Special Ed/ Ed.D. degree marketable overseas?

[paulawhiten]

Hello All! I'm curious if a Ed.D. degree is marketable overseas in Asia and/or Central Asia (prefer Thailand). I am considering another advanced degree with my goal being to work overseas until retirement. Stats:Currently finishing Master's, switched careers in 30's, new to teaching in the States at 40. Is there a demand for special education teachers overseas? Thanks in advance, P.

[wrldtrvlr123]

Hi. There was a long and terminally contentious thread on this subject not too long ago. Some good information there, in between the nit-picking.

http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... f=1&t=5040

Short answer is yes, SPED teachers (usually called Learning Support within the int'l school community) are in relatively high demand and the majority of schools will have some type of LS staff within the school even if it is only one or two people. I am a SPED teacher (also late career) with a Masters degree. I took my first int'l LS job with only 3 years of experience and have now lived and taught SPED in 5 countries and it's provided a very nice life for me and my family.

Any degree higher than a Masters for a SPED teacher is kind of gilding the lily. If you have it already, great, some schools might like the idea. If not, I wouldn't spend the time and money unless you really want it purely for yourself.

The job itself will generally involve resource room type learning support with some assessment, inclusion support, writing IEPs etc. If they ever bring back the PM function, feel free to PM with any more specific questions. Good luck, it's a great life.

[Mr DepTrai]

Woops....Edited***

Didnt see the SPED in the title thread...

[shadowjack]

Look for Inclusive Education - that is the new buzz word.

[mamava]

Yes, a special ed. degree overseas is marketable, but it looks very different to anything in the US and positions vary wildly in terms of quality, support, and implementation. Generally, a well-organized, higher-tiered school with a solid focus and vision for its teachers and students would have a better learning support program. You have to be very good at asking the right questions to make sure you have a good understanding of the school, the admin support, and what's going on there.

I think my job search has been enhanced by my MA in special education, but a higher degree wouldn't net me a job easier. In interviews, schools are looking for what you can do...develop a remedial reading program, do assessments, have experience with ASD or ADHD, work with EAL, provide backup counseling, working with teachers on differentiation, demonstrate skills with reading and writing workshop, etc. I've been asked to do all those things, and asked about them in job interviews. Most of that experience has come on the job and by being selective about the PD I do so that I have acquired critical skills. Because learning support overseas doesn't have the structure or federal mandates that countries like the US do, it can become a catchall for anyone who's not making the grade for any reason, so being able to do a lot, or learn about something and create a plan and move forward quickly, is an essential skill.

[PsyGuy]

There are two issues here one is the marketability of a doctoral degree, and the second the marketability of SPED.

A doctoral degree is only really marketable if you are pursuing senior leadership opportunities and even then the majority of senior leadership have Masters (M.Ed) degrees. If you are going to do a doctorate do it at an Ivy league or equivalent prestigious university. You will have recruiters from Asia throwing contracts at you.

I agree with @wrldtrvlr123 that a doctorate in SPED is going to be nice having people call you doctor, and will give you some cred in LS/SEN committees, and might get you a modest salary boost, but its the Hello Kitty sprinkles on the cupcake, you would get status out of it, not marketability.

Within the IB LS (Learning Support) and SEN (Special Education Needs) are referred to as Learning Diversity and Inclusion/Inclusive Education.

While LS/SEN is growing they are still a minority factor within IE. Even the best elite tier ISs dont practice SPED to the standard required/mandated by regulated schools. Many lower tier ISs believe hiring a SPED teacher means having a SPED department and providing SPED services.
There isnt an IS anywhere (DoDDS schools being the exception, but they arent really ISs) currently that provides SPED services in compliance with US/UK/AUS/CAN law. Among them SAS (Singapore American School) probabley gets as close as they come and even they make a point to inform their parents that they dont provide SPED services in compliance with US law.
The issue is simply this, money. ISs are private/independent schools, meaning that they have to generate the revenue themselves to provide the programs that they do. In absence of government funding, SPED programs are EXTREMELY expensive on a per student basis. You have a very small group of SPED students, and you have to provide them a lot of services. Thats not a sustainable business model. So to run a SPED program a school has to pay for it, and with the exception of some small embassy grants its the parents that have to pay for a SPED program. To put it in perspective The average tuition at a tier 1 school is about $10K, for a SPEd program your looking at an average inception cost of $220K (this is the cost of creating a program without any students), with a distributive cost of $55K/n4 (this means the program doesnt roll out with less then 4 students), thats a lot of money.
Top tier schools though have a reputation and mandate to provide for the communities they serve. The question is "what price point can a school serve its students to the satisfaction of the parents, and generate revenue on those fees?" The solution is SPED lite.
As you increase the degree of disabiltiy you drastically begin to decrease the number of servicing students. The reality is that students with severe needs require more care then just SPED, they reuire a whole host of medical, psychological, social and human services, that are outside the scope of an international "expat" assignment. Simply, parents are not going to be comfortable taking an international assignment with a child requiring such a degree of care. What you see in the majority of a SPED lite programs are (primarily) mild needs students and (secondary) high functioning moderate needs (including LD/ED) students. By restricting services to this class of the student population the school can serve community and still generate revenue, simply because the resources needed to manage this classification of students is much less expensive.

