Selecting the Right School

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zenteach
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:29 am

Selecting the Right School

Post by zenteach »

How do you know when you have selected the right school to work at? What are the signs that you selected the wrong school to work at?
expatscot
Posts: 315
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:26 am

Re: Selecting the Right School

Post by expatscot »

I think it's quite a personal thing - what works for one person might be a complete nightmare for another.

For me, a good school would have:
- well behaved and polite kids
- supportive management
- a good system of pastoral care for students
- a fair workload for staff
- a consistent, but not full-on, pace of work for staff

Some people prefer to be in a highly academic, fast paced school - as far as I'm concerned, as long as the kids are polite and trying their hardest I'm not too concerned about the academics, and at times when I'm in a fast paced school I find that I can be knocked over by it because I prefer to take time about things!

How would I know it's bad? Well, a few examples might be:
- poor behaviour of students (in my experience, if this isn't properly tackled it suggests that there are other problems)
- a headmaster who doesn't know my name, despite having interviewed me
- a school which insists on formal observations every term (if you have to do this, you clearly either don't know or don't trust your staff)
- complete lack of consultation on things which affect me
mickeymoo
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:00 am

Re: Selecting the Right School

Post by mickeymoo »

Regarding the number of observations, I don't think I would want to work at a school that does not have observations. To assure academic and teaching quality control, leadership should conduct a few formal observations, be proactive in checking documentation and overall check the learning that is happening. Formal observations are a part of this, but not the complete picture. For me the right mix would be 1-2 formal observations, 1-2 peer observations and the right mix of checking the work that kids were doing. Too many observations is counter productive, and leads to unecessary stress, rather than being seen as a means by which teachers can improve their practice.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10849
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

Usually you dont until after a term, and sometimes not until after the contract and your debating whether to renew. You usually get your first hard sense when you get on ground and on site. Thats when you realize even if everything presented and promised to you is delivered but what all the negatives that were unsaid are. Thats usually the issue that gets ITs, its not they promised X and didnt do it or instead gave you Y, its all the things that went without saying, the more of those things the more likely the experience is going to sour. ISs have a number of highly subjective factors that it just isnt in the recruiters or leaderships interest to describe in a negative way. You arent going to know hats going to effect you until you are there.

As far as some of the observations cited by prior contributors:

1) Well behaved and polite kids. Thats great except whats well behaved and polite to one person may mean something different to another. The other issue is what happens when one of the ISs one or two PITA kids is in your class, and makes your life or at least that class miserable (and the students kids are attached to ownership), overall the student body may be very polite and well behaved.

2) Supportive management can mean many different things. Some ITs want to be left alone, and have their POs approved, and their comp paid on time. Others want the equivalent of a help desk.

3) Good System of Pastoral Care, often means a system that focuses on edus other than the IT. Is there a counselor who actually likes seeing students and is actually available.

4) Fair workload for staff often has to definitions, one by leadership which essentially comes down to we own you and one by ITs who are always overworked and just want to get out on time.

5) Consistency for workload often translates too work that isnt always feast and famine or constant crises mode. In simpler times theirs evidence of practical planing and organization on the part of the IS.

My advice is too:
1) Do your due diligence, research the IS, look people up on FB, ask about it in the member forum. Dont reply on the ISs leadership and designated cheerleaders or your associate.
2) Dont be afraid to ask questions, no appointment is worth getting if it turns out to be a bad fit for you. If the IS is insulted, offended, or put off by questions (as long as you were polite in asking them) then there is no subject thats forbidden.
3) Have an exit strategy, a recruiters biggest fear is you wont get on the plane, once they have you onsite they know the probability of you leaving is much lower regardless of how bad it is. If you have an exit strategy that makes the experience little more than get on a plane, see the city maybe the sites, and get back ona plane with minimal interruption than you are in a much stronger position.
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