The International Schools Review Forum

Anyone have experience working for one? Any feelings about the schools you'd be willing to share?

I did some poking around the DODEA website, and it seems like the packages offered for overseas teachers are fantastic.

The base salaries are fairly standard (45,000 for a MA), but once you add in pay locality rates and giant living allowances, it really gets up there. I did a calculation for a teacher working in Haneda, Japan ... I would be making something like $122,000 - at the bottom of the rung even.

Granted, this is taxed as US income, but the packages offered still sound too good to be true.

I also wonder if some of these schools are a bit less intense than their Japanese counterparts (ASIJ, Yokohoma IS, etc.)

No thats about right on the compensation package, and yes the environment isnt nearly as intensive as an elite international school. That being said I know several people who have been waiting years and still have not been offered a position. DODEA really doesnt have any critical shortages.

The big issue is their credentialing is dependent entirely on college/university credit hours (you do have to be certified). So to be considered "qualified" (meaning eligible for a DODEA certification in a subject area) you have to have about 24-30 college credit hours in the subject area (and often you need specific classes as well out of those hours). Basically, you need the equivalent of a major or degree in the field.

Lastly, DODEA does their hiring over the summer usually starting in June and doesnt finish up until late september/early october, which would be to late for an international school position if you didnt get a DODEA offer.

I had several friends go this route a long time ago. The package was fantastic--they would pack and ship all your belonging, including your car, and even provide their own quarantine services for your pets on arrival. I used to think that's what I would do someday, but with so many bases closing over the years, the pool of schools has shrunk. You cannot specify where you want to go, other than large general regions; my friends said if you were offered a position, and turned it down (because it wasn't a desired location, say), it could be years before you were offered another. That turned me off.

Frankly, I'm very happy not to be dealing with American kids and their helicopter parents, and dealing with all the stupidity of American "education."

The packages are indeed insane.

Yes, we are seeing bases close in various of "theatres of operation" but, remember, this is multipolar world that is getting more so. Even with the Pentagon slashing its budget, I think new bases/schools will continue to expand in some regions and open up in others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world ... es.html?hp

The thought of having a reasonable work load and a US pension is VERY appealing.

One problem that I've noticed is that recruitment must be done from inside the US in order to qualify for living quarters allowances. That would be a big problem for me, and many other teachers here who might not be willing to move all the way back to the US in order to have the small chance at getting a DODEA job.

I've written

Would be interested in reading your blogs but nothing comes up under "Beemarcus."

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DODEA is all about the transcript. While you need to be certified and their new procedure, says requires only 50% of the credit hours if you have a certification, the reality is DODEA/DoDDS can afford to be choosy because for them there really are no critical needs areas, they arent hurting for anyone to fill any vacancy they might have now or in the future.