2017 Fair Diaries?

b12r
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:47 pm

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by b12r »

On average (I know this one will be tough to nail down a correct number) how many candidates that attend a fair sign a contract? I know a lot happens post fair but curious as to how many roll in on Day 0 without a contract and leave after Day 3 with a contract?
Thames Pirate
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by Thames Pirate »

I think the number varies from fair to fair and year to year between 1/3 to 1-2, with more getting jobs as a result of but not at the fair. If memory serves me, so take it FWIW.
CountingCarbons
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:01 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by CountingCarbons »

b12r wrote:
> On average (I know this one will be tough to nail down a correct number)
> how many candidates that attend a fair sign a contract? I know a lot
> happens post fair but curious as to how many roll in on Day 0 without a
> contract and leave after Day 3 with a contract?

I couldn't tell you a number, but just anecdotally, I have met and heard from a lot of people today who had multiple offers and were making their decisions. It was especially high for those with many years of experience or newbies going to SEA or ME. It wasn't terribly promising for those of us who are newer to the game.
shadowjack
Posts: 2138
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by shadowjack »

Just a note about "settling". If you have to "settle" for a position that you applied for, why the heck did you even apply for it in the first place? Sorry - I just don't get it. You apply to schools because you would be happy to go there - not because you might have to "settle" for it. If "settling" is what you view as you did to get to your present school, that's just a sad statement.

Sorry, just had to put that in there. I have never applied for a teaching job where I was just "settling" and I have never started at a new school without being excited by the prospects ahead. And I've been around for awhile...
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@b12r

About 40% of candidates are successful at a fair, another 30% are successful as a result of fair influence or post fair, and 10% are successful prior too or absent influence of the fair. The total placement rate is about 80%. The proportions vary slightly between fairs.
reisgio
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:17 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by reisgio »

@shadowjack

I apply everywhere with my job and only by interviewing with them would I ever know if I wanted to work with them or for them. What, you think a person can know if he or she would like a school based off of its website alone? Oh, and this site's reviews too?

Otherwise, to be clear to all those who can't read: I got offers! I got European offers! I said no because I don't like them. I said no. I am disillusioned with international education because I am smart and most in international education don't motivate me to want to work with them or for them. That simple. I am not going to take a job at a school to be surrounded by people who are not going to challenge me to be a better educator or a better/smarter/more capable person. What is so hard here? This has nothing to do with ego, it has to do with the truth. I stated it, and most of the other contributors in this thread don't want to hear it. That is all.

I want to also make very clear that I am not being sarcastic when I say I am really happy I went and saw the light at the fair. I'm moving on and I am excited for new adventures.
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by sid »

So challenge yourself. If you need an administrator to constantly push you, perhaps you are not the educator the administrator wants to hire.
TeacherIan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:03 pm

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by TeacherIan »

shadowjack wrote:
> Just a note about "settling". If you have to "settle"
> for a position that you applied for, why the heck did you even apply for it
> in the first place? Sorry - I just don't get it. You apply to schools
> because you would be happy to go there - not because you might have to
> "settle" for it. If "settling" is what you view as you
> did to get to your present school, that's just a sad statement.
>
> Sorry, just had to put that in there. I have never applied for a teaching
> job where I was just "settling" and I have never started at a new
> school without being excited by the prospects ahead. And I've been around
> for awhile...
Hi SJ - it must be very nice to be in your position, but not all of us are part of teaching couple with experience in good schools. Take me for instance. I have a trailing spouse and two school-aged kids and only 1.5 years of IS experience. I'm working at a school in China. It's a Tier 3 school (the only one that offered me a job when I started teaching internationally) and I can't stand it here. There's absolutely no CPD (other than the ones I pay for myself or offer to my colleagues) and the environment and pollution is toxic. I came to realize that if I stay here longer than my initial 2 year contract, my family will suffer. So, in November when they asked me to re-sign, I said no. Now I'm scrambling to find a job (72 CVs sent out and counting), so I can provide for my family. Search and ISS won't touch me because of my lack of experience and 3 dependents (pets, too!), so in the end, I just might have to settle for a less-than-ideal school. Are you saying that, if you were in my position, you would become unemployed instead of settling? It's easy to say you wouldn't settle when you have options. What happens to those ideals when you don't?
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

@TeacherIan

One of @SJs strongest and valid arguments is that your overseas in IE, when you could probably do better by your family and yourself both personally and professionally had you stayed or considered returning to DE.
TeacherIan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:03 pm

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by TeacherIan »

