Further Education Tutor (VEC) interview advice please!

Cat Melodeon

I've been called for an interview for tutoring on PLC courses with the local VEC. I'm applying to teach just one module but with availability to teach at any of the VEC centres in the county. I'm returning to work after 2 years away (unpaid) for having babies, although my previous experience was as a (unqualified) resource teacher at 2nd level. Previous to that, I worked for 5 years (abroad) in adult education. I have a degree and an MA in areas very closely aligned to the module. I also did 6 months tutoring at third level before falling pregnant.

I've never taught FETAC modules before, although I did do some private tutoring work a while back with a FETAC student (general learning support) so I'm familiar with the structure, SLOs, terminology etc. I also have experience of curriculum design from my previous adult education role.

I really want this job, not just because it's 'a job' but because it's exactly the subject I want to teach with the learners I want to teach in the organisation I want to teach with, and it's local. Can anyone give me any tips for the interview? So far I have:

* read up as much as I can on the VEC generally
* familiarised myself with the module requirements, SLOs etc
* put together a couple of lesson plans to demonstrate what I can do
* prepared myself for questions like classroom management, teaching style, dealing with conflict, learner motivation, integrating IT etc

I'll also have a wash & put on clean clothes before going in.

Any tips or advice for an over-eager soul? I want to be as prepared as possible. Also, I don't want to appear desperate, and I know I'll be overly enthusiastic and a bit nervous.

thurman

I've done son training in teaching but no practical so I could be off the mark here, how about maybe bring a sample class plan with you that you've had put together before and be prepared to discuss that. Just a though, but your previous experience will probably negate the need.

Cat Melodeon

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

Can anyone give me any tips for the interview? So far I have:

* read up as much as I can on the VEC generally
* familiarised myself with the module requirements, SLOs etc
* put together a couple of lesson plans to demonstrate what I can do
* prepared myself for questions like classroom management, teaching style, dealing with conflict, learner motivation, integrating IT etc

Yep, that one's covered! I figure it'll help me focus a bit, having something concrete to talk about. Especially when my mind goes blank, as it inevitably will. I tend to babble when that happens, so a lesson plan might help anchor me down.

petalgumdrops

When is your Interview? You seem to have all areas covered. Just relax and have confidence in your ability

Cat Melodeon

petalgumdrops wrote: »

When is your Interview? You seem to have all areas covered. Just relax and have confidence in your ability

Early next week. I'm mostly wondering what they could ask that might throw me. The last interview I did for adult education was ten years ago!

trihead

• look at the fetac site for all the new changes that have come on/coming on board - internal and external vert, new awards system etc
• 'Solas' and the impact on fetac and vec.
• Amalgamation of vecs - how it effects your area

look luck

trihead;)

Postgrad10

Good luck for your interview . You sound really well prepared . Do you mind me asking which VEC the interview is for ? I've applied for FE tutoring too and I'd love to know if they've called for interview . PM if you wish

namoosh

Its usually a competency based interview, you seem to have prepared very well, the only thing I can suggest is to be aware of FETAC quality assurance and internal verification(IV).

Quality assurance basically means that you have proof of things like assignment briefs being handed out, assignments being handed up by students, (sign in sheet maybe), proof of practical assignments taking place (videos, photographs and screenshots), standardised tests across the centre (everyone studying a module in a centre sits the same exam at the same time), no plagarism, all sources must be cited etc. etc., marking schemes must be provided for exams and all work must be presented in the appropriate format to the FETAC extern ( it was folders last year). It's all designed to prove the work was done by the students and hasn't been copied.

Internal verification means cheching a colleagues fretac modules to make sure all the work is there and all pieces for FETAC paperwork are present and filled out correctly.

Good Luck!

namoosh

Forgot to say that FETAC are updating (migrating) their awards, you can check on their website when and if the modules you hope to teach are being migrated.

Cat Melodeon

Thanks namoosh. I wouldn't have been prepared for the IV question at all. QA might have been okay, but I'll polish it up a bit.

& thanks for that too trihead, I'd be okay with amalgamation but need to work on the Solas changes.

Cat Melodeon

PM sent to Postgrad10.

Chris68

Postgrad10 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking which VEC the interview is for ?

I don't know about other VECs but CoDubVEC don't use the standard FETAC module descriptors. They have their own.

You also didn't mention a subject area. Maybe someone here could help better if they knew the area.

looksee

A lot of VECs don't use 'standard' module descriptors. In fact they are not called module descriptors now (I think they are called programme descriptors.) Everyone is only getting used to the new system so even experienced teachers have a lot to absorb for next year's teaching.

I would be inclined to think more about FE, as in, teaching adults. Its a different approach to secondary, you have to be much more concerned about treating people as adults, remembering they may have come back to education after being out of work, they may have gone through school struggling with the system. FE teaching is very satisfying, and quite different to secondary. You could be dealing with people who have a bare LCA, in the same class with someone with a degree, with someone with 30 years work experience, with someone who is coping with Aspergers, dyslexia, or any of several other issues. Classroom management is less to do with discipline and control and more to do with, well, management. Respect is a two way process. You make the students responsible for their own progress and expect that they will act like adults. On the whole, they do, and I have found FE students a pleasure to teach.

Postgrad10

Chris68 wrote: »

Postgrad10 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking which VEC the interview is for ?

I don't know about other VECs but CoDubVEC don't use the standard FETAC module descriptors. They have their own.

You also didn't mention a subject area. Maybe someone here could help better if they knew the area.

