Hi all,
First, let me thank you all for the posts I have been reading over the past few weeks. Your insight is most valuable, and has inspired me to send off my first IS application despite being relatively content with my current position in the US. As I go through this process, I have lots of questions and would appreciate any any advice the community can give.
Here's some background that may be relevant for these answers. I apologize in advance for being somewhat vague, but discretion is important right now.
The Good: I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in a hard science and am certified in the US in two content areas within the hard sciences. I have taught AP level and higher within those content areas. I have also taught in two different nationally ranked K-12 schools for a total of 5 years, and am awaiting the results of this year's round of National Board certifications.
The Bad: I'm picky. I'd like to go to Japan (I would need little convincing) or Western Europe (I would need considerable convincing). Most other places are out for various reasons. I also have a non-teaching spouse and one dependent. My spouse could be useful in an English speaking office/secretarial position within the school, though. Also potentially bad is that neither of my degrees is in education. Because it is likely that my spouse would not be working, I would need to support my family on the package from the school.
So, here are my questions, in no particular order.
1) Given the above vague description, how competitive would I be on the IS market in Japan and Western Europe? I know it's an area that is flooded with applications and the competition is fierce, but I don't have a good bead on where I might fit within that level.
2) What schools would be good to look at in the areas I have mentioned that would result in a high chance of an interview?
3) Am I hamstringing myself by not going with ISS or Search? Is a TIE membership something that would help, or might I be OK going it solo, as it were?
4) How much of a negative is it that I have not taught in an IS before? Does experience teaching highly ethnically diverse student bodies help?
5) What else might I need to consider that I have left out?
Thanks in advance!
Potential first time IS teacher looking for advice
just guessing / speculating but,
you seem like a fairly solid candidate. as always the most important thing is experience which you have. not having an edu degree shouldnt be an issue esp considering holding degrees in hard sciences for which you teach.
the negatives i see is obviously no international experience and IB to be precise.
another negative is you dont have connections in Japan or WE.
still possible to get a job in said places, but id imagine it wouldnt be something you should bank on.
obviously applying to all the agencies and going to the fairs will increase your chances.
you seem like a fairly solid candidate. as always the most important thing is experience which you have. not having an edu degree shouldnt be an issue esp considering holding degrees in hard sciences for which you teach.
the negatives i see is obviously no international experience and IB to be precise.
another negative is you dont have connections in Japan or WE.
still possible to get a job in said places, but id imagine it wouldnt be something you should bank on.
obviously applying to all the agencies and going to the fairs will increase your chances.
Thanks for the advice. It helps to know where I stand.
Are the agencies and job fairs that critical? That is, is it that difficult to gain employment without them? On my current salary, it wouldn't necessarily be a stretch to join an agency, but attending one of the job fairs would be a bit of a burden both financially and in terms of personal leave.
Are the agencies and job fairs that critical? That is, is it that difficult to gain employment without them? On my current salary, it wouldn't necessarily be a stretch to join an agency, but attending one of the job fairs would be a bit of a burden both financially and in terms of personal leave.
Reply
IB experience is less an issue then your family situation. DIP sciences are not all that different from any other curriculum, and you have the resume to say have mastered the material and are successful in a classroom. Really the IB stuff is a weekend workshop and once you know the IB learned profile and a couple of buzzwords you should be fine. The IB exams dont test Ib pedagogy and methodology for students they test content knowledge and IB scores are how you measure successful performance at an IB school.
The agencies SA and ISS arent really going to help you if your focused on Japan, and if even WE is going to take some convincing for you then really you want to go to the most highly desired location for guys in the IT field. So basically its Japan or bust, you can find the list of Japanese ISs that are repped by the agencies pretty easily. You just bookmark their HR page and check them every couple of days. An agency would make this easier, but if you dont want to go to a fair which I wouldnt in your case then the agency isnt going to do much for you. I wouldnt go to a fair because your looking for a science position at a Japanese IS and there arent many Japanese school on the circuit, and since your limited to only sciences you might have really only 2 opportunities/interviews and that assumes they want to talk to you.
They real challenge and its going to frustrate you is that your one teacher and three seats. Your just too expensive a hire for Japan. It would be very expensive to live in Japan on anything except a top salary for you which youd really only find at a top tier school. Without all the other pluses like IB, masters, etc their are simply candidates with those qualities available.
Your wife unless shes fluent in japanese would not work as a receptionist or secretary, her job would require her to communicate with various individuals organizations in japanese, and they would hire a local for that type of position.
The agencies SA and ISS arent really going to help you if your focused on Japan, and if even WE is going to take some convincing for you then really you want to go to the most highly desired location for guys in the IT field. So basically its Japan or bust, you can find the list of Japanese ISs that are repped by the agencies pretty easily. You just bookmark their HR page and check them every couple of days. An agency would make this easier, but if you dont want to go to a fair which I wouldnt in your case then the agency isnt going to do much for you. I wouldnt go to a fair because your looking for a science position at a Japanese IS and there arent many Japanese school on the circuit, and since your limited to only sciences you might have really only 2 opportunities/interviews and that assumes they want to talk to you.
They real challenge and its going to frustrate you is that your one teacher and three seats. Your just too expensive a hire for Japan. It would be very expensive to live in Japan on anything except a top salary for you which youd really only find at a top tier school. Without all the other pluses like IB, masters, etc their are simply candidates with those qualities available.
Your wife unless shes fluent in japanese would not work as a receptionist or secretary, her job would require her to communicate with various individuals organizations in japanese, and they would hire a local for that type of position.