In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes >Here is another thought - the main way to be qualified to teach lace at Adult >Education etc is to take City & Guilds - but everyone you talk to says that >the only way to do that is if you are not working. So, who has time now to >devote 2 years full time to do a C&G in lacemaking? Only retired lacemakers.
Only two years? It took me three to do Part 1, and then another two for Part 2. Admittedly the syllabus has changed since then, so it might take more or less time. The teaching requirement is to be qualified to a level above that which you plan to teach, (logical) and as there is no Part 3 to C&G lacemaking, the jump from Part 2 to the C&G 7407 (Level 4 Certificate in Further Education Teaching) is quite a jump in intellectual terms! I have passed Stage 1, which was supposedly a 14 week course but then took several weeks further to complete the assignments - whereas I could probably have coped with working part or full time with doing the lace qualification, I couldn't possibly have coped with the teaching qualification if I had started it this term (I'm working in an office part time again, along with teaching one day a week). That said, I have had two new students start today - both in their middle age (I would guess at 50s) - and one girl who I started teaching when she was 17, is now 22, made it to class for the first time in ages today - working commitments make it difficult for her to manage a day time class. It is a lot easier for the older generation to start new hobbies as they supposedly have more time (or are bloody-minded enough by then to make time for themselves for once!), and as women are living longer (so they keep telling us) it should not be a problem to us that they are starting hobbies such as lacemaking at 60 instead of 16 - they are still a new generation of lacemakers, and keep the interest going. My classes are held in a shop, so I am not held to the numbers required for an Adult Education Class. Also, the students pay weekly, so they don't have to cough up several hundred pounds in one go. We also need to remember, as someone else has said, that not all lacemakers are members of the guilds and clubs - many cannot afford to - so it may well be impossible to work out how many lacemakers there are at any one time, except a rough guess of double what we think it is! -- Jane Partridge - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
