Thanks for the replies! I appreciate the insight and valuable information each of you gave! Thanks again.

Hello all!

I’m a certified US teacher (7 years in the States, 8 years in total) in Elementary Ed and ESL. I’m currently teaching at an international school with an American curriculum. I’m looking at options for the 24-25 year in another country but beyond the 1-2 quality American curriculum schools, most of the other schools are British, Australian, Canadian or IB.

What are the pros and cons of switching to a different school with a different curriculum? Is it challenging? Easy?

Do schools/admin have a preference when hiring someone from a different curriculum background? Thanks!

Are schools anticipating average student enrollment? Lower enrollment due to COVID? Trying to figure out job prospects and availability of future positions or if schools will not be recruiting as much due to lower student enrollment from COVID. I'm looking at SE Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar-- minus the whole coup situation :-/), so good to hear that Thailand and Singapore Tier 1 are not shifting as much.

Hi all,

Looking to get into the International School circuit for the 2022-2023 school year. Curious to hear about how schools and admin are planning for recruiting during this upcoming year for the following school year. COVID has thrown everything out of whack, so I’m unsure how that’s affected enrollment and positions for the upcoming years. Thoughts would be appreciated! TIA.

@sid

That's what I was imagining was generally the case, as one might find in any school in the world. Thanks for your input!

vandsmith wrote:
> insubordination could range from asking a question or suggesting a way of doing something,
> to telling your principal they're an incompetent boob. as PG says, if you're going
> to rock the already bullet-hole ridden boat, it's better to cut you loose.


LOL... okay thanks. I'm not a boat rocking type of person, so I should be okay. Thanks!

@ psyguy
> The upside to all of this is recognizing that the contract isnt worth much of your
> attention. Your primary concerns are two; 1) The section of compensation, how much
> coin, how often and for how long and the description of benefits (notice description
> not obligation) such as housing, transportation and travel (where do you live, how
> much do they pay, how do you get too and from work to home and how do you get in
> country), and 2) Your duty time, when do you have to be on campus, when can you
> leave, how many teaching hours/periods vs, contract hours/periods, preps, courses,
> holidays and leave. Everything else is nonsense boiler plate, that is largely non-negotiable
> and really all comes down to NOT being more trouble than your worth. Tip the balance
> from adding value to being a negative influence to where they want to get rid of
> you and the IS will PNG you.

I'd planned to do at least doing the minimum spelled out in a contract and I'd hope most people would do the same, plus more. So my question now becomes, out of100 teachers, what percentage of them have their contract terminated before it's complete? 5% 10%? More? And for what reasons because insubordination and incompetence are vague terms like psyguy said? is it because they didn't do the minimum in their contract? Unprofessionalism? Clearly don't know how to teach the curriculum? Other reasons? Wouldn't it be more difficult for the IS to find a replacement mid year and should wait until the year ends and start fresh at the beginning of the new school year? Is there a particular Tier group 1-3 that does this more than others?

Thanks again. Really curious about this...

@mathman85

Could you expand upon more about poor admin with checks and balance and about firing teachers at will? It's my understanding that you sign a contract for a minimum of a year or 2. Could schools fire someone before their contracts are up? Wouldn't it need to be for extreme reasons for them not to fulfill the contract obligations?

Just curious... Thanks!

To add on to this thread, from a teaching aspect, not just living internationally, what are some of the downsides you see in a school itself? Workload? Parent expectations? Administration? Admin expectations? Students? Teacher-to-teacher relationships?

You have to show continuous residency in the US to prove that she's been in the States for 3 years (due to marriage of a US citizen, which I'm assuming you are one) and met minimum requirement of 3 years for citizenship. While you are allowed to leave the US for longer than 1 year, once she arrives back in the states, she'd need to wait 2 years and 1 day from her date of arrival back in the States before applying for citizenship. Then, during all the paperwork, you'd have to show additional paperwork providing evidence of outside travel, including addresses, reasons, etc. It would be additional work for you guys as you apply for citizenship.

If you remained in the US until she got citizenship, you could start the naturalization paperwork up to 90 days before the 3 year anniversary her LPR status. Let's say her 3 year LPR anniversary is 1/1/2019, (she got her green card on 1/1/2016) she could file technically as early as 10//03/2018. This also assumes that you guys have been married for at least 3 years during that time as well. It sounds like she got her LPR status based on marriage to you, but I don't know how much time was in between your wedding anniversary and her LPR date stated on her green card.

It's a lot less hassle if you sit and wait it out until she gets citizenship, instead of trying to jump around internationally and then come back to apply for citizenship. It can be done; however, it would push her citizenship application timeframe later and be more paperwork and hassle on your end, because you'd need to account for all of that time overseas on her naturalization application. If you've already been married for 1-2 years, it's definitely better just to stick it out and wait for the 3 year anniversary and get naturalization then. Depending on your state, USCIS naturalization processing times *can* be a lot faster than what's posted on the official website too.

@elon_padraig and @psyguy

Thank you both for your responses. I appreciate your insight!

Would I be under-qualified for a top tier IS, over qualified, or just right? With my degree, years of teaching experience, and previous living overseas (even if not teaching at an international school), would that make me a viable candidate for a top school? If not, and I'm under qualified, what are some suggestions for how I can boost my "value" to a top tier school? Since I have 1-2 years before I'd consider moving, if I need to do something to improve my chances, I'd like to start working on it now.

He would be coming on a US passport. We're not planning on moving back to his country. But we wanted a place where we could easily visit his family during breaks.

Wow! Thanks for all the information! I'll look through it all and post if/when I have any additional questions!

Thanks again!

I'm a US teacher currently in the States on my 3rd year of teaching with a B.S. in Elementary Education and ESL endorsement, working towards my Masters in ESL. I've previously lived in SE Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia) for 2 years doing charity work, but have never done IT. My husband (originally from Myanmar) and I are considering moving back to SE Asia for me to try IT with the hope to save extra money. We're fairly frugal people and we both know the relative cost of living in most SE Asian countries, as well as expectations of life in those places. However, I don't know what to expect in terms of salary and benefits at an IS in any of those countries and estimating the potential savings of each place. The places we're looking are Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand.

Also, do most new teachers to the world of international teaching start at the bottom tier 3 schools and work their way up? Or is it possible to start at a tier 2- tier 1 school straight from the States? And do schools give higher salaries the longer you stay? (I.e.-- starting salary for year 1-2, but renewed contract gets a higher salary? 5+ years at the same schools gets another higher salary?)

Thanks!