@expatscot The thing is, I have excellent references from HODs and managers. But in the world of education, one report that might cast suspicion on the suitability of someone to work with kids is enough to scuttle their career. It's a liability issue. Schools would rather go with someone less qualified but safe, than someone who may or may not put them at risk of a scandal. I don't blame the schools at all.
The reference was written in a country where I think I would have very little protection from libel unfortunately. You are right that I can wait it out, but I kinda need a job now :) I am sure that in a few years this will not be a problem for me.
If anything, I am just frustrated at the ease with which this can happen, and the poor protection that teachers have from unscrupulous or bigoted directors. But as others have pointed out, there is very little that can be done without adding even more layers of bureaucracy to an already overly bureaucratic system.

Thanks Sid and Psyguy. That makes sense. Maybe it would be worthwhile getting two references? In my experience, references from people I have actually worked with are far more representative of the actual work I have done, whereas directors are more likely to give formulaic responses and do not give a good sense of what kind of teacher I am. So, one reference to clear me of any dodgy stuff, and another to see what kind of teacher I am?
Or maybe I have misunderstood the point of a reference? Maybe the primary concern is clearing the candidate in terms of safety. My problem with this is that it relies on the word of the person giving the reference, and often there is little protection internationally for libel. But I guess it is better than the alternative. It just really sucks to give up the investment of a couple years of experience due to a capricious director, but you are right that I have no choice.

Thanks for the advice. I could try get a copy, but that may prove difficult. I am hesitant to ghost the experience as that would mean I would have an unexplained gap in my resume. Also, I put a lot of time into that posting, and it would be a pity to lose that.
While I understand the reason for needing the reference to come from a director, often this does not make any sense in terms of the way schools are run. In most of my experience, the people best qualified to give me a reference are never asked. Instead they rely on a person who has limited, if any, knowledge of you or the work you have done. This is very frustrating, and I wish hiring committees would understand this and seek references from people qualified to give such references.

What do you do in the case of a director (who has hardly ever interacted with you) writes negative comments about you? I have had two promising job applications terminated unexpectedly. Upon investigation, it turns out that the director from my last school has been including inaccurate details from my personal life that he feels makes me unsuitable to work with young people. Aside from being completely untrue, this has the potential to completely destroy my career. Attempts to reason with the director have gone unanswered.

I have always used the post office. On one occasion I sent back more than 2 cubic metres via the post office. It can take up to 3 months, but is usually there much sooner. On one occasion, my boxes arrived a week before I did, taking only 8 days to get to its destination.

There are risks obviously, such as theft, and being held up in customs, but thankfully neither of these have happened to me yet. I always mark the customs declaration as personal items for relocation, and have so far not had any boxes opened by customs.

The problem with this approach is that you have to pack your boxes yourself, being careful not to exceed both local and destination country limits in terms of weight and size.

It is much cheaper this way. The post office charges by weight, and not volume. Posting 30kg half way around the world cost me $90.

My wife and I earned a combined THB170,000 a month in Bangkok. We lived very well. We had a car (new), amazing apartment, and never worried about finances. My salary was untouched for the last couple years, and went straight into savings. We didn't have a child though, and depending on the age of your child and the type of school you choose to send him/her to, school fees can cut into your potential savings quite a lot.

Sorry, that was a little unclear. What I mean by step 2 is, once I had applied through the correct channels, I sent a quick email to head, usually about a week later. This, as described in a previous thread, is actually quite helpful in getting yourself noticed.
After this, I waited until about 2 weeks before my planned trip, and then said I was going to be in the country for a few days, if we could meet.
I got a number of interviews this way, that I don't think I would have gotten, were I not visiting the country.

I posted a very similar question recently. I have managed to get a pretty good offer from a prestigious Japanese school with an international programme in Tokyo, albeit not IB.

Here are the steps I took.

1. Apply to all suitable jobs I can find online in Japan.
2. Contact schools directly, introducing myself.
3. Go to Japan. This step might be unnecessary. I was going to Japan anyway, and I used that opportunity to see as many people as I could while there. This worked REALLY well. School heads were happy to see me face to face, as there was no cost to them, and they might just end up with a teacher with minimal effort. I believe that this was the only reason I was made an offer.
4. Sell myself. I prepared really well for meetings, and aggressively marketed myself to the heads.

I am in a similar position as you. I do not have amazing experience, or qualifications, and I could just imagine my CV going to the bottom of the pile almost automatically. I think that personally introducing myself, and giving heads an opportunity to meet me in person helped get my CV nearer to the top.

Or maybe I was just lucky.

Not sure what kind of salary is on offer there, but Rwanda can be a great place to live. Very friendly people, lots of great adventures without travelling too far and very safe compared to some other African countries. Some issues with petty crime in Kigali, but hardly any violent crime. There is a fairly large expat community, although more French speakers than English.

Housing is not great, even for expats. The internet is atrociously slow and ridiculously expensive. There are a few great restaurants, but because of their limited number, you will probably exhaust the menu quickly. That said, for its size, Kigali does seem to have a good amount of good restaurants.

Briz, your comments on Rwanda are a little unfair. Rwanda has largely moved past the tragic events that occurred 20 years ago. To characterise their country as a place of genocide, war and famine is unfair and not reflective of the place today. You wouldn't turn down a position in Japan because of the Sarin Gas attacks in Tokyo (1995) would you?

No fear, I would never take a kindergarten class. Middle and high school for me.

The school I am looking at, without giving too much away, is a Japanese private school for returnees, that has recently opened an international section. The school itself is very prestigious and academically respected in Japanese educational circles, but is not an international school per se. My Japanese friends speak highly of the school, but not many international teachers are familiar with it. I have spoken to a couple of the teachers at the school and they seem pretty happy.

I have, cheers. The school I'm looking at is not on the paid section.

The location is fine. I would suggest getting an apartment in lower sukhumvit, near phrakanong. Travel to school in the morning will take about 20 min, using the skytrain and motosai taxi. And then on the weekends you will be close enough to the action that you don't feel like you're missing out. There aren't an abundance of decent apartments near the school, but getting there from mid to lower sukhumvit is easy, even during rush hour.

Thank you everyone for the useful information. Certainly helps with the difficult decision I have to make.
Crunky, are you able to name the schools that have poor hiring practices? If one of them is the place I am negotiating with, that will certainly make my decision easier.

That is certainly worth considering pgrass. I really want to work in IB. Unfortunately, I do not have experience in IB, and from what I have heard, it is unlikely that an IB school in Japan will hire a teacher with no IB experience.

The way I see it is there are two routes for me. One is to get IB experience in another country, and then later apply for a school in Japan. The other is to make a name for myself in a non IB school in Japan, and then apply on the strength of my achievements to an IB school.

I favour the second, as I being in Japan is important to us at the moment.

This post: http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... y&start=15
was what got me thinking that one should jump at almost any opportunity at a school in Japan, just to get a foot in the door.

I will be flying into Tokyo for the interview. I have 3 interviews lined up. 2 of them will be with a package. If I can't get the ones with packages, I think I might just go for the one without, just to get into Japan. Is this mad?