We love travelling with our cats! Now on country 3 and they have settled in nicely everywhere we've been.
For your husband, forget religious studies. It is a British thing, but you wouldn't be looking to teach in the British system.
My advice would be for him to do elementary with a focus in technology, science, or math. The reasons for this are as follows:
1. Males are in short supply in elementary. He will look good with your two years experience.
2. technology is being pushed more in elementary - and if he has proficiency and ideas about how to apply it, plus latest/best practice, it would be an advantage. Also, science would work well, because quite honestly, many elementary teachers cannot deliver science very well. Math is third best.
Do not expect to get to great schools immediately. But don't settle for the first school just because it is first. Do your homework and research, dig deep to find out whether the school is a good fit for you.
Good luck!
shad
*deleted*
Re: Teaching Couple with Questions...
Shadowjack - Thank you for the quick reply, it was so helpful! I'm so glad to hear that traveling with your kitties hasn't been an issue... We were a little concerned, not so much about their ability to adapt, but that it would be yet another strike against us with regards to being hired!
Unfortunately, the areas in which he can focus are limited by the scope of his first degree, and so that leaves us with a degree in primary/elementary focusing in either history or religious studies, or in the case of intermediate/secondary - focusing either history AND religious studies or history AND technology). With this information, do you still think it's best for him to pursue primary/elementary?
We have looked into the opportunity for an online post-grad diploma in educational technology and there are a few options there which look interesting, so we could always add that on at a later date.
Research is definitely something that I enjoy, so I will certainly be vetting any potential employers and schools. As I said, we don't necessarily need to make tonnes of money, we just want to be able to live somewhere new, teach and still be able to pay off our student loans. :)
Unfortunately, the areas in which he can focus are limited by the scope of his first degree, and so that leaves us with a degree in primary/elementary focusing in either history or religious studies, or in the case of intermediate/secondary - focusing either history AND religious studies or history AND technology). With this information, do you still think it's best for him to pursue primary/elementary?
We have looked into the opportunity for an online post-grad diploma in educational technology and there are a few options there which look interesting, so we could always add that on at a later date.
Research is definitely something that I enjoy, so I will certainly be vetting any potential employers and schools. As I said, we don't necessarily need to make tonnes of money, we just want to be able to live somewhere new, teach and still be able to pay off our student loans. :)
-
shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Re: Teaching Couple with Questions...
Primary elementary would be my advice. Even if he can't specialize in technology, he should get a bunch of tech courses under his belt if he can fit them in - or focus on it as he goes through his courses. Even if it isn't noted on his certificate/degree, being able to walk the walk/talk the talk is more important than having it on your certificate etc.
I know this from experience.
I know this from experience.
Re: Teaching Couple with Questions...
Ello,
Are those the only options for hubby? 1) Their really isnt any departmentalization in primary, so "history" wont mean anything. You do see "specialist" teachers in primary usually in the fine arts and physical education. Some schools split HRTs into Social studies/Language and Science/Math, essentially "co-teaching", but its not as marketable being a well rounded primary teacher.
I have to agree with SJ on the religious studies, though its NOT just a British thing, its a niche which is great if you got it and the school you want needs it, but your not going to find a vast need for religious studies.
Does he want to be a design technology/technology ed teacher or does he want to be a history teacher? Figure out what he wants to do for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and do that. Statistically the data supports technology and hard sciences, but a good _____ teacher when a school needs one is priceless. History is the largest exam subject studied in the DIP social studies/humanities cluster.
What I disagree with is hubby doing primary and being marketable as a couple. Many schools save primary vacancies for teaching couples where a school needs a hard to fill vacancy and they need a primary vacancy for the teaching spouse. You are otherwise competing against each other for the same position.
Yes primary teachers are often female, that trend isnt changing and being a male doesnt in my experience make you more marketable in primary. There is still a "maternal" philosophy held by parents at least that they want their little ones with a maternal teacher figure in the classroom.
