Well said. Couldn't have said it better if I tried!!!

I am a Canadian trained special ed teacher with about 15 years of special ed experience, in both schools and residential systems.

My overseas experience so far has been limited to the past 3 years in the middle east. The problem here is not so much with the schools as it is cultural. There are still huge stigmas attached to having SN kids. There are people who are trying to do something about the situation, but . . .

The prognosis is not great in this area. They are still in denial for the most part. Or the government simply "throws money at the situation" and then washes its hands of it. There are a multitude of local special needs kids here, due to the amount of interbreeding that still occurs. It is still important here to keep the money in the family, to marry within your class, etc. Marriage to a first cousin is EXTREMELY common, and considered a good marriage. Lots of Down Syndrome kids, 'cause they continue to have kids well into their 50's or even 60's if they can. I am working with grade 5-6 kids who have parents in their 70's and 80's!!!

The government in Kuwait has put money into it, but nothing else. There are a bunch of schools accepting SN kids, but not hiring qualified staff, not running appropriate programs, under resourced, etc. The schools take the government money (which is substantial) and then do whatever they want, and the government has no further concern with them. Report cards are a joke. Programs are a joke. Some teachers are doing an AWESOME job, and some of the schools are actually starting to implement REAL programs, but . . . the majority are truly just abusing the system.

In the UAE the situation is not much better. For the most part they are still in denial, although, they ARE trying to open up. They don't have trained and/or qualified teachers. They are using old and ineffective methods of working with these kids. In a lot of cases the schools are actually institutions where the kids live, day in and day out.

As for international schools truly serving an international population, as was previously stated, many of them are more concerned about their "standing" than about the students' needs. They simply don't accept kids with any special needs. They COULD hire qualified staff, and have the resources required, but they choose not to.

Most schools will accept students with mild learning disabilities, but not much more than that. Some accept mild to moderate LD, but most won't touch Down Syndrome, Autism, mentally or physically handicapped kids. Huge stigmas still, in a lot of these countries. If there are SN kids in the school, parents won't enroll their kids in the school.

We have to remember that, although we're all used to it now, and accept it as a given, mainstream special ed is stil relatively new in the west, as well. Or at least in the form we know it now. I remember growing up in a very small town, where everybody KNEW we had a mentally handicapped child, a deaf child, a Down Syndrome child, but they certainly weren't in our school.

As I told parents of my SN kids in Kuwait, everything that happened in North America happened through the persistance and perseverance of PARENTS, not government. If it hadn't been for parent groups and advocates, we wouldn't be where we are now. These countries are a lot less "pushy" with their governments, in general. It will be a LONG time before SN kids are accepted, both in and out of school.

As it pertains to your situation, though, I think that if you managed to hire a qualified teacher, there would certainly be ways to integrate your children into the schools, even if only on a part time basis. There is still the issue of "fear of the unknown". If you had a qualified teacher, who KNEW what to do, and could just work with administration to implement some things, it would be a win/win situation. The school would get some tuition (always on their minds!), and the entire school body would benefit from the integration. It would take away some of that fear.

Having said that, it obviously depends on how MANY kids, which country (or countries) you are in, available finances, and finding someone flexible enough, yet aggressive enough to push your case at the school or schools in which you want your kids. This is NOT an easy road you are walking!

I wish you luck, and hope that you can, indeed, find a teacher interested in helping you out. I'd love to say I'm interested, but having worked with some of these governments, I can't justify putting myself through the frustration!!!

Being an "over 30" single woman living and traveling in the middle east for the past 3 years, I can only speak from personal experience.

Men in the middle east prefer their women with "a little meat on their bones" to put it mildly. Blonde hair and blue eyes are a definite asset, but not necessary.

The basic attitude of middle eastern men, is that all white women (or maybe I should say non-Arabic!) women, is that we're whores, and will sleep with anybody. That's what they see on TV and in the movies, and that's what they believe. They also believe, for some unknown reason, that we're all rich!!!

They will, indeed, throw their phone numbers at you, offer you money, booze, all kinds of stuff. They'll follow you around, try to cop a feel. They'll literally STALK you. But they're not looking to get married, trust me. And if they DO ask you to marry them, be prepared to be a second (or third or fourth) wife. The first wife is almost inevitably Arabic. And, of course, from the RIGHT family, and RIGHT class. We don't fit in either of those categories.

On the other side of the plate, there are a LOT of western (or again, non-Arabic) men in the middle east. However, be wary of them, too. Many (if not MOST) of them are married and have wives and family elsewhere. Again, you're just a piece on the side. In most cases you're not treated any better by them than you are by the Arabs!

Having said all that, of course, those are generalizations. There are some great guys out there, both Arab and Western. But they are few and far between, and you have to literally DIG your way through the crap and bull****.

I sincerely hope that you don't look at teaching overseas as a place or position to find a husband.

