Hello everyone,
I’ve been lurking around these boards the past few weeks as I’m interested into making steps towards entering into international teaching. While I’ve tried to cover as many posts as possible I’ve found it hard to apply advice to my own situation from other people’s instances, so I wanted to drop a post of my own. Please feel free to direct me towards other posts if this would help!
To give some background on myself, I’ve got BA’s in psychology and international relations (emph: Japanese). I went into college wanting to become a clinical psychologist and had a passion for research within the realm of cross-cultural psychology as well as desire to teach courses concerning cross-cultural psychology. So, before going to graduate school, I decided to teach ESL via an ALT dispatch company (no TEFL cert, was mainly hired due to previous teaching and tutoring experience abroad and in low-income areas) in order to gain some cross-cultural experience.
After two years I decided to head back to the states. I loved the job, but (of course) saw a certain threshold in personal and professional growth that can’t be breached unless one is trained to be a certified teacher. Coming back to the states, I took a job as a Behavioral Health Technician/Child Care Specialist (they never seem to be able to decide what I am) at a psychiatric treatment center. My duties entail creating curriculum for educational groups delivered to adolescent and pediatric patients according to the wishes of physicians and acting as a liaison between treatment staff and patient’s schools. In the meantime I’ve been going through the dreaded PhD application process.
However, for a myriad of both idealistic and economic reasons, I’m finding the field of psychology not to be the path I originally hoped it to be. As I re-assess why I chose psychology and how I’ve grown since that time, I find that my passions at the end of the day lie within teaching and learning from individuals of different cultures more-so than working in a lab. I live for those little “aha!” moments of understanding you share with students from backgrounds very different from your own, as well as being able to learn as much from them as they do from you. (I also thrive from being a fish out of water and dread reverse-culture shock much more than culture shock itself).
Recently, some friends from my time abroad have encouraged me to look into the world of international teaching, and I find that it hits my passions in all the right places. However, I’m unsure how to go about getting my feet wet. I was an ALT in Japan, and would be happy to return there, but ultimately I have no particular inclination as far as what population I would prefer to be working with. Certainly, traveling is also a great opportunity (who doesn’t love traveling?) but what’s more important to me is cross-cultural communication, and I’d be open to pursuing a career stateside teaching diverse populations as well. Looking into local programs (I live in a major city in the Midwest) I’ve found a 12~15 month program from a reputable university which would allow me to both earn a masters in primary education and a teaching license for my state. I’m most interested in teaching primary education and subjects such as English, literature, history, and ESL. However, I don’t find teaching in this city particularly appealing, as there is not a great deal of ethnic stratification (for example, the ESL market is non-existent and first and second generation immigrant students are fairly rare). Likewise, I’m looking into other teaching programs, and I’ve found George Mason’s program (formerly known as FASTTRAIN) to be tantalizing. However, being new to this world, I have no idea how much such programs actually prepare you for teaching international populations, as well as how marketable they make you in the real world/what the chances are of finding a job post-graduation (It also seems difficult trying to find numbers as far as how much such programs would run me). I want a program that is going to prepare me to succeed in this profession, but I also already have 35k in student loans to pay off from my undergrad and I’m not sure how much more would be viable to borrow in anticipation of becoming a teacher.
If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I could certainly go more in depth about different factors of my current situation, but I felt as though I already wrote enough David Copperfield-ing it. I’m willing to take risks in order to make my ambitions a reality (i.e. moving to a different city, take a road less traveled), I just don’t want to find myself graduating with a ton of debt which I can’t pay off with a teacher’s salary.
Thank you so much for the help!
Advice for a neophyte
-
eion_padraig
- Posts: 408
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:18 pm
Re: Advice for a neophyte
@SapporoSnowMonkey,
Honestly, either a MA/credential with a license in your state or a program like FASTTRAIN can be gateways into international teaching. It's nice to get a MA with the credential because it usually isn't that much more work than just the credential and at quite a few schools it will give you a boost if there's a pay scale. My personal opinion is that most teaching MA/credential programs are ways for universities to make money, so the quality is uneven at a lot of places. You can have great professors teaching along with people who shouldn't be in the classroom with kids let alone train other teachers. There are big name universities where you conduct research, but while it's interesting stuff it probably has little to do with developing you as a better teacher. Good programs give you some tools, but you learn to teach through trial and error, hopefully by having some good mentors, and learning through collaboration with colleagues. Generally, I've heard teachers say it's the first 5 years that is the steepest part of the learning curve.
