The International Schools Review Forum

Greetings!

Basically, I have a B.A. in Art w/some teaching experience. I was adjunct faculty for a year& a half back in the 90's. It was a bad situation, bad experience, and a bad reference. I ended up going back and getting a Graphic Design degree which is now worthless as all jobs expect fluency in HTML, C++ ect.

So, I'm wondering about my odds of finding a position teaching Art.. where to look for jobs ect. I looked over many posts& didn't see much about Jakarta/Indonesia... ANY advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm a newbie& don't know what I don't know!

Do a search for 'JIS' or 'Jakarta International School'. There are a number of schools in Jakarta, with JIS being the most coveted/established/biggest.

I'm assuming you have a teaching degree?

There are other schools in smaller cities (smaller being relative); Bandung, Denpasar and others.

I grew up in Jakarta. The people are great, JIS was good school. To expect to get hired there without experience/degree is unrealistic.

Research other schools. You may have to put in time elsewhere to get to where you want to go.

If your only teaching experience was at the college level, 15 years ago, you will probably be hard put to find an international teaching job; most will require a teaching certificate and two years experience. While there are art openings, the schools can generally afford to be particular as there is quite a bit of competition.

You will also have to be MUCH more flexible in where you go; setting your sights on Jakarta only (and JIS in particular) is 'way too narrow, especially given your credentials (or lack thereof). Consider regions/countries you're interested in, rather than one city, and stay open to opportunities outside that particular box.

What you want isnt going to happen with what you have.

Why Jakarta/Indonesia?

You dont have a teaching certificate/credential and you have no teaching experience (sorry adjunct tertiary experience doesnt count, and yours is a decade and a half old). You dont even have a masters degree. Schools can be picky when it comes to art, and they dont have to settle.

Art isnt in the highest demand, but if you could also teach design technology that would make you more marketable. Schools generally look for certification and 2 years of recent experience just to meet the minimum requirements to enter the teaching field. With your credentials you would be lucky to get something in a third tier school in the middle east maybe, (and thats a big maybe).

I would point you to the big recruitment agencies, but honestly they wouldnt accept you. The smaller ones will take you because they dont screen members. TIE Online and Joy Jobs are examples, but you would be throwing your money away.

If you just want to go to Jakarta and live, and basically have a job to support yourself while your there you might want to look into teaching ESL, try Daves ESL Cafe, or Google ESL and Indonesia/Jakarta. Getting a TEFL certificate would be advisable.