Planning entry into international teaching - seeking input

[bastabus]

I would first like to thank everyone in advance for taking the time to read my post. I greatly appreciate any feedback you can provide.

Brief bio: I currently teach EFL & Computer Science at an IB MYP/DP candidate school in Japan (for locals), but would like to start taking the steps to further strengthen my resume should I decide to teach at an international schools (for expats) in the future. My university background is in Linguistics and East Asian Studies. I have no formal teaching credentials, but have taught EFL for ~4 years (JET Program, Department Head @ IB PYP candidate school, and regular instructor @ current place of work). In addition to my classroom experience, I have worked for 5 years as a freelance consultant specializing in edutech integration.

Plan: I am very aware that I need to acquire teaching credentials and for this reason, am applying to the Teach-Now Program. Ideally, I will be able to join the cohort starting at the end of this month, though I am not sure just yet what specific endorsements I will aim for. In addition, I am in the process of earning my Japanese teaching license as well. I intend to spend the next 2-3 years at my current workplace as they are willing to fund my IB training. During this time, I also hope to take advantage of my professional development budget to acquire either an MA TESOL at a local university (Sat/Sun program) or an MED Learning and Technology through Western Governor's University.

Is there anything else you can recommend? Or are there steps you would do differently?

Once again, I would like to thank you for your time and really appreciate any and all criticisms/feedback/bits of advice.

[eion_padraig]

So if you've already read through the forums you'll know that a lot of international schools don't give teaching credit towards time people spent teaching ESL. Some do, but many do not and in some cases they'll be more likely to give it if the context was in a setting similar to their own (PYP candidate school is much more likely than being a JET teacher). Fair or not, this is how many of them operate.

So often the teaching license/credential is a legal requirement for a country to issue you a work visa, but even when it is not it's often considered a "best practice". I read "In addition, I am in the process of earning my Japanese teaching license as well" to mean that you are getting a valid teaching license in Japan and not that you are getting a license to teach Japanese as a foreign language, but correct me if I misunderstood what you've written. What is interesting is if you do get a valid teaching license in Japan, then you may not need a teaching license/credential from the US. It's probably a bit tricky as most teachers working at international schools would have teaching credentials from the US/Canada/UK/Australia/New Zealand or other English speaking countries. Again, it may depend on how a Japanese teaching license is viewed by the country that you would be wanting to work in, and again how it would be viewed by the admin people from the school that were hiring you. Now, if you have experience working at an IB school with accreditation and experience to boot which ensures you are using a pedagogical approach that would be familiar to international schools, then I suspect admin would be less concerned. If you are planning on staying in Japan, then I really don't think you'd need a US license, but it could be more complicated if say you wanted to head to Korea or Hong Kong or Spain, or another country. This is something to look into further.

The other big issue is that if I were an admin hiring you, what are you going to teach? What do you bring to the table? Are you a ESL teacher? Are you a computer science teacher? ESL positions are often not that common as the students are often expected to have high level English skills to enroll. Obviously that depends, but my school has a limited number (2 or 3?) ESL teachers for an enrollment of over 1,000 students. Computer Science is not a core subject so the need for a subject teacher there may be limited at many schools.

I think the decision about a Master's program would need to be linked to the subject you're looking at teaching. Frankly, a MA TESOL won't be viewed as that useful for a computer science teacher.

I think before you can make good decisions about what additional education you need, it would be helpful for you to decide on subject you're interested in teaching and possible countries you want to work in. Again, a teaching license from Japan may be fine if you don't intend to leave the country, but it may be more limited than a US credential for moving around the world.

Good luck.

[bastabus]

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my original post. I really appreciate it!

>Fair or not, this is how many of them operate.
Having read through the forum archives, I am very aware of what you stated. I figured it would be better to be forthright about everything so that I could receive the best feedback possible.

The teaching license would be credentials issued under the authority of the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT). Last year, an initiative was implemented to open 200 IB schools by 2018. As a result, MEXT has restructured the certification process so that more foreign instructors could potentially receive teaching licenses. Since teaching in Japan, I have only met 2 foreign instructors with Japanese teaching licenses (both working at Japanese schools), so I am not sure how international schools (for expats) generally view Japanese teaching licenses.

>The other big issue is that if I were an admin hiring you, what are you going to teach?

This is actually one of the issues I am most concerned about. I have started to track job openings at international schools around Asia and am well aware how uncommon dedicated ESL positions are at international schools. I am still not 100% decided regarding what specific endorsements I will pursue, but tentatively I am leaning towards ESL, Media Specialist and/or Middle School social studies. I was originally contemplating computer science, but worry that since I do not have a formal uni degree in the subject area, I would likely get passed up during the hiring process by much more qualified applicants.

Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. You provided lots to think about and I very much appreciate that!

[PsyGuy]

WOW a Japanese teaching license! You are ambitious, hope your Japanese is great. Its going to be a lot more talk then will actually come down to action that makes the process easier. Like many projects in Japan, there will be some convoluted pathway that makes it as difficult as now. I have a normal license, and it wasnt easy.

Most ITs dont think anything of Japanese teaching licenses they never see one, and only JTEs would have the language skills to apply to ISs IF it wasnt for the requirement that the vast majority of ISs require their teaching faculty to be NATIVE English speakers. So the only practical time you will see a Japanese national at an IS is as a Japanese FL teacher.

My position, skip teaching all together, get a M.Ed in Ed.Led and go into administration. You've got the experience and your in the right time and the right place for Curriculum/IB coordinator, or an AP position, especially with a fast track Japanese normal license. All the other certification and licensing arguments vanish once you frame them within the context as an admin.

The TESOL option (degree and certification) is only viable if you want a safety net to stay in Japan, or you eventually want to do Uni in Japan.