***For those of you who do NOT believe all of the posts, you truly need to take a reality check. There is no way THIS MANY people could all be sayng the same thing, without there being some validity. Come on. We're all educators. We're all professionals. And don't give me some drivel about "Dedicated professionals who want to make a difference." If you're a TEACHER, a GOOD teacher, that's exactly what you're all about. So, if you're NOT a good teacher, don't bother reading any
further. You're just wasting your (and OUR) time!

Someone asked for specifics. Here are a few for you!!!

I am currently employed by ENS, Al Ain. Things started out really well on our campus, but the infamous admin of Aub Dhabi have wielded their clubs here, as well, now. The principal of KG was hired as the Head of the school, both KG and Primary. Then she was demoted to Principal. Then to Principal of KG. She was told she would have autonomy. She has been left with absolutely NO power. I wouldn't have her job for ANYthing. Decisions get made by upper management and she has to relay them, making her appear the bad guy. They undercut her at every opportunity. She spends most of her time trying to play mediator between staff and upper management, and gets caught in the middle all too often. The frustration is getting to her, too, I think, based on some things she's said recently. To be honest, I think SHE needs to get out as badly as the rest of us do!

They hired an EXCELLENT Primary Principal, who was ALSO told he would have autonomy. Staff loved him. He, too, felt that we were being spied on, and approached admin about it. He was told it was not true. HE was being spied on. (The evidence is there for anybody who works here.) He was told to discipline staff for things he did NOT think they should be disciplined for. HE was then treated shabbily. Left out of decisions, matter of fact, finding out about decisions from US in a number of cases. Staff were disciplined without his knowledge. In the end, he looked for work elsewhere, and was IMMEDIATELY hired by another school, which, by the way, appreciates both his experience, AND his integrity!!!

We were informed, in the MIDDLE of a staff meeting, that he had resigned. They LITERALLY called the primary co-ordinator out of the meeting and told him, then sent him back in, and called the Principal (who was leading the meeting!) out. Then came in and told us he was leaving. Effective immediately. Staff couldn't WAIT for the meeting to end, so we could all go say goodbye personally. He reassured us that he HAD resigned, but the situation was not exactly what he had expected. There were employees walking into that office in DROVES, many in tears. Everybody from teachers to cleaning staff went in to personally say goodbye. THAT'S the sign of a good leader.

We later found out that they gave him 24 hours to get out of his apartment, and 48 hours to get out of the country. They treated him like a criminal, or like a bad boy who needed his hands slapped. And that's how they treated an ADMIN person. What would they do to a lowly teacher in the same circumstances? Trust me on this one, the staff were ALL on his side, and all of this only made staff morale even LOWER. And also added an element of anger to the whole situation, that, until this time, had been held in check.

Since then, things have continued on a downward trend. Staff morale is so low, I don't think it would register on a scale of 1-10. The only ones staying are those with little to no experience, unqualified, or too afraid to speak up. They are the same few who signed the "contract" we were given.

There's another story. We were all given an "Initial Offer of Employment" to sign, not a contract. Early in the year, things in our initial offers started being changed. When we questioned this we were told that they weren't contracts, and basically had no validity. (This was later cleared up by an article in the local newspaper saying that they WERE legally binding!) They hired a new Head of Principals for both Abu Dhabi and Al Ain schools. The man walked into our school, and, having NEVER SET EYES ON US BEFORE began to berate us and tell us we were not professionals, not doing our jobs, giving out grades based on looks, and a multitude of other slanderous things. He stated, VERY CLEARLY that he didn't believe in the PYP program. He insulted EVERY MEMBER OF STAFF, including the principals, treating us all as if we were nothing.

When questions arose about the contracts, it was suggested that we all ask for copies of our contracts, seeing as we were told we had a 90 day probation period, and it was now late November. We were told by the director that we could get a copy of the contract from HR, ANYTIME! LIES!! HR did NOT have copies, and when they called Abu Dhabi, were told maybe in 2 weeks. 2 weeks extended into 2 MONTHS!!! We finally got given contracts in January. And were told we hd 2 days to sign them.

Okay, the term "contract" is used very lightly here. They were not contracts, they were documents of threat and punishment, administered totally from a POWER standpoint. They contained nothing but penalties and excluded almost ALL benefits that we had been promised. They contravened UAE Labour Law in many places. (We were told that we were under the auspices of the Emir, so therefore not under the UAE Labour Laws!) The language was offensive, the terms unacceptable, and it was obvious that they were trying to SCARE us into signing the contracts and staying. WHAT?!?! And HR couldn't understand WHY we wouldn't sign them. That's the scary part.

When basically nobody handed back a signed contract, HR from Abu Dhabi came to meet with people and hear their concerns. JOKE! The man has no clue what a real contract looks like. He heard the same complaints and concerns from practically every person who went through the door, and STILL he couldn't understand why we were all so upset. They gave us another week to sign. Nobody signed. HR came again. This time the promised amendments. We waited, and waited, and waited. Past the deadline they'd given us to sign, AGAIN. The amendments finally came, but not all items were addressed. Some people still refused to sign.

