Seriously, this raises questions about background checks in the International teaching scene.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... confession

6/7 considered a light load in British schools? That would amount to a 30 hour week. A full timetable in an English school is 24 max. HoD will be on 18.

This, for me, is a crucial problem.

Search insist that candidates use their email system to contact schools and no other method, but it makes sense that schools would rather avoid paying Search their finders fee if they can hire candidates direct through the school website or another recruitment site.

So surely anyone obeying the Search directive to use their email function as the sole means of contacting a school iis negatively affecting their chances of getting a job. Yet sending in duplicate or even triplicate applications through various sites is only likely to aggravate the HR at the schools who receive these applications.

What to do? What to do?

agreed. There seems to be quite a 'North American' (to be diplomatic) bias on the forum in that American schools are routinely quoted as the best in each country, perhaps due to the large number of US teachers using this forum. Some of these schools, e.g ASIJ, TAS, don't offer the IB program, and others which do, such as AESD and ISB, generally don't hire teachers from anywhere but the US.

Joining Search Associates and attending the Bangkok Fair would be a good start.

Networking. You are often up against short listed candidates with similar qualifications. They may not be as good as you in practice, but they know someone in the school management who can vouch for them. This, unfortunately, makes the difference.

@sushi breakfast

Good tip, I'd love to do Japan, I tried before, but it seems damned hard to get an IB job there. Lots of competition.

@cheery littlebottom.

Venezuela looks interesting, v.diverse environment, though I'm not keen on macho culture. How much you estimate a single can save yearly in a school there?

To do their jobs properly?

I came into teaching relatively late (mid 30s) having worked in finance and marketing. One thing that I've noticed is that by comparison the international teaching profession suffers from a large number of administrators who are unprofessional and lack leadership/people skills.

Such administrators invariably have the Masters, the Doctorates, to qualify them for their roles. But one thing that I've noticed is that all the bad ones, in my experience, have never worked outside a school. The only head I worked under who had good leadership and people skills had previously worked in the business world.

So I say this to those who aspire to become administrators. While you are taking your year out to get a qualification in school leadership, why not spend a couple of months on placement in a different working environment, see how the business is run, the staff are managed. It will give you valuable perspective.

I'm in Europe, where there is plenty of fresh air, but zero savings.

Any suggestions where to move next year in order to get both?

I've got allergic rhinitis (induced by a posting in Istanbul) and a low boredom threshold (so please don't recommend Singapore).

Any responses would be much appreciated.

Mick

WHen schools announce that the majority of their teachers have Masters degrees, they are doing so to impress parents/customers, not other teachers.

Also, the majority of that majority will be North American teachers. Generally UK teachers don't bother with Masters, at least not in the first stages of a career. The process of teacher training/qualification/hiring does not really give room for doing a Masters.

In any case, classroom experience and 'ability to teach' is considered more important than theory.

@Happygolucky

My point was not that PGCE's prevented you from working in Scotland - I know a few such teachers like yourself - but that PGDE's were not considered appropriate by schools which followed the ENC, at least not in my experience. However, I am happy for anyone holding a PGDE and working in an English state school to disprove this assertion, though I know of none who do.

funny, but I didn't think that British schools required a hoofed mammal of equine species as collateral for your work contract

The PGDE is accorded the same recognition as the PGCE. It is much the same course in terms of its length and rigour.

The key difference is that a PGDE does not follow the national curriculum for England, so you won't be able to get a job in an English state school.

As a side note, I wonder where you are finding your information about the best education programmes in the UK. The Guardian newspaper publishes a list of the 'best' courses at UK universties, but bear in mind that this is based on student surveys about 'course satisfaction' 'student-teacher ratio' and so on. It does not reflect the quality of the teaching and research.

The top ranked education schools in the UK are

England

Institute of Education (London)
Cambridge University

Scotland

Moray House (University of Edinburgh)


Competition to get into these is quite fierce (1 in 4 applicants are successful on average).

It's only reallly important in terms of getting interviews for your first job in the England/Scotland. I don't think international schools pay much attention to where you got your PGCE, or whether you graduated with 'distinction' or whatever - they are more interested in curriculum experience, though the intensely practical nature of the PGCE would suggest new teachers with this qualification are better prepared for the classroom, in terms of experience, than their counterparts from other anglophone countries.

@Dredge - it could be if you are a skilled lothario or a whore-monger, but in reality these girls are mostly interested in the size of your earnings, as is the case in Thailand and elsewhere.

'The older white teacher fall in love, the young native woman [i]learn[/i] to love him back'

Of course, the white man is not such the commodity he was because there are plenty richer Chinese guys now, but it is still true you can go mad upriver, Kurtz style, from over-exposure to sex.

1. Because you won't find another country in the world with the same diversity of culture and geography.

2. Cuisine - you can live for years in China and not eat the same dish twice.

3. The excitement of living in a country that matters globally, in terms of politics, environment and society.

4. The pleasure of mastering a difficult language.

5. The pleasure of suprising young women with the relatively large size of your .... bank balance.