Teaching Overseas

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Working at an International School Can Restore your Enthusiasm for Education 

Are you tired of feeling unappreciated, no matter how much time and effort you put into teaching? Well, maybe you need to make the move into an international teaching career.

Imagine working at a school where you rarely have to use your disciplinary skills, the students are motivated to succeed and lead well-rounded lives by participating in sporting and creative activities. Even better, imagine a parent-teacher conference where the parents respect you and your profession and, your professional development is of concern to the school's administration. These are the kind of benefits I have reaped from my move into an international teaching career.

Prior to securing my position as an international teacher in Thailand, I worked for more than three years in the United Kingdom. While I enjoyed my time there and learned a lot from my colleagues, there were parts of the job I didn't like, and at times found a little soul destroying. That's one of the reasons I now teach at an international school.

How Can I Find Time To Teach If I Spend All My Time On Discipline? 

When I was teaching in England, I often found that I spent a considerable portion of my time on discipline. This was time that was taken away from my role as an educator and affected the chances of my students excelling. In my role as an international educator, I don't have half or even a quarter of the discipline issues I had when I was teaching in England. It's not because I teach less students, I still teach classes of 23 to 25 students. The reason I spend less time on discipline is because teaching is a respected profession in Thailand and therefore teachers are treated very well by the whole community.

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Packed full of tips and resources for the budding international teacher.

Is Teaching Overseas the Right Move For YOU? 

Find out by listening to Overseas Teachers Talk - an Interview Series with International Teachers

Overseas Teachers Talk is a collection of 7 interviews with international teachers.

7 teachers = 50+ years international teaching experience in over 10 countries across the world.

Here's what Katie Manton had to say about Overseas Teachers Talk...
"As a beginning teacher that is looking at going straight into overseas teaching, "Overseas Teacher Talk" is a great resource to have as it gives perspectives from teachers who have been teaching overseas for a number of year. The information is relevant and interesting. The interviews are easy to listen to and the atmosphere is friendly. Overall they are a great resource to have I would highly recommend them to anyone looking at going into overseas teaching."

Kick start your own international teaching career with Overseas Teacher Talk - an Interview Series with International Teachers today!

Listen to Kelly's Teaching Overseas Podcast 

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Teaching Jobs Overseas for Married and Non Married Couples 

Teaching couples are very popular with international school recruiters for many reasons but the main one is that couples can often work out cheaper to hire in the long run.

Whether you are married or not you can look for jobs as a teaching couple, most schools do not discriminate against couples who do not have a marriage certificate. An obvious exception is schools in the Middle East. It is very difficult for non-married couples to land jobs in international schools in the Middle East, where governments' regulations stipulate that couples seeking working visas produce a marriage certificate.

You may be able to find a way around this problem but it is unlikely that international school recruiters recruiting for schools in the Middle East are going to find non-married teaching couples an attractive employment prospect when compared to married ones. If you are in this situation, your best bet is to concentrate your job hunt on other regions in the world.

Teaching Couples Seeking Overseas Positions 

When looking for a teaching job abroad as a couple, there are several options open to you:

You can look for suitable teaching vacancies in international schools that will suit both you and your partner's teaching skills. This will involve finding schools that have vacancies for both of you, a task that is easier at the beginning of the recruiting season because schools have yet to fill their vacancies. Generally speaking December through to March is the best time for teaching couples to look for overseas teaching positions together in the same school. Teaching couples are hot employment prospects at this time because hiring a teaching couple has an impact on the benefits schools have to pay.

Alternatively, you and your partner can look for teaching vacancies in international schools in the same cities. A number of teaching couples are lucky enough to find teaching jobs abroad in different schools in the same city. If you have not taught in the same school as your partner or spouse before, you may find this a better option for you.

The most efficient method to find teaching jobs in different international schools in the same city is to attend an international teaching job fair. At an international teaching job fair you will find many school s from around the globe in the one location, all looking for teachers to fill their vacancies. Often you will find a number of recruiters from the same city at a job fair and it is possible to schedule interviews with each of them individually.

At most job fairs you will also be able to see international school recruiters give presentations about their school and the working in the community. This can help you make an informed decision about whether a school, city or country will be a good fit for you and your family.

In a nutshell, teaching jobs overseas for couples are available and many international school recruiters actively look for teaching couples when they are recruiting. However, one of the first decisions you must make is whether you wish to teach in the same school as your spouse or partner and then hunt for teaching positions that suit your needs.

