Thread: PGCE Fee Assessment

Hi


I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice! Basically, I have just come back to Bangkok, after a week in England, in which I took a PGCE primary interview. For a few days I was very stressed about this, but luckily I have been offered a place. Well, actually it says STOP - awaiting fee details, on the UCAS website. I gave them a call and they confirmed I will be offered a place on the course, however, they need to sort out my fee situation first.

I have already written on the "Fee Assessment Form" that I have been traveling around Thailand for the past 3 years, working here and there. I have also just faxed them a letter from the language centre (where I work on the weekends) that says I have been working there for 2 years, on a casual basis. I have also worked at a school for 4 years, with a work permit, etc..But I thought best not to mention this (although, I have never signed a contract there). What is it that determines temporary / permanant work in Government's view??

Do you think I will be ok? I'm a bit concerned, as my passport shows pages of a year-long visa. Is it all done at the university's discretion? The girl at the desk dealing with it seemed quite helpful and supportive.

I have just called the Uni to see if they got my fax, and they said they would check next week. It's just after going all that way for an interview, I will be gutted if I can't be classed as a UK student, and I don't think I wil be able to afford it, to be honest.

Thanks if anyone can help put my mind at rest, it would be much appreciated!

Hello again. Thanks for your reassuring words! Next on the to do list is getting a visa for my wife and baby to come across with me. Would applying for a settlement visa be the best way to go here? I saw on the uk visa website that there is a "dependant of a student visa", would that be another option? Are there any reputable companies in Bangkok you can recommend?

Thanks again for any advice!

"I have also worked at a school for 4 years, with a work permit, etc..But I thought best not to mention this (although, I have never signed a contract there)."

Actually, you probably did. It's in Thai.
It's one of the paperwork requirements to get a work permit.

Originally Posted by TerryLH

"I have also worked at a school for 4 years, with a work permit, etc..But I thought best not to mention this (although, I have never signed a contract there)."

Actually, you probably did. It's in Thai.
It's one of the paperwork requirements to get a work permit.

That's interesting. I certainly have a work permit. I just signed a lot of forms (that were all in Thai) when they set it up for me. Perhaps one of them was a contract? I will ask my employer about this, and see if she can give me them (this does open another can of worms, as I am not sure she will be too supportive!). So would I need to get them translated?

Anyway, just to get this straight, if I can provide them with details of my last 3 year's employment at the school, showing yearly contracts which I have signed, then that will still be classed as temporary employment and I will be in the clear?

^ You'd only need to show one of your temporary contracts - hopefully in English so they can see what it is. Stop panicking, you'll be okay.

I dont know if you remember me from the TES forum but we spoke about PGCE stuff there
too.

I'm also in the same boat as you and crapping myself about getting bursaries and being
classed as home student! I just rang student finance england and they told me
I wouldnt be eligible (despite telling me before that I would be!)

However, going by what people said on this forum, maybe I can uncrap myself.
I know that the system did change last year so I dont feel entirely confident.

Hi Shamone. Well, it all worked out alright in the end (as everyone said it would!). Just showed them a letter from my boss at my school, and they were satisfied. I wrote it myself, and had her sign it (fixed term yearly contracts,etc...). So step one out of the way. I've already applied for my loan and had a letter confirming my bursary is to be paid in due course. For the loan I just applied as if I was in the Uk, using my parents address (I will be there in a few months anyway). That way I don't think I will even have the issue of them deciding if I am a home student or not.
Next month, I will get the ball rolling for the settlement visa.

Thanks to everyone that helped.

Sorry to drag up an old post, but I've just received an email stating I won't be able to receive any funding as a “series of temporary absences is classed as permanent". I sent them my latest contract and a letter from my employer stating I had been working on a "fixed-term" basis for the past 3 years. But I think this may have caused more problems than it solved! It's so annoying. I've sent them an email back saying that I have been in the UK in-between my fixed contracts, but I am not sure what evidence they will need for this. And I am technically lying. Could I just get my boss to make up a few contracts with gaps in-between, and say I was in the UK for this time? And how long between employment breaks would be adequate? It all seems a bit woolly, and I am quite pessimistic now. It's pretty much impossible for me to do the course without this funding. Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks

Originally Posted by Thaicowman

I've just received an email stating I won't be able to receive any funding as a “series of temporary absences is classed as permanent".

Did they say how they came to this conclusion? It may well be worth challenging. You could threaten them with a judicial review (a court action against bodies exercising public powers which cannot exercise such powers unreasonably).

Originally Posted by Thaicowman

I sent them my latest contract and a letter from my employer stating I had been working on a "fixed-term" basis for the past 3 years. But I think this may have caused more problems than it solved!

I fear you might have opened a can of worms here - better to have sent them a 1-year fixed term contract. But, I feel it's still worth arguing that you were still temporarily employed abroad on a series of temporary contracts. More than a few over the past several years have been accepted for PGCE funding after having worked abroad in Thailand and elsewhere on such contracts.