Should I bother applying for primary?

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twostars
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:23 pm

Should I bother applying for primary?

Post by twostars »

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
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

Feel free not to answer, but why are you still in the third tier after 7 years? Is there something wrong with you? Why did your associate advise you to avoid primary/PYP? I can understand the issue that your PYP experience is dated, but you havent been out of the classroom for 7 years, and PYP while there have been changes its nothing huge, nothing a practitioner with training and experience cant handle.

I dont see how its a waste, considering the cost of application is click a button, copy/paste a message, click another button. The barrier/cost of application is almost nothing. Your own experience shows its not a waste of time as you have had some primary interest and interviews.
You need to decide which you want to do. You cant do it all and really master all of them. Your most recent experience is lower secondary, if you stay in that your always going to be challenged (especially as a single parent) moving up in tiers, because ISs at upper tiers can get ITs who can do it all across all grade levels or can teach across multiple subjects. If thats what you want to do Id look into expanding your skill set into those subjects you stated you cant teach.
If you want to move into upper secondary and SLL you need to build your skill set and specialize.
If you want to go into primary and PYP you need to focus on that. Reacquaint yourself with the guidance documents and form a narrative that demonstrates your current experience as relevant to PYP/Primary.

Geography is more popular in BSs as opposed to ASs.
Its still early for lower classed ITs to get offers.
Taking AP content courses has no value for an IT.

My advice if you have to/want to focus is primary/PYP at higher grades (year 5/6) or add some certification areas and pick a subject that your content teaching and work your way up to SLL.
twostars
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:23 pm

Re: Response

Post by twostars »

I'm in the third tier because until recently I was a trailing spouse, and couldn't follow job leads. Even so, in the past I was offered several very good jobs at great schools, but had to decline them because I knew I would be moving shortly. My previous school was an upper tier 2. Where I live now there is only one IS, and it is terrible.

I agree that while being out of primary for a while is a disadvantage, it shouldn't be a killer, especially considering my PYP training and experience, I've even led some in-house PD on inquiry. I was surprised about my associate's response, which is why I posted.

I think I wasn't clear in my original post, I currently teach all secondary grades, including . The issue is I don't have full DP experience (2 years teaching the same course), just a year teaching Grade 11 ToK. I agree that I need to specialize, that is my professional goal for the next 5 years.

What is SLL?
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@twostars

I can understand where your associate was coming from, 7 years is a really dated resume for a teaching field compared to the very recent and relevant experience you do have, if you focus on just that and nothing else, I can see your associates POV. You should really just be applying to everything that your experienced in and what you are credentialed for. You want as many options as possible, and I dont doubt that somewhere in there may be a PYP IS that would be interested, considering the cost of application is around zero. Sorry, have to stop there, the forum has a Unicorn for that type of stuff, and I dont want to impede.

SLL = School Leaving Level, AP/DIP/A*, etc.
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