Generally the bar to IT entry is two years, and two years as a primary teacher isnt very marketable, it will get you in the door, but theres going to be a LOT of people in that room. Whats going to make you marketable in primary is a year or two of PYP experience.
Depending on the fair you go too, they can be VERY competitive, the Mega fairs are the most competitive (BKK, BOS, LON) everything after BOS/SFF is pretty much leftovers, that just get more and more dated. The Bethesda fair is basically licking off the floor, and the bottom tier school there hire anyone. At that point though your better off saving your money and sticking with virtual/online interviews and applications. If you have some kind of hook or niche or a much better resume it would be a different story.
So your picky, no active war zones? How far away from war zones do you need to be? The ME and the non tigers of Asia would be receptive to you. How much do you need in salary to meet your financial commitments?
Are those the only options for hubby? 1) Their really isnt any departmentalization in primary, so "history" wont mean anything. You do see "specialist" teachers in primary usually in the fine arts and physical education. Some schools split HRTs into Social studies/Language and Science/Math, essentially "co-teaching", but its not as marketable being a well rounded primary teacher.
I have to agree with SJ on the religious studies, though its NOT just a British thing, its a niche which is great if you got it and the school you want needs it, but your not going to find a vast need for religious studies.
Does he want to be a design technology/technology ed teacher or does he want to be a history teacher? Figure out what he wants to do for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and do that. Statistically the data supports technology and hard sciences, but a good _____ teacher when a school needs one is priceless. History is the largest exam subject studied in the DIP social studies/humanities cluster.
What I disagree with is hubby doing primary and being marketable as a couple. Many schools save primary vacancies for teaching couples where a school needs a hard to fill vacancy and they need a primary vacancy for the teaching spouse. You are otherwise competing against each other for the same position.
Yes primary teachers are often female, that trend isnt changing and being a male doesnt in my experience make you more marketable in primary. There is still a "maternal" philosophy held by parents at least that they want their little ones with a maternal teacher figure in the classroom.
Generally the bar to IT entry is two years, and two years as a primary teacher isnt very marketable, it will get you in the door, but theres going to be a LOT of people in that room. Whats going to make you marketable in primary is a year or two of PYP experience.
Depending on the fair you go too, they can be VERY competitive, the Mega fairs are the most competitive (BKK, BOS, LON) everything after BOS/SFF is pretty much leftovers, that just get more and more dated. The Bethesda fair is basically licking off the floor, and the bottom tier school there hire anyone. At that point though your better off saving your money and sticking with virtual/online interviews and applications. If you have some kind of hook or niche or a much better resume it would be a different story.
So your picky, no active war zones? How far away from war zones do you need to be? The ME and the non tigers of Asia would be receptive to you. How much do you need in salary to meet your financial commitments?
Re: Teaching Couple with Questions...
ShadowJack - Thanks again for the thoughtful post! We're definitely both looking to (at the very least) take some of the Edtech courses as electives... As you said, it certainly can't hurt to have some experience/knowledge of that on our CVs!
PsyGuy - Thanks for the great response! My husband is very tech oriented and has a passion for for both computers and history so would be quite happy to be able to explore either area for 8 hours a day! :) I admit I was wondering about the issues that would surround being a couple with the same (not-exactly-uncommon) teaching area if we were both to do elementary... And the idea of competing against each other kind of defeats the purpose!
I know our pickings are much slimmer because we're inexperienced, but are there particular areas of the world from where experience would be less valuable than others? Are there areas from which other international schools simply don't respect the experienced earned quite as highly? For example, would experience in China be seen as more valuable than experience acquired in the ME? Do you have any advice as to where we might be able to grab some PYP experience with our (soon-to-be) qualifications?
