Sorry to hear of your loss Tory
1 Like
Hi Tory - what discipline are you hoping to teach?
I know that with language it’s rather easy to get jobs with business schools providing you can convince them that you are a competent teacher (you can obtain a qualification like the Cambridge CELTA in just a few months). It also helps to be a native speaker (they’re not supposed to discriminate on this, but in practice they all do, and even brag about it in their marketing blurbs).
The universities will employ you as a vacataire to teach language though the contracts are always short term and you get paid months in arrears. The big issue here is that you will need a ‘main employer’ first and be able to prove that you have worked a minimum number of hours for them in the previous year - this can be a pain, especially at the beginning of your career as a teacher. Some of the universities seem to be staffed by zombies who ‘forget’ to pay the vacataires then disappear for months on end when you’re trying to contact them to find out what the hell they’re playing at…others are quite reliable, it’s pot-luck really.
Once you’re established, you can even start to specialise in your fields like midwifery / nursing…you may or may not be able to negotiate higher rates for this but you’ll be first in line for recruitment in these areas.
1 Like
Oh I didn’t realise that! Even as a permanent resident. Fecking Brexshit 
Thanks Tom.
English, I did my TEFL/ TESOL qualifications late 2019/20 and I’ve been teaching privately for a few years now. I’d just like to have a ‘proper’ job.
This would be my dream, teaching English in the MW/nursing facilties! I rang the IFSI though last year and they said that they only employ train university lecturers now.
1 Like
Many business schools now require you to be self-employed if you don’t have a principal employer, either set up as AE or “employed” by a Scop.
This is the new wheeze to reduce costs to the school, don’t ya know.
As a result, not only do you not get a vacataire contract (for what they’re worth) , but you lose any entitlement to paid holiday in lieu (usually 10% rate of basic pay from collective bargaining agreement), and also end up paying all social charges, and consequently even less significant pension benefits, plus no travel cost reimbursement.
1 Like
Tory that sounds a brilliant idea specialising in English for midwifery/nursing. I really admire your versatility and all the things you can do and have set your mind to
I was sorry to hear about your sister. As @SuePJ says our loved ones do watch over us.
I’m cr*p at languages including French really, can get by in about 2 or 3 same as you. But I’ve had 3 contracts now in my field where I wasn’t as good as other candidates at the main job, but they took me because no one else had the languages.
All you need to find is the first role or contract or assignment or a few pieces of exposure “Here is Tory that speaks English and understands our field of midwifery/nursing”… that makes Tory unique! This way in would be working up to a job with referrals and references one to the other… but word would get round and people might refer you. You just need to find the first one… the hardest one.
Is it worth offering some free content/short article to a publication your customers would read professionally? or a taster talk … I understand this might work slower than you need.
Are medical area office staff paid decently in their jobs in France? I am thinking things like the programs pharmaceutical companies run interfacing with their customers in the health services private and public. Can be pure sales, or softer “education” etc. Guessing Sanofi, Moderna etc
1 Like
I would take all that with a pinch of salt…the vacataire thing has always been a shining example of state-sponsored hypocrisy and bullshit. It is still going strong in 2021 and the rates of pay vary according to the post.
The status of vacataire was created so that permanent posts in the public sector could be filled temporarily until they could find someone suitable to do the job on a permanent basis - in theory there should never be a vacactaire post available without it being directly linked to a permanent post which must be filled as soon as possible.
In reality, the public sector (state) quickly realised that it’s a cheap and easy way to have posts filled at low cost (no sickness / retirement benefits to pay) and so there are many jobs which are filled on a permanent basis by vacataires. In the university system the problem is endemic and explains why you need an ‘employeur principal’ before they will dare sign you on - this allows them to benefit from your labour without having to pay for your retirement, health-care benefits etc. because they can claim you ‘already have a job somewhere else and this is just extra work’.
You can be fired at a moment’s notice for no reason and, as I mentioned earlier, you get paid when they feel like paying you and always in arrears. I once went to teach a class in a university near Paris and none of the students bothered to turn up. When I went to see the admin staff to investigate, the single person I could find just shrugged and nonchalantly informed me that I wouldn’t be paid since I hadn’t done any work that day!
