Hopeful tales of single mothers being hired?

[thekatabroad]

Hi

has anyone got any optimistic stories of yourself or people you know who got hired who were single mothers?

I need some positive thinking, and a silver lining , that I won't have to stay forever at my current school!

...after senidng out around 35 applications and having a few interviews (around 6) and doing well in a few of them..., stil no job offer apart from a tier 3 school, which offered half my current salary , no KG at the school for my daugher (so extra money needed for KG elsewhere), and they agreed that I couldn't live on the salary with a child. They knew about the husband situation, but not the kid, I told after the offer of emplyment.I thought I mentioned last year when I also interviewed with this particular school.
This is my second year of applying for jobs. I apply independantly, as I don't think I would get invited to job fairs and I only want SE Asia. I am sure my referees are tired of sending references for the second year running! especially when many are send out automatically from the naughty schools.

I cannot confirm having 1 dependent is the reason ( but obviously yes it is) , but when it comes to that question, - any dependants? I have to role out my story...me and daughter only, but my husband will join us in the future independently (which is true), but at the moment we are based in different countries. he is not a teacher.
I emphasise that I will be taking a nanny to the shcools...

has anyone got lucky and landed good jobs?

[tangchao]

We have two of them here. PM me if you want details.

[PsyGuy]

I know a single dad who is a working IT and 2 single moms working as ITs. All three have one child a piece and the spouses are nowhere in the picture. Its possible, and its doable, but very difficult.

The problem is you, its not your child its not the school. Your expectations are greater than your marketability and you dont want to take a step back for less, or broaden your job search, so that you can move ahead and grow. Your paradigm is not congruent with your reality.
You either need to change you, or you need to move on too something else, as this profession will not yield to your will.

Understand that in general ITs make less than domestic teachers in public/regulated/municipal schools. IT salaries are about $30K a year (global average), if your holding out for what your making now (dont know what it is), but based on the interest your getting your not going to get a top tier or upper tier salary from no where. There are ways to supplement your income with private lessons and tutoring on the side but then your working ALL the time and it effects the relationship you have with your child.

If you persist in this I suggest one of the services like a premium agency (SA/ISS), TIE, etc that allow you to store closed references. TIE is far cheaper than the premium agencies and the schools that advertise on it are more in your marketability range. This will allow your references to write one letter to which multiple schools can access individually.

[jessiejames]

"IT salaries are about $30K a year (global average)"
Where did you read that, Psyguy? I'm not debating it, it just seems insanely low.

[shadowjack]

There are a lot of bottom feeder schools. If you are wondering which areas skew the numbers low, check out schools in Cyprus, schools in Central and South America (with some exceptions), schools in China at the low end, schools in India - on the paid side of ISR I see some salaries listed as 15,000 - 22,000 per year.

While $30,000 might be low, I suspect the average is not above $37,000. I contrast that with my last job in Canada, which paid north of $100,000 a year WITH housing and travel benefits - but that is the exception in Canada, not the rule.

To the OP - what is your teaching area? For a single parent with a younger child to be a desired hire, he or she has to have a higher needs area. Just being an elementary teacher or a middle school socials (or high school socials or English teacher!) won't really do it for you. What do you have that sets you apart, skill-wise, from the rest? Now, if you are a chemistry-physics teacher, you are golden. Pick a spot, make early contact and job offers WILL come if you have a proven track record. If not, job offers will still come, just slower.

Good luck and feel free to PM if you have any questions.

shad

[PsyGuy]

@jessiejames

Not really, its skewed by a number of low paying regions in S.A. and parts of Asia, but its also corrected for taxes, many high paying NE and WE schools have very high taxes so your $6K salary after taxes is closer to $3K. The rule is the real money is back home, and the easy moneys in the ME. Its only when an IT gets too a top tier schools that their salary catches up to their previous domestic earning power.