Our first time out, we're just looking to get our foot in the door and get some (valuable) experience. Locationwise we're easy... adaptable and really interested in immersing ourselves. We're least interested in Europe, but other than that pretty open. As for war zones, we'd like to avoid actually being bombed or dragged from our beds... We fully understand that sometimes things fall apart and no country can be deemed 100% safe, at the same time we would probably not accept positions (if they even existed) in Somalia or Syria. ;)
As far as finances go we'll have about 80k in student loans between us to pay off... Ideally we'd like to get rid of those ASAP and the majority of any savings will go toward clearing them out. So obviously, as I'm sure is the case with 90% of people, the more savings the better. I have little to no idea of what to expect as a reasonable salary with the qualifications we have, so not sure how much we might realistically be able to put toward them each month. Anything that would allow us to make non-minimum payments to those (as much as I cherish the idea of paying on my student loans for the next 40 years...) would be golden. :)
You guys have been so much help already! I can't tell you how grateful I am for your taking the time.
PsyGuy - Thanks for the great response! My husband is very tech oriented and has a passion for for both computers and history so would be quite happy to be able to explore either area for 8 hours a day! :) I admit I was wondering about the issues that would surround being a couple with the same (not-exactly-uncommon) teaching area if we were both to do elementary... And the idea of competing against each other kind of defeats the purpose!
I know our pickings are much slimmer because we're inexperienced, but are there particular areas of the world from where experience would be less valuable than others? Are there areas from which other international schools simply don't respect the experienced earned quite as highly? For example, would experience in China be seen as more valuable than experience acquired in the ME? Do you have any advice as to where we might be able to grab some PYP experience with our (soon-to-be) qualifications?
Our first time out, we're just looking to get our foot in the door and get some (valuable) experience. Locationwise we're easy... adaptable and really interested in immersing ourselves. We're least interested in Europe, but other than that pretty open. As for war zones, we'd like to avoid actually being bombed or dragged from our beds... We fully understand that sometimes things fall apart and no country can be deemed 100% safe, at the same time we would probably not accept positions (if they even existed) in Somalia or Syria. ;)
As far as finances go we'll have about 80k in student loans between us to pay off... Ideally we'd like to get rid of those ASAP and the majority of any savings will go toward clearing them out. So obviously, as I'm sure is the case with 90% of people, the more savings the better. I have little to no idea of what to expect as a reasonable salary with the qualifications we have, so not sure how much we might realistically be able to put toward them each month. Anything that would allow us to make non-minimum payments to those (as much as I cherish the idea of paying on my student loans for the next 40 years...) would be golden. :)
You guys have been so much help already! I can't tell you how grateful I am for your taking the time.
Re: Teaching Couple with Questions...
@Keiora
Well he needs to pick one, because technology and history are not complimentary, they are divergent. The more of one he does the less of the other. The rule is there are two factors that define a teachers resume 1) What they can do, and 2) What they have done. The first is certifications, degrees, credit, etc, the second is experience, and of the two experience is king. After 4ish years of teaching history the way to switch is either 1) Start over (because you have no experience teaching technology) or switch within your current school (but that means another 2 years, and theres no guarantee they will let you, have a vacancy, etc).
When it comes to recruiting and marketability your value is largely what youve taught.
Not really even in places like the ME schools like Aramco are very competitive and what distinguishes a teacher from the other is what you can teach and to a much larger extent what you have taught. Of the places that are less competitive and youd be more marketable at the ME sucks except for the money, SA/LA pays pennies, and China is just huge. IB experience is the most difficult to transition too (I love IB, but describing it as a cult isnt far off the mark), but its the most transportable. If your PYP trained AND have experience at X school your going to be marketable at Y school. Of those it depends what you want to do, most teachers have a "dream" vision of where they see themselves, if sitting on a beach in Thailand is what you want to do, working your way through Asia is better than working your way through the ME.
The easiest place to get IB experience is actually back home and in the USA, they have a lot of IB schools in the USA (about a third of IB schools are in the USA).
What do you want to "immerse" yourself in??? A lot of capital cities (IE Tokyo) are so metropolitan you can easily think of yourself being in HK, NYC, LA, Sydney, London, etc.
Sometimes the only "valuable experience" you get from some of the bottom tier schools, is being able to say you served your contract and didnt pull a runner.
