The International Schools Review Forum

I am:

Geography major, Geology minor
5 years teaching Earth Science 8th grade and Pre-Algebra 7th grade

Lots of volunteer teaching experience

I'd like to get a job at an International school, but am worried that I am not qualified. Although I taught at a prestiges private school, it did not require a teaching certificate.

Any thoughts/suggestions/ideas?

I'm willing to take classes, and become certified, if that's what it takes. Is there an IB certification also?

Thanks in advance for not wringing your hands over my ignorance.

You will need a professional teaching certification. This means a license issued by a governmental authority to teach in public/municipal/regulated schools in a given region.
Typical reasons are for immigration or licensing purposes, or accreditation requirements, usually incorporated in a schools hiring practices.

Their are exceptions in hardship locations or bottom tier schools where you may be marketable. Understand that humanities and social studies are low need/demand areas, and that their are many competing teachers with professional credentials. Even if a school would have the a capability of hiring you without a professional credential, you would find that a lack of one would significantly impact negatively your marketability given the competition.

Understand that at the secondary level the expectation is that you would be capable of teaching your subject across all levels, meaning 6-12 grade. Recruiters focus on teachers that are flexible, and adaptive, and having only narrow/limited focus at the lower end of secondary would concern a recruiter/admin of your abilities in upper secondary, especially the credentialing component.

In Humanities/Social Studies while Geography is a taught subject many teachers would need to bring a broader repertoire of teachable content areas, mainly history, but could include other subjects. A position that was exclusively Geography would be uncommon, as there usually isnt enough demand in anything except the largest ISs to make it a full time position by itself.

There is an IB certification persay, but its a psedo certification. Their are two certificates:

1) IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning is the Entry level certificate

2) IB Advance Certificate in Teaching and Learning Research is the Advance Certificate.

The training is essentially the same except the Advance certificate is part of a Masters degree program. The IBO however has clarified heir position that these certificates supplement a teachers professional credential, and are not a replacement or substitute for a professional qualification.

There value is also speculative, while they meet a schools training requirement, no amount of training equals any amount of experience, which is what recruiters and admins are really interested in. They would really only be cost effective if you taught a broad range of subjects, otherwise the traditional IB workshops are more cost effective and equally recognized.

Some posting I have seen require a "relevant" teaching degree.


I am a certified teacher in New Zealand with 10 years of Physics experience in upper high school and junior science across junior high school. I am also Head of Junior Science.

My degree is in theology, my teacher training was science/technology based.

I am wondering how detrimental it will be to me that my degree is not in Science/Physics when I begint o apply for international positions.

Can anyone give me some suggestions?

Obviously it is best to have a degree in your field / licensed subjects.

Not the end of the world though and you can certainly get hired without it.

Most important thing above all is experience.

US-accredited private schools are not required to hire certified teachers. Some schools may be looking for certification, but certainly not all of them.

Having said that, a master's plus experience and good recommendations is the usual substitute for certification, so you may want to consider that.

I've worked in several top international schools where some of the best faculty were not certified.

N/A

Some schools require certified teachers. Some do not.
Some countries will only issue work permits to certified teachers. Others don't seem to mind.

Certification makes life much easier, as you can work in any school, any country. Without certification, you can only work in certain countries, and within that, you can only work in schools that don't mind.

I have read that some countries--turkey comes to mind--require that your degree be in the subject you are teaching. This has been on my radar screen as I am certified to teach things that aren't my major.

Can anyone confirm this?

...also, interteach, I disagree (respectfully) with your first statement. US schools, public or private, must have licensed/certified teachers to become accredited. However, some, though not many these days, I'm guessing, just choose not to get accredited, as they don't necessarily need that to be a high quality, successful school.

This is at least true in the state I am from. Might be different state to state.