The International Schools Review Forum

Hello everyone,

I would like to know what my chances are in securing a new teaching position for the next school year in my desired locations Japan, Korea, Eastern and Western Europe.

I am currently an elementary school (homeroom) teacher at an international school in Central America. I will not be returning for the second year of my contract. Yes, I am "breaking" my contract, however, the head of the school will "release" me from the contract upon mutual agreement via a written statement. I will also be receiving stellar references from my supervisors.

I am American, have a Masters degree in Elementary Education and have taught English in South Korea at a local primary school for one year.

I am registering with Search Associates and would like to attend the Cambridge fair, but my recruiter recommends the San Francisco fair or the Maryland fair in June, instead. I am not fond of the locations that seem to dominate these fairs such as the Middle East and Latin America.

I have been contacting the heads of schools directly and received mostly generic emails such as "Thank you for your interest in XYZ School. You will be contacted should your qualifications match our needs ..." or "We have not determined our staffing needs, yet."

Additionally, I am subscribed to TIE Online and will be registering with QSI (Quality Schools International).

I would like to know whether there is anything else I should be doing to secure a position next year in my desired locations (Korea, Japan, Eastern and Western Europe) or should I just give up and leave the international scene? I just feel like it is extremely difficult to find a position in my top locations due to my limited experience.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, especially from poster PsyGuy.
Thank you, everyone!

Your recruiter is recommending the SF fair to you because the school your at is well known to provide 2 year contracts, and seeing only one year is going to set off warning and alarm bells. They are saving you from being disappointed and frustrated. Those fairs are also very late and are primarily for third tier schools, they take/hire the leftovers.

You also have VERY little experience. Almost all 1st tier international schools require a MINIMUM of two years experience (elite schools want 5) and ESL experience doesnt count. The Masters degree is a bonus, but almost everyone in Japan and western europe (VERY highly desired regions) has an advance degree. While eastern europe isnt in as high of demand there are fewer schools available (about 14 tier 1 schools, outside of QSI). Lastly, I didnt read anything about you being at an IB school, but I suspect you arent, so you have no IB experience either.

I'm sorry, I really am. You need to start over. Luckily, S.K. is a pretty strong job region, and you should consider a 2nd tier school there or possibly elsewhere in Asia. You need to hit the reset button, and take a "do over". The other options are: (1) return to the states, and go back to work at a school district/private school/charter school for a couple more years and then reenter the international job market. (2) Go back to ESL, and make a career at that (Catch a flight to Japan, and you could have an ESL position in a week).

Lastly, and I dont want to sound cruel (I appreciate the Kudos by the way), and I dont know why things didnt "work out" at your current school, but maybe, just maybe your not meant to be a teacher. Maybe your really a corporate trainer, college instructor or something else, and just thought teaching was a path to your destination. Maybe you have the right skill set, but the wrong audience??? Take some time and look inside, if your feeling frustrated part of that may be because what your doing isnt resonating with your core.

I totally understand if you hate me after this, I wouldnt blame you, and there will be a lot of people on this board who will say Im crazy and nuts to tell you all that. Keep us updated, on how things go. Being a teacher is really about stories, the ones you learn, the ones you make and being able to share them both...

Thank you for your insight, PsyGuy.

I am not completing the second year with my current school because
the quality of life here is poor. As a female, I am concerned for my safety. I am trying my best to stay positive and finish up this year.

On the contrary, teaching is my calling and I am great at what I do! I have been praised by the entire school community (administrators, parents and students) for my passion, enthusiasm, teaching efficacy and professionalism.
I have also received stellar teacher evaluations from my administrators.
I have so much I could offer to a school, but schools do not see that because they just want a teacher with x amount years of experience.

I am not interested in American public schools. Private school positions are almost non-existent. Upon completing my Masters program, I had a strong ambition to teach abroad at an international school in my desired locations, however, I did get that lucky break. So I accepted the English position with a local South Korean primary school. I was not happy with the position as I felt the work to be unchallenging and so I left. Here I am in Central America working at a great international school and learning a great deal! The problem is the unattractive and dangerous location. The poor quality of life is taking its toll on my body and mind. Frankly, I feel depressed here. In school, I put on my "happy mask" and when I head home, I often catch myself crying.

I am not concerned with the "tier system" of schools. I simply am trying to work for a school in a location that suits me best, i.e., Japan, Korea, Eastern and Western Europe.

Thank you again and I will update.

