I am in my first year of a two-year contract at a decent school in WE. I got this job after leaving another school after only one year in the same city (which was not a great school - but I wasn't breaking contract), so this is my second year of international teaching (fourth year of teaching in total). The problem is that my partner joined me here six months ago, and is not having any luck finding a job. He is an EU citizen, speaks the local language pretty well (though not fluently), but nothing so far.

We are starting to wonder if we should move to his home country, where he would have much better chances of finding a job in his field. But that would mean leaving my contract after only one year... and not necessarily finding a similar position again.

I feel torn. On the one hand, part of me is feeling that this pace of professional life is just too fast, especially when we want to start a family soon. So, the idea of my career taking a back seat and just finding any kind of work (supplying, etc.) at whatever private, English-speaking school is in the city we end up moving to, feels acceptable sometimes. But on the other hand, after my experience at a subpar school last year, where I lost all passion for teaching, is making me cautious about taking that route. Also, it makes me worried for a few years down the route, if I want to focus on my career again, and my CV shows only 1 year at two consecutive schools. I know that looks bad!

Some of you might say, just stick it out for the second year of the contract. But it will definitely be stressful for our relationship if he has to stay another year in this city without finding meaningful work, or if we have to do long-distance for a year.

All advice on how to handle this delicate balance of both teacher and non-teaching spouse finding work abroad is appreciated : ) Also, any advice on family planning and the pros/cons of taking a step back from highly demanding work when starting a family (I cannot imagine doing what I'm doing while also having a young child!)

Oh, and an extra complication: the country we are currently living in has one of the best for having a child (in terms of government policies regarding leave and financial support), and my partner's country is not nearly as good in this respect (14 months of leave versus 16 weeks, for example). But perhaps in the teaching profession, this doesn't matter as much (as I imagine most international schools would offer a year of maternity leave, no?)