The International Schools Review Forum

Hi all,

My girlfriend is a local Chinese who works in a firm. Her salary is not the greatest (around 3000 rmb, or 600 Canadian).

The main reason my girlfriend wants to go back to Canada to study is because she wants a better paying job. if she obtains a Canadian international business degree, and comes back to China to work, her salary increases drastically (from 2000 rmb, to 30 000). Her way into Canada's post secondary education system would be through marriage with me, which essentially grants her all there rights of Canadian citizen if I am not mistaken.

I am a bit conflicted, because I don't know what I should study (or if I should even study at all) when my gal and I return back to Canadian tundra. Here is my rough plan right now:
1) Get four years international teaching experience, while my girlfriend also builds experience in her field of work. I am currently employed at a tier 2 (or some would argue tier three) international school.
2) Study a masters degree in educational assessment, "because I like it"
or
2.1) study an undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry " ".

According to BC I can teach K-12, but in Ontario I can teach English and Chinese (haha). In other words, I only did post secondary training in Chinese and English (these two subjects are my teachables). Since I plan to work in China for a very long time, I don't think having Chinese as a teachable is very useful to me. My rational for doing another undergraduate degree is to hopefully open more subjects for me to teach. I may have the opportunity to teach some science courses at my school...

The turnover at my school is pretty high (about 25%), and because the school is not top tier, I would be given a chance to teach subjects outside of my areas of expertise. There is a chance I could teach chemistry, biology, or even a coding class next year. Would you recommend I take the opportunity to gain some experience teaching in these subjects before I go back to school to receive a "scroll to teach science?"

I do have experience teaching science from both of my practicums, and I also ran summer camps through a program called DiscoverE, a STEM advocate.

I should also note: I would be able to complete a bachelor of science degree in two years through the after degree program at the University of Alberta.

Please share your advice and wisdom, helpful ones!

Be well!

Get a masters degree.

Well first, dont have a lot of kids, kids kill careers.

If those are the only two options a second Bachelors or a Masters, then it really depends what you want to do. A Masters in Educational Assessment/Psychometrics isnt going to be any more marketable then any other masters, and less so then a Ed.Led M.Ed. Whats it bring to the table, whats its value, how does that degree translate to increased marketability. is it going to make you a better teacher, how is it going to help you improve students scores. If your goal was to eventually work for the IB or one of the IB regional offices in the assessment or QAF, then there is some marketability for it in the future. Otherwise its just a masters that will get you an increase on the salary scale, but it doesnt have much utility when marketing it.
A second undergrad degree in science especially the harder sciences (physics and chemistry) that gives you more marketability in a higher demand field, and gives you more options. The utility is is self evident you have an academic background in science and you can teach, in a recruiters/admins mind at a lower tier school thats marketable, maybe not for DIP/A levels/IGCSE/AP right away but in a relativly short period of time if you can show proficiency in the content and can demonstrate your ability to transfer that knowledge it woudnt take you long to have exit level courses and hopefully impressive scores to match.
Even better within this pathway would be finding a Masters in Science Education (such as the one at UBC-V), which gives you all the benefits of a Masters and the academic science background, an HOD at a lower tier school would be a possibility.

All that aside there are two things that matter in IE what you can teach (certifications, degrees, etc) and what you have taught (experience), of those the rule is experience is king. If you could get 4 years or even some of that in a classroom successfully teaching science that is going to be worth far more then a degree or transcript will. The other significant issue is that as a rule you can explain away about one year of absence from the classroom, after that your marketability and teaching experience becomes dated, after 4 years youd basically be a noob again, none of your previous experience will have much marketability.

PsyGuy wrote:
> Well first, dont have a lot of kids, kids kill careers.
>
> If those are the only two options a second Bachelors or a Masters, then it
> really depends what you want to do. A Masters in Educational
> Assessment/Psychometrics isnt going to be any more marketable then any
> other masters, and less so then a Ed.Led M.Ed. Whats it bring to the table,
> whats its value, how does that degree translate to increased marketability.
> is it going to make you a better teacher, how is it going to help you
> improve students scores. If your goal was to eventually work for the IB or
> one of the IB regional offices in the assessment or QAF, then there is some
> marketability for it in the future. Otherwise its just a masters that will
> get you an increase on the salary scale, but it doesnt have much utility
> when marketing it.
> A second undergrad degree in science especially the harder sciences
> (physics and chemistry) that gives you more marketability in a higher
> demand field, and gives you more options. The utility is is self evident
> you have an academic background in science and you can teach, in a
> recruiters/admins mind at a lower tier school thats marketable, maybe not
> for DIP/A levels/IGCSE/AP right away but in a relativly short period of
> time if you can show proficiency in the content and can demonstrate your
> ability to transfer that knowledge it woudnt take you long to have exit
> level courses and hopefully impressive scores to match.
> Even better within this pathway would be finding a Masters in Science
> Education (such as the one at UBC-V), which gives you all the benefits of a
> Masters and the academic science background, an HOD at a lower tier school
> would be a possibility.
>
> All that aside there are two things that matter in IE what you can teach
> (certifications, degrees, etc) and what you have taught (experience), of
> those the rule is experience is king. If you could get 4 years or even some
> of that in a classroom successfully teaching science that is going to be
> worth far more then a degree or transcript will. The other significant
> issue is that as a rule you can explain away about one year of absence from
> the classroom, after that your marketability and teaching experience
> becomes dated, after 4 years youd basically be a noob again, none of your
> previous experience will have much marketability.

Perfect, thanks for your helpful advice.