The International Schools Review Forum

I have posted in the past about my chances of landing a job abroad with a family. I have a trailing spouse and two children (2 &4). I am completing my first year in a long-term position as an RTI teacher and will be completing my masters in Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology this year. My purpose for going into teaching was to always teach abroad. I have little interest in staying in NY to teach (or in America). Anyone who is in a similar position, I am looking at what steps I should take? What are the best job fairs for families? I have been looking into the UNI job fair (seems to be better for newer teachers). Currently we are open to most locations are not looking to get rich... more looking to experience living abroad.

I appreciate any feedback and advice that can help in my journey!

Thanks

How much experience do you have and what subject are you qualified in?

If your completing your first year and looking to leave, its not a long term position. If you stay a decade then its a long term position.

Is putting your kids up for adoption and getting your spouse certified an option?

For an entry level teacher your an unattractive hire. A schools got to pay for 4 people to get one newbie into a classroom.

There isnt a best fair for you. Really your going to be frustrated with any of the super fairs as youll stand in line hand them your "light" resume and then add the family logistics and they are all going to pass.

Your best option is a school like QSI, contacting schools and forming a list of those that are interested and then planing a fair around which one has the most of those schools is going to be your best bet.

first year of a long term position?

I will be frank, not much experience. No IB experience. 3 dependents.

The dependents are not so debilitating if you have enough relevant experience and a proven track record. But you are going to have a lot of problems getting a job since your competition is likely to be single.

Thank you PsyGuy and Mathman for your feedback. To give a little more info as asked, I am NY certified in the following:

Early Childhood Birth-2
general education- Grades (1-6)
Special Ed (Grades 1-6)

I do have student teaching in an IB school, but no paid experience. My current position is similar to a resource teacher. I understand my chances are slim, yet I do plan to try.. and not planning on putting my kids up for adoption, PsyGuy :o) My wife is an artist by profession (more freelance work) and photographer.

NY (especially where I live), chances of landing a job here arn't any better. Per job opening, there are about 600 applications.

Other information about myself... Grew up in Kenya and am familiar with international living.

again, thanks for any feedback or advice!

PsyGuy,

I will look into QSI. Never heard much about it, but looks good. I understand I am not marketable to higher-tier schools, yet am not necessarily looking to start at those schools. What are my chances at Tier 3 schools, you think?

We have already started forming a list of schools we are interested in, and some prefer applicants to apply directly through their site, instead of through an agency. We will apply to a few that way with a skype interview.

The student teaching in an IB school, at PYP actually makes you more marketable but really your just an elementary teacher with no experience and an expensive family. Sorry, but your just going to be hitting your head against the wall with the frustration you will get from recruiters and at job fairs.

jboeh2, Just to give you an idea...

I am a secondary mathematics and history teacher with 15 years experience teaching in the US. I have a non-teaching spouse and 2 elementary aged children. When I originally became certified, my goal was to teach overseas, but pretty much everyone wanted 2 years of experience. I got a great job here in the US and 2 years turned into 15 before I could blink. I finally decided to pursue teaching abroad, and have been frustrated.

The bottom line is, as PsyGuy and Mathman say, you're just too expensive. I had several schools that flat-out told me that if my husband taught something (anything!), they would hire us both, and find a placement for him to get me. However, bringing 4 people over for only 1 worker was just a huge financial jump for them, when there were many other single teachers to consider. The truly funny thing is, my husband had considered getting his teaching license here, but the job market in the US is not worth the cost we would have to invest for him to do so.

I have had a few schools that were interested, but due to the fact that they are 7-12 schools only, we couldn't make it work (we're not willing to homeschool my own kids for 2 years or more.) There will be some opportunities, but prepare for a lot of frustration as well.

Moose. I would guess that if your husband got certified in the US and then you went recruiting, him with no experience, you would get a job somewhere and get him the experience he needs for you to move up the food chain.

The whole point of his getting certified would not be to land a job in the US, but to be certified so that a school could offer YOU a job and have him employed too, so they can justify the hire.

My wife is a trailing spouse, transitioning into teaching after years in another field. She will do her practicum at the school we are going to.

