Should I bother applying for primary?
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:50 pm
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
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