Schools accomplish this by 1) There nature as private/independent schools allows them to be selective of their admissions. They can simply say "were sorry we cant admit your child, as we are unable to provide the services their educational program will require". 2) They are largely self regulated. Typcially these programs have minimal governmental regulation and oversight (such as privacy issues). They get to create the program, can change it very quickly, and typically have a monopoly on this segment of the student population.

So whats a typical SPED lite program, this is my experience (and it differs from other contributors on this site. Its usually a large tier 1 school, with an american curriculum (which may also be an IB program). The SPEd department will consist of a LS (learning Support) or SEN (Special Educational Needs) coordinator, who will be part of the junior admin team. The coordinator will work closely with the school counselor, and serve as the point of contact for outside third . professionals (doctors, psychologists, social workers). The faculty will consist (depending on the size) of full time resource teachers who provide "pull out" service. they usually work in a resource classroom, and may work one on one of in small groups of students. Typically you will have 1 full time teacher for primary and another for secondary, though of course there could be more. In addition you will have a number of part time teachers (though could be full time) of teacher aids/assistants who will provide "inclusion services" (part time is what really saves the school money (part time means no foreign recruited package, and local hires are much cheaper. jane student might only need services for literature and social studies class. no reason to have an inclusion teacher in the classroom for art, PE, etc if its not needed).
Where you will see the major differences is in documentation, procedures and classroom issues. Basically, no ARD committees, or endless amounts of paperwork. Before a SPED student is admitted the administration will send the application and supporting outside reports to the SEN coordinator, who will conduct a screening interview with the parents/student. Depending on the services the school provides, if the student can be accommodated by the schools service plan then they will privide an IEP or Action Plan to the parents (through senior administration) describing what services and limits the school will provide and what the fees will be (sometimes parents just leave). If the parents accepts then the student enters the standard placement path, with modification for the students IEP (for instance some students are served for some classes by being placed in a higher/lower grade classroom, though the IEp may indicate no more then one grade lower).
At this point the students SEN teacher will likely have a conference with the parent either prior too or shortly after the student is placed. On the first day the SEN teacher will meet with the student and introduce them to their inclusion teacher(s) and go over the students schedule, etc. the students general ed teachers will be notified, and any special instructions given. Heres where one of the big differences is, typically the general ed teacher has a much more limited purpose in the classroom with the student. The support (inclusion) teacher or resource teacher does the heavy lifting. Usually the student has outside instruction/tutoring time. You may be asked to give the resource teacher a copy of an exam to be administered, etc. The interruption in the classroom is very minimal.
The second main difference is paperwork and documentation requirements. The general ed teacher will typically not be required to do any more paperwork then what they already do for there non SPED students. The SEN teacher will typically do a weekly report, but its a brief report, a few observation, and an update on the students progress. Thats really it.
Usually every couple months the SEN coordinator will review the progress of the student and schedule a conference with the parents, which may often be a telephone conference. They will discuss the students progress and possible modifications to the students IEP. Thats about it. There are no ARD committees and rules and regulatory procedures. The SEN faculty may have a monthly meeting, though once a term or 8 weeks is more common.
Generally speaking chronically, the hot diagnosis are Dyslexia (which include a lot of other mild learning disabilities) and ADHD (which include a lot of other emotional disabilities). Acutely, the SEN department will see acute depression (life events) and muscle skeletal injuries (broken bones, etc).