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Teaching Jobs Abroad and Police Clearance Certificates 

Make sure that your teaching career isn't brought to an abrupt end because you're unable to prove you haven't got any convictions that would make you a danger to children. Here's why you MUST get a police clearance certificate!

Police clearance certificates are as important to international teachers as their passports. Why? Without a police clearance certificate many countries will not allow teachers to work with children.

The clearance certificate goes by many different names; what you're looking for is an official document that records any convictions on your criminal record. Regardless of whether you have any convictions or not, you will be required to produce official evidence that your record is clear.

If you record is not clear you may still be able to teach abroad, but you will need to find out which countries will grant you a work permit with the convictions you have.

More rigorous background checks for foreign teachers applying to work in Thailand have been put in place because of a recent high profile arrest of an American teacher by American immigration officers in August 2006. The teacher was taken back to the States for questioning in a murder investigation.

Once you've obtained your police clearance certificate, take it with you when you move overseas. It's one of those important documents you should always be able to lay your hands on. A clearance certificate is one of my top 10 things to take when moving abroad. You'll need to have the original with you; it's not one of the documents you can carry in digital format.

When you are nearing the end of you first overseas teaching contract start making enquiries about what you need to do to obtain a clearance certificate from the police in the country you've been teaching in. This is important! When you're teaching abroad it's important you maintain an unbroken chain of police clearance certificates or the equivalent.

Should you eventually desire to return home and pick up your teaching career there, you'll need to supply the clearance certificates you've collected whilst working abroad. A consequence of not being able to produce a record of your conviction history could be that you're unable to continue working in the education industry as a teacher when you return home.

Teach Students who Want to Succeed 

Many students who attend international schools are motivated to succeed and do well.

Here in Thailand the majority of students are motivated to succeed academically. The whole school has a culture of rewarding success; academic successes, sporting successes and creative successes. This is in part because we are in Thailand, but it is also an integral component of the educational philosophy in the International Baccalaureate Organization's (IBO) curriculum. In the UK I was constantly giving of myself to keep my students motivated and believing that they could achieve well if they put in the effort. After a while this became draining. Now I can concentrate on delivering content and opening my students' eyes to the wider world around them because they are so motivated to learn.

Become a Member of an Expatriate Community 

Many Teachers Overseas Have the Support of a Strong Parents Association

I really feel that I am part of the community of my international school. My students greet me when I walk into school in the morning and they will greet me and stop to have a conversation with me whenever they see me on the street. There is a strong parents' association that I can call upon for assistance if I am running an event or need extra adult supervision for an activity. The majority of my students have aspirant parents who support them in their studies, sporting and creative activities. In the UK parental support was not always forthcoming and nor were the students always polite.

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More Great Information about Living Overseas from Amazon 

Teaching English Overseas: A Job Guide for Americans & Canadians

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Teaching English Overseas: An Introduction (Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers)

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Teaching Overseas: The Fantasy and The Facts

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What's your Employer Saying about You? 

Sidebar - If you have any suspicion that you current employer is giving you a bad reference, you need this!



At my last job, the headteacher had a reputation for giving bad references to teachers she wanted to keep. A number of my colleagues left the teaching profession because they were unable to secure a new job at another school. The headteacher kept all the good teachers to herself, regarless of whether you wanted to stay or not.

If you think you might be in a similar position, you should take advantage of the reference checking services offered by Allison & Taylor, Inc.

I really like these guys because they have a special service aimed at the teaching profession. When you order a reference check for teachers, they will ask education specific questions.

Professional Development for Teachers Overseas is Encouraged 

One of the keys to being a great teacher is continuing to invest in your own education and development. That's why many of us have professional development guidelines written into our contracts. From the school I taught at in the UK I received two days training that was aimed specifically at me or my subject area in over three years of teaching there. While this wasn't the only professional development I received in that time I can honestly say that the only other training that was specifically targeted to meet my needs were courses that I found and paid for myself. Teaching abroad, I now have a professional development budget in excess of $US300 per year. Last year I attended a 3 day workshop in Singapore on the IBO curriculum, and this year I have attended a 4 day summit. Should I choose to do a Master's degree, my school will pay part of the cost, and give me a salary increase once I have completed it.

You can experience many benefits from teaching overseas. I feel more enthused about being an educator now that I am teaching here in Thailand, and while I wouldn't like to say that I will never teach in a state school again, I would certainly think carefully about any position offered to me.

If you are not feeling the passion for education that originally inspired you to become a teacher, perhaps you should be looking at moving overseas. An additional benefit is that they salary is better than I was getting in the United Kingdom as well!

