The International Schools Review Forum

Hello!
I am new around here and I have been trying to do a bit of research on which company to use to help me with my first international post. I have found Cois, Search and Teach Anywhere. From the looks of it Teach Anywhere does not hold a fair so is more of a placement company (suggesting schools/teachers to each other?). The other two hold fairs and so do not suggest specific schools to you? I am thinking of signing up to either Cois or Search and going to the London fair. Does anyone have any tips on one being better than the other or how to choose? I don't think I want to go to both.
Thank you for any information!
Edit- I am a Primary teacher if that makes any difference.

Hello there Pinkstar,

Yes, Teachanywhere does not offer any fairs. I was unsuccessful at registering with them (see one of my last posts), but you might have more success since you are a primary teacher and are not mainly teaching languages (like me). It seemed to me that they cater primarily to Asian and Middle Eastern schools, so if that's your thing, try them out.

I am registered with Search, and so far, it has been a good experience. My associate helps me out when I have a particular question. He has been helpful, and honest. I guess it can be hit and miss with associates, but Ray Sparks has been good to me. You get to pick your own associate based on the area in which you live, if I remember correctly. It's a bit of money to sign up and register yourself as a candidate, but if it's your first time going international, I believe that going to at least one fair will be a good experience.

I will be attending the Cambridge, Massachusetts fair in early February...heard from PsyGuy that it was a good one. I think the London fair one should be good, too...I read somewhere that many IB schools go to the London fair (is this true? Does it have the most IB schools coming?).

Good luck, depending on your amount of experience in primary, you might have no issues finding a good spot...

P.S. What is Cois? I have never heard of them. Are they situated in Britain?

Hi musings28! Thanks very much for your reply. Sounds like Search are treating you well! Sorry about Teach Anywhere, but seems like you got a better deal at Search! I think Cois (Council of International Schools- actually I think they call themselves CIS but COIS is the website) must be a British thing! It seems like they only have a fair in London. Maybe they are a British branch of something else.
Good luck with the job search. let us know how you get on!

Thank you for your reply and explanations Psyguy.
In the UK the two fairs held in January are run by Search and CIOS/CIS and I am having a hard time deciding which one I should sign up with? It seems that in the UK Search (British branch) cannot charge the fee for legal reasons, so both would be free. It seems the application process for Search is more complicated. I teach primary (UK national curriculum) so I am wondering if one company/fair is better suited to my qualifications than the other? Or if it really makes no difference.

ISS can represent all schools, not just the ones that manage.

In my experience, Search tends to allow schools that would not make it onto the ISS list of schools at any one of the fairs. This means that the ISS fairs have fewer and probably more competitive schools in attendance.

Among the differences, the fact that Search assigns an Associate to you is probably the most important one to note. Some people have raved about their Associate, others claim that they never even met them.

What I meant about ISS representing all schools is that they have schools at their fairs that they don't run/manage. ISS has a few schools around the world that either set up from the start or took over and now run.

Most ISS schools aren't really members; they simply use their recruiting services. .

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The Search London Fair is mainly IB schools. In my experience and an opinion I often hear from others is that if you do not have PYP/IB experience, the Search London Fair may be difficult for you.
The Search London and the CIS fairs are usually back to back so perhaps attending both is a good idea? The head at my last school ( a "tier 1" school) asked me why I was bothiering to go to Search because CIS is so much better, but I didn't go to the CIS fair. In his opinion, there are better and more of a variety of schools at this fair.
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Hey, when can you register to attend a particular fair? My SEARCH associate has been really busy and has not been able to answer my emails :(