The International Schools Review Forum

First, thanks to all the posters for the treasure trove of information on these boards! My husband and I are planning to enter the IE world in a couple of years and wanted to gauge our competitiveness and/or gather suggestions for increasing said competitiveness. We truly appreciate the honest feedback.

ME: I have a PhD in Sociology with a focus on quantitative -. I was an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice for five years and taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in data -/research methods. During that time I also put together a study abroad course and took 20 students to Europe. Then, for family reasons, I had to resign, moved home, and pursued employment in public schools due to lack of higher ed positions (turns out I enjoy teaching k12 more than higher ed!). I am certified in Math (6-12) and Science (5-9). I currently have two years of math and science experience at an IB middle school and would have 4 years by the time of application. I run a kickball club and would certainly be open to extracurricular opps at an IS. We have 2 dependents. I have lived and worked in both Australia (4 months) and Canada (2 years). US passport.

Husband: Certified in Social Studies 9-12, 3 years of high school history teaching with 2 of those years teaching AP World History. Would have 4 years by time of application. Coaches basketball and football. US passport.

Together we have traveled extensively through China, SE Asia, Europe, and Peru (took our 2 year old to Macchu Pichu). We would like to target SE Asia for our search, but understand a need for open-mindedness.

Whew. Sorry for the lengthy monologue. So, how can we position ourselves to be as successful as possible with our search?

You're education and experience should give you a good shot at a good school. Obviously this is predicated on how well you interview and if there is a match for you and your husband at a school/country you want to go to.

Good luck.

You can use the PsyGuy Applicant Assessment Scale below; you are more than entry level and in a better utility class than many entry level ITs. The primary concern is that the ISs that are going to show the greatest interest in you will likely offer you compensation packages that you will feel less than ecstatic about. You are career level ITs and elite tier ISs are still going to consider you "lite" in terms of value and resume. However you are competitive for 2nd tier ISs.

Despite the accomplishment doctoral degrees offer little utility for classroom ITs, and unless the degree is from an Ivy doesnt add much value. The lecturing in tertiary education is of minimal value, some ISs will give you partial step if its in your teaching assignment, but many will not.

Everyone does ASPs it is just a forgone expectation at ISs that arent regulated ISs.

PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System:
1) 1 pt / 2 years Experience (Max 10 Years)
2) 1 pt - Advance Degree (Masters)
3) 1 pt - Cross Certified (Must be schedule-able)
4) 1 pt - Curriculum Experience (IB, AP, IGCSE)
5) 1pt - Logistical Hire (Single +.5 pt, Couple +1 pt)
6) .5 pt - Previous International School Experience (standard 2 year contract)
7) .5 pt - Leadership Experience/Role (+.25 HOD, +.5 Coordinator)
8) .5 pt - Extra Curricular (Must be schedule-able)
9) .25 pt - Special Populations (Must be qualified)
10) .25 pt - Special Skill Set (Must be documentable AND marketable)

IT CLASSES:
1) INTERN ITs have a score around 0
2) ENTRY ITs have a score around 2
3) CAREER ITs have a score around 4
4) PROFESSIONAL ITs have a score around 6
5) MASTER ITs have a score around 8

Thank you both for your responses. I think it's reasonable to land in Tier 2 as a newbie. That leaves something to aim for for the next post. If I somehow ended up teaching AP Statistics my PhD would be directly relevant since that is basically what I do. My degree is from the University of Toronto, which is Ivy League in its own mind :) However, I'm well aware, as a current middle school teacher, that a PhD is of little value other than window dressing.

Psyguy: you mention that we would be less than ecstatic about the packages elite schools might offer us. Would we feel better about the packages from Tier 2 schools for our first go round? (obviously fit is more important than tier, but just curious about your comment)

In terms of recruiting firms, what would be the best approach for us? I've also set up auto-notification e-mails from the schools that interest us the most so that we can apply directly.

The best piece of advice given to us at our first job fair was to be open to working almost anywhere. The speaker had just asked how many in attendance wanted to work in Western Europe and I would be at least half of the large audience raised their hand. We ended up at a school in a country that wasn't on our radar at all and had a marvelous experience.

