The International Schools Review Forum

My child will be completing her final school exams in a couple of years, and the final year of my contract would coincide with her second to last year of school (she goes to the school where my partner teaches, so no concerns about tuition fees.) I'm reaching a point where I feel that, by then, I will be verging on burnout and need to take some time for myself before my next teaching role.

If I was to take a year out - possibly doing some cover here and there - to support her in her final year, how would a new school look at that? Would they be particularly bothered by the gap, or would they prefer to have a teacher who would (hopefully!) be refreshed and reinvigorated?

Lots of teachers have gaps. The key is to explain it nicely. You don't want schools wondering if you were forced out. So include it as a line in your CV, something like "Personal Year to Attend to Family Needs". Or something.

It shouldn’t be a problem at all. I’m in that situation this year. I’ve taken the year off to take care of my children and my husband and I were applying and interviewing for new schools. We had over 10 interviews and only one school even brought it up in the interview, and definitely not in a negative way.

The rule is you can do anything for a year and not have any effect on your utility and marketability. You can be sitting on a beach wrecking your liver, mourning the loss of a goldfish, writing a book, taking care of family, schooling, whatever. As long as you have a vaguely normative reply if you are asked about it, it wont be a problem.

Take a gap-year! All the kids are doing it these days.