Take ASIJ for example the elite tier school in Japan, and having a modest tax for the lifestyle level. The starting salary there is $60K, thats more than youd likely get at home for a starting teacher but ASIJ doesnt hire entry level teachers, most have a decade or more of experience and an advanced degree. Rough career path would be two years domestic, enter as an IT, start ata low tier school work your way up and over (since JP is a high desire area) and your looking at 3-4 contracts each of two years, but being conservative lets say it all works out perfectly and after 3 contracts each 2 years thats 6 years, add that to the 2 we had domestically and your looking at 8 years. In comparison domestically looking at a rough estimate, if I take the DDESS salary (the US based branch of our military schools, which compiles the average salaries of metropolitan areas with populations over 100K, and a bunch of other norming variables, making the statistical data representative of the compensation for the AVERAGE teaching profession int he US) for a teacher with a masters degree youd meet/exceed the ASIJ salary at around only 7 years of domestically. So it takes a year longer for ASIJ, BUT thats ASIJ. In the meantime your putting in hours at much LOWER paying schools than even the domestic average, and your in EXTREME competition for a vacancy at ASIJ or any elite tier school. Meanwhile you could just kinda sit back in your first job, possibly tenured by now, and just banking the coin, while hitting play on the audio book and handing out a worksheet. Not a pretty picture, but teachers get paid largely on years of service and while pay for performance is catching on in part a bulk of a teachers salary is still fixed. the performance pay is more a bonus or supplement. Which even if your a young teacher and your at the right charter school (theres one in NY for example) you could be making 6 figures if your students all pass their math/science etc regents board exams.
Opposition around this time usually says "wait what about my housing allowance" to which I reply what about your retirement and pension. That fixed benefit plan thats going to pay you the average of your top three in the last 5 years or whatever the state pension is, not going to find that outside WE, and you paid for that from those really high taxes that cut your earning down to $30K a year.

No one gets into teaching for the money and ITs are really no different, you do it for the return to sanity of normalish students and the exotic lure of travel and living in a foreign country. That and most single male teachers do better socially overseas where they depending on the country they can be one per-centers or a lot closer to it then they would domestically.

[Arctic]

Unfortunately shadow jack I am English / history ms/ hs teacher, but I do have great exp in other areas, which is probably why I got the 6 interviews to start with. One even with BSM. Ha, don't all start correctly my grammar and punctuation btw.
I can't expand horizons on where to live cos husband lives in japan so I need to stay near and afford child care, hence S E Asia.

As for pay, h I am starting to realise my pay is good and exceeds/ matches other schools, after 2 years of looking.

Re , discussion of pay, whilst it may be great pay in US, Aus, it is shit pay in the UK. My sister after teaching for 12 years in UK, took home 3500 US dollars .
Another question, psyGuy, u mentioned japan, is japan sought after to work as an IT? This is an option for me, but , here is where I am realistic! Most of the schools are very North American in curriculum and hiring, and as a ms/ hs history trained UK teacher, with an MA in English ... I don't stand a chance.

So, to sum everything up, this is what I will take away from my post

Lower my expectations,
leave teaching,
stay where I am,
or get a new husband who is a teacher and has no dependants;)

[Arctic]

To tang chao, did they come to your school with the kids, or have them during their current time there?
May be your school is an exception

[PsyGuy]

@Arctic

You need to go to Aus, with TLRs you can be making 6 figures mid career.

Japan is highly desirable its one of the "little tigers" (along with HK, and SG) and of the three its the most desirable, and most desirable in Asia.

ASs tend to hire Brits and BSs tend to hire yanks, they arent a majority but their a visible minority. Best practices is best practices, and when it comes to exit level examinations, strong metrics across equivalent content have high value. Any HOS/admin/recruiter who has a rock star teacher in their content subject doesnt care if they have or know the doctrine, terminology, history or philosophy. That stuffs easy compared to producing students with consistently high exit exam scores.

[jessiejames]

"As for pay, h I am starting to realise my pay is good and exceeds/ matches other schools, after 2 years of looking."
Yeesh, me too. I am new to IT and working in a location that has been mentioned here for having low pay, but my salary is double the one stated. I cannot imagine working abroad for less than I earn at home, but then my home country only starts teachers on $40k.