Successive governments (and the media) have turned a blind eye to this, presumably as there are more votes to be won by railing against abuses in the private sector rather than turning the spotlight on themselves.
1 Like
That’s why I’m more interested in the ‘enseignante contractuel’ in colleges / lycees as that is normally a full time contract for each academic year (to 01 September of the next year) so your holidays etc are paid. After you have been there (if you are!) for 6 years they are obliged to offer a CDI. The other bonus (which no isn’t possible from what you have said!!!) is after 2 years you can sit the internal CAPES which for English is much easier than the external one (much less written French!).
Admittedly it isn’t as well paid as a titulaire teacher though and doesn’t seem to go up but at least holidays are with the kids and the pay is still OK, better than I’m earning now / was earning in tourism.
Yes it does sound a little more advantageous…worth pursuing perhaps. Never heard of the internal CAPES, but I do know there’s a lot of bitterness and rancour among those non-French who’ve had a go (to teach English) and flunked because their written French didn’t make the grade…!
I looked at both the internal and external CAPES exams after Vero encouraging me to just give it a go and the level of written french is huge, I think a 4 hour written exam with a minimum of 7 pages or something. I’m lucky to write an email let alone that much! The internal one seemed much more doable, less written, more of the written in English, not French and more oral. I know I need to get my level of French up but I desperately need work NOW as my contract ends a the end of the month (probably!)!!!.
Tough, it is extremely silly to be bitter and rancorous, because if you want to be a French civil servant it is normal to expect a proper level of French.
4 Likes
Er something more like 3 x7 hour papers plus 2 x5 hour ones - no minimum amount to write, that would be silly. It is a competition not an exam.
2 Likes
Yes you are quite right, whatever it was I looked and knew I had no hope 
1 Like
Just to update. I’ve today managed to get my whole online dossier completed and handed in to be an enseignante suppleante - this is in the Catholic system. some of the nicest schools around here are Catholic ones so I’m not at all adverse to going this way and they havent’ insisted on my degrees been sent to a degree checking site, who won’t look at mine as they are ‘medical’ - even though I’m not wanting to work on them! They have an extra step of a RDV in front of a panel to see if you are acceptable to them. If I pass that then I can apply for jobs I guess!
I’m going to have a quick nap before my head explodes then I’m going to try to call the academie in Bordeaux to see if there is any way around the degree issue or if I should just forget it for the public sector! 
Thanks to @vero for kindly checking (and correcting!) my lettre de motivation!
6 Likes
Great news, congrats! It might be worth having a look at the “programmes” before you go to your interview. If you can show a decent knowledge of them that will help a lot.
1 Like
Thanks Tom, that is a really good idea. Any ideas where I’d find this info? Are you teaching here?
Bulletin officiel, programmes du collège and programmes du lycée.
2 Likes
Thanks Vero! Again! I’ll be coming over with a bottle of wine for you soon!
1 Like
I didn’t end up calling the rectorate to see if there is a way around my degree problem as I spotted a campsite receptionist job for the summer quite close to me so applied for that! That will so take the pressure off with my job (probably) finishing in 9 days! ill be nice to have a bit more money so the kids can eat and even have some days out!
4 Likes
Oh I’m so gutted. They have looked at my dossier already however they ALSO need the paper for my degrees that I can’t get as they are medical so they won’t treat them 
AND there is now an issue because of bloody Brexit too. I fear this is not going to work out for me
Nous avons bien reçu votre dossier, afin de pouvoir le valider j’ai besoin d’avoir l’homologation de votre diplôme.
Il faut que vous alliez sur le site de http://www.ciep.fr/enic-naric-france afin de faire une demande d’homologation. Cela nous permettra d’avoir une homologation officielle car nous ne pouvons pas valider des diplômes étrangers.
Je vous montre à quoi cela va ressembler.
De plus, le Royaume-Uni ne faisant plus partie de l’Union Européenne, il vous faudra demander une dérogation à la nationalité pour pouvoir enseigner au Rectorat.