to consider moving to Dubai/Abu Dhabi/Doha to teach (sorry - long)

[IrishTeacher]

Posting here for traffic. AIBU seems to be more active than the Staff Room forum.

I recently qualified as a geography teacher. I'm 38. I'm Irish and live in the Republic of Ireland.
It is VERY difficult to get full time work here as teacher. The system here is vastly different to the UK.
A permanent job? Just forget it.
At the moment, I can't even get some subbing work. There is none to be had.
I'm claiming social welfare and my savings are dwindling.
Living in Dublin is out because rent is sky high, housing is in short supply and I might as well go to Manhattan, in that case.
I do not wish to teach in the UK because the education system has been run into the ground there and teachers are leaving in their droves.

I'm considering moving to Dubai or the ME, where there seems to be plenty of work.
From there, 2 years down the line, I'm considering applying for the skills visa to Australia and settling there.

The only things that are stopping me are:

• My parents are getting on in years - 75+. I do have a sibling and their family who lives near them, so they would not be left alone. They are good health at the moment.
• I do feel that if I go this time, it is permanent. So i need to be sure. I have lived abroad before.

The things pushing me to go are:

• There's no work here for teachers and it could be another 5-10 years before I get a permanent job, if ever.
• I have no home of my own here. I rent.
• I'm terminally single and child-free.
• Friends all married off, so its "mission accomplished" for them and they no longer need a social life.
• I'm not young any more and I need to settle down and make a living somewhere.
• I have lived in Australia before and I loved it.

If anyone has been in a similar position - I would love to hear from you.

So - do I stay or do I go? WWYD?

go for it op it seems to tick all your box's

OP would it have to be Doha? We were in Muscat recently, and it was relatively moderate there. Good quality of life, from what we saw, and no obvious restrictions on women. I think I saw one face veil in the nine days we were there; hair covering seemed to be the norm. Women were working and driving, dress was modest but colourful. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's not a feminist haven, but compared to its neighbours, Oman is quite laid back cosmopolitan.

Oh and if I were you, I'd go for it. Good luck.

Could you not look elsewhere, like an international school in a different country other than the ME? There's no way I would move to the ME, their attitude towards women is appalling. It's just not worth the money. Have you explored Asia, eg Hong Kong, Singapore? Teaching opportunities are great there.

It isn't just the women's rights issues though. There is a culture of imported cheap labour in ME, for major construction projects and for housekeeping, childcare etc. These people, who are usually living apart from family and sending money home, get treated and paid badly.

I know someone who taught in Dubai and loved it. It's a really good place to live - but expensive..! But definitely move on after 1-2 years (my friend stayed for longer because it was such a great place, and has struggled since coming back to the UK)
Good luck..!

I have friends who have taught in Dubai,Doha and Oman and loved every second. As PP said, don't stay too long. 2 stayed for a year or two and moved on, one back to the UK and one to Australia. The third is still in Dubai having been sucked into the lifestyle and not saving to return home or move on, she is no longer happy there 4 years down the line but isn't in a position to move on just yet.

Go for it OP if it's what you want to do. Just make sure you have an emergency fund should you need to return home at any point.

Personally I wouldn't go to Dubai for any money, but I understand some people feel differently.
I think in your position I'd probably go to the UK. Yes I know teaching in the UK sucks badly at the moment, but you would have a goal and a time limit.

How about one of the islands like jersey or gurnsey or the British terrotey in Spain

I've got a good friend teaching in Dubai and she loves it! She's been there with her DH and their DS for a couple of years now. They were meant to be back already but like it too much so have stayed possibly for another 2-3 years.

You have my sympathy re the teaching situation in Ireland, though I confess I don't know why anyone would bother doing the HDip in the current climate of oversupply....

I lived in Dubai, and it and Al Ain (less glossy smaller city) in particular were stuffed to the gunwales with young Irish female teachers, but it's only a 'really good place to live' if you are ok with living in a non-democratic state which uses its affluence and holiday appeal to cover up its human rights abuses, not just of migrant workers, but increasingly of any of its own citizens considered dissident - imprisonment without trial, torture, etc. in fact, I think it's now a more genuinely dangerous place than when I lived there. I don't mean that someone is likely to assault you on the street - in that sense, you're safer than Clonmel on a Friday night - but in terms of an authoritarian state with no checks on state power.

www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/united-arab-emirates

If that's something you decide you can live with, many of the Irish teachers I met seemed happy enough, though I met them (I left in 2010) mostly at official Embassy type things and they weren't necessarily speaking entirely frankly. The (English) teacher I knew best was desperate to leave at the end of her year, though - I can't now remember which Dubai school she taught at, but her school-provided housing was substandard, she found it difficult to deal with what she perceived to be racial discrimination towards certain non-European foreign teachers, and seemed to have come up against a couple of difficult situations where badly-behaved Emirati children in her classes weren't ever disciplined by school admin.

