The International Schools Review Forum

Hi there,

First of all: This is my first post on this forum - I just found it today. In this thread I hope for some guidance as to how I can teach at an international school - I hope that such threads are not against any regulations, and if so, I apologise.

Very briefly about me: I'm 27 years old, male and from Denmark.

Now then.. Before I outline my problems, allow me to start at the beginning:

For the longest time I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life. Most jobs seemed dull, and while I did well in school it was never really interesting.
My parents both hold university degrees, and so it seemed natural to me to pursue a similar path. Lucky for me, I live in a country where they are free, so I proceeded to get a BA in Communication and Philosophy. As I've always liked the English language, I did most of my courses in international classes.
During Christmas break, one semester before I finished my BA, I was on a two-week vacation in Thailand and completely fell in love with the country.
Upon returning to Denmark, I started looking for possible ways to return and stay for a longer time - eventually I chose the EFL route. I booked a CELTA course, and five days after completing my BA I was on my way to Thailand.

That happened one year ago - I've just returned to Denmark, but everything has changed. The year I spent teaching was the best year of my life, even if I had to teach huge classes in rooms with no aircondition and whiteboards with fist-sized holes in them. Do note that I didn't just have a good time on the beach, I truly enjoyed teaching - and my students liked me a lot, too.

So here I am, looking for a way to transform myself into a 'real' teacher. In other words, I want to teach (in Thailand!), but I don't view EFL as a viable long-term career - so my problem is this; how can a Danish citizen with a BA in Philosophy and Communication become a teacher at an international school?

Here are my own thoughts on the matter - correct me if I'm wrong, please:

I spoke to my university, and they will allow me to do a Masters in English and Communication provided that I do some supplementation - I could hold the degree in 2½ years. This, combined with a teacher's license, should enable me to teach English in an international school. But would anyone hire a non-native English speaker to teach English? I haven't got an accent.

I suppose that with my BA in philosophy, I should be able to teach humanities as well - but I'm not sure?

This would mean that I could teach only these two subjects - would I be able to find a job? If not, how could I improve my chances?

Then there's the whole licensing ordeal - from my reading online, there are a million different ways of doing this. I would prefer to not get a Danish teacher's license (for a million reasons; if you really want to know, ask me and I will give them). Could I do a MA TESOL or a PGCE instead? What would be the best way to go about it?

As a final note: If you really believe that it's impossible for me to do this, let me know. If not, how should I proceed from here on out? Also, if I failed to provide relevant information, let me know and I will do so.

Finally, thanks for reading my thread - I hope to be hearing from you :)

You've got a long way to go with many obstacles in your way.

Your degree in Philosophy is almost useless. You can't really teach humanities - you're looking at TOK (Theory of Knowledge) and most schools do not employ a teacher just to teach TOK.

First and foremost you need to get certification. If you have enough units you are probably looking at history and maybe English. A certification in Philosophy will be useless.

Because your certification is not an in-demand area, after you get your certification you will most likely have to go to an undesirable location to get your 2-3 years of IB experience. That means mainland China, ME, or any country with -stan at the end. After that then schools will start to look at you, provided you have no dependents and you're a good teacher.

Because you are not a native speaker, getting a school to hire you as an English teacher may be difficult. I think it probably depends on the school and how you come off in an interview, but if you look at it from the school's perspective (parents paying up to $30,000 for their kid to go to the school), then they will probably go for the native speaker to teach the kids English.

There are many MANY people who have been in the same place as you - they go to Thailand, fall in love with the country, and decide they want to stay there forever, so they go home and get certified in the hopes that they'll get hired by a great international school in Thailand. Most of the time it doesn't happen. Thailand is a VERY competitive country for international school teachers, and very few schools (especially good ones) will hire someone right out of teacher's college. Sorry to paint such a bleak picture, but like I said, you've got a long way to go.

What you want to do isnt impossible, but you have some serious challenges to overcome. The main problem and biggest issue though the entire process is this: "How do you get the initial entry level experience to be competitive"?

When you say "English" do you want to stay in ESOL education of do you mean Literature? Ill discuss issues with both.

Universities are in the business of enrolling students, thats how they make their money. You dont need a masters degree at this stage (entry level), it wont hurt of course, but you can do an M.Ed in a year and a Masters in TESOL in about a year as well. 2 1/2 years is a long time for a degree. What you really NEED to get if you want to move into IT (International Teaching) is the teaching credential/license/certification. In the USA you can do it in as fast as a semester, but most programs are about a year. You can also do a PGCE in about a year as well. Thats what you need to do, and then you need to get experience. The rule is no amount of training , even in classroom equals any amount of experience (assuming you have the background to begin with). A M.TESOL or communications isnt going to add anymore value to your ability to teach English Language at the K-12 level in an IS.

Your academic background would qualify you in Humanities as well, and in IB TOK as well. The problem though is that in IB/AP/IGCSE at that level Humanities means History. Can you do that?

So you get certified and were back to that original first problem. How do you get experience? Typically an IT needs 2 years of post certification experience (and even then ESOL experience doesnt count) Locally (municipal school system) English and Humanities is a low demand area, there are lots of teachers with experience available. You could be waiting years before ever getting a position if ever. You could skip getting the entry level experience but again English and Humanities has low demand and the only interest your going to get is from 3rd tier schools and schools in hardship locations (such as the ME and SCA). Thailand is a popular place for ITs to want to teach, its not Japan but you have a very lite resume. Your greatest strength is your single and have some logistics advantages. Otherwise you have no experience and just a certification. You will also need to build experience in IB/British/American curriculum's to be competitive. Your going to need to do that locally (in the case of IB) or convince one of the couple of ISs that your in the right place and the right time, and they need someone now. You could have better luck playing the lottery.

So while its not impossible your looking at a number of years in getting certified and building experience, which may become a non starter until your getting to Thailand which could be 4 or more years.

So what would I advise, it really depends what you want to do. If Thailand is where you want to be and the sooner the better, then forget all of this. Move back to thailand and work your way through the ESOL market their and do an online or local Masters in TESOL. You can also do a ESOL certification (Cambridge/Trinity) and eventually maybe becoming a DOS.

If you really want to do the IT route and you have 4-5 years before getting to Thailand then a distance teacher certification through the USA or a PGCE, and heading to an IB school somewhere in a hardship location building experience.

Your story is very similar to mine - Psyguy's advice is pretty spot on, but here are a few more things to consider -

Try to separate the decision to pursue teaching as a career with the decision of where to live. If you really enjoy teaching, than go for it! You may or may not end up in Thailand, but at least you'll be doing something you love for a living. That's more than most people can say. And there are lots of fascinating places to live and work abroad besides Thailand.

If you do decide you want to be a teacher, the next major decision is certification. This is a tough decision, because you'll either have to get certified in your home country or get US/UK certification through an online program....or both. There are a number of threads on this site that go into detail regarding online certification options.

If you absolutely NEED to go back to Thailand asap, I would still get certified. Then, you'll be in a decent position to apply for Bilingual schools in Thailand. These don't pay as well as top international schools, but considerably more than ESL. With experience in Thailand and teacher certification, I think you'll have a decent shot.

My hunch is that you are probably going through reverse culture shock right now. If you haven't heard of it before, Google yet. You just spent a year in a foreign culture, and got used to the way things are in Thailand. Now that you're back home, you will need to re-adjust all over again. Feeling like a stranger in your "own" country is a tough experience, I've been there and it sucks. Give yourself a few months to readjust. Re-discover some of the things you like about home. It DOES get much better.

Philosophy is an IB subject, if you could offer a second subject, it will give a school flexibility for subject choice which is always good for students...