Teaching Abroad with Children 

Teaching abroad is an opportunity to expand your horizons and enhance your resume with the view to advancing up the career ladder. But, if you have a family, making sure you've got all the information you can find will help you find the best position for your whole family.

There are many international teachers who love the lifestyle and are of the opinion that their children are the better for getting an international education. Essentially your children will not only benefit from expanded horizons themselves, but they'll be getting a private education too! Teaching overseas is not for the faint-hearted, but the risks of making a poor decision can be managed.

Tuition as part of the salary package 

International schools are fee-paying schools. This means that parents or their employers pay for children to attend the school, and it's not cheap. In most salary packages you come across you'll find that tuition for your children is included. The thing to check is whether it's included for the number of children you have. Often you'll have to pay tuition for you third and/or fourth child.

Learning difficulties and learning support 

If your child has learning difficulties don't try and hide it from the school because you're worried that the situation will affect your employability. If it does, you probably don't want to work there, and you surely don't want your child going to school there! Learning support departments are becoming more common in the better schools, and as a consequence there's a raised awareness of special education and supporting children with difficulties. To find out whether learning support is available at a school you're thinking of applying to work at, check their website for a list of departments or a list of staff. If there is no mention of learning support provision, either ask the school directly or have a friend email the school, pretend to be a prospective parent and ask for you.

Languages offered 

Most schools will offer a number of foreign languages for your child to learn. If your child has already been learning a language, you may want to find out if they will be able to continue at your new school. It's an important consideration if you are moving to an IB school because all students are required to learn a language other than their mother tongue. In grades 11 and 12 (years 12 and 13) this is particularly relevant because your child will be expected to sit the Diploma exam which presumes a prior knowledge of the language. If you are moving to an IB school and your child has never studied a foreign language before, ask which languages are offered at the 'ab initio' level. This is the level that Diploma students can enter a language for the first time.

Extra-curricular activities offered 

Smaller international schools may be a pleasant change from working in a national public system, but the downside is that there may be only limited opportunities for your children to take part in extra-curricular activities. Again, check schools' websites to see what sports are offered. If there is no obvious link, you can always look at the pictures to see if there are any sports or music related ones. If your children are dedicated sports players you can inquire about regional sporting competitions and what sports take part in them. Other activities to find out about, depending on the interests of your children, are Model United Nations, Amnesty International, International Youth Awards (similar to the Duke of Edinburgh Award), orchestra, choir, drama productions, etc.

Leisure activities in the community 

What activities do your children take part in when they have leisure time? What would they like to try? You can find out about leisure activities in the community you'll be moving two by either asking the recruiter (at interview, after you've been offered a position), on schools' websites (you can often find a page on 'life' in the same area as the employment or admissions pages) or by searching on the internet. When you're searching on the internet use city AND activity, for example, Bangkok AND Flamenco dancing.

Do You Want a Private Education for your Children but You Can't Afford It? 

Yet another reason to move your teaching career abroad!

You need to teach overseas! Pick a country, any country, and there will be at least one international school there. International Schools offer private education for expatriate's children worldwide. And, while most of the parents have to pay school fees, one of the conditions nearly always included in the contracts of international teachers is free education for the teachers' children. There are over 4000 international schools worldwide, all requiring teachers to staff them, many of them offering excellent quality private education.

Picking a school that suits both your children's needs and yours can be challenging, but it is possible. In a recent interview I conducted with international teachers, Maggie Hos-McGrane, a teacher with 19 years experience teaching in international schools said that after she had completed her research she'd found only 30 of the more than 4000 international schools suited both her and her children.

Is the school a profit making enterprise? 

One thing that can really change the culture of a school is the underlying motivations of the directors

There are a number of different kinds of international schools to choose from, some are run by a board and are not designed to make a profit, and others are run by an individual or company in order to make a profit.

As a teacher you will be concerned that the school's educational philosophy matches your own. As a parent you want to insure that your children's education is the priority of the school, rather than the amount of money spent on educational materials and the effect that will have on the school's owner's profit.

There are some directors or owners of international schools that may be more interested in the financial benefits of running a school than the education benefits to the students. Be aware, both as a prospective employee and as a parent.

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Is the school accredited? 

How can you assess the quality of a school? Check what associations it has links with...

International schools can become accredited by an organization that sets educational and operational standards for international education institutions. One such organization is the Council of International Schools (CIS). In order for an international school to become accredited by CIS, they must go through a rigorous appraisal process which looks at the staff and management, the facilities and, the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

If an international school is accredited, then you can be confident that the quality of education provided by the school is high. Most schools that are accredited by an organization like CIS advertise their status on their webpage, brochures and stationery.

