Not sure about doing Postgraduate study

[Thedivinyls]

I have a place on a Master's degree, however I'm not sure if it's worth adding even more student debt to the 37k I already have (even if I'll likely never pay all that off).
Also, this particular uni requests that students pay their first module out of their own pocket and can only receive a Postgraduate loan after this is paid, so for my course it will be £600.
I can't afford to pay that without several months of savings, but also feel like that money could go elsewhere.
I've been thinking of a PG cert instead. I already have a PGCE but a PG cert in Leadership for example is around £1500 as opposed to £7500 for the MA.
I work in secondary school teaching. I was thinking of completing a Master's and then applying for University teaching posts but I've been told the market is so bad these days that posts are very scarce and often only fixed term.
So I think it's a waste of time.. however I do want to progress to senior management.
There's also the SENCO qualification but as far as I know you have to already be in a SENCO role in order to do it?
Just really not sure.
I've seen people in their 20s who've been teaching for a year promoted to head of dept, head of year, etc. Not sure what it takes to reach these posts?

Does anybody know if all Master level qualifications require students to pay for part of their course out of their own pocket as mine has requested?

What do you want to get out of it? What do you want to learn?

Is it in education? Have you looked at the National College of Education? They use the apprenticeship levy so it costs £0.
I've got an MBA through them and neither me nor my employer have paid a penny.

I want to get higher level job posts out of it, senior positions.
Yes it's in education, and wow that's fantastic I'll have a look now!

I get that you want a senior position but in what area? The SENCO qualification is great if you want to be a SENCO but if it's not your area of interest, it's an expensive course for no good reason.
Have you considered the NPQs?

No i will look at the NPQs now though, and I would also be interested in SENCO posts as I have a lot of SEN experience.. I'll see what's out there

The NPQs in no way prepare you for Senior Leadership in my view. There's not enough 'real-life' about them!

DD2 did a Masters last year (not in education field) and had to pay for it herself.

She took out a loan, so she now has 2 student loans to pay back, but a Masters is the minimum level qualification for the career she wants so it wasn't really a choice.

Sorry if it's a stupid question but would it be my employer who pays the apprenticeship levy? I work as a supply teacher so not sure how it would work?

Schools generally pay the apprenticeship levy because of the number of employees. Not sure how that would work if you're not actually employed though. Same with the NPQs - you do it through your employing school.

Thanks for the advice. Even considering maybe doing some sort of Business management apprenticeship for a year (even though the wage is very low!) To gain experience

That's very odd. You pay all your own fees if doing a Masters. The loan company doesn't send the uni your fees at all unlike undergrad. They send you the money and it's up to you what you do with it - pay your fees, pay your rent or put the lot on black!

It wouldn't work. Your employer pays it. I don't see why an agency would, even if they had a payroll large enough to pay the levy.

I assume the loan won't be released until you've been "attended" by the University, but you're being asked to pay for the first module before the course starts. The whole of the loan then comes to you, and you'll pay the rest of the fees from that. So, it all goes into your own pocket, and you then pay the fees out of your own pocket.

Is there a reason that you aren't working in a long-term position?

It would be very difficult to move into a senior leadership role directly from supply with or without more study . You would usually need to show some experience of whole school initiatives which would be difficult to do while working supply.