Do you need a PGCE or a Master’s in Teaching and Learning to become a University Lecturer? What are the essential requirements to become a University Lecturer. Is having a PHD the only strong requirement? Do some countries vary when it comes to addressing this question?
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Depends on the college/university, at what level you are wanting to teach, and sometimes your specific field. I can’t speak for other countries, but in the US generally no you don’t need a masters in education or some specific teaching certification to teach as a lecturer or instructor. Usually, if you have a masters in a relevant field you can teach at community colleges or at some universities but only at the undergraduate/bachelors level. If you want to teach graduate level courses, you generally need a terminal degree in a relevant field (PhD, MD, SciD, JD, etc). If you are a student working on a terminal degree, you can also teach classes – for example, I am a PhD candidate and actively teach undergraduate courses as the full ‘instructor of record’, and I can co-teach masters courses but only under the supervision of a professor. Other universities or disciplines will have different requirements.
Note: I am assuming OP is from UK so I am answering that
No. You do not need a PGCE or a Masters in Teaching to be a lecturer.
You will need a PhD, and then some time as a post doc. During the post doc time, you will probably have the opportunity to do a qualification that universities want you to have to teach at undergrad level.
I’ve been faculty in the USA and in Belize. All you need to qualify is a terminal degree, PhD preferred. I have been in the role to help non-academic professionals (MD, ARNP, …) transition to teaching. Every university I’ve interacted with has resources to help faculty to be more effective at teaching. I suspect there’s not a lot of respect for “Ed” degrees outside of those faculties, tbh. I’ve been on a lot of search committees and never seen one short-listed.
I have also seen way too many scholars who went decades without becoming adequate in the lecture hall. Anyone here ever sit in on a class by Noam Chomsky? The quality of scholarship matters so much more.
Lol. University lecturers are the least qualified teachers in the entire education sector. It says a lot about how teaching is valued in comparison to research.
In the UK, it is increasingly common to get your Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) during your PhD which is very minor training plus a written component, next level is fellowship (FHEA) usually after 3 years of teaching, more workshops, longer essay, and most lectureship ads usually list FHEA as a desirable requirement. But unless you have a full PG certificate or a Masters, universities might still require additional teaching training when you join as a full time member. Of course you can somehow get by, but it seems like the expectations from younger academics (both for teaching and research) are getting more and more complicated.
In this market an MS or a PhD with pubs is best depending on what and where The current administration is not your friend. Do not forget the community colleges. Post secondary teaching requires a lot of advanced knowledge. The same people don’t teach everything