Is there a future in MFL teaching?

[alegre]

Hi there - a bit confused. I'm looking at going into teaching Spanish and French. Although I really like primary age children, I'd rather teach languages than the whole primary curriculum so I'm considering doing a Secondary PGCE with MFL. I have been into secondary schools and enjoyed it.
However, I'm now worrying about the possibility of work after qualifying. Given that languages are no longer compulsory after 14, will there be enough jobs to support secondary MFL teachers? Who do I ask who will give an honest answer? I assume that, if I ask PGCE providers, they'll be keen to get students so they might not give an objective answer.

Hmm.

I have a friend who qualified many years ago - when there were financial incentives to do so - as a secondary teacher of MFL (French and secondary Spanish). She is a very hard working person. She has had to move jobs several times and always has a hard time finding a new job in a decent school - she says the market is overloaded.

That's what I thought. Have asked a couple of teachers and, although a little cagey, it did seem that secondary jobs are hard to come by.
Thanks

Hi Alegre, I am a French and Spansih teacher, have been AST and head of dept and now run a teacher training course (but not in MFL) and I think you are right to be concerned about jobs in the current climate, but also think that if you qualify and can get yourself into a decent school/LA you could find yourself in demand as a secondary teacher willing to go out to primaries, say for a couple of afternoons a week. Language Colleges often provide this service to feeder primaries. There are not many jobs around, but decent MFL teachers aren't easy to come by and quite a few of them are nearing retirement, so don't despair just yet! Which region are you in?

Hi duckyfuzz.
I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside area.
What you are describing is exactly what I'd be most interested in doing. I've seen an AST at work in a primary school and it looks really rewarding. It's so important to get children speaking languages from a young age.

Only for people with the female equivalent of Brass balls.

IMHO it is the hardest area of teaching of into at the secondary level. VVV hard work in low attainment classes with poor behaviour

(I'm a science teacher btw)

I have a degree in German and have been working in a secondary school for the last 3.5 years as a cover supervisor with a view to considering doing a PGCE or GTP in either primary or secondary at some stage.

But the market is very flat round here and I'm very unsure as to the direction MFL strategy is going in this country and whether it is at all likely to be a success.

Hence I am still watching and waiting.

oh yuo're not a million miles away from me get yourself into monkseaton high (if you haven't already) they do alot of good work there, also N tyneside is pretty innovative in terms of pmfl so contact the LA too. If you leave an email address I'll happily give you as much help as poss. Good luck!

Hi duckeyfuzz
Just sent a CAT!

Could you not get yourself a franchise with Le Club Francais or la jolie roune You could then get experience of teaching and see if you like it without commiting to a PGCE.

You could even offer your services to day nurseries as well as parents who want their five year olds to get a taste of French. I think the governant are only planing language lessons for key stage 2, even then at my son's school they are only doing one lesson a fortnight which is frankly a bit of a joke.

Thanks Reallytired.
Yes, I have been wondering about those as well.
Maybe I should look into it more.

My friend is a Licensee with La Jolie Ronde she earns a really good amount for only a few hours per week - she has a couple of nurseries she teaches in and the rest are after school classes...she is so stress free its unbelievable!!!

Just wondering if you ever contacted La Jolie Ronde? As Im thinking of going down this route?

I agree with MB that MFL teachers in secondary schools get the toughest deal, especially now a language GCSE is not compulsory in many schools. They get low take up at GCSE and lots of barely motivated pupils at KS3 who can't see the point in studying an MFl as "everybody speaks English anyway".

The best way to find out how much call there is for jobs in secondary MFL is to keep browsing the Times Ed; you'll soon get a feel for if there's much demand or not.

I think MFL is the only suject that is harder to teach then mine, your only advantage is that you do not have to teach them all at KS4 whether they want to do your subject or not

I think job security is hard until you get a HOD as less and less students are taking it as it is no longer compulsory.

I agree that if you could find a post where you taught mainly in a scondary and did outreach work { which is what an AST should do actually) life would be easier and more secure. Either that or train primary , they would snap you up.

I think as a hispanist you could be ok. Those of us with French/German might be finding it tougher. As Cat64 says there will be demand in primary and with teh secondary PGCE you would be well placed, though am guessing that you would need a job in at least two big primaries to make it pay. Another potential drawback will that all the resources willneed to be set up and paid for in the primary plus it could I suppose be a bit lonely it a Dept of one!

I am not really surprised that kids don't take languages as in the couple of schools I have been in recently, teaching methods have been very old school. Remember how much we all hated learning grammar????

I think that there is a future in languages with hopefully a shift away from French and into more widely available languages that are more similar to english to learn and also more simple to start with.

I am starting a course this year, so am totally with you on worrying about the future of languages, but I think its really critical for kids to understand another culture / language / people.

MFL teachers triple bad hit

1. not compulsory - lower demand
2. even school looking to take on staff, invariably wrong language combination
3. so many kids hate it, hard to motivate, best way to learn is speaking, role play listening work etc - a nightmare in all but the most motivated and angelic classes.

My advice is - don't.