Point (1) and point (2) seem to contradict one another Psyguy.

I have a great LOR from my principal and a confidential admin review from the head on Search (that I obviously don't know the contents of).

Should I approach them and ask what they will say on the phone?

[quote="ichiro"]Ozman,

And what is going to happen when they call your references and they say something along the lines of, "he's impossible to work with?"[/quote]

That won't happen as I've already received glowing LORs from them that pretty much say the opposite.

My previous employer will also speak highly of me.

I was homesick on my first OS posting in the UK, but this only lasted for about a week or so. This was in a "horror school" which was a part of the UK state system, a lot worse than some of the worst you have read about on ISR.

I quite liked the UK and travelling around Europe; it wasn't till I got back to Oz that I got homesick as in: it was my home and I was sick of it. I couldn't wait to start my next O/S adventure and I can't see myself returning to Oz anytime soon. Earth is "home" now.

Seriously, it sounds like you may be a bit of a home-body if you are still homesick after six months in a good school at a location you like.

I definitely won't be badmouthing them (I'll more than likely save that for ISR after my departure); I was thinking of something like "difference in philosophies" or something like that.

[quote="PsyGuy"]I'll save you the criticism. Just tell them one of the following:

1) You learned all you could and are looking for new challenges.

2) You want a change of experiences/regions.

3) Professional Growth and Development Opportunities.

[/quote]

Thanks for the advice, but these would all be untrue; and I am really bad at, and don't like, lying.

1. Was a coordinator with a pending authorisation visit coming, that was challenging enough.

2. More than happy where I am now.

3. Heaps of PD where I was and see number (1).

There's got to be some way of saying: "well, I got blindsided by some people whose only experience is limited to primary school admin in a small state of USA who really weren't used to my (demonstrably successful) approach" without raising alarm bells.

Attitude is good. Working with people a weakness, but this is a matter of perception, one that was really not conveyed to me when it may have helped. They said that I had improved in this area... but that's beside the point right now. I don't really need any more criticism to "help" me improve in the future... I need immediate advice.

Can anyone help me with the questions I posed?

Hello all,

Well, I suppose I've now been baptised into the world of international teachers as I have been completely blindsided and deceived by admin and have been informed that I will not get another contract.

This is despite two glowing performance appraisals over the two years at the school. In the end, although I was praised for having a high level of competence and skill in the job, they pointed out a fuzzily-defined personality trait of mine as being the reason for non-renewal.

My question is: what do I say to prospective employers when they asked my reasons for "resigning" (as I was given the option to do) after the initial contract?

Also, should I make a case to Search over this?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Ozman 8)

Quoting Hermione: "I was just trying to say that great projects, even ones demanding significant optimism, tend to draw wildly divergent opinions."

I really don't see any wild divergence in opinion. Absolutely everyone is saying the same thing: Steer clear!!

The only source of divergence seems to be coming from the admin of this "school."

I have no inclination to take a job at this school. I just would like to put it on record that it is really great that this website exists. Without it, I don't see how poor old teachers would have a voice.

It seems like there are many international schools in the Middle East where parents and their treasures are running the school; where teachers are treated like slaves of the Pharoah.

Hermione and that following blogger who gave details of where to lodge applications are clearly stooges. I don't see how anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size could possibly be fooled by this for even a second.

The fact that the admin of this school are logging on with pseudonyms to put up farcical arguments against the overriding onslaught of negativity is just laughable. They seem like children building sandcastles on the shoreline in order to prevent the tide from coming in.

They seem to think that they may be actually fooling someone, which says something about the regard with which they hold the international teaching fraternity.

I once was lured overseas to an awful school in the UK, so it is refreshing to find a forum where the facts can be shared without censure.