The International Schools Review Forum

Hi! I got some excellent advice here a few years back about how to best set myself on the path towards an international teaching career. I'm finally ready to move from domestic teaching to abroad, so I'm hoping you knowledgeable people can help me out again!

I'm an elementary teacher with a CA Clear Credential and three years of full-time, domestic teaching experience. I have an additional two years of experience as a teacher in the Peace Corps, and one year teaching ESL in Asia (I'm aware these don't count as "real" teaching experience, but it does show that I can work in a foreign country). I also have a trailing spouse and two cats that we intend to keep with us (I know my trailing spouse counts against me).

I hope to find an international school position for the 2019-2020 school year, and I know it's time to start looking now! My primary concerns are a good philosophical/personality fit with the school, an interesting culture to explore, and an upper-elementary teaching role. Salary is a factor, of course, but it's not my main focus for this first position. We're open to living in a developing country. We're pretty open-minded about location, but are especially interested in Spanish-speaking countries and southeast Asia.

There are three options I'm considering, and I would really appreciate your input as to which you think is most productive!

A) Try to find a job on my own, by researching and emailing schools directly. Obviously this saves the expense of an agency and fair, but may also put me at a disadvantage without a face-to-face interview. I'm also concerned that doing my own research may mean accidentally overlooking good schools.

B) Join AASSA and attend the Georgia recruiting fair. Like I said, we are especially interested in going somewhere Spanish-speaking, and I've heard that Central/South American schools are less competitive. However, I wonder if limiting my options to a single region is wise.

C) Join ISS and attend the Georgia and/or San Francisco fairs. This option is the priciest but also seems like it will give me the broadest selection of options. I don't know how competitive I'd be in that market, though, since I'm new to IE and have a trailing spouse. I'm also a little bummed it may mean missing out on some Central/South American schools, but perhaps I could reach out to the ones that really caught my eye and see if they'd want to interview me in GA (since the ISS fair is right after the AASSA fair).

Side note: what's up with that whole AASSA members being able to attend the GA ISS fair? Is that actually worthwhile, or would it not really mean much since AASSA member profiles wouldn't be available to ISS schools?

Thanks for any input you can give!

Well your trailing spouse puts you at a disadvantage compared to teaching couples and singles, but they are better than having kids. Can you spin the spouse into a role that lets you approach recruiting as being a teaching couple? Even if not an IT does the spouse have a skill set that might help them fill a role at the IS? If not, whats the spouse going to do, can you ensure the recruiter and leadership that the spouse wont have issues in the future?

You cant really determine good fit in advance based on an interview and a website. Leadership are sales people, they are good at projecting what they want to show. Culture is easier, you either like the location or you dont. There are more lower primary roles than upper primary roles, because there are a lot of EC appointments skewing those numbers.

In general, you derive more value from using a recruitment service the broader your vacancy search. Your fairly open, and a premium agency would probably be worth it. However there are services such as TIE that are a lot less costly.
I dont see a fair being a whole lot of an advantage to you. You will find lost of hardship and low paying regions that will be happy to appoint you without a F2F or meet and greet.

Well a single option is limiting but the LCSA region is a fairly large one, and if its what you want, its what you want. Your goals are entirely realistic, you dont need to make compromises at this point.

You would be better off with AASSA than with ISS, if those fairs are the only options. I wouldnt advocate ISs over SA in your position. ISS is more a boutique agency, and while their collaboration with Schrole is new, its yet to be seen if they capture a significantly greater share of the IE market. SA would probably be a better fit for you.

Its completely worthwhile, you get two fairs with differing agencies for the cost of one, and a little more time in the same venue location. The ISS recruiters will have access to your AASSA, profile. However, you will have to be very productive during the fair and make outside contacts with them, as they will not have access to your profile once the fair is over, its not a free ISS membership.

In summary, AASSA and the bonus ISS fair are going to be a better for you if a fair is imperative. If a a fair is not a priority or preference, and the coin isnt an issue SA is the better option. If coin is really tight, than TIE and direct application is the best option.
At the end of it though, youre not going to have an issue finding a position, you are marketable at your class of IT and you have very low expectations.

Hi,
Another option that solves part of the problem in your A option but without the expense of job fairs. Find a way to get your resume in front of relevant schools without the travel or individual applications. There are various organizations that help teachers find jobs worldwide where you only have to submit one 'application' and you get connected with all the schools where you fit.

Searchality.com is specific for international schools, though there are also country-specific companies in most of the major IS regions.

leipanga wrote:

> A) Try to find a job on my own, by researching and emailing schools
> directly. Obviously this saves the expense of an agency and fair, but may
> also put me at a disadvantage without a face-to-face interview. I'm also
> concerned that doing my own research may mean accidentally overlooking good
> schools.

I would try the following websites, if you want to get help but not have to pay high fees of travel and agency:
TIE Online
Teachaway
Teaching Nomad
CRS Education

You have better years in experience than most young teachers trying out IS for the first time with 0 - 2 years of teaching experience (e.g. ELL or "back home"). However, most of those young teachers may not have a trailing spouse and sadly, but truly, the trailing spouse for a new IS teacher will be looked at.

Hey, thank you all so much for the input! This has given me a lot of good things to look into and consider. I appreciate it!