My girlfriend and I are applying to new international schools for next year and are curious about what our chances are for securing employment. We have no plans to get married right away so that's not an option. We don't even both need to be employed, as long as we can support ourselves and stay together without any visa issues, we will be satisfied.
We are 27 and 26 years old, both have 3 years of teaching experience at an international school in India, and are both Canadian certified teachers. My area is general science and biology, and hers is instrumental music and drama (mostly music). We teach grades 7-12 currently, with IGCSE and some AP.
I have a 1 year post grad certificate of specialization in Fish and Wildlife Management (possibly irrelevant) as well as bachelors (obviously), have taught ESL overseas, and I am head of the Science department this semester while the school searches for a new HOD. I have designed and taught the grade 7 and 8 general science curriculum, as well as teaching IGCSE Biology and AP. I also had a student teacher this year.
My girlfriend has been teaching private woodwind lessons since high school, has extensive performance and band experience, and participates in many extracurriculars. She also has a certificate in instrument repair. She is Japanese and could potentially teach that as a language as well (assuming a certification in Japanese teaching is not needed).
We would like to be able to save some money, in or near a city (currently we are in the middle of nowhere and it is a little depressing), at an IB school (we want to gain this experience, as it seems to be the international standard).
Does this sound reasonable? Would schools be willing to pick us up, or would the fact that we are not married pose a significant problem? Any tips or constructive comments would be greatly appreciated (besides "get married!").
What are our chances?
Concerned
Well you should seriously consider getting married, sorry but you asked if it would be a problem. You basically need a school with 2 vacancies, one in music, and one in science, which isn't unheard of. The problem becomes if you don't find a school you like with matching vacancies, because without being married, one of you couldn't accept a possibly great position/school and the other be a trailing spouse. Many countries don't have a bf/gf visa. So that could become a problem.
Math, science, and music are all in pretty good demand, and a 2nd tier UB school is a reasonable goal.
The fish and wildlife and instrument repair certificates don't mean anything, and aren't of any value to a school really.
Math, science, and music are all in pretty good demand, and a 2nd tier UB school is a reasonable goal.
The fish and wildlife and instrument repair certificates don't mean anything, and aren't of any value to a school really.