Other organizations that offer accreditation for international schools are NEASC, COBISEC, ISCIS and the Association of Christian Schools International, to name a few.

Highly Recommended Books for Your Children 

Help your kids understand the move and make it easier for them.

Your kids are going to have the adventure of a lifetime. They'll be more adaptable and receptive to new ideas as a result of living abroad and receiving an international education. But it won't be all sweet and easy, your kids are about to become third culture kids. Make the transition as easy as possible on them, and on you.

Goodbye House: A Kid's Guide to Moving

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The Moving Book: A Kid's Survival Guide

Step by step, you children can follow the transition process in this book and be able to make the move safely and easily

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Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds (Second Revised Edition)

Excellent book for older famiy members. Helps explain what they're feeling and why. Some ideas for them to help them cope with the transition

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How many students are in the school? 

What effects can a small or large student body have on you and your kids?

This is particularly of concern for parents of high school aged children as the number of students in a school may affect the number of subject choices offered at higher levels. For example, if there are only 30 students in the graduating class, then the school will have to limit the number of subjects being offered to make it cost effective. This can often affect profit and non-profit making schools alike.

Additionally, the number of students in the school can affect the number and type of extra curricular activities offered, and therefore your child's opportunities to experience team sports and other activities that are usually run after school.

When a school has a large number of students, this can also mean that the school is more likely to have a well-stocked library, well equipped laboratories, up-to-date computer equipment and outdoor activity areas. Simply because there is a larger pot of money to fund these facilities from.

On the other hand a school that has thousands of students, while usually offering a wide variety of subjects and activities for students, can often be an anonymous place for children. It is up to you to decide what a good balance is for you and your family.

Which curricula do the schools subscribe to? 

What will your children be learning?

There are international schools abroad that offer what is essentially a national curriculum. In fact, in the case of many British schools abroad, it's even called the National Curriculum.

You can find international schools that are running the national curriculum from America, Britian, Australia, Canada, France (usually taught in French), and so on. Securing a teaching contract in an international school that offers the national curriculum that you and your children are used to will help ease the transition. However, you are not limited by the curricula that you have taught in the past, international schools are generally looking for good teachers and realize that teachers can adapt and teach any curriculum.

When you are looking for a good school for your children, you may run up against some curricula that you haven't come across before. For example, there is the school wide system offered by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). The IBO offers the Primary Years Programme up to Year 6, the Middle Years Programme from Years 7 to 11, and the Diploma Years Programme for Years 12 and 13.

Which examinations will your children be working towards? 

What certification will your children have when they start applying for jobs or higher education?

There are a number of examinations available for international school students, and you will need to understand the options before making any decisions about accepting an employment contract.

I mentioned the IBO previously as being a school wide programme. However many schools adopt bits and pieces of the programme. You may find that an international school offers the Diploma for the upper two years but offers the British IGCSE for Years 10 and 11. IGCSE is an examination based qualification, and the IBO Middle Years Programme has no formal examination assessment, students get a certificate and a record of achievement. Some international schools have a mix and match attitude to the curricula offered. International schools that run national curricula tend to prepare students for the related national exams. American schools overseas run a mixture of state curricula and AP courses.

Teaching Couple? 

Many teaching couples don't teach in the same school for personal reasons.

If you're a teaching couple who would like to move your teaching careers overseas, then don't be put off by the thought of having to teach in the same school as your partner.

If you teach different levels, for example one of you is elementary trained and one high school, then you have very little to worry about as most international schools run the two levels separately (even when they share a campus).

Many international schools are so large that they have more than one school. Check out the Singapore American School which has more than 3700 students spread over 4 schools situated on one huge campus.

Finally if you are a teaching couple who want to teach overseas, then move to a city that has a number of international schools. If you choose to attend an international teacher recruitment fair, this strategy would be easier to put into practice because of the number of schools represented.

Tell me what you think! 

ClassroomCanada wrote...

Great lens! Thanks for sharing. I select teachers from Canada and America to teach in London, England with Classroom Canada and I'm always looking for more resources like this one to help them make the transition abroad. I'll add this to my blog (www.classroomcanada.blogspot.com) - do you have a teacher blog as well?

ReplyPosted February 23, 2009

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by Miss_Kelly

I teach in international schools because I'm a traveller at heart. I love visiting new countries and exploring new cultures. I'm currently living in A... (more)

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