[thekatabroad]

psyguy
so you are saying it is possible to get into these schools, Japan, american etc if i get excellent results...?
but surely because English is not an in demand subject, a school is much more likely to give the job to someone who can prove they get good resluts for AP, rather than can prove good results for IB, cos there are so many of us in the pool, so to speak.

jessie james , starting slary in UK for new teachers is a poor US 33k (2200 pounds) then you have 25% taken off!

[sciteach]

When looking at jobs overseas, it does not pay to look at the final wage and comparing it to your wage at home. For example - I have been paid less in every country I have lived compared to my home country, but my savings potential is much higher overseas in the countries and jobs I have chosen.

It is true that there are many jobs which pay terribly, but I tend to stay away from those schools. I have seen quite a few single mothers on the international circuit, but they only tend to have one child and I'd probably wait until they are a in an upper elementary grade until leaving home. This is due to the fact that a child may be seen as a liability. For example - if the child gets sick then the sole care giver will need to stay at home to look after the child.

On one note - some schools want white faces in the classroom so will happily employ a family with kids if your 'colour' is desirable. This often happens in some Asian schools and works mostly against western teachers of asian origin who have kids - but this is only the case in some rare cases.....

[PsyGuy]

@thekatabroad

Yes I am, I know plenty of Americans and Brits who teach world lit.
A school with a Lit vacancy has an "in demand" position. When we as a profession refer to a particular field as being in demand we are referring to the proportion and ratio of need for one subject (or group of subjects in some cases) compared to the demand for all vacancies internationally. A school with a vacancy has a demand for that class of subject teacher.
There are a lot of AP and there are more AP teachers than IB teachers. High performing teachers though are a very small group, and a teacher with demonstrable ability in one assessment type at exit level is going to be able to transfer that performance to another assessment type. Thats highly valuable. The preconception for British teachers in American schools is that they are weak on American Lit, and while youd have to demonstrate that you arent, doing so will give you comparable marketability to US teachers of equivalent caliber.
The AP English Lit and Comp has been highly correlated to the IB Lang. A Lit at HL.

The £22K starting salary in the UK for new teachers (NQT) isnt entirely true, it represents the bottom salary for teachers outside of London. The range actually varies:


London fringe: £23,082 to £33,244
Outer London: £25,623 to £35,823
Inner London: £27,543 to £37,119
Rest of England and Wales: £22,023 to £32,187

So the monthly annualized salary range (aggregating location), is £1,835 too £3,093 which is a median of £2,406.

@sciteach

It pays very much to look at your final wage, you cant make a financial mountain out of a mole hill. Many low paying regions often are quick to convey the "low cost of living" and saving potential, and most of them are mistaken. First, you cant save what you dont make, and living very frugally putting away even half of what is a small salary still only results in small savings, which if and when you leave is still just a small savings. Second, the savings potential only works if you intend to remain in the local economy throughout your career. The moment you leave or travel your purchasing power changes with the new destination. Saving 3/4 of your salary in Columbia is not going to amount to much or get you very far in London of NYC. Third, you have the foreigner tax, which is the reflection of higher costs that foreigners pay because they are ignorant of or dont have access to cost saving goods and services. They dont know where the deals are and how to lower costs.
You had a much better start then the majority of entry ITs many people have to start in 3rd tier schools in undesirable/hardship regions.

The issue is more of child care, if a young child gets sick the parent regardless of age may need to stay home, the issue is childcare and the expense while your working if a child isnt of the appropriate age for enrollment.

We are a predominately Anglo profession, and while schools do want some foreign white faces in school, the labor pool is pretty saturated with them, that no IS is really suffering from not having enough Anglo staff available. It also isnt worth the $10K on average for a place in a school to have some photos in the adverting and web[age. A number of schools are having their sites and advertising professionally done too include stock images of Anglo students. Ive been to a number of schools where the images dont match any setting in the school.