Q 1. Dear Mr. Failan Saleem,
I am a graduate and presently holding a senior position in a private company and I wish to change my profession to Teaching. Therefore I wish to start my higher education to support my ambition. Pleas guide me with regard to this.
Roshani Perera
Nawala.
Via Email
 Dear Roshani,
Welcome to the club, to guide you more specifically, I require information in three areas:
- What is your specialization in terms of area of knowledge, this is required in order for you to select the road map
- What time frame are your looking at
- What level are you focusing on, for example it can be level three ,which is foundation level to level seven which can be MBA
Many teachers tend to be too academic; although this is required today the best of the lot are the ones who can show application. For this you need to build a foundation rather than be just an armchair specialist.
If I were to redefine your question I would say Knowledge Worker, where teaching can just be one element.
Let me give you an example, consulting, training and teaching can be in one continuum, however the degree of knowledge sharing, participation and application can differ, I continue to be in all the three areas.
I am assuming that you would want to start in a business area of teaching based on your qualification and current position. As a starting point I suggest you start at the most practical level, i.e. consulting, where you use your corporate experience to build critical knowledge in your given area of specialization, this can be even working for the current business and working on projects at the back end, or acquiring the required professional qualification.
Building critical knowledge is the first important step, why I say this is that, I see lots of teachers today who teach according to the same style with zero innovation in delivery, and do not use multiple methods to enhance student experience. They are excellent academics but zero in application.You can also explore the option of applying to institutes to get into the panel as a junior to benchmark best practices.
As I see it will take a good two to three years to build critical mass in you area of liking. There is no one size fits all solution to this, you've got to keep at it until you find the spark.
Q 2. Dear Sir,
I am a grade 12 student and waiting for my O/L results. I have a
problem in choosing my A/L subjects. My aim is to be a child psychologist
and to do teaching part time. Well, I do know it is a must to do science if you want to do psychology. but as the teachers in school are not that
satisfactory, I planned to do commerce .I find accounts difficult since I haven't done it for my O/Ls…and at the moment I'm totally clueless.
Can I do commerce for my A/Ls and then follow a degree in child psychology?
By not doing science for my A/Ls will it be difficult to cope up with psychology?
Can you tell me few institutes which are well known for psychology degrees?
S.S
Via Email
Dear SS,
I am happy about your approach to planning your career, where others would just not even ask the question, based on this we find many students either getting into the wrong stream or getting into the right one and not knowing exactly where to go with it. I am assuming that you are at an international school.
Science is an important prerequisite for the child psychology course, and not doing it would mean you have to pay an additional sum to gain foundation knowledge for the course. The commerce option will certainly make you hit a blind wall. You have three options to consider:
- Do Science for A/Ls, and add on the degre
- Do Science for A/Ls, get private tuition for the weak subjects and add on the degree
- Skip your A/Ls, move into a foundation programme and then upgrade to the degree, this option will cost you more, but will be faster.
As far as institutes for this qualification, as a policy I do not mention names or recommend any specific institution. A search on the web will give you the required information to make a decision.
Q 3. Sir I have finished the A/L exams, so could I know about Aviation and its career path?? And also about the Tourism sector?
Hiruka
Via email
Dear Hiruka,
Let me concentrate on one question, that is the career path in the area of aviation, as far as the tourism sector is concerned you can log on to the cim website and check the qualifications for tourism marketing diploma. I am not in the business of providing you unlimited areas of information without you doing the initial groundwork.
There are numerous aviation career options that you can take advantage of. In the U S for example, general aviation is a large and growing industry supporting nearly 1.3 million jobs and $158 billion in annual economic activity. It employs people in finance, business management, customer service, engineering, electronics, software and hardware development, marketing, sales, insurance, science, law, medicine, real estate and other occupations. If you have a passion for aviation, there are career opportunities for you. Highlighted below are the areas where you could explore your options.
Pilots
There are many opportunities for pilots in addition to the most obvious, the airlines. There are opportunities in the government t as well as flight instructors.
Airline and Airport Operations
Airlines, airports, the Airport and aviation and private companies that service aircraft hire a wide range of workers to keep flying safe and efficient. Qualifications range from a high school diploma for ramp workers to a college degree for management positions and flight dispatchers.
Aircraft Manufacturing and Maintenance
It takes skilled engineers and technicians to build and maintain today's state-of-the-art aircraft. Engineers must have a college degree while technicians, machinists, and assemblers should have at least a high school diploma.
Scientific and Technical Services
It's technology that keeps our air transportation system working smoothly. Engineers serve multiple roles at aircraft manufacturers, the airport and aviation authority and if you are looking at global context, NASA.
Do a search on the web, visit a few qualification providers and write to me with regard to more specific advice.
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