Overseas Teachers Talk - an Interview Series with International Teachers

Overseas Teachers Talk - an Interview Series with International Teachers is an interview series recorded for elementary and high school teachers who are considering applying for teaching positions at one of over 4000 international schools recruiting English-speaking teachers.

Overseas Teachers Talk is the work of Kelly Blackwell, an international teacher with 10 years experience teaching abroad and who is currently teaching at a leading international school in Bangkok, Thailand. Kelly has produced this audio recording because she wishes there was an information source like Overseas Teachers Talk to answer her questions when she was first looking at teaching abroad.

A survey of Kelly Blackwell's subscribers revealed that a number of prospective international teachers have questions about teaching overseas that they would like answered by their professional colleagues already teaching on the international school circuit. Overseas Teachers Talk consists of interviews with seven career teachers with a collective experience spanning over 50 years of teaching and over a dozen countries around the globe. The subjects covered in the interview series are diverse, from questions to ask recruiters, to travelling with children.

Kelly Blackwell launched the TeachOverseas.info website in November, 2006 with her book The Complete Guide to Securing a Job at an International School. Overseas Teachers Talk is her second product geared towards the international career teacher.

Overseas Teachers Talk - an Interview Series with International Teachers is available online exclusively from TeachOverseas.info.

An international school is a school that teaches children that come from other countries. In other words, children of expatriate parents.

Adults may have to work overseas, or simply live overseas as a lifestyle choice. If they have children then they have two choices, either enrol them in boarding school at home or enrol them in an international school in your new country of residence.

This has lead to the emergence of international schools, and just like all schools, they need teachers. Not just any teachers but International Teachers.

Everything you need to know about international teaching job fairs before you start your hunt for an overseas teaching job.

Private international schools are essentially businesses with directors or owners who are pirmarily focussed on making a profit. There is a considerable amount of money to be made in providing private education in areas where the supply is less than demanded.

Many wealthy parents in developing countries are demanding English language education for their children, and that has lead to the propagation of privately owned and operated international schools. This is a particular feature of the Middle East and Asia, where new schools are starting up each year. The year I was looking for my current position there were a total of 5 new schools starting up in Dubai.

The good, the bad and the ugly of private international schools...

The Good - they are plentiful. There are a large number of private international schools to choose from.

The Bad - While it is possible to balance good educational practice with the desire to make substantial profits, it is unlikely that in a knock down fight between the two that the goal of educating the students well will win.

The Ugly - When a school's profit making potential and consequently, continued survival, is dependent upon receiving tuition money from students, how likely do you think it is that the school will expel students that are negatively affecting the learning of others?

Let's face it, most international schools are going to be private. What reason would any country's government have to run a special school for foreign children? I can think of a few and none of them are particularly good!

And so, you're going to be stuck with a private school. But this doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Private board-run international schools are generally the best of the lot. These schools are run on a not-for-profit basis where any and all profits are usually ploughed back into the school in order to fund future improvements.

The board is often made up of a mixture of local business people and officials (to ease the school's relationship with officials), parents and teachers. The primary goal of these schools is more likely to be to provide an excellent education for students because you've got educators and parents on the decision making body.

The good, the bad and the ugly of Private Board-Run International Schools...

The Good is that quality education is the number one priority of the people with the decision making power.

The Bad isn't really that bad... it's just that when board members include people who are not trained educators, sometimes they have some trouble prioritising issues the way education administrators would. And if the terms of office are restricted, then they may only think in the short-term rather than the long term.

The Ugly is that sometimes cultural differences can affect the good of the school. In some countries, maintaining or enhancing the 'status' of the school can take precedence over good education for the students. Or even good hiring decisions.

Still, if possible, this is the kind of school you really want to be working for!