Thanks for all the info - I’ll study the links you mentioned and get my head around them. Good to know that you could be a replacement teacher in a lycée without passing the concours (although I plan to do it the next year in math and ideally looking to connect with people who’ll write it the next year, so we can prepare together from time to time). But just to be clear: without passing the concours, there’s zero chance of getting a permanent teaching position, is that right?
Others might be able to provide examples of where someone has obtained a permanent position in the state system without going through the concours, but I had always understood that this was impossible. My ex-wife is a state registered teacher, and she went through the concours system, first CAPES, then AGREG. Even with that, you generally don’t get to choose which school to work at, you are assigned to a region first and then a school, depending on your career points, availability of posts, and other family considerations (rapprochement de conjoint, nombre d’enfants, etc) which are decided by a selection committee (with members taken from the inspection académique, rectorat, and unions) and approved by the rectorat. Even titulaires sometimes get assigned to several schools as replacements when they first get transferred to a given area, giving them the status of TZR, titulaire en zone de remplacement, where the “zone” can cover the whole region, i.e. you could be sent to 3 different schools in 3 different locations within a given region and work part-time in all of them.
The hierarchy and bureaucracy involved in the state system of appointments is one reason why some teachers seek out private school employment, whereby you use your state qualification to try and get a job in a private school under contract with the state. My understanding of this is that once you joined the private teaching system, you lost your state registration status and could essentially never go back, i.e. you can’t switch from private to state education institutions and vice-versa on a whim. I don’t know whether this has become more flexible in recent years, although I would be surprised if it has, as there is a huge inertia in the state education system with regards to career mobility. Someone on here who is still a state teacher might be able to fill in the gaps/correct me where my knowledge is lacking.
EDIT : further information about becoming a state registered teacher in lycee or collège here
Thanks for you answer @fabien for the moment I’m starting teaching privately, small groups after school (renting a room in the town hall) and also at peoples homes. Potentially working elsewhere if something comes up but as you say this would generally be CDD so not concerned with my own insurance.
Are they able to be paid monthly?
It isn’t anything to do with your mutuelle. It is insurance that you need for your ME when you set it up. Covers you for people getting hurt / suing you etc.
Brilliant, thanks Cat I’ll have a look at that and see if that is a better option (or perhaps good to put as the 2nd activity).
Yes. What you can get, without getting the concours, is a succession of more or less part-time jobs with no job security and little control over where you are, who you teach, etc
Hi @Hello_World , this is not a Mutuelle this is for the professional indemnity insurance. We do have Mutuelles for English speaking expats and you can see our premium directly on our website here => http://fabfrenchinsurance.com/
@fabien thanks for the clarification! But I’m guessing I’d not need that professional indemnity insurance for every type of AE activity, e.g. if I’m a private tutor, what would I need it for? Thanks again!
Okay makes sense. The thing I’m slightly concerned about is if in case, I’m not able to earn the money to cover for that insurance, then I’ll in essence be losing money…
To give you hope, I’ve put out my first lot of flyers at one of the schools 2 weeks ago now and I already have a group class of 4 booked, 2 teens from homeschooling families, a kid in his first year of uni that has discovered that 3/4 of his course is in English, and a girl in terminal! I haven’t put up any adverts and only handed out the flyers at the other school today! Just get out there, you will be fine! If I can do it in the boonies I’m sure you can find students in Paris! If you are worried you won’t find anything you can organise itall at the last minute when you know you have students. Have you done the ‘stage’ to start your business, that is usually a few days, although here they apparently do English speaking ones that are only a day long.
I love the idea of this little corner of the world having kids speaking English with an Aussie accent (not really, my accent is fairly neutral!).
G’day and thanks for the positivity! Okay honestly, I gave it a thought on how to promote my businesses, but I was thinking of doing it online, say via Facebook ads. But I was unsure if it’d help increase my business?
But it seems from what you wrote about printing flyers, going to schools, universities and distributing them, the good old method worked like a charm for you! So if I may ask, did you post the flyer on a certain board in these schools/uni’s or did you wait somewhere waiting for the students to come, and hand them the flyers to each? And are these flyers are just a summary of what service you provide, and your contact no/email? I’ve never made such flyers yet, so I ask.
I actually got loads of initial clients via my kids who were at school with people who needed extra help so that is a great way to start! Well done you!
I spoke to the teachers at our local primary school and they agreed to put a flyer in each of the kids note book things that come home. I summarised my offerings, prices, contacts etc. If I lived near a uni I’d be putting up flyers on boards / leaving them in coffee shops etc as well. For the older kids I’m going to stand at the bus one afternoon and hand them all one as they get off the bus! Yes I’m teaching English.
Thanks Cat, yes this is so true, my original 4 students were all word of mouth.
If you are serious about developing a business that will support you and give you enough to qualify for a visa after your passport talent runs out then you do have to accept that you will have to invest in it to start with.
I would seriously recommend you write yourself a business plan, as that will also help you work out how many clients you need and what rate to charge to make enough of a profit after you’ve paid your taxes and charges.
Thanks Jane for your recommendation - yes indeed I’ll write a detailed business plan. But there’re two points that might be relevant:
For the moment, I’m thinking of tutoring as a side hustle, but do want to gradually grow it to a stable, potentially a second source of income. This means I’m looking for other temporary/permanent positions (mostly in academia) which’ll let me continue my research (my true passion), something I did for long time before, but I’d like to earn some extra income on the side by tutoring/teaching classes.
About the plan though, I’ve something in mind, but it’ll evolve as a function of number of regular students I’ll have. My final plan, if implemented correctly, should have me teaching strictly online a group of 10 or more people. Currently I’m charging 18-20€/hour for online lessons, and 25€/hour + transport cost (~4€)for in-person lessons; but since I’m beginning to tutor, I don’t want to to elevate the price too high to make the clients turn away (I don’t have 50 amazing recommendations on my profile to not make them turn away!), thereby also losing chances for adding another recommendation to my profile and gaining more students by word of mouth. But eventually if everything goes well, I should be charging 30€/hour, if not more. The thing is: even though I’ve a PhD , publications and industrial experience in my side, I don’t have the teaching experience or a certificate in France, which seems to work against me at least a little: I mean given two profiles “Math PhD from a US university to tutor you math” versus “Certified math teacher working for educational nationale” , the French students would obviously choose the second one. I’m working on getting an online TESOL certificate for English, but not sure how I’d obtain such a teaching certificate for math. So yes, getting certified somehow is also in my plan.
Visa wise, I hope I’m not in a bad place, because in November 2021, I’ll have completed five years of continued living in France, and hence a year from now, I’d like to apply for both permanent residency (ten year long card) and also citizenship , definitely the first one for sure. And with my current passeport talent, I can work any job except for myself, so hopefully the renewal in December 2021 won’t be an issue if I get a regular job, unless I don’t take the citizenship/permanent residence route.
Any relevant advice from you or others are more than welcome!
Public liability, at the very least I would have thought.
Maybe, just maybe, if you do everything as a “virtual” session so neither visiting your students’ homes, nor inviting them into yours, you could get away without (unless, as mentioned above, it is a legal requirement for all French businesses).