OK so game face. What you need to do is engineer yourself into a position of being in the right place at the right time. So what you do is you just go to where you want to be (Id pick Japan) and you work at whatever language school you can, and you keep waiting and checking until something happens and a school needs a replacement "on the spot", and you show up with your credentials in hand, and asa local hire youll be cheaper, and well you make it real hard to just say no.

Either that or marry someone from your preferred so that you can get an EU passport, which would make it a lot easier to get a job in Europe.

I understand your pain, there are some bad teachers out there who just happen to have the right experience and credentials who dont have a problem getting hired. Yet there is some great new and talented teachers entering the profession who never even get looked over.

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I can tell you off the bat that with your credentials and breaking the contract after a year will not sit by well with countries like Japan. In Japan, obligation is a BIG part of the culture. People are culturally inclined to obligation. If you happen to get past this on your resume and not mention that you are breaking contract ( of course ), they will look at the amount of years. Japanese international schools tend to hire veterans or "newbies" with at least 3 - 5 years of experience.

Western Europe is a very hard break to get into. You could squeeze into Eastern Europe with a 2nd tier school ( as you say you are not too concerned about it as long as you get out of the situation you are in right now due to safety because of your gender ).

Your best bet could be S.E. Asia and then move on from there to Japan or Korea if you are still intent on Asia.

[quote="saturnine9"]

I am not interested in American public schools. Private school positions are almost non-existent. Upon completing my Masters program, I had a strong ambition to teach abroad at an international school in my desired locations, however, I did get that lucky break. So I accepted the English position with a local South Korean primary school. I was not happy with the position as I felt the work to be unchallenging and so I left. Here I am in Central America working at a great international school and learning a great deal! The problem is the unattractive and dangerous location. The poor quality of life is taking its toll on my body and mind. Frankly, I feel depressed here. In school, I put on my "happy mask" and when I head home, I often catch myself crying.

Thank you again and I will update.[/quote]

You may have to ask if INTERNATIONAL teaching is your calling. Yes, teaching can be your calling, but doing it internationally is quite challenging. You also have to deal with the cultural differences and from the paragraph you wrote, it seems like you have left a few times because you weren't happy with one aspect or another aspect with the school or culture. When you took the job in Central America, did you have any idea that it would be a very difficult place to live in being that in general, it is still a developing country? Of course there will be danger, poor waste management, crime on the streets, frequent blackouts, lack of certain "necessities " or "luxuries" that one gets used to that could take a toll on one's health as you are experiencing now. I think many people ( particularly those who are new to international teaching ) tend to romanticise the idea of international teaching when in reality, it IS a job. It IS a career. There will be difficulties directly related to cultural factors etc.

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Thank you everyone for your time in reading and responding to my posts.

Android,

International teaching is of great interest to me. I firmly believe that this where I belong, professionally speaking.
[u]What I learned from being here in Central America is that I will never work in another under-developed nation again. [/u]

I have lived in Japan, South Korea, eastern and western Europe previously and enjoyed the experience, which is the reason why I would like to secure a teaching position in these locations.

As a reminder, I left my post in South Korea, but I did not find teaching English as a foreign language challenging and I wanted to teach within my certification area as a homeroom class teacher. I enjoyed my time there, but I was unhappy with the work I did.

Yes, I am well aware that I have been hopping around from country to country. I do not like it. I would like to stay with a school long term in one of my desired countries.

Sure, I knew that Central America has many social issues (crime, poor infrastructure, poverty, etc.) before I signed my contract. I was hesitant, but decided I would bite the bullet and signed it because I needed the experience and told myself: "I will be open minded and give Central America a try. I'm sure it is not all that bad."
Well, here I am and it is really BAD. I really did try my best and gave this nation a fair chance. The school is great, though.

Hopefully, I will secure a new position at the San Francisco fair.

You dont really need to apologize. Its easy for some to judge in hindsight. For some veterans who have risen pretty high on the career ladder it can be a long way down and in the past back to when they were on their first overseas teaching post. Personally i think there is something to be said and admirable about recognizing an error or mistake and then doing what you need to do to fix it, as opposed to simply toughing it out and tolerating an intolerable situation. Although, im a Buddhist, I never saw what made people so smart about continuing to be miserable.

Im pretty confident that IF you got to an interview youd be pretty convincing and persuasive in getting passed the issues of leaving your previous/current schools. The problem is going to be getting a head to give you an interview in the first place.