Based on all the complaints and correspondence from teachers at the school, Live Teacher Recruiting asked for a copy of the contract. CIS asked for a copy of the contract. TeachAnywhere asked for a copy of the contract. We were consequently informed that ENS had been contacted and were told that if the terms of the contract were not changed, they would be removed from their recruiting lists, and that some sites had put out warnings about ENS. CIS told us that ENS had the highest staff turnover rate of ANY international school, for the last 3 years straight! THAT's got to tell you something!!!

Management have recently taken to handing out written warnings. This is their newest ploy to show their power and make us feel helpless. The written warnings carry a penalty of 3 days loss of pay. One teacher got given a written warning for standing on the playground with her hand on her hip. Another got a written warning for talking to another staff member on the playground. A teacher got a written warning for showing up late for lunch time supervision. Other teachers have been written up for "aggressive behaviour" without any substantiation of the charges, any opportunity to defend themselves, or any sort of discussion or mediation. Not ONE written warning has been given for anything to do with out actual TEACHING!!!

We have only had one teacher resign before Christmas, and one pull a runner a couple of weeks ago, but let me tell you, there are a number of teachers hanging by a thread, simply counting the days. When you beat your head against a wall continually, you start to realize it's time to move on. Teachers are burnt out and tired of being treated like naughty little children who need to be chastised and reprimanded to be kept in line.

The teachers who have actually handed in their resignations have all been getting the runaaround. And apparently admin STILL have not figured out that we all talk to each other, because they are offering different people different things as part of their termination. Some have been told they WILL get airfare home, others have been told they will NOT. Some have been told they will receive their August pay, others have been told they will not. Some have been told there will be a ban placed on their passports, others have been told there will not. The school has refused to give a letter of no intent (meaning they will NOT press charges or inflict other penalties on the teacher) to a teacher who has fulfilled her two year contract, and wishes to work at another school in the UAE. The new school cannot process her papers without the letter. Management are just being a**holes, as usual.

And just some notes, for your information. There is no IB program at this school. There isn't even a curriculum at this school. Teachers have been left on their own to devise and implement a curriculum. There are no resources. There are not enough of the resources that ARE available. Nobody has received IB training. A few will be going to Munich this summer for IB training, but under the auspices of Abu Dhabi school. Our school isn't even a CANDIDATE school, yet!

Most of our students speak little to no English. 80% of the school population reads/understands English at less than a grade 2 level. There are a WHACK of special needs kids, but of course, there ARE no special needs kids. They all wrote entrance exams. JOKE of the year! They were TERRIBLE, and it didn't matter whether they passed or failed anyway. They ALL got let in.

Don't tell ME this isn't a money grab. Tuition has just been raised, but no reason has been given. They were suppoed to build a high school (both boys' campus and girls' campus) this year. Ground hasn't even been broken. So, high school teachers that were hired with the promise of high school next year OBVIOUSLY will NOT be teaching high school.

The school is already overcrowded, with enrollment WAY over what it was supposed to be. Specialist teachers are literally teaching in closets and storerooms. And next year will be worse, as they bring in a whole new group of Nursery and KG students, and try to shift everybody up one grade. There is no room for the kids we HAVE, let alone MORE!

We were all promised smartboards in our classrooms. I think there are THREE in the whole school. Classroom computers? We were told there would be 3 or 4 in each classroom. We're down to 2 in each classroom. Some rooms STILL do not have internet. They set up the network withOUT installing antivirus or firewalls, so we had nothing but problems for the first 7 months.

The swimming pools? Hmmmmm. I think the kids have had maybe a MONTH of swimming. The pools have been closed most of the year, due to various sketchy reasons, none with any validation. Too cold. Pumps. Safety. The swimming teachers have had to teach PE (sort of) in the playground areas or wherever they could find space.

They ordered and installed playground equipment in both schools, but the kids aren't allowed to use it. It's all covered with big blue tarps.

Management encourages division between Arabic and Western staff. Arabic staff caught "fraternizing" with Western staff are reprimanded. Most of the Arabic staff speak little to no English, so communication is very difficult. At staff meetings and training sessions, 3/4 of the time there is no translating for the Arabic staff. So how are we supposed to work together, when they don't know what's going on, and what's expected of them? When Western staff bring that up, we are brushed off.

You asked for specifics. Those are just SOME examples of what has been happening at ENS Al Ain.

One final note on the incompetence and inefficiency of the organization (I use THAT word lightly, too!). A few staff members who worked in Kuwait last year, got e-mails from HR, asking them to come to interviews in Kuwait, for jobs at ENS. HR doesn't even know WHO IS EMPLOYED AT THE SCHOOL!!! If THAT doesn't say it all, I don't know what does! :(