As I stated in another recent thread, don't sell yourself short. You never know what combination of skill sets a school is looking for and if you don't apply or approach them at a fair you will never know, so apply at every school that has jobs that both you and your spouse can fill and don't be concerned with a perceived Tier level.

You both sound like strong applicants, and I think you will do well.

I have a few thoughts, that you may want to consider as you prepare to package yourselves to potential employers:
1. Downplay your travel experience. Strong schools are really looking for strong teachers, period. If you leave room for them to think that you are more of a tourist, or just want to give your kids an interesting cultural experience, it will be a drawback. Generally tourists don't stay in a post as long as educators.
2. Downplay your higher ed experience. First and foremost, you want to be seen as an HS teacher. PhD and higher ed teachers often struggle when it comes to low-motivated or low-ability high school students.

That's just my 2 cents.

@roaminggator

I may have not explained my response clearly, my intent was that you would likely be unhappy/unenthusiastic with the compensation package second tier ISs would offer you as opposed to preconceived expectations that are closer to what an elite tier IS would offer and have available.

Its reasonable for YOU to land in tier 2 entering IE, many entry ITs would not. Not to offend you but I would not and do not see you being a highly marketable IT for AP/IB/A level Statistics, you have never taught it, and its not about your abilities as a statistician, its transferring that knowledge and producing acceptable assessment performance results in your hormone soaked students brains. You have no experience in those courses and too much is at stake for a upper tier IS to assign such a course to an unproven IT (especially at a tier 2 IS).
Upper secondary students are not entering tertiary students and I agree with NIkkor, in that lecturers/professors have a poor record of adapting to the needs of K-12 students.
McGill is probably the only recognized (as in name recognition) Canadian Ivy. When non westerners think "Ivy" they think Harvard, Yale, MIT, OxBridge, the Sorbonne, and to a lessor extent McGill, UMel,NUS, HKU and UoT. CAN and AUS just dont have a comparable Ivy league as many of their tertiary institutions are Public and they tend to have fewer but larger schools.

Your recruiting strategy should be the same general recruiting strategy for any IT. Choose a premium agency (SA/ISS) and a Job Service (TIE/JOY) make use of the free country and profession specific employment boards, while slowly building an individualized bookmark list of ISs you are keenly interested in.
The rule is you go to the earliest fair you can (which is BKK) and the reasons are 2 fold: 1) Vacancies do get filled. When IS Genovia fills its 2 vacancies thats it those are jobs that arent available anymore. 2) Fairs are as much about networking, and getting face time with recruiters who are in a position to get you hired. They may not have a vacancy now, or they my not like you for the vacancy they do have but a month or two later they suddenly may have a need or they may have a friend/associate at a neighboring IS who isnt at the fair, but they think you would be an ideal fit for that ISs vacancy.

Where I am torn is you may find yourself more marketable overseas at a tertiary institution. Your resume just has a lot number of restrictions (such as lower secondary experience only) that is going to be a deal breaker and a challenge, I can see you getting "close" so many times that the frustration of being an ISs number two pick all the time would be a maddening.

Im not too worried about you appearing as tourist teachers, your in K-12, you arent a tenured professor who suddenly wants to explore K-12 (and have an IS essentially fund your families cultural experience in WE), but I would keep your story focused on your K-12 value as a package in lower secondary, if they move to tertiary move them back to secondary.

Thank you all so much for the valuable feedback. I plan to try to nab a couple of years at an IB high school before we head abroad and my husband will try to gain some IB experience. I've got a proven record moving the state test scores of the most unmovitated swath of 6th graders in math/science and have had similar success with highly motivated 8th grade alegra students (ranked highly effective by the district).

The transition from tertiary to low secondary is not for the faint of heart, but I wouldn't go back to tertiary at this point (there's just too little value placed upon actual teaching at a research university).

We'll sign up for the premium services, apply like crazy, fly to fair, network and hope for the best.