Hello all,
This will be a long post, for which I will apologize in advance. I have discussed the same questions with another person who has a lot of experience with international schools. I would not be surprised if he is a member on this forum as well. If that is the case, I would like to greet him: "hello and long time no see".
I'm not a teacher myself, I'm writing on behalf of my better half, with whom I have been together for 12 years. We have a teenage daughter (I'm the stepdad, to be precise). We live in a country in Eastern Europe, which is a member of the European Union. For the past few years I've been increasingly concerned that my girlfriend should seek new challenges, considering her education, skill set and experience. She is modest and self-critical, and perhaps lacking in confidence, but without much reason. She has a master's degree in music and she is currently writing her doctorate thesis in education sciences. Despite her age - she is in her mid-30s - she has been working as a head teacher in a music school that is part of a larger educational organization (consisting of a kindergarten, primary and secondary education schools, art schools etc.). That means she has about 6-7 years of experience in a managerial position. On top of that she is experienced as a teacher as well, having given lessons for the entire duration of her professional career, to students from pre-school to high-school.
Her specialty is music and she is very, very good at it. She is regularly giving lessons to very talented students in high school, many of whom are entering the local music university after graduating. She has extensive knowledge of music theory, solfeggio, harmony and music history. In fact, she could write her own text-book on teaching music in primary and secondary schools. Her main instrument is the piano, which she has studied for years, and she can play additional instruments at an amateur level. She has experience conducting choirs and experience in working with children with disabilities.
Her language skills are a bit tricky to describe. She has not taken the TOEFL exam, and while she is very critical of her English skills, I know she is used to consume media in English without any problems. In addition, in her doctorate studies she has to use sources in English frequently. If I had to take a wild stab in the dark, I would say she is at B2/C1 level right now. Her second main foreign language is German, which admittedly is quite rusty due to lack of practice. Finnish is understood well and spoken adequately, plus she has a basic understanding of Russian and French. I know the lack of total proficiency in English is a problem, but fortunately she is not planning to apply for an international job right away, so we have time to study and practice and take all the necessary exams. She wants to finish her thesis and possibly wait for our daughter to finish high school first.
Here we get to the part where I need the help of this little community at ISR. I have several questions and I would appreciate all relevant comments and information that you could give me, even if it is in the form of conjecture.
Question about the two layers of discrimination. From what I've heard, there is a very strong preference given to native speakers of English, sometimes without regard to their actual mastery of the subject or other aspects, such as previous work experience. The second layer being heavy bias against people from Eastern Europe. How serious a hindrance could her status as a non-native speaker from Eastern Europe be when taking into account her education and experience?
Should she aim for a position at an international school or perhaps a music school instead? Are there any international schools that specialize in music or have very strong liberal arts curriculums? As you can see, my lack of clear perspective in this matter is rather alarming. Not only that, I suspect she is rather torn between what she would like to do, ideally. She loves teaching and working with children, but at the same time an ideal position would be an administrative one, perhaps running a department for example.
Is there a specific region of the world where someone like her might be more sought after? Are there any countries where a person with her specific attributes might not even dream of a job?
I welcome all your comments, additional questions, tips and recommendations that you might have. I apologize again for the length of the post and thank you if you decided to read through it.
Unsure about career options, maybe you can help?
-
OhYesIndeed
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:39 am
Re: Unsure about career options, maybe you can help?
Possibly more opportunities in Middle East for Eastern Europeans but will definitely need to up her language skills, if indeed this is the path she wishes to take. Doesn't sound too convincing - more like your dreams for her than her own...
-
OhYesIndeed
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:39 am
Re: Unsure about career options, maybe you can help?
curiousme wrote:
> Possibly more opportunities in Middle East for Eastern Europeans but will
> definitely need to up her language skills, if indeed this is the path she
> wishes to take. Doesn't sound too convincing - more like your dreams for
> her than her own...
You're correct. She is pretty busy with work and studies, so she doesn't really have time to think about it. So that's why I'm doing the thinking for now. :)
> Possibly more opportunities in Middle East for Eastern Europeans but will
> definitely need to up her language skills, if indeed this is the path she
> wishes to take. Doesn't sound too convincing - more like your dreams for
> her than her own...
