Teaching overseas. International school

[peebles32]

Taught in a primary for many years. Love my job but the dream has always been to move to Spain. I speak fluent Spanish and have been in education for 20 years. Can get an EU passport.
We would look at an international school as would have my children too. Salaries are lower but we are lucky to be in a position that it won't affect us too much.
Just wondered if anyone had made the move - anywhere to work abroad. Not TEFL but teaching the National curriculum.
Is it something you are glad you did. Is it harder, easier. Any good or bad experiences. Anything you can suggest to be aware of.

I did it! I moved to Hong Kong when I was 30, as I had broken up with a boyfriend and wanted an adventure. I worked at an International School that followed the English National Curriculum. I absolutely loved it. It was no harder than working in an English state school, in fact I would say it was easier for 2 reasons:

• Most people came and did 2-3 years there before moving on, so it was set up in such a way that people could arrive and get on with things pretty quickly
• There was a great work/life balance - people were not just there to work but to have fun and travel too. We went out all the time (granted, I was single with no kids at the time!), and we all used to jet off on holidays every single break!

The money was better too - we got a 20% bonus at the end of each academic year. I also found people really friendly and quick to get to know, as expats tend to move around quite a lot. I moved back to the UK after 2 years as I met my husband and he didn't want to live abroad. I think it's a fabulous thing to do, so long as your partner can work abroad too, and a great experience for kids to go to schools in other countries.

Ooh.
Thanks for that. Sounds like you had an amazing experience. My husband has a job that he can do anywhere and is in demand so no problem there.
Keep looking at TES but they are quite vague and never put salaries on!
👀

I'm in Asia too and would say similar to Cecelia. Asia is quite famously (notoriously??) 'easy' for international school teachers though, so you might want to get some advice that's more specific to Spain, or at least Europe.

You still need to do your research like you would with any other teaching job - just because a school is charging parents a fortune doesn't necessarily mean it's good, and just because someone is getting paid a fortune to work there doesn't necessarily mean they're good either. Some of the incompetence I've come across here is staggering (a head of faculty who openly admits to knowing nothing about their subject and makes the equivalent of 5000 USD a month springs to mind). When I first started out I was treated as though I was a senior teacher because I have a PGCE, despite having no actual teaching experience after qualifying five years earlier. Standards are different, sometimes in a good way (no OFSTED!) and sometimes not. Overall it's amazing though, and you couldn't pay me any amount to go back and teach in the UK now.

Thanks for that. I did the four year route with QTS. I think the Asia and Middle East offer more attractive packages, such as free school places, accommodation etc.
However the European ones are really vague and do not even give an indication of salary!
Do you keep up to date with British legislation and changes to pedagogical methods or focus on local? out of interest whereabouts are you?

I'm in Vietnam Not sure about legislation but in terms of pedagogy I'd say it's something like Asian-flavoured British haha. We follow the Singapore curriculum for maths (my subject), the homework is very much more 'complete these 572 exercises from the workbook' than I was used to, and I've never heard anyone use any of the education buzzwords I remember from home (we have some of our own though! Mostly ones that have leaked in from TEFL). But the lessons themselves wouldn't seem out of place in a British school and are still - I'm told - very different from how teaching looks in Vietnamese public schools. So kind of both?

Thanks for that!
Sounds like you have more input into how lessons are structured than in the UK. Much more interesting!! Would love to observe one! 😂😂

I work in an international school but in the UK. I've worked in international schools since I finished my NQT year, so have a lot of friends who have 'done the circuit'. They have all had a mixture of experiences - some amazing schools in amazing places, some awful schools in amazing places, some awful schools in awful places. Top line is do your research thoroughly on the school and the location and go through any contract you get offered with a fine tooth comb. You often have to sign a two year contract and schools can make it hard for you to leave earlier if you decide it's not for you.

My colleagues unanimously say that Spain is the worst place to teach abroad, by the way. The salaries are the lowest in Europe due to the popularity of the location, and my colleagues who have taught in Spain have said you really struggle to make ends meet. We're talking UPS teachers taking home 1500 euros a month after tax. SERIOUSLY low pay. The behaviour of the children and the whole ethos around the value of education is also not great, apparently, and I haven't met anyone who has genuinely enjoyed teaching in Spain. All left after their two year contracts were up. So be warned - Spain is not the best location.

Friends of mine have had fabulous experiences teaching in Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and Peru, though. Would you consider Latin America? Now that could really be an adventure!

In order to have real flexibility of employment, having International baccalaureate (IB) experience is a big bonus. I've only taught IB for years now and can barely remember the British curriculum. The IB for me is the reason why I have deliberately chosen to teach in international schools in the UK -the curriculum is concept and enquiry based and allows teachers a huge amount of creativity and freedom. There are no formal exams until the final year of school, so you don't have to waste your time teaching to tests throughout the middle years of secondary school. Teaching in IB schools abroad and teaching in British schools abroad would be very different experiences - the British schools tend to cater for locals as opposed to the expat communities, who tend to go to the IB schools as the curriculum is more portable for international moves. If you're interested in making international teaching a new career for you, I'd recommend going on an IB training course so that you can apply to more possible vacancies.

Good luck with your adventure! I am getting to the point now where I might be ready to jump ship and am excited to see what vacancies come up when schools start to recruit. As a heads up, the International recruitment circuit is earlier than the UK one - jobs will start coming up from October and most vacancies are filled by January.