So it is never too late - get him going on certification and get out there!

This is a topic I am particularly interested in.

I am a single Dad with twin dependants. They won't be school age until 2015 but my plan is to take them overseas at that time. I am currently in my fourth year of teaching in Australia, having taught most Humanities subjects and a little but of English. Currently undertaking a Grad Dip in Economics as I figure am economics qualification will allow me to teach senior economics in the future.

So is it really as bad for people carrying two financial dependants as people are making it out to be? I'm not particularly fussy on location, just somewhere relatively safe, where my kids can learn another language and at a school that is half decent.

Sorry to hijack but thought I'd throw my own situation out there, esp. the single parent with two thing.

@chuck

Firstly I admire you for raising two kids as a single parent.

Realistically, you will find it difficult, as I think you have no IB exp. There are not many Aust curriculum schools, certainly none I can think of outside east/SE Asia.

One of the things not brought up in this post is the lack of an adult partner is actually a minor advantage, at least compared to a couple with one child. A trailing partner can suffer psychologically from the isolation if he/she doesn't have something to keep them busy and can't make local friends.

TYour kids will probably pick up the local language if you send them to a local daycare as opposed to an IS.

Anyway, at the end of the day, it depends on how well you fit a particular need at a school. Just need to be at the right place at the right time, and be patient.

Hi, just wanted to add my experience to all this doom and gloom!

I went to my first ISS fair when I had three years experience teaching high school English, including 2 IB years' experience (and I grew up overseas). I got 8 interviews and 2 offers, despite having a non-teaching husband and two kids.

Yes, I also did get a lot of "you have too many dependents for us to consider," but I wasn't picky where I went, and we ended up at a very nice tier 2 school in Asia where the cost of living is low enough for us to live on one salary. We've really enjoyed it here. Now my husband has gotten his teaching credential while we lived here and taught for a couple of years, so I'm looking forward to what the job market will be like when we try again as a teaching couple.

My advice to jboah is to teach for one more year to get that "two years' experience" on your resume, and then try for the job fair after that. If you're open to less well-known schools and locations, then you do have a chance. No-one will be banging down your door to hire you, but if you can sell yourself, you definitely have a chance. Also, consider having your wife get credentialed to teach art...then voila, you're a teaching couple. If overseas teaching is your dream, then by all means pursue it. It might take a couple of years, but I think it's totally worth it!

@ChuckD33

Im sorry but a single dad two dependents in Australia you will be taking a serious pay cut compared to what ISs would offer you if they were interested.

There arent a lot of Australian schools that offer an australian curriculum, most of them are "Australian" in name and offer a IGCSE or british curriculum, as its not really possible to earn an Australian diploma outside of an Australian regulated school. There isnt much market or incentive to copy the curriculum. Singapore would be the best bet but thats not really "overseas" for an Australian.

The two kids, single parent is going to be a deal breaker though, your going to be frustrated hearing "your two expensive" all the time.

Chuck,

If you would like to contact me at nkendell@searchassociates.com we can have a chat about some options that may be available to you.

Nick

Coming from the mouth of one Head and one recruiter : " The best hire is a single teacher, no dependents, 2 years + experience, preferably IB ". Teaching couples are good too but reasons were given as to why a single teacher could trump them easily in the hiring process.

Although teaching couples are good, the school has to worry about the following with teaching couples :
a) Do they have 2 positions available that fit the couple and the school well?
b) What if one of the spouses is unhappy and the other one isn't?
c) A teaching couple is ultimately a team. If there are problems, the Head or recruiter would have to deal with TWO people other than one.

And right now, there are many single teachers out there with such credentials.

@mbovi
I'm not sure how many of those single teachers with 2 yrs exp can add value to their new schools from Day 1 in comparison to the highly experienced teacher-couples.
I have seen many of them taking a year or two to really adjust to the teaching and learning and to truly understand the ethos of the school.
Also, at my past schools, the said teachers were the ones who most frequently broke the contract to satiate their adventure spirit in a new country.
So, in the short-term, single teachers would make more economic sense to a school and this has been said and wrote umpteen times.