You're correct. She is pretty busy with work and studies, so she doesn't really have time to think about it. So that's why I'm doing the thinking for now. :)
Re: Unsure about career options, maybe you can help?
First of all I've got to agree with the previous poster: the first order of business is for *her* to find out if this is what she wants. Meanwhile of course, it doesn't hurt to get some info to help her get an idea what she'd be getting into :-)
Being a Western European non-native English speaker myself, I've had some experience with the 'discrimination' you describe. Some schools simply list in their job ad that they only want native English speakers. Sometimes they even list exactly what countries they want them from, and more than once, I've come across schools that would only consider hiring you if you've got a teacher's certification/education from an English speaking country.
If you're just starting in the circuit, I'd say don't waste your time on them. There are enough schools out there who *do* actively seek to have a truly international faculty, with as many nationalities and languages represented as possible. Go for them - they're much more likely to be happy to hire us non-natives. Only when you feel certain that your English is every bit as good as a native speaker's does it make sense to ignore that specific language requirement and apply anywhere you want.
But in order to have a chance anywhere as a teacher in an English speaking school, your English really has to be of top quality. CAE at the very least, I guess, but CPE (ALTE C2) is even better. Don't forget - we're fighting an uphill battle to convince people that our English is every bit as good (or even better...) than a native speaker's! Basically, the demands they have on our English are actually *higher* than they have on a native speaker's!
The only international school I know of that specializes in music is a secondary school in Austria. I believe it's called Amadeus, and it might or might not be affiliated with the Vienna Choir Boys (but it's a co-educational school). But there might certainly be more - just hit Google ;-)
Being a mere amateur in music, of course I haven't paid much attention to ads for music teachers, so I have no idea what the market is like. I do kind of recall that Music seems to be a subject that comes up rather often in the ads on jobsites, so it might be worth a try. Especially if you're not too picky about where you'd want to go.
One option to get some experience in international schools (which is always a plus when applying for a position) is to try and get into an international school in your home country first. With your wife's very specific skills and experiences, I can imagine the international schools in your own country might be interested in hiring her when they are specifically searching for a music teacher - if only because local hire is cheaper ;-) Personally, I would try to gain access and experience in a role like that, before trying to get into a more managerial position. But that's just my opinion ;-)
Good luck!
Being a Western European non-native English speaker myself, I've had some experience with the 'discrimination' you describe. Some schools simply list in their job ad that they only want native English speakers. Sometimes they even list exactly what countries they want them from, and more than once, I've come across schools that would only consider hiring you if you've got a teacher's certification/education from an English speaking country.
If you're just starting in the circuit, I'd say don't waste your time on them. There are enough schools out there who *do* actively seek to have a truly international faculty, with as many nationalities and languages represented as possible. Go for them - they're much more likely to be happy to hire us non-natives. Only when you feel certain that your English is every bit as good as a native speaker's does it make sense to ignore that specific language requirement and apply anywhere you want.
But in order to have a chance anywhere as a teacher in an English speaking school, your English really has to be of top quality. CAE at the very least, I guess, but CPE (ALTE C2) is even better. Don't forget - we're fighting an uphill battle to convince people that our English is every bit as good (or even better...) than a native speaker's! Basically, the demands they have on our English are actually *higher* than they have on a native speaker's!
The only international school I know of that specializes in music is a secondary school in Austria. I believe it's called Amadeus, and it might or might not be affiliated with the Vienna Choir Boys (but it's a co-educational school). But there might certainly be more - just hit Google ;-)
Being a mere amateur in music, of course I haven't paid much attention to ads for music teachers, so I have no idea what the market is like. I do kind of recall that Music seems to be a subject that comes up rather often in the ads on jobsites, so it might be worth a try. Especially if you're not too picky about where you'd want to go.
One option to get some experience in international schools (which is always a plus when applying for a position) is to try and get into an international school in your home country first. With your wife's very specific skills and experiences, I can imagine the international schools in your own country might be interested in hiring her when they are specifically searching for a music teacher - if only because local hire is cheaper ;-) Personally, I would try to gain access and experience in a role like that, before trying to get into a more managerial position. But that's just my opinion ;-)
Good luck!