The larger issue, which you've probably seen talked about, is the 2 years that either the big two companies Search Associates or ISS want before they'll sign you up for their services/job fairs.
Part of the reason they want people to have 2+ years of teaching experience in their country is for folks to get the basics of teaching down (this is the steepest part of the learning curve) before they're dealing with the challenges of living overseas. Also, international schools tend not to have as much in the way of formal/informal mentoring that is more likely to happen at public schools in Western countries.
But once you have the credential, you don't necessarily have to teach those two years in the same place. You can go somewhere else in the state or if your state credential is given reciprocity you can find another state to teach. There are the practical matters of being hired to consider and teaching 2 years in the US will make it easier. A single elementary educator should be able to find work overseas, but it's not a high need position. If you're flexible and willing to go to less desirable areas of the world you can find a job, but the chances of it being of a poorly run school are higher. But even 2 years of work experience in the US, won't guarantee a great place either.
Another alternative that you may want to consider is going into school counseling. Given your work experience it may be a match with your interests. These programs generally take a minimum of 2 years, not including the practicum hours, but they are high need. This is also something you could do after spending some years teaching elementary education first, which can be very helpful in your role as a counselor. However, it's easier to do these programs while living in the US/Canada/etc than while you're overseas. It's not impossible to do, but it's a pain.
I think you're sensible not to take on an excessive amount of debt. Even in the places where savings potential is good, you'll want to save a good chunk of it towards retirement in the future as you won't be getting a pension play working at most international schools.
Good luck.
Honestly, either a MA/credential with a license in your state or a program like FASTTRAIN can be gateways into international teaching. It's nice to get a MA with the credential because it usually isn't that much more work than just the credential and at quite a few schools it will give you a boost if there's a pay scale. My personal opinion is that most teaching MA/credential programs are ways for universities to make money, so the quality is uneven at a lot of places. You can have great professors teaching along with people who shouldn't be in the classroom with kids let alone train other teachers. There are big name universities where you conduct research, but while it's interesting stuff it probably has little to do with developing you as a better teacher. Good programs give you some tools, but you learn to teach through trial and error, hopefully by having some good mentors, and learning through collaboration with colleagues. Generally, I've heard teachers say it's the first 5 years that is the steepest part of the learning curve.
The larger issue, which you've probably seen talked about, is the 2 years that either the big two companies Search Associates or ISS want before they'll sign you up for their services/job fairs.
Part of the reason they want people to have 2+ years of teaching experience in their country is for folks to get the basics of teaching down (this is the steepest part of the learning curve) before they're dealing with the challenges of living overseas. Also, international schools tend not to have as much in the way of formal/informal mentoring that is more likely to happen at public schools in Western countries.
But once you have the credential, you don't necessarily have to teach those two years in the same place. You can go somewhere else in the state or if your state credential is given reciprocity you can find another state to teach. There are the practical matters of being hired to consider and teaching 2 years in the US will make it easier. A single elementary educator should be able to find work overseas, but it's not a high need position. If you're flexible and willing to go to less desirable areas of the world you can find a job, but the chances of it being of a poorly run school are higher. But even 2 years of work experience in the US, won't guarantee a great place either.
Another alternative that you may want to consider is going into school counseling. Given your work experience it may be a match with your interests. These programs generally take a minimum of 2 years, not including the practicum hours, but they are high need. This is also something you could do after spending some years teaching elementary education first, which can be very helpful in your role as a counselor. However, it's easier to do these programs while living in the US/Canada/etc than while you're overseas. It's not impossible to do, but it's a pain.
I think you're sensible not to take on an excessive amount of debt. Even in the places where savings potential is good, you'll want to save a good chunk of it towards retirement in the future as you won't be getting a pension play working at most international schools.
Good luck.
Response
I disagree with @eion_padraig on the value of a Masters this early in your career, a masters should be saved for when it gets you into another higher aspect of IE such as counselor, librarian, leadership, technology. A masters to get into the classroom at the beginning of an IE career is overkill and very pricey. University school counselor is high needs but not the typical mental health school counselor.
