I know this post is from ages ago, but Montevideo is a great place to live, mostly safe, as developed as you are going to get in a developing country. It's a little boring and the weather is not great in the winter (rainy), but otherwise it's an excellent place to be.

I am looking for some advice, as my Search Associate has told me that I shouldn't apply for any primary school positions, since I haven't taught it in the last seven years. However, I have PYP experience and training (IB educator certificate from my M. Ed.). I really need to get out of the school I'm currently at, so I'm not sure limiting the positions I apply to is a great idea. Then again, I don't want to waste my time. I've had a few interviews over the past six months for both kinds of positions, but no offers.

My other teaching area is Social Science/Humanities, which I enjoy (especially Geography), but as far as I can tell it's quite competitive, and I don't really have DP or AP experience (I've done MYP and IGCSE, I taught ToK in the past, took various AP courses as a student but not sure that counts). I also can't teach some of the DP subjects in Social Science (Econ, Business Management, Psych) so I kind of wonder if there is much room for growth there. Any general advice would be appreciated as well. I'm going to be attending the Search fair in Cambridge in January.

Some info about me:

Personal info: 33 years old, American, mother of a 3 year old (I'm separated)

Certification: Social Studies, English, Elementary (Virginia DoE)
Education: B.A. in History and M. Ed. in Education from the U.S., PYP educator certificate

Experience: I've always worked at international schools (Japan/Argentina and now the Caribbean), totaling about 7 years of experience; I've lived abroad for 12 years. Until recently I was a trailing spouse; this and having my daughter mean my work experience is quite choppy, I've taught everything under the sun and moved around quite a bit. The last seven years I've taught mainly social science, but also Math, Physics Ed, and Science. Prior to that I taught PYP in two schools. At the moment I'm at a tiny school in the Caribbean with Canadian certification.

Professional goals for next job: Specialize in one subject area and get PD for it, school with a well-developed curriculum so I don't have to develop everything from scratch again, ideally I would not like to be teaching 5 different subjects, a nice school/housing for my daughter, I'm pretty flexible as to where I go but extremely dangerous or polluted places are a no

You guys have been so helpful, I thought I'd ask you all for another bit of advice...

I live abroad because of my husband's job. He doesn't have a specific contract length, but generally people are transferred after 5 years. That means we are likely to leave at the end of 2011, but for other reasons our transfer might get pushed back a year. It's possible I'll know more details in the summer, but in all likelihood I'll find out in November!

My question is, should I be honest about this when renewing my contract? My first instinct is not to say anything because I honestly don't know what will happen, but I don't want to be unprofessional. I also don't want to mess up my chances of a decent reference, esp. b/c I'm just getting into teaching. One possibility would be to suggest that I change from primary to secondary, so it would be less traumatic for the kids if I had to leave? My head is pretty laid back so I'm not too worried, and I didn't get hired through an agency, but still...

Thanks guys!

As I suspected, there is no easy answer to the problem, each school will have a different approach.

Buenos Aires is fantastic but has high inflation (aprox. 25%/year), and rising security issues. Then again, it probably has the best standard of living in Latin America and the schools mostly pay well. People are nice, you have every modcon, TONS of cultural offerings, etc.

St. Andrew's is super-prestigious by Argentine standards; it's attached to a university with the same name. It's bilingual and all the kids are Argentine. Mostly of the staff too, I would guess. Keep in mind, like all the schools in BA it's out in the 'burbs so you will have to commute about 40 min. each way everyday, but transport is provided by the school. You do not want to live in the suburbs, they are pretty sketchy.

I never worked there so sorry I can't give you more info, actually if you ended up taking the job I would appreciate some intelligence on the working environment since I'll be moving back to BA at the end of the year :)

BTW, the name is really San Andrés...I don't get why all the international schools in BA insist on translating their names to English when everyone uses the Spanish version of their name there. If you ask someone in BA about "St. Andrew's" they will have no idea what you're talking about!

Let's see if you all can give me some advice...

My husband is a diplomat (from Latin America). For the past four years we have been posted in Asia, and I teach at an international school here. At the end of the year we'll get sent back to his country for at least two years, and of course I'll try to get a job in an international school there. I have Master's degree and the Teacher Award for PYP, plus a couple of years of experience, so I think I'm a pretty decent catch...

Ideally, I'd like to see if I can get hired from abroad, because the benefits and pay would be much better. We don't own an apartment, and my husband's salary will be quite low. However, I'm not sure how this would work? I can't say I'm not married, but of course schools would not have the typical "trailing spouse" worries that would apply to other couples where only one is a teacher. If anything, I might be more attractive to them because I've lived in the country before, speak the language, have a support structure, etc. Then again, they might not want to give me other benefits if they know my husband is getting transferred anyway?

This is going to be an issue every time we move, especially once we have kids since my husband's country usually doesn't pay school fees or housing as a benefit (don't even get me started on this...) There must be a ton of other people in the same situation, any advice/stories to share? Might I be able to negotiate the foreign hire salary without benefits, for example?

Thanks!

I'm in Fast Train at GMU now, and I can definitely recommend it. Classes are on campus in the summer, about a month each time. You can get certified for elementary and add on secondary endorsements, or get certified for K-12 ESL and then add on secondary endorsements. You do have to do observation hours during the school year (60 between Sept. and end of Mar. each year for two years) but you can substitute a year of full time teaching in a certified school for the student teaching internship. It's pretty cheap too. (>20,000 usd if you included the cost of housing in the summer.)

If you do elementary you can also get a PYP qualification which is helpful when applying to int'l. schools; I think that's how I got my current job!

I would not recommend the int'l. certificate, since it's not administered by a gov't., I don't think administrators take that too seriously. Plus, if you ever decide to go back home, you can't work.

There are a couple of programs in Australia too.

Hello all,

I'm wondering if it's worth filing an application with Search or ISS if I'm not planning to attend a fair. I know some schools only post their vacancies to these websites, and prefer to hire through these services b/c of the vetting process...

I'm following my husband around for his job, so I'd only be applying for schools in one city. However, it would be beneficial if I could get hired before moving b/c of the difference in contracts. I have a M.Ed., certification, PYP/overseas experience (2yrs and 4 yrs, respectively), etc.

So, is it worth the $200? Or should I just call/email schools?

Thanks!