The International Schools Review Forum

I have a new contract for August, and the border is now closed. This is not China or the Middle East. Up until the lockdowns, it seemed a good school and package. I know from a contact there that the school is in a better financial situation than most, and is truly non-profit. But I can't begin the process leading to getting there until lockdown and restrictions ease.

Which scenario is most likely if new teachers are unable to arrive for an August start?

a. the school will work with the teacher to get them there, maybe a month later. The teacher won't be paid until arrival, but their job will be safe.

b. the school will cancel the contract at the last minute.

c. the school will work with the teacher to get them there eventually. The teacher will be paid in August because the teacher is expected to begin teaching remotely.

d. some other scenario

I feel like this is the million dollar question right now. I wonder if schools even have a plan at this point. With so many teachers currently locked out of their countries, and many who have already resigned for next year, how can schools open in the fall if borders are still closed? Not to mention the many administrators expecting to start new posts next year. Some heads of school are not in their countries. Schools will be hobbled. I imagine all the scenarios you listed being used.

Some countries that are closed aren't closed to expats with a proper work visa, assuming you do a 14 day quarantine upon arrival. And in some of those, the school can still arrange work visa for new hires just like before, thus allowing you to enter once that has been sorted.
Best to contact the school about this, if you haven't already. It might not be as bad as you think. Or it might be of course, but asking won't hurt you.

I wouldn't be surprised if things get better over the summer, borders open, then a second wave hits in the fall and the lockdowns start back up. Covid19 will likely severely disrupt international teaching for the next year or two.

Heliotrope wrote:
> Some countries that are closed aren't closed to expats with a proper work
> visa, assuming you do a 14 day quarantine upon arrival. And in some of
> those, the school can still arrange work visa for new hires just like
> before, thus allowing you to enter once that has been sorted.
> Best to contact the school about this, if you haven't already. It might not
> be as bad as you think. Or it might be of course, but asking won't hurt
> you.

The country is not issuing visas for foreigners right now, and their embassies are not processing visas. The school is aware of this, of course. All they will tell me is that they are 'continuing to plan for our new recruits arrivals'. This is deliberately vague and they aren't saying anything about what happens if the new teachers can't get into the country in August.

It isn't as if I can reactivate on Search and start looking for something more certain. The uncertainty is killing me here.

@shopaholic - you're the low person on the totem pole for the school. They will keep stringing you along until it becomes clear that you won't be able to get a visa. Then, the school will drop you without hesitation. If I were you, I would have a back up plan ready to go.

TheHuman is right. Anyone who is blindly trusting their school right now is being naive. I would agree that many schools WANT to bring employees in as usual, keep pay the same, etc., but if enrollment drops precipitously or borders remain closed longer than expected they're going to have no choice but to make cuts. Having a Plan B is never a bad thing.

Having a plan B sounds good. However, what exactly does that mean? Look for another position, apply, accept and then, if borders do open or whatever, breach one out of two signed contracts?

I'm just asking.... What would plan B look like? I don't think it would be ethical to sign a second contract without having backed out from the first, and I don't think any school would be happy to hear in an interview that you are looking for a position "just in case" your new contract falls through. The other option would of course be to look for a new position without backing out from the first one and without telling schools you interview with about this, but then...well...I would question the ethics of such an approach...

It's a horrible situation. The only thing that keeps me going is to think that I am just one out of many other teachers in exactly the same situation. If, I hope not, most borders to remain closed and such, I suspect many schools will do late hiring (seeking teachers who are already in the same country/region) and I might be able to find another job then...

@inmortus Most of us are in the same boat as you. For me, plan B is having everything ready (resume, references, certifications, etc.) and applying for a job in my home country (US) if my current job falls through. Schools in the US might not even open and there are likely to have hiring freezes. Because of this I'm expanding my search to jobs outside of education.

I doubt my new job will exist in autumn. I got the position through Search, and as soon as I get confirmation that my new job contract is cancelled, I suppose I will be able to reactive my Search profile. But I can't do anything until I receive word for certain. There is no good Plan B and I will probably wait in place in my current country if I can't move in August to a new job. There should be more unfilled or sudden vacancies than usual this year, I think. I hope.

For me, Plan B would be to look for a job in my home country since that's the only definite in terms of travel/accessibility at the moment. I don't envy anyone their decisions though. I consider myself to be a fairly ethical person, but at the end of the day I have to look out for myself and my family.

marieh wrote:
> For me, Plan B would be to look for a job in my home country since that's
> the only definite in terms of travel/accessibility at the moment. I don't
> envy anyone their decisions though. I consider myself to be a fairly
> ethical person, but at the end of the day I have to look out for myself and
> my family.

Same for me. I'm looking back home which is something I would have found laughable a year ago.

The international circuit right now is like a grim game of musical chairs except when the music stops several chairs will just spontaneously vanish. So do you sit tight in one chair and hope when the music stops you don't fall right on your butt? Or do you grab as many as you can get hoping one of them will still be there? There's no good answer here.

If your school is like most schools, admin and leadership are making plans now. I have had several meetings over the past week about this - what opening looks like, how it works, what is needed to make it work. At my school our new hires will be teaching come the start of the new year one way or another. I would say that even if you cannot get there, you should plan to start teaching and start preparing virtual lessons before that time, than can form the basis for F2F lessons if your school has a hard opening with students on campus.

It would be impossible to predict. So much depends on the financial health of the school, the way families pay tuition (monthly or by semester), currency valuation (local against USD), ability of the board to restructure/restructure ongoing expenses, projected changes in enrollment, border situation, government rules beyond a school's control. It's really hard to generalize anything from country to country, or even school to school right now.

Youre IS is most likely to rescind or cancel your contract if thy can find a local or some other option.

You may not be able to use SA, but there are still plenty of other services for job searches that are available to you to find a plan B such as Schrole, TIE, TES, etc. Beyond that you should have a plan C, finding a country you like with a healthy ESOL industry that has permeable borders and int the region your IS is in.