In regards to your inquiry:
I know your story sounds different then everyone elses, but in my experience the entire process is like a funnel, everyone is on the outside edge of the funnel with something different, but as they slide forward and down into moving into IE, there responses forward tend to be very similar.
My first reaction from your post is that you dont really know what you want to do, you just dont want to be a clinician in a behavioral lab. Teaching English in an Eikaiwa has very little to do with IE, it looks like teaching because theres an adult at the front of the room and the participants are students but its more about edutainment than it is about transferring knowledge (this is why people in Japan study English for so long and make minimal if any progress, its a social activity for them).
In general the bar to entry in IE is 2 years post certification experience. ISs are rarely resourced to provide the mentoring an intern class IT needs, and ISs are fee generating institutions that parents pay good coin for their childrens education, not to be lab rats so an inexperienced IT can make their bones.
Going against the trend Im going to advise against the local university program, its going to eb a very expensive program to get in a classroom, and again you want to save your masters until it can do more for you than get in a classroom. GMU is a very expensive program, and unless you had laser like focus on getting an IBO T&L certificate I cant justify the cost. You would be taking a lot of risk and debt hoping that you get into a tier 2 IB IS in PYP, its feasible if you can do a year long internship in a PYP classroom (thats the training time before your PYP meds/peds doesnt look like a mess)
Most EPP/ITT programs are pretty bad at training new DTs, you spend huge amounts of time writing lesson plans that work for your professors but not for you. Most of the performance aspect thats taught is just an extension on how to give long presentations, and assessment is going to be a review of your undergrad stats course. Thats the trinity of professional education programs (C&I, Meds/Peds, Assessment). The vast majority of domestic programs are focused entirely on the regional education system and the training requirements from the credentialing authority. You could be in a US training program and never hear about A levels or anything outside of your state much less anything international. At most your Unis program might have a focus on special populations but those are going to focus on ELL and SPED populations, and its going to be one course.
The other problem with the conventional pathway of academic EPP/ITT training and two years DS post experience, is that domestically depending on where you are primary is VERY likely to be high saturated. Unless you know someone in a DS who can hire you, you could be waiting years and possibly never get an appointment, meaning you could never meet the two year post certification requirement. Unless you are going to go into ESOL or SPED (at primary level) you could be waiting a very long time before you meet the entry requirements.
My suggestion is going to go against the typical advice:
1) Find somewhere you want to go, my feeling is that any time you spend in the States is just going to be a grind counting days until whenever. Locate a major city in a large cosmo/metro city something like Tokyo (but somewhere with high need like China, Vietnam, the ME, or CSA). You want somewhere that you can find work easy (likely in ESOL) but also that has a large concentration of ISs of whatever tier.
2) Once there and your settled in and have a job, start looking for ISs that will accept you for field experience (internship/student teaching), or with luck being there and on the ground you may find a lower tier IS that will hire you without a credential and give you a classroom. There are a LOT of kindergartens in Japan and Tokyo that if you were there would likely hire you.
3) Once you have some options look into either Teach Now (D.C.) or Teach Ready (FL). Both of these programs can certify you anywhere in the world. Teach Now has a longer field experience requirement (3 months) but you can use the PRAXIS for your exams. Teach Readys field experience is 5 days (which has advantages and disadvantages) but you have to travel to the States to meet your exam requirements (or complete them before leaving).
4) Both of thee programs cost about $6K and deliver their programs online. The advantage of this pathway is that you will be using an actual international classroom (a population and environmental preference) as the vehicle for learning the fundamentals of a professional educator. You will be making lesson plans that you can use and test immediately instead of making them in a classroom for a professor who likely hasnt been in a K-12 classroom in 20 years. You will find out what works for you, and test how well that works for your students.
If you insist on doing a traditional Uni EPP/ITT program then I would strongly advise you look into doing a PGCE in England or the UK. You already know how the US education system works (since you went through it), and even if you were clueless the assumption would be that you know how it works. So exploring the same system from the other side of the desk isnt going to do anything more for you. As a primary IT/DT elementary education between the UKNC and USNC are congruent (and it doesnt matter what state in the US you look at) its a literacy and numeracy program. Slight changes in scope and sequence (more an issue of when, not if you develop a skill), by doing a PGCE and getting QTS you will have effectively gained experience in the two educational systems that predominate IE, effectively doubling your marketability.
