The International Schools Review Forum

My current contract is one year. I am thinking of leaving after the end of the year.

The new job is also possibly a one year contract. Who knows but I may leave there after one year.

I have been told by people, including senior staff that this will harm your ability to be hired in the future because it looks like you have no committment.

Any thoughts or experience with this??

Thanks in advance.

it can't hurt if it's a one-year contract to begin with.
they will likely question why at which point you can say it was a one year contract, and that you weren't a good fit for the school.

i would venture to guess that after too many one-year stints you might get noticed as a run and gun type teacher with commitment problems. are you just not fitting or are you intentionally leaving to go elsewhere every year.

most contracts that i've seen are for minimum 2 years, although i have seen some 1 year contracts. i'd expect those to be the minority.

v.

Well, there is some truth to what you are being told. Turnover is a fact of life for admin but they would like to think that there is a reasonable chance that someone they are hiring and investing in will stay around a while. Many schools (especially the better ones) will be a bit put off if your entire CV is one (or even two) year stays. If you are in a very high needs area (like math or science) maybe you can overcome this, but eventually you will be in a much stronger position of you can find a place to stick around for a while.

I sure hope not!

All a new teacher can get right now in Canada is short contracts. I'm on a year-long temp contract right now, and I will likely have to do the same next year. Hopefully when I go IS recruiting (which is looking to be most likely next year) recruiters will recognize that new teachers have to take what they can get.

true enough.
i was under the assumption that the OP was teaching internationally.
your LTO contract will still count as 1 year of full time classroom experience.
i am unsure how recruiters actually view OT and LTO lists and teachers getting only occasional work and potentially not having full time classroom experience.
as most ISs will want 2 years full time classroom experience - maybe someone has an idea on that. obviously i think it would depend on the school and not every school is rigid about those 2 years.

but i also wonder about some people i have heard about back home, floundering on lists for years (one i heard had been subbing for 7 years) - like surely there is something "off" about them to not get a contract after that long? i have friends who have gotten jobs (not french jobs) after a year subbing...

anyways, a bit of a detour - my bad.

v.

chilagringa, I think we're talking about international contracts. Most of us know the situation in Canada, that's just the way it is. Not in your control.

There are two sides to one year contracts that directors will look at.

1. You were on a 1 year contract at a good school. You didn't stay because it "wasn't a good fit". His school is similar to the good school - nothing to see on this CV, keep looking.

2. You were on a 1 year contract at a crap school (or a two year, but left after 1 by either mutual agreement or by doing a runner). Different story because of the nature of the crap school.

3. You have 4 years of international teaching experience but have never lasted longer than 1 year at every school you have been at. Avoid like the plague - why do I want to invest in this guy/gal for one year?

The reality is that teachers are a cost to be recouped through student tuition and teaching in situ for two years. After two years, schools have recovered their money invested in you, and some will now give you incentives to stay (or after 3 years they will, or 4 - and some, never any incentives to stay). Nobody wants to invest in you if you are not proven - i.e. you can't last beyond a year.

Just my two cents,

shad

It's not the one year contract that hurts your CV, it's the series of one year stays overall.
Allowances are given pretty easily for young teachers struggling to find permanent work in their home countries - just put something in your cover letter to help explain it.
Allowances are not generally given for short stays when longer stays were an option. Anyone can get away with this once or twice in a career, but more than that just marks you as someone without staying power, and that's not what I want to hire for my school.
If you have a record of short stays, but for reasons truly beyond your control (school closed down, school laid off teachers due to declining enrollment, etc) then be sure to explain it in the cover letter, including mention of who I can contact to verify.

SJ is the closest, though they left out one option, and thats 4) You were on a one year contract, and thats the schools policy, or the norm in that region, and you completed your contract.

The "not a good fit" rational is more negative than neutral, its says you cant adapt and make yourself a good fit for the environment. Its also the same thing admins say about teachers without getting specific. A reason such as "professional growth" that you expand on in an interview with "Professionally I accomplished all that was available to me, and went as far as I could with my position in the school".

A one year contract isnt going to effect your marketability, the contract length was one year, you completed the contract. The issue for you is conveying that to the admin so that when they give your resume the 30 seconds or less in reviewing it, it doesnt look like you have commitment issues, or worse theres an "issue". Getting that message across is extremely important, many of the top tier ISs just do not have the resources to screen completely every application.
My advice is to include in the heading of the resume listing that you include language that states one year contract, I.E.:

2014-2015 Acme American School Yoshiwara, Edo
Primary Year 2 Teacher (1 year contract)

As people are saying/alluding to, it's not the one year contract that is a problem per se, it's the one year only stay at the school. OK, the contract ended after one year, but everyone knows that unless one . or the other is less than thrilled about something, then the teacher generally stays for at least another contract.

You can explain away that a few times (e.g. left for better position, location etc) but eventually many of the better schools will just give you a pass in many cases and you won't really have the chance to offer your explanations.

Even a run of two year stints can be harmful mate. I went to a presentation at the SA fair in Bangkok from a director at a prestigious school in South America. He said, "always stay a third year." I listened to him on that one and am reaping the benefits now.

You need to ask yourself what your dream job is and where you see yourself? What do you want to be doing?
If you want to see as much of the world and travel as you can, and your happy with lower tier schools, than it doesnt matter how long you stay at a school, and you can move around all you want. The understanding is that those schools are revolving doors anyway, and very few people stay past their first contract.
If you want the more traditional dream of climbing the IS tiers towards a highly desirable region or elite tier school, than the typical pathway is 6 years, and thats what the expectation is going to be. If after that time your still moving around with a lack of commitment than upper tier ISs are going to be reluctant to commit to you.

No, but more than one would require rationalization/justification.

Hey PsyGuy,

Since, you know, you know everything (except grammar), would you suggest formatting CVs for domestic one-year contracts in the same way? Or would that not be necessary since people know how difficult it is to find permanent work in N.A.?

@chilagringa

You could do that, I dont see how it would hurt you, though within your regional market its likely not necessary.