Education/ Teaching

The focus of Indian immigration has shifted in recent times from Indian technocrats and entrepreneurs to teachers who have joined the gallery of India's 'global citizens'.

The dearth of educators in UK and US are helping to create a growing global market for teaching. The demand is especially huge for specialty areas like Math's and Science, because it is difficult to find teachers with strong subject knowledge and language skills.

Experts predict that over the next ten years the International Education Industry will need 2.2 to 2.4 million teachers teaching. That means there will be 15,00,000 to 25,00,000 openings for teachers teaching in the elementary and secondary schools. The needs are also great in curricular areas such as special education, mathematics, science, bilingual education, and English as a second language.

Opportunities Galore
Indian Teaching Professionals have a great opportunity in the US, in view of the projected shortage of 700,000 teaching instructors. And obviously, the advantage that Indian teachers enjoy are English speaking skills and a high standard of education.

There is also a great demand for Indian teachers in the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Oman. The most attractive prospect for job seekers in the Gulf is that working there provides the opportunity to save a major part of one's salary with tax-free income and free housing.

In Britain there are as many as 7000 vacancies according to Government officials and the National Union of Teachers predicts the figure to go up to as many as 40, 000. In addition, the salaries for teachers in UK are the biggest draw.

Career Options
Apart from Teachers, professors and Lecturers, many other professions are closely connected with the Education Industry. These include career options as, a counselors, teacher assistants, education administrators, librarians, child care workers, public relations specialists, social workers and athletes, coaches, umpires & related workers.

The Education/ Teaching Job Demands
Preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and secondary school teaching requires a variety of skills and aptitudes, including a talent for working with children, organizational, administrative, and record keeping abilities; research and communication skills; the power to influence, motivate, and train others and patience & creativity.

Career prospects of Teaching
Teaching offers some fantastic career prospects. One could move up the management structure within the subject team and become Head of Department. One could become a head or lead an area such as special needs or pastoral care. Alternatively, one can also progress as an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST). ASTs are teachers who have reached standards of excellence in their profession and are highly paid.

Eligibility for Teaching
In the Middle-East nations, schools prefer the candidates to be trained graduates. The same goes for UK. To apply for the post of Physical Education teacher teaching the applicant should necessarily possess a degree in B.P.Ed or M.P.Ed. Similarly to be eligible as a Computer Science teacher the applicant should possess an MCA/BCA/PGDCA degree. To apply for the post of a librarian, one should possess a bachelor's degree in Library Science with work experience in a college or school library.

However, to become teachers of subjects like English, Mathematics, Science, Social studies and Hindi, a post graduate degree will suffice. International Employers give preference to aspirants possessing strong language skills and preferably knowledge of another foreign language.

Besides grasp of English, other reasons for the global preference for Indian teachers are that Indians are adaptable to the curriculum and have respect for local traditions.