Not sure why you are quoting me but I didn't ask the questions. Cat Meloidin did .

Miss Lockhart

Also, CoDubVEC certainly do use standard FETAC descriptors for many modules in many centres.

implausible

looksee wrote: »

A lot of VECs don't use 'standard' module descriptors. In fact they are not called module descriptors now (I think they are called programme descriptors.) Everyone is only getting used to the new system so even experienced teachers have a lot to absorb for next year's teaching.

OP, this is good news for you as it kind of puts you on an even footing with current teachers. It'll be as new to you as it is to them.

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Also, CoDubVEC certainly do use standard FETAC descriptors for many modules in many centres.

FETAC is all up in the air at the moment. Some modules aren't changing at all and FE providers can continue on using the old ones, some have already been changed and are ready to go and some new ones are still being developed. The co-ordination in developing new modules between centres in the same VEC/area varies too.

Cat Melodeon

So I didn't get it :-(

Interview was okay, I was a bit nervous and didn't answer as fully as I might have, in hindsight. There were no questions about the changes to the VEC. I was just asked to go through my CV. They were very hung up on the fact that I hadn't taught FETAC before, had little interest in my ability to teach the subject or my proven record of designing a syllabus/bringing learners through other exams, just whether or not I knew my way around the module descriptor etc. I presented the lesson plans I'd prepared (I was careful to include all the SLOs etc) but these weren't even given a cursory glance. I felt it didn't matter what experience I'd had previously, they wanted someone who had brought a class through FETAC successfully already.

In any case, for anyone else waiting for an interview, I was asked:

-to explain my academic qualifications in detail
-to describe all of my work experience
-explain how I thought I would be able to bring that experience to bear on teaching a FETAC course (WHEN I HAD NEVER TAUGHT ONE BEFORE!!!!! - their emphasis)
- describe myself in 3 words
- how would I deal with conflict in a classroom situation
- did I have any questions?


It took about 20 minutes. There were 3 interviewers on the panel. I really felt that one of them in particular had no interest in me at all. I'm quite gutted, there'll be no other opportunities in these parts until next year.

How is one supposed to get FETAC experience when they only hire FETAC-experienced tutors?

namoosh

Hard Luck!

VEC interviews can be a strange experience.

Most VEC's are very conservative organisations and will always go for the safe pair of hands, i.e. someone who has taught the module previously, that's fine but why then waste someone's time by calling them for interview if they have no chance of being appointed.

Some of the people on the interview board might not have any teaching experience or possibly no experience in that subject area. In that case that person will vote with the majority, hence the lack of interest in your interview. It is a very unpleasant and disheartening experience for the interviewee but its nothing personal, they're sitting there all day listening to stuff they know nothing about or have no interest in and have to go with the majority anyway, its no wonder they are bored.

Someone might have already been lined up for the job, there might be someone already teaching it or a relation of a VEC employee or local politician lined up for it and they are going through the motions.

I know its very disheartening but all you can do is keep trying, you'll get there eventually. It's much easier to get a job with them during term time if someone quits or doesn't come back, they have a class there and need someone to teach it asap, they'll grab the first person who they think can do the job. Once your in and anyway good they'll want to keep you.

I did 16 interviews before i got lucky.

spurious

namoosh wrote: »

or a relation of a VEC employee or local politician lined up for it and they are going through the motions.

That's quite an allegation.
Do you work for a VEC?

kob29

In all fairness the allegation isn't always too far from the truth, most of us will know people who were lined up for or even already in jobs they were interviewing for weeks or months after.

namoosh

spurious wrote: »

That's quite an allegation.
Do you work for a VEC?

Its reality. One school (VEC) I worked in employed the niece and nephew of the principal, the niece of a prominent local politician, the sister in law of the CEO, coincidence? If you were part time and good the principal would make sure you got the job when it came up, the interview was a formality. In NI you have to fill out a form in which you have to identify any associations you have with the organisation you are applying for a job with, that would make interesting reading here. My sister used to work for a local authority, its the same there. Wer'e the same as Israel in that regard, the country is too small, everyone knows everyone else.

Great if your the chosen one, not so good if you aren't.

spurious

It's reality in one school that you know of.

It wouldn't be the reality at all in the VEC I work in (the biggest in the country).

implausible

I really hate this stuff of 'it's who you know' in the VEC. I would venture a guess that every school in the country has a member of staff who knows someone in management; this is not unique to VEC schools. The vast majority of staff got their jobs, fair and square, through merit or a good interview. It's quite insulting to VEC employees to suggest otherwise.

I know what it's like to sit in an interview and know that the job is already gone. It's not pleasant to be the employee who has to re-interview for his/her job either. Usually, the principal wants to keep the teacher in the job, but is forced to advertise.

namoosh

spurious wrote: »

It's reality in one school that you know of.

It wouldn't be the reality at all in the VEC I work in (the biggest in the country).

No it wouldn't, but it does happen, not all the time and not in all VEC's. I and most of the people I have worked with over the years have experience of it. You might wonder at the difference in performance between your VEC and its near neighbour, ability vs nepotism.

There's nothing worse than going to the time and expense of preparing for and attending an interview, only to realise half way through that they are only going through the motions, and discover afterwards that the world and its mother knew that the job was Jimmy's or Mary's for the reasons I've outlined in my earlier post.

My rule of thumb is that if you feel you've been put through the wringer the job is wide open, if you feel you've just had a polite chat the job is gone.

Anyway this is a discussion thats going no where near the original thread so I'll bow out now. Enjoy whats left of the summer.