Again, I can't corroborate this personally, but none of it sounded unlikely to me when I was there. (It's common to specify certain nationalities/races for public-facing jobs, for instance, and there is quite a stratified racial hierarchy with Indian/Pakistani/Nepalese labourers at the bottom, and Emiratis at the top, and an ingrained fear of crossing Emiratis.) I did form the impression that some schools regarded young fireign teachers as disposable, as they rarely stayed long.

I haven't taught abroad but I've spent about a third of my life as an expat. Back to home base right now, but ready leave soon. Go for it while you still ca! I saw my parents every month when I lived abroad and spent summers with them, now that they are less than 10 miles away, I haven't visited them in months

Why not try England? There's a recruitment crisis here and if you chose an area where it's at it's worst, you would be able to get a medium term job and then go to Oz after you have the required experience. Not too far to continue to see your parents frequently too.

Or there's Scotland and Wales.

Foxy I imagine she doesn't want to teach in England for the same reasons that no one else does. That's why there's a recruitment crisis.

Living in the ME isn't easy for a single Western woman. A family friend used to be based in Doha (she was airline cabin crew) and the sexual harassment from local men was horrendous.

I think moving to a country that treats more than half its population as less than fully human is unreasonable.

She does live in Ireland at the moment-...

If I were you I'd try to find some other country in need of teachers - one where you wouldn't be stoned to death for adultery or not wearing a headscarf, or whatever.

Foxy I imagine she doesn't want to teach in England for the same reasons that no one else does. That's why there's a recruitment crisis.

To be fair, that does mean she would find it easy to get a job. Unlike her situation at the moment.

Yes, finding a job in England would be quite easy. Are you qualified and breathing seems to be the main criteria. However, as has been pointed out, there is a reason there is a recruitment problem here!

Could you face it for a year? Then scoot off to Australia take me with you.

I know that teachers who teach in England are very well regarded when they come back though so I personally would go there if I wanted to return to Ireland.
Discipline can be horrendous in schools in ME according to friends who have taught primary.

I'm very judgy about people who holiday there.
But bigger picture, as part of your plan, I'd say go for it. Look at other options too.

I worked as a supply teacher for 2 years and then moved to teach overseas. Lots of international schools will look at previous careers and life experience and do take teachers with no classroom experience. They are not all bad schools. It is obviously cheaper to hire teachers with little experience and while most schools do want min 2 years, many do take recent graduates. There is a ton of research on almost every school you can think of, you just have to look. Been teaching overseas now for 5 years and have no plans to go back.

I spent the last 10 years in Oman and the UAE and couldn't wait to leave.

One of the big drivers in us leaving this summer what the crap quality of education. There ARE some good schools but I don't know what your chances of getting in to them are. Most schools have a very high turnover of staff.

If you can walk in and walk away without losing anything then go for itbut if you have to invest anything into it (as someone said, set up costs are very high) then don't bother. I know a few people who've left with less than they came with.

How about Hong Kong? Several teacher friends are very happy there.

What have you got to lose from applying for a few jobs and seeing where that ends up?
However you seem unsure of the ME and as there is currently only 3 ful time geography teaching jobs there not to sure what your chances are there.
Have you register with Hay's if not get in to their list and they will e-mail jobs they think will suit you. There is a nice sounding one going in Portugal atm.
However remember in every country geography jobs are always highly sort after.

Sorry I forgot to put any context with that. I am a head of humanities teaching in mainland UK. But due to family issues looks like I am going to be taking up a teaching (geography) job still in UK but not in the European part of UK.

Queen of Louisiana: finding a geography/ humanities job in most of the UK is rather hard. The last one my work had advertised we had just over a 100 applicants.

Why not get your year's experience for Australia in a UK private school?

Very similar set up to many of the international schools (some international schools are official sister schools of big name UK schools), massively fewer regulations that UK state schools as well as less paperwork, smaller classes and longer holidays. Some even pay better (though others pay worse, it depends).

I've had 9 very happy teaching years in the same independent school. All bar 2 of the friends I did PGCE with have left their state school careers and are no longer teaching (and one of the ones who's still teaching has moved to Hong Kong and gone private!)

It seems a much easier solution than the ME. And will give you a bit longer to be close to your parents.