[quote=kfssbjj post_id=64335 time=1718378931 user_id=26105]
Just remember, every year you are out of the US cost you in state retirement and social security income.
Hope the loss of retirement income was worth it.
[/quote]

KFSSBJJ is assuming that an international teacher is spending every penny they earn while working overseas and coming home with nothing. That might be true in some cases but that is more an instance of financial silliness than lack of opportunity to put money into retirement accounts. Admittedly, not going international and finishing my career in Canada would have provided me with a pretty healthy pension after thirty years of teaching. However, that reservoir of money would have been beyond my reach outside of my monthly pension cheque. My wife and I managed to save a healthy nest egg and are sitting one year out from retiring with a pot of money that we control and have access to whenever we need it. In addition we have had 22 years of adventures, great colleagues, exceptional students and other experiences that money won't buy.

In the end it comes down to choices and risk and what are you willing to make and take on.

As for taking a break, we took a two year break and then went back overseas when we realized our love of teaching was still there. Our age was more a hinderance than our "break" was.

As always, does it matter? If you would let opinions on a message board dissuade you from applying overseas then its probably not the thing to do. There is some financial investment to make to land jobs overseas but they are not onerous. Apply and see what happens, wait until you are offered a job and then decide whether you are a good fit for that particular school or country, but to ask before applying seems a bit pointless. If my wife and I had taken ISS"s rejection (we actually got our application and original check back in an overstuffed envelop) back in the late 90s to heart then we wouldn't have spent 18 of the past 24 years overseas.

We went overseas with three kids and we got the jobs because I was able to do some inkind work for the school, though to be honest I'm not sure that was even necessary once we arrived in country. We then went home for several years and then back out and managed to find a school that would take three children no questions asked. I think if you are willing to put in the time and not restrict yourself geographically you would find other opportunities.

You have to love those 6 page job descriptions, the ones that by the time you read all the way to the end you can't remember what the job even was.

There is little or no cost, other than time and patience, in job hunting and if an offer is made then you have evidence to work with when deciding to leave your current jobs, which you obviously like.

Applying in or out of China is not an either or choice. If you are willing to put the work into it you should apply to as many schools as you can. Given current world circumstances you might be surprised at the results.

The question isn't whether schools have a right to ask and require proof of your COVID vaccination status, rather it is your right to choose not to answer.

Yes, schools will do what is best for the school. However, everything else being equal two school age dependents will just put you behind other applicants.

sid wrote:
> You might find that you need to also get a police clearance from China.
> Instructions on applying from abroad can be found here - looks tricky :

Based on my recent experience with getting a police check in China this would be an almost impossible task considering the amount of paperwork, time and energy it requires. That is unless you had the full cooperation of your previous school and they agreed to take it on for you, which is what happened to colleagues of mine that didn't return after the initial lockout and needed clearance letters in order to move on.

I think there are valid arguments to both sides and I have been in both positions, though I guess I wasn't a huge fish in the small pond. However, I was able to do things in a small school and have an impact on student life and learning that I couldn't have in a big pond. Being a small fish in a big pond also has its advantages, namely being able to fly under the radar when necessary.

We spent 12+ years at our most recent school, which I guess could be considered settling down. We stayed for many reasons but one key factor is I just didn't want to play the recruiting game.

The bigger schools in Shanghai allow a teaching couple to save $100K, and more, easily, of course saving is dependent on spending.

Agree with the above, we've been here 14 years and up until this year it was great and now its not. Somewhat COVID induced but not all and its definitely time to move on.

We are returning to British Columbia probably to retire or take on other types of jobs. However, we don't want to slam the door shut on teaching. I have been reading that teachers in BC are now required to have a criminal records check every 5 years and we haven't been teaching in BC for 16 years, so if we did go back into the BC system we would need one. My question is, does anyone know how they would treat the past 16 years? I don't see any mention of out of Canada records being required, not because we have a record but because we are debating on getting one from the country we're currently in, though it is clearly identified as a noncriminal record check. In the end I realize its probably a small cost to pay to get one, but I am curious.