If anyone has some advice/insight into the "coordinator" position I would greatly appreciate it...
I have been in the corporate world for awhile, in the area of medical education and more specifically the coordination of medical education/graduate medical education.
I do have a BA and an elementary teaching certificate from a CA University (which I need to renew). I taught for one year but left the field in 2006 due to the economic downturn.
I did submit my resume with the intentions of attending the recruitment fairs last year but the company I was working with (SA) felt my lack of two year's of teaching combined with my time out of the field was less than ideal.
So I am now in the same place, only another year out of the field but very much wanting to teach abroad. I am drawn to the position of "coordinator" but cannot find a clear description of the position to see if my qualifications match or if I would could even build on my expertise to be competitive.
I'm resigned to the fact that I would not be considered for a teaching position at this point in my career but I haven't given up on the idea of being a contributing part of interntional academics.
Coordinator Positions
Follow Up (OP)
I'm guessing curriculum coordinator although as of today there are 16 "coordinator" positions on the TIE site. Defining what the position of "coordinator" is or does at an international school site is my goal. My apologies for the vague question.
Reply
Coordinator can mean a lot of different things. On one end a it may include DIP Coordinator, which could be the senior administrator for an IB Diploma Program, which be equivalent to a High School Principal.DIP coordinator might also be a member of the junior administration team, more like a Dean or Assistant Principal. Coordinator is also often used to describe junior members of the administration team, and could include IB Coordinator, Academic Coordinator, Curriculum Coordinator, CAS Coordinator, Technology Coordinator, etc. These individuals may or may not have split teaching and administration roles. As junior admins they dont have supervisory or tasking responsibilities. Most of the junior admin day to day tasking activities that arent in the classroom are planing and documentation preparation tasks. Its basically cubicle work. Senior admin coordinators are key members of the leadership team, they do all the tasks required of a school manager.
Your not qualified for a curriculum coordinator position, or any coordinator position:
1) You dont have enough teaching experience, one year is VERY light, and isnt even enough for an IT position.
2) None of your experience is recent (6 years is a long time out of the field).
3) You have no experience in IGCSE/IB/AP curriculum.
Your not qualified for a curriculum coordinator position, or any coordinator position:
1) You dont have enough teaching experience, one year is VERY light, and isnt even enough for an IT position.
2) None of your experience is recent (6 years is a long time out of the field).
3) You have no experience in IGCSE/IB/AP curriculum.
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Traveller1
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:18 pm
"I'm resigned to the fact that I would not be considered for a teaching position at this point in my career but I haven't given up on the idea of being a contributing part of interntional academics."
I'd say you have more chance of securing a teaching position than a Coordinator's position, which are usually quite sought after.
I'd say you have more chance of securing a teaching position than a Coordinator's position, which are usually quite sought after.
Thank you!
I appreciate the information and opinions. The role of curriculum/academic coordinator sounds similar to what I currently do in the world of med ed.
Maybe teaching at a 3rd tier site would be my foot in the door and allow me to gain experience.
Thanks again & good luck to those in the trenches!
Maybe teaching at a 3rd tier site would be my foot in the door and allow me to gain experience.
Thanks again & good luck to those in the trenches!
Advice
OK so this is how you get an academic coordinator position. Its going to focus on this hook: "You know the inside track of getting their kids into med school".
First thing you do is renew your elementary certificate.
Second, you register with a couple services preferably Search, and TIE (though Joy jobs would work too, and you could skip Search if you wanted to put more time into a job Search).
You are looking for the bottom third tier schools, in highly dense IS cities (cities that have a high concentration of international schools). Skip the first tier, and the second tier schools. You are looking for accelerated opportunities. Heres why, Third tier school have really high turnover, its practically a revolving door, and your hope is that sometime in your first two year contract someone moves on and leaves, creating an opportunity for you two move into that position. You want the dense IS concentration because a local hire is a better hire then an overseas hire, and at 3rd tier schools money and costs are very significant hiring factors.
Third, where ever you go you are going to be a brown nosing, sycophant, yes man, because third tier school dont hire admins (including junior admins) based on qualifications, they hire them based on them being like them, meaning concerned for the owners profits, and being part of the management team. So that when ever a vacancy becomes available (and back stabbing a current junior admin would speed up the process) you will be a natural choice to take over that coordinator position, because you fit in on the leadership teams side. Hopefully you can do this your first year, sot hat you can have at least a year of coordinator experience on your resume.
Fourth, during your next two years you start a Masters program, the best is a school counselor program, but following that a school psychologist or administration (M.Ed) program. Your looking to ideally move into a college advising counselor position. The reason is that there is such a demand for college advising counselors (So many school counselors are mental health focused) that you can get in with very little experience and you can skip a tier. So you can go from your tier 3 teaching/coordinator position to a 1st tier college advising counselor position. Your hook is that your medical school curriculum experience gives you an inside and unique expertise of how medical school admission committees work, and over your career youve met and maintained relationships with deans and directors of admission.
Fifth, you stay a college advising counselor for 2-3 years waiting and applying to 2nd tier schools as a curriculum coordinator (or if lucky whatever school your at), once there you just put in 2-4 years and move onto a 1st tier school as a curriculum coordinator.
Lastly, during this time you need to get IB/AP/IGCSE experience/training.
First thing you do is renew your elementary certificate.
Second, you register with a couple services preferably Search, and TIE (though Joy jobs would work too, and you could skip Search if you wanted to put more time into a job Search).
You are looking for the bottom third tier schools, in highly dense IS cities (cities that have a high concentration of international schools). Skip the first tier, and the second tier schools. You are looking for accelerated opportunities. Heres why, Third tier school have really high turnover, its practically a revolving door, and your hope is that sometime in your first two year contract someone moves on and leaves, creating an opportunity for you two move into that position. You want the dense IS concentration because a local hire is a better hire then an overseas hire, and at 3rd tier schools money and costs are very significant hiring factors.
Third, where ever you go you are going to be a brown nosing, sycophant, yes man, because third tier school dont hire admins (including junior admins) based on qualifications, they hire them based on them being like them, meaning concerned for the owners profits, and being part of the management team. So that when ever a vacancy becomes available (and back stabbing a current junior admin would speed up the process) you will be a natural choice to take over that coordinator position, because you fit in on the leadership teams side. Hopefully you can do this your first year, sot hat you can have at least a year of coordinator experience on your resume.
Fourth, during your next two years you start a Masters program, the best is a school counselor program, but following that a school psychologist or administration (M.Ed) program. Your looking to ideally move into a college advising counselor position. The reason is that there is such a demand for college advising counselors (So many school counselors are mental health focused) that you can get in with very little experience and you can skip a tier. So you can go from your tier 3 teaching/coordinator position to a 1st tier college advising counselor position. Your hook is that your medical school curriculum experience gives you an inside and unique expertise of how medical school admission committees work, and over your career youve met and maintained relationships with deans and directors of admission.
Fifth, you stay a college advising counselor for 2-3 years waiting and applying to 2nd tier schools as a curriculum coordinator (or if lucky whatever school your at), once there you just put in 2-4 years and move onto a 1st tier school as a curriculum coordinator.
Lastly, during this time you need to get IB/AP/IGCSE experience/training.