The International Schools Review Forum

Hello! We are just getting started with this process and have a few questions. First here is some information about us:

Mrs. Beachfam
40 years old
BS Family Relations and Human Development
Certified Elementary Ed. Prek-6
Teaching 12 years in US Kindergarten previous experience in PreSchool.
Masters in Social Work
Team Leader

Mr. Beachfam
45 years old
Bachelor in Physical Education
Teaching 14 years in US Elementary PE previous High School experience 2 years
Certified K-12 Physical Education and Health
Coaching Experience Soccer, Baseball, Softball (but capable of coaching others too)
Masters in Teaching and Learning

We have 2 children ages 6 and 11. We are very flexible about location but we have some debts at home that we would need to be able to cover so SE Asia is at the top of our list.

Please feel free to comment on our marketability but I also have some questions:

When applying as a teaching couple do we each make our own CV and then e-mail them together with a single coverletter?

If we use SA do we make a single account or do we have to buy 2 accounts?

Is SA our best our best chance at trying to find a postion? Could we find a position without using an agency?

Thanks for answering my many questions and helping us get started!

Hello the Beachfams!

I'll get right to it.

Your experience and your hubby's experience:

Kindergarden teacher and PE teacher.

Competition: LOTS.

Basically, you have nothing to separate you from thousands of other teachers in the field, many of whom have teaching spouses who can teach a more desirable subject, such as science, math, history, or English. Finding PE teachers is never a real issue for most schools.

For you, your experience is limited to Kindergarten, even though you are certified K to 6. Had you had upper level elementary experience, you would be much more marketable. As it is, often those lower positions are reserved for teaching spouses of "need to fit" teachers, like the HS Bio teacher, the HS IB math teacher etc.

This doesn't mean there aren't jobs out there, but honestly, any PE teacher worth his salt coaches (and I'm not a PE teacher but I have years of coaching experience because I love coaching).

So, are there jobs? Yes. Will they be in the more desirable locations? Maybe? Will they be at good schools? Unlikely, but hey, who knows. Impossible to say. But the odds are stacked that they won't be.

I also note that you have ruled out the Middle East entirely. You should reconsider this as there are some quite good schools there in among the massively horrible ones, with many in between...

That said, you don't have to give your notice back in the US until well after the fairs are done. So you could take a flyer on a fair (unlikely you will get an invite to Boston, London, or Bangkok). I would recommend the Uni fair, hosted by the University of Iowa every February.

Moving on, you are asking about who to go with.

If you sign up with ISS or Search, you will need to register both of you, really. If you are using Search just for their database, likely only one of you needs to register. But you cannot load your spouse' CV on Search.

Search is more teacher-friendly in that their database can be searched in many different ways. You can customize your search to eliminate schools that don't hire teaching couples with children, for instance.

I would recommend TIEOnline to you www.tieonline.com
They have a mix of schools listing jobs, you sign up for a reasonable yearly fee, you get notices of new jobs in your area posted, and you can search all the jobs going that the schools have listed with TIE.

When applying as a teaching couple, you build a package of your CV and your hubby's CV. Put the strongest CV first. Make sure you are not using generic cut and paste cover letters. You can attach a joint cover letter or one for each of you, immediately before each CV.

My wife, who is transitioning into teaching, and myself did this during the last recruiting season. We did get responses after fairs from schools we found on Search and TIEOnline, and I did (my wife won't be certified until next summer) get job offers via Search.

Bottom line - if you want it, go for it and see what happens. Be realistic, though, and if it isn't what you hoped for, try to change up your stateside career (go for a new position in grade 1 to 6 to show current experience at those levels) and see if your hubby can do a second certification area outside of PE.

Hope this helps!

Shad

Thanks Shad! We haven't ruled out ME but I am concerned with not landing in an entirely horrible school there. We are actually open to every place except Africa.