One tale - From ESL to Tier 1 IS

[mathphyschap]

Meandering tale of shifts from teaching ESL to Tier 1 ITS, possibly of use to some (or none).

ESL with CELTA:
In my final year of university I decided to go travelling for a year or two before settling down. I planned to go to Japan to teach English through the JET scheme but decided to go to China instead as I had friends already there. I completed a CELTA and emailed several universities in China and got a job teaching a second tier city. The students were hard working and very respectful and the job low stress. There were 16 other foreign teachers and 20-30 foreign postgraduate students from the Europe/North America and overall a pretty good social life. The pay was low (US $500 /month net) but so were living costs.

Tier 3 with relevant subject degree, some teaching experience and being in-country:
I quite enjoyed my year in ESL, but with college loans to pay and wanting to travel more I needed a job that paid better. I applied to several Chinese High Schools which had international departments and got a job fairly quickly teaching A-level Physics. These schools prefer teachers with teaching qualifications (certification) and two years experience but will take those with a relevant subject degree and some teaching experience, especially if you are already in country. My new job was largely teaching students going abroad to avoid failing the Chinese university entrance test, but they were still fairly hard working (by UK high school standards) with few discipline issues. I was paid US $3000 a month net plus a reasonable housing and flight allowance and able to save quite a lot.

In the tier 3 school most of my colleagues had formal teaching qualifications/certification from the UK/USA/Australia while I didn’t and from time to time there was the odd comment about uncertified teachers in the school and occasional ‘advice’ that I wouldn’t be able to teach in a proper international school. At the same time I did have an Engineering degree from a decent UK university so I was also getting other advice from former class mates to go back home to return and enter the profession. At 27 years old this was my quarter life crisis – what to do? Was I under qualified to teach? overqualified?

I ended up using money as the sole criteria to make a decision. I read up on pay and conditions as an Engineer in the UK and compared against tier 2 international schools and somewhat to my surprise …..tier 2 international schools came out on top. I could go into detail but in brief I was already saving 10 000 RMB (US $1500) a month in a tier 3 IS and life back home is way more expensive it would probably take 10 years to get back to that point. Just the saving of not running a car really adds up over time. Through the power of compound interest (I assumed a mere 6% return) IS worked out more, even before factoring in ‘free’ education for two children.

(I should say Engineering in the UK pays a bit less than in the States and I did factor in pensions).

Tier 3 to Tier 2 (or a better Tier 3)
I decided to try for a decent IS post within 3 years. I was able to get a job in a ‘top’ Chinese High School (International department) where I could teach IB. I secured the job with a relevant subject degree, 4 years IGCSE and A-level experience and undertaking to complete a PGCEi while at the school. Being in-country and teaching math/science may have helped as well. I signed up for a PGCEi with one of the main UK providers (one that does require two teaching placements).
While doing the PGCEi I got more ‘advice’ from colleagues that it wasn’t a proper PGCE and probably wouldn’t be accepted anywhere good. Furthermore for my first big assignment I did a lot of reading and wrote what I thought was a fairly sophisticated paper on the lack of quantitative evidence for progressive/constructivist methods in math education – big mistake, I failed the paper and had to rewrite it – never ever ever question progressive teaching methods while doing a teaching qualification. For the rest of the PGCEi I said everything expected (assessment for learning, differentiation by 12 different means, using reflective qualitative - rather than proper data etc) and passed, though it was a surprising amount of work.

Tier 2 (or upper Tier 3) to Tier 1.
With my PGCEi, 2 years IB experience and 4 years CIE (A-level) experience (but still an unqualified teacher as I didn’t have UK QTS) I began applying for jobs in different international schools through TES and by signing up with several free agencies. I planned to use search associates but was pleasantly surprised at how effective the free agencies (see www.guardian.co.uk) were in getting interviews. I was offered a Skype interview at a school in Singapore quite early on, it was a position I really wanted and spent a lot of time reading up, but slipped up on a couple of pedagogy questions stating that we should consider why the UK is bottom of OCED league table for secondary maths and probably shouldn’t be looking to increase studentss screen time in lessons. The interview was politely terminated early. Never ever ever question progressive teaching methods in a job interview, especially if you are going into it with a PGCEi rather than full PGCE.

Teaching in Tier 1.
I did however secure a position in a different school which regularly features on tier 1 lists on this forum without having to join search associates. The position came through one of the free agencies. The PGCEi worked fine for me (though teaching Math/Science again may have helped). I worked hard on my resume to use the right buzz words and did read up on hot topics (inquiry based learning, individualized learning etc) and eventually got my interview answers right. I was recruited towards the end of January and got the feeling I was a replacement hire for someone that dropped out. I did though have several other interviews lined up and think if I hadn’t got that position one of the others probably would have come through.

For me teaching at a supposedly tier 1 school is not an easy job, I only really have free time from about 6pm-8:30pm most weekdays and on Saturday. I do though enjoy most of my lessons and involvement in extra-curricular activities.

What I also find quietly amusing is that coming to teacher training later in my career I was able to take what I needed from it and it seems I regularly get much better external exam results than my fully qualified colleagues, but I think I will leave that for another post.

[global_nomad]

Interesting post. Thanks for sharing. Goes to show you that there is more than one road to get to a Tier 1. Also, more evidence that the work expectations at most Tier 1s are usually much higher, and to some people a more quality school with better benefits isn't worth it (although I disagree).

[shadowjack]

mathphysicschap,

I would assume that you are in the British system. Your story might not have been as successful in the US or IB system, although there are always exceptions. What I like is you plotted your path, did your math, and went for it. In the end, that's all ANYBODY can do and the chips will fall where they will. Congratulations!

[wrldtrvlr123]

Well done (your accomplishments and your story)! Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed post.

I do think that being in a high need area helped (plus the fact that as you say, early on you were in the right place at the right time). I have a similar story with a SPED background and ended up with DoDDS rather than a 1st tier in't school but for me the job and the location is literally my first choice in the world so I've achieved the career path I was seeking.

Thank you for laying out a potential path for people with non-traditional teaching backgrounds.