There is actually an IS in North Korea, safety and security are relative.
Your going to need to set some priorities, because your not going to get all, or even most of what you want. One of the issues many fresh ITs have is they have pros and cons but nothing to compare it too thats meaningful to them. They attempt to rank order their perceptions of schools and just assume that the bigger _____ (package, status, etc) is better. Make a list of your needs and wants and prioritize it, assigning a numerical value to each item on a scale of 1-5 (or any scale you want to use, I use a scale of -5 (cons) too +5 pros), then as you weigh the pros and cons of a school, contract, and location record those scoring values for each pro and con. When your done you will have a rating score for each school that is meaningful (has utility) for you.
Going into this with your resumes your probably only going to be able to focus on one priority, if money is your priority thats probably all your going to get, if cultural immersion is what is important to you, thats all your likely going to get. The
Your basically an entry level primary teacher and a noob humanities/socials studies/history teacher. No one going to be cancelling their appointments and giving you the tea ceremony routine. You are only ever so slightly more marketable than interns. All the above is really just academic, you need to have hubby apply for any and all schools that have his subject, than make your choices from those schools. It will likely be a small list. You really dont need a strategy, you just need to through the biggest net you can and see what you pull up.
Well he needs to pick one, because technology and history are not complimentary, they are divergent. The more of one he does the less of the other. The rule is there are two factors that define a teachers resume 1) What they can do, and 2) What they have done. The first is certifications, degrees, credit, etc, the second is experience, and of the two experience is king. After 4ish years of teaching history the way to switch is either 1) Start over (because you have no experience teaching technology) or switch within your current school (but that means another 2 years, and theres no guarantee they will let you, have a vacancy, etc).
When it comes to recruiting and marketability your value is largely what youve taught.
Not really even in places like the ME schools like Aramco are very competitive and what distinguishes a teacher from the other is what you can teach and to a much larger extent what you have taught. Of the places that are less competitive and youd be more marketable at the ME sucks except for the money, SA/LA pays pennies, and China is just huge. IB experience is the most difficult to transition too (I love IB, but describing it as a cult isnt far off the mark), but its the most transportable. If your PYP trained AND have experience at X school your going to be marketable at Y school. Of those it depends what you want to do, most teachers have a "dream" vision of where they see themselves, if sitting on a beach in Thailand is what you want to do, working your way through Asia is better than working your way through the ME.
The easiest place to get IB experience is actually back home and in the USA, they have a lot of IB schools in the USA (about a third of IB schools are in the USA).
What do you want to "immerse" yourself in??? A lot of capital cities (IE Tokyo) are so metropolitan you can easily think of yourself being in HK, NYC, LA, Sydney, London, etc.
Sometimes the only "valuable experience" you get from some of the bottom tier schools, is being able to say you served your contract and didnt pull a runner.
There is actually an IS in North Korea, safety and security are relative.
Your going to need to set some priorities, because your not going to get all, or even most of what you want. One of the issues many fresh ITs have is they have pros and cons but nothing to compare it too thats meaningful to them. They attempt to rank order their perceptions of schools and just assume that the bigger _____ (package, status, etc) is better. Make a list of your needs and wants and prioritize it, assigning a numerical value to each item on a scale of 1-5 (or any scale you want to use, I use a scale of -5 (cons) too +5 pros), then as you weigh the pros and cons of a school, contract, and location record those scoring values for each pro and con. When your done you will have a rating score for each school that is meaningful (has utility) for you.
Going into this with your resumes your probably only going to be able to focus on one priority, if money is your priority thats probably all your going to get, if cultural immersion is what is important to you, thats all your likely going to get. The
Your basically an entry level primary teacher and a noob humanities/socials studies/history teacher. No one going to be cancelling their appointments and giving you the tea ceremony routine. You are only ever so slightly more marketable than interns. All the above is really just academic, you need to have hubby apply for any and all schools that have his subject, than make your choices from those schools. It will likely be a small list. You really dont need a strategy, you just need to through the biggest net you can and see what you pull up.