country, I do not have the same cultural capital as a native would have, and I still have to make a conscious effort to pronounce the th sound correctly (which means at times I don't). I have lots of experience, two master's degrees, but I still wonder if anyone will even look at my resume. Feel like I might have stood a decent chance if I was from France or Germany, you know, one of the popular modern foreign languages, or if I taught one of the science subjects... but alas.

What do you think? As parents, would you be happy for a non-native speaker to teach your children? Any other ideas for jobs I might look for?

I grew up with 3 of my primary school teachers being non-native English speakers. It was never a problem for me.

In secondary school there were about 5 teachers who were non-native English speakers, although I only had 1 of them as a maths teacher in my first year of secondary school.

Could you consider looking into teaching your native language? Is it a language a lot of people are interested in learning?

Its easy to teach in the British state system, its not like in some other countries where they make you sit special exams or Ireland where they demand Gaelic even if Gaelic isnt your subject, both of which are basically a form of protectionism. You should be fine.

If you were taught English as a second (or higher!) language, I would be confident that your understanding of English grammar is better than that of many native speakers. It was unfashionable to teach grammar, when I was at school.

Don't worry about the th sound, most of England says "f" anyway!

You sound like you would be a great teacher in any school and lots of EAL students would find it helpful to know their teachers also struggle with English!

@Confrontayshunme

Don't worry about the th sound, most of England says "f" anyway!

You sound like you would be a great teacher in any school and lots of EAL students would find it helpful to know their teachers also struggle with English!

No, most of England doesn’t.

In primary school my DCs' teachers included people who spoke French, Japanese and Farsi as their first languages.

In secondary school they've had English and maths and science teachers who from their accents I can tell that English isn't their first language.

When I was at school I had teachers who spoke French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Turkish and Arabic as their first languages.

It was never a problem.

From your OP it looks like you have good English skills and you've got lots of experience teaching, so as long as your qualification is valid in the UK I think you'll be fine.

You sound like you would be a great teacher in any school and lots of EAL students would find it helpful to know their teachers also struggle with English!
As a parent of two EAL children - no, it is actually not helpful for them to have a teacher who struggles with English as well as a parent who struggles with English.

@Confrontayshunme

How wrong can one post be?
TH is standard across most of England.
It's actually not that useful for an EAL teacher to be EAL: as the OP says theres often cultural capital missing and problems with pronunciation.

A friend (from an English speaking old Pembrokeshire family, born in Tenby) couldn’t teach in Wales, but can teach in England.

@zoeydollie

I doubt it would be an issue, especially if not teaching infant classes where you need to teach phonics.

The most important thing will be whether your teaching qualification is considered valid.

Even if you teach phonics you can alter your accent just for those sounds. I have a fairly Southern English accent but taught Northern children. I had to change my /a/ and /u/ pronunciation. Some native English speakers don't (can't?) pronounce /th/ saying /f/.

If you speak English as well as you write it If be very happy for you to teach my kids.
My only concern with non native speaker would be if their English was weak so they would struggle to be understood by the kids and their colleagues. It doesn't sound like that would be a problem for you.
We are crying out for good teachers in this country. I'm one of the ones who quit within 5 years so just make sure you're happy with the pay, conditions and the school in case it's much different/better where you are now. Good luck and welcome!

DSs teacher and TA are both Eastern European. They have fairly strong accents but they are some of the most wonderful school staff I've come across. The teachers caring nature and understanding of how children learn is faultless and the TAs fun and energetic side is brilliant. I'm so sad DS is leaving their class.

So no, I'd have no qualms about a non-native speaking teacher.

And the children have never struggled with the accent and it hasn't hindered their learning of English in any way.

My Spanish friend is a Science teacher in the U.K. As an MFL teacher, I’ve obviously come across lots of foreign teachers. I echo pp who say your qualification may be a slight sticking point, although the reverse is trickier.

About half of my ds primary school teachers had English as second language. Don’t thing you will have an issue (perhaps need to get your qualifications assessed?).

There are several teachers at my school who are not native English speakers. As long as the children can understand you when you talk (even if they might need a few days to get used to your accent) then it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you so much for all the responses! I'm really surprised to see they are overwhelmingly positive and much more hopeful than I was before. Truly appreciate it. And @forinborin, I understand your concerns as well. Here also particularly immigrant parents are looking for native speaker role models for their kids.

Yes, I know we are looking forward to what will probably be a bureaucratic nightmare, but fortunately at least our kids already are British nationals, so only I will have to apply for a visa. We'll get through it. :-)