In regards to your inquiry:
I know your story sounds different then everyone elses, but in my experience the entire process is like a funnel, everyone is on the outside edge of the funnel with something different, but as they slide forward and down into moving into IE, there responses forward tend to be very similar.
My first reaction from your post is that you dont really know what you want to do, you just dont want to be a clinician in a behavioral lab. Teaching English in an Eikaiwa has very little to do with IE, it looks like teaching because theres an adult at the front of the room and the participants are students but its more about edutainment than it is about transferring knowledge (this is why people in Japan study English for so long and make minimal if any progress, its a social activity for them).
In general the bar to entry in IE is 2 years post certification experience. ISs are rarely resourced to provide the mentoring an intern class IT needs, and ISs are fee generating institutions that parents pay good coin for their childrens education, not to be lab rats so an inexperienced IT can make their bones.
Going against the trend Im going to advise against the local university program, its going to eb a very expensive program to get in a classroom, and again you want to save your masters until it can do more for you than get in a classroom. GMU is a very expensive program, and unless you had laser like focus on getting an IBO T&L certificate I cant justify the cost. You would be taking a lot of risk and debt hoping that you get into a tier 2 IB IS in PYP, its feasible if you can do a year long internship in a PYP classroom (thats the training time before your PYP meds/peds doesnt look like a mess)
Most EPP/ITT programs are pretty bad at training new DTs, you spend huge amounts of time writing lesson plans that work for your professors but not for you. Most of the performance aspect thats taught is just an extension on how to give long presentations, and assessment is going to be a review of your undergrad stats course. Thats the trinity of professional education programs (C&I, Meds/Peds, Assessment). The vast majority of domestic programs are focused entirely on the regional education system and the training requirements from the credentialing authority. You could be in a US training program and never hear about A levels or anything outside of your state much less anything international. At most your Unis program might have a focus on special populations but those are going to focus on ELL and SPED populations, and its going to be one course.
The other problem with the conventional pathway of academic EPP/ITT training and two years DS post experience, is that domestically depending on where you are primary is VERY likely to be high saturated. Unless you know someone in a DS who can hire you, you could be waiting years and possibly never get an appointment, meaning you could never meet the two year post certification requirement. Unless you are going to go into ESOL or SPED (at primary level) you could be waiting a very long time before you meet the entry requirements.
My suggestion is going to go against the typical advice:
1) Find somewhere you want to go, my feeling is that any time you spend in the States is just going to be a grind counting days until whenever. Locate a major city in a large cosmo/metro city something like Tokyo (but somewhere with high need like China, Vietnam, the ME, or CSA). You want somewhere that you can find work easy (likely in ESOL) but also that has a large concentration of ISs of whatever tier.
2) Once there and your settled in and have a job, start looking for ISs that will accept you for field experience (internship/student teaching), or with luck being there and on the ground you may find a lower tier IS that will hire you without a credential and give you a classroom. There are a LOT of kindergartens in Japan and Tokyo that if you were there would likely hire you.
3) Once you have some options look into either Teach Now (D.C.) or Teach Ready (FL). Both of these programs can certify you anywhere in the world. Teach Now has a longer field experience requirement (3 months) but you can use the PRAXIS for your exams. Teach Readys field experience is 5 days (which has advantages and disadvantages) but you have to travel to the States to meet your exam requirements (or complete them before leaving).
4) Both of thee programs cost about $6K and deliver their programs online. The advantage of this pathway is that you will be using an actual international classroom (a population and environmental preference) as the vehicle for learning the fundamentals of a professional educator. You will be making lesson plans that you can use and test immediately instead of making them in a classroom for a professor who likely hasnt been in a K-12 classroom in 20 years. You will find out what works for you, and test how well that works for your students.
If you insist on doing a traditional Uni EPP/ITT program then I would strongly advise you look into doing a PGCE in England or the UK. You already know how the US education system works (since you went through it), and even if you were clueless the assumption would be that you know how it works. So exploring the same system from the other side of the desk isnt going to do anything more for you. As a primary IT/DT elementary education between the UKNC and USNC are congruent (and it doesnt matter what state in the US you look at) its a literacy and numeracy program. Slight changes in scope and sequence (more an issue of when, not if you develop a skill), by doing a PGCE and getting QTS you will have effectively gained experience in the two educational systems that predominate IE, effectively doubling your marketability.