Hello.

No written contract, no reason to feel bad about anything. The verbal acceptance is once again something that favours schools entirely. At times contracts need to be legalised or go through some other legal process and so they don't arrive until a few weeks after you have accepted an offer. That's understandable. But as tdaley26 stated earlier, you really don't know what the schools are up to while your contract is being processed or is 'in flight'.

I don't condone certain behaviours (e.g. signing a contract but still keeping your eyes open, lying to schools outright, etc.). However, your situation is quite different and when it comes to family then that's all you need to worry about.

I assume Briz is speaking about ISHMC American Academy, and not ISHMC proper. They are completely different and run by different people.

I would never accept a position from the former. However, I would be happy to work at the latter. They are definitely on the way up. Housing could be excellent, savings potential is good and Saigon is fantastic.

I worked in Saigon while ISHMC was going through the Cognita takeover. My friends who worked there commented that it was not pleasant. These same friends are still there and can't believe how much it's changed for the better.

Cheers.

@SusieQ

Thanks for the info. I will look into it.

Cheers.

@suzieQ

Which professional organisations for educational leadership would you recommend? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Escuela Campo Alegre is an amazing school and moves from strength to strength. Definitely a top tier school.

Caracas, on the other hand, is very difficult to live in. I worked at ECA for four years and loved every minute of it. However, Caracas was becoming very unpleasant. This was several years ago, too. Friends who are still there say that it has become almost unbearable.

Good luck.

We have managed to land jobs at solids schools using Skype for the last two recruitment seasons. We have over 15 years of PYP/MYP/DP experience.

We have Skype interviews this weekend as well for the 2014-2015 school year.

I stopped attending fairs as a matter of principle. However, I am aware that this limits our chances for landing jobs at certain schools.

Put together a solid CV, perhaps a website with samples of this and that and don´t give up.

Good luck.

Every school I have worked at, including two tier one schools, has had inaccurate information on Search.

When I asked Search about it, they blamed the school. When I asked the school, they blamed Search.

Every school I have worked at, including two tier one schools, has had inaccurate information on Search.

When I asked Search about it, they blamed the school. When I asked the school, they blamed Search.

I'm in Colombia now, and before accepting the position at my current school I was offered a position at CNG and another school in the city. I didn't take the latter two positions because the package was considerably lower than the one from the school I accepted.

ECA's package continues to be the best - specifically because of the financial situation in Venezuela.

Both the Anglo Colombiano and The English School Bogota pay significantly more than Nueva Granada. CNG´s big perk is that they are located in quite a nice area of town. The former two are in a rather unpleasant part of the city.

I also forgot to mention that my present school provides a generous retirement plan, too.

I second Taniwha's comment.

Although not necessarily the norm, there are quite a few schools in South America that rival the ME and Asia for overall package. Off the top of my head I can list about 15 or so.

I recently returned to South America and my starting salary is in the upper US$50k's. This is before you add a generous housing allowance, flights, tuition, extensive PD and the best insurance plan I have had in 15 years of international teaching. The cost of living here is also not that much higher than in my last Asian posting.

So, if you look around just a bit, you can find an attractive situation for you.

Good luck.

I have noticed over the course of the last 3-4 recruitment seasons that schools tend to wait a bit longer to offer contracts.

So, you might attend ISS Bangkok but the schools aren't planning to offer until Search Bangkok or even Search London. Some schools might wait until all of the fairs are over.

Then there's the issue of tons of openings appearing after both of the Bangkok fairs have finished. Too many schools still allow teachers to renew contracts after the December holiday.

I would not attend the ISS fair. If you are not the perfect fit (and most people are just not) then wait until later in the recruitment season.

Please don't listen to PG. As far as education goes, he is pretty lost. But when it comes to this region he is utterly useless.

Good luck.

Most of the schools you would want to look at start in August.

Try the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA) or the Latin American Heads Conference (LAHC) for more British style schools.

Good luck.