I unserstand that, but it's also not that easy. The universities and colleges of the Canadian province where I came from (BC) churn out over 1100 new teachers every year. The number of Canadian teachers transferring into our province totals on average around 700 teachers a year. The average number of teaching vacancies each year.... approximately 800-900. You do the math. And yes, I know that not all graduates will actually enter the profession and others will leave the country while others are hit by busses. All I'm saying is that BC is an incredibley competitive market. Added to that, it is one of the most expensive places to live in Canada. Even if you are fortunate enough to procure a position after being on the sub list for years, the salary is barely enough to support a family. Yes, I could move my family up to the northern territories in order to do time and get seniority in the system, but isn't that settling anyway? How many teachers in their home country have their dream job?
I'm not complaining about my current situation. I understand how I got here and that it was my choice. All I'm saying is that there are times in one's life where settling might be the best option. Especially if it places you in a little bit better of a situation than the one you are in.
Thames Pirate
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by Thames Pirate »

I agree. There is settling--taking something just to have something--and there is settling--taking the best option for now as you work your way up. The former is the young single taking the ESL job at a school that might not exist. The latter is what you have done in the hopes of moving up the ladder.

Good luck with the search, Ian! Something will turn up, and just keep applying!
grdwdgrrrl
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 6:26 pm

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by grdwdgrrrl »

TeacherIan wrote:
> I unserstand that, but it's also not that easy. The universities and
> colleges of the Canadian province where I came from (BC) churn out over
> 1100 new teachers every year. The number of Canadian teachers transferring
> into our province totals on average around 700 teachers a year. The average
> number of teaching vacancies each year.... approximately 800-900. You do
> the math. And yes, I know that not all graduates will actually enter the
> profession and others will leave the country while others are hit by
> busses. All I'm saying is that BC is an incredibley competitive market.
> Added to that, it is one of the most expensive places to live in Canada.
> Even if you are fortunate enough to procure a position after being on the
> sub list for years, the salary is barely enough to support a family. Yes, I
> could move my family up to the northern territories in order to do time and
> get seniority in the system, but isn't that settling anyway? How many
> teachers in their home country have their dream job?
> I'm not complaining about my current situation. I understand how I got here
> and that it was my choice. All I'm saying is that there are times in one's
> life where settling might be the best option. Especially if it places you
> in a little bit better of a situation than the one you are in.

I completely understand and relate. Sometimes, even with a lot of experience in a hard to fill subject (IB++many years), a family must do what they must do. No need to defend yourself or feel badly about it. Some people have no empathy, don't listen to them. I support you and know you are doing your best for your family!
Overhere
Posts: 497
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:29 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by Overhere »

As a former BC teacher myself I thought you might find this article interesting

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news ... -to-surrey

Good luck with your job search, and in the end the only people you have to satisfy are you and your family.
reisgio
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:17 am

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by reisgio »

@teacherian, I think you said it beautifully. As a matter of fact, the most know-it-all teachers on this board overlap a great deal with the ones who have the most success in terms getting jobs at schools/in locations they want. And what is one thing they almost all have in common? No kids! Do these individuals ever wonder that maybe they are not the best teachers but the best teachers without baggage? That maybe their obvious intellectual holes are clear to the heads who hire them but the heads don't care enough because they are single or are a childless couple? Thus they are winning at a game that is rigged in their favor. And they love every minute of it. The good news is that these self-indulgent know it alls have the nerve to call me an egomaniac, when in fact their lifestyle proves they are the ones who are so self-centered as to be unable to marry and/or have children because both would take way from their "me time." Head's love getting hires who have nothing going on in their personal lives other than short-term flings with culture, places, or people that don't get in the way with their bottom line cost.

International education is as bad is it is because most schools keep, for financial reasons having to do with lack of imagination or intelligence on the part of their heads, having to settle for just such teachers who bring plenty of their own self-love but nearly no self-awareness about the implications of their schools' decisions on others: the better teachers who got shafted because they did not check a "cheap box" or the students who learn from whole faculties of teachers who have little to no perspective on life as anything other than children in adult bodies.
Walter
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Location: UK
Contact:

Re: 2017 Fair Diaries?

Post by Walter »

Congratulations - a new record for presumptuousness. You don't know the family situation of other posters, so what gives you the right to make such generalisations? As for your foolish comments about school heads, I can tell you that there are plenty of teachers with children in the school where I work. Some brought their children with them, others had their children while employed there. Some are single parents. Some are adoptive parents.

Of course I need to manage the numbers of dependent children in the school. Although schools aren’t businesses, they have to be run a business-like fashion - and essentially that means paying bills through tuition revenue. Too many free places mean revenue shortfall - and the first impact of that is declining wages and redundancies.

First and foremost, though, I base my hiring decisions on getting the best teachers in the classroom. The quality of education a school provides also has a direct link to tuition revenue. I also know that to have teachers with children in the school often means less turnover, and stability is good for learning.

To be honest, it isn’t your immense ego that irritates - I find that quite amusing. It’s the way that you cynically undermine an entire segment of the teaching profession ("poltroons and nebbishes" is a particularly tasteful description of your peers from an earlier post), presumably so that you can enjoy some odd sense of superiority.
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