Re-sign or Resign: when do schools know about vacancies?

[awayfromhome]

Hi,
Related to a recent topic here https://internationalschoolsreview.com/ ... f=1&t=6981
it seems that international schools work on a wide range of calendars asking staff to re-sign a new contract or resign at almost any time of the academic year!

I'd love to hear from teachers in different countries: what are the deadlines for your school (no name), or your country more generally?

I have the sense that schools in Asia ask for this earlier (e.g. October-December) but in Europe later (Feb-March), Middle East /North America somewhere in the middle, and southern hemisphere obviously different too.

It helps to understand when the 'best' vacancies will be known about by the school, by country.

Thanks for your local expertise in answering this!

[Thames Pirate]

In many places in Europe employee protections are such that many people can decide quite late and can wait for an offer before officially leaving. Schools can offer employee incentives and request that employees let them know before peak recruiting, but they can't generally require it. That's why those vacancies are often listed as tentative or open up at random times rather than in batches. Employees can wait until summer if they want. However, if schools know they aren't renewing a contract they can post a position earlier.

[shadowjack]

Awayfromhome - I know schools in the ME that ask for deadline in SEPTEMBER. Europe has stronger employee laws, so the teachers have much more time to make up their mind. Schools in China usually November, but it varies. For us - mid-October for possible, mid-November for definite.

[mamava]

My school asked for yes/no/tentative a couple weeks ago. If we answered definitively yes or no, there is a bonus paid. If you answer tentative, your job is posted as such and you can wait until the deadline (in early November) to make the final decision. I know that schools start collecting documents for prospective candidates for tentative positions, and I think another school I worked at made some preliminary contact to start the narrowing process, even before the jobs were confirmed as available.

[PsyGuy]

Not really, most ISs adapt a western calendar (Fall/Spring) or they follow a local calendar. Most ISs typically require intent notice in early autumn (and it seems to be earlier every year). Even WE/EU ISs ask in Autumn they just typically cant enforce the intent that early, and have typically too Spring to actually provide binding notice, this is why there is a smaller recruiting EU wave in the spring. If you have an EU passport and are happy working in Spain you can blow off everything about recruiting in IE and just wait until the spring recruiting wave and find an appointment.
This doesnt mean ISs cant and dont offer incentives for early notices, they do, usually in the form of a coin bonus or recruitment leave, etc for early notice.