Search found 3 matches

by whatkatiedid
Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:51 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: I would like to retrain or gain QTS
Replies: 13
Views: 11164

Re: I would like to retrain or gain QTS

My opinion

TeachNow and PGCEi sure, you'll get a job somewhere but forget one of the decent T1/T2 schools.

PGCE + QTS and a few years under your belt in a state school is the route in.
by whatkatiedid
Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:46 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Avoid Swiss boarding schools
Replies: 68
Views: 157464

Re: Avoid Swiss boarding schools

I am adding my voice to this. Yes AVOID SWISS BOARDING SCHOOLS. They treat staff very very badly. You will be poorly paid and overworked and at the mercy of capricious business men. There are teachers coming in direct from the UK with decent qualifications/careers/reputations they will blow a hole in those careers by working for one of these Swiss boarding schools. You will not get a reference when you leave.

You will NOT save at a Swiss boarding school. Do not waste your time and effort on these disgusting organizations who charge parents the earth and pay teachers peanuts.

AVOID AVOID AVOID.
by whatkatiedid
Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:49 am
Forum: Forum 2. Ask Recruiting Questions, Share Information. What's on Your Mind?
Topic: School social worker looking for an IS position
Replies: 6
Views: 22738

Re: School social worker looking for an IS position

Hi Javjenatru

I just wanted to give you a few words of warning as someone who is a current school counselor and a former SW.

Very few International schools and the teachers that run them have a clue regarding how to recruit someone who is not a teacher. They don't understand your skillset or background but their hubris leads them to believe that they do. Remember that many of them have only ever worked in schools and therefore they can't see outside their box very easily.

A specific "School Social Worker" position within an international school is rare and I don't hold out much hope for that outside the USA. You have to bear in mind that these schools are selective and not all of them accept LS kids or kids with serious behavioral problems.

Someone else on this thread has already demonstrated that they believe that a School Counselor or ("International" School Counselor) is somehow "a different skillset" from a Social Worker or in your case a School Social Worker. They are wrong, trust me I'm doing the job, but that is the fixed belief that you will be up against time and time again. It's not helped by the fact that many of these teachers put themselves onto a [ well known brand name] training center course which they believe "qualifies" them to be a counselor in a couple of weeks. It's an echo chamber of bullcrap, delusion and weak practice.

They will probably tell you that you need to be either a former teacher or do an "International School Counseling" Certificate/Masters with the same name. You will probably find that these qualifications are below the level you are used to functioning at in your previous profession and of no value therapeutically but nevertheless, they persist in this belief.

Just to give you a flavor of what you're dealing with, I personally know of an English accredited counselor who has worked with kids for years who was told the other week by an Internatonal school that he didn't have the "right skill set" and hence was not even called for an interview! The same guy is famous on the circuit for his work with ODD teens but all they saw was "no teaching qualification". I have seen them overlook countless Social Workers, Probation Officers, and Licenced Counselors time and time again on the basis that they don't have a certificate in "International School Counseling" or have never been a teacher. It's perverse.

My advice to you at this point is to log onto Linkedin and look for a Social Worker/UK Probation Officer/former private sector counselor who is already in post and reach out to them. A lot of these people are in the more established British Curriculum Schools. I got my current job by reaching out to someone like that on Linkedin and it was the first time I actually felt that the person who interviewed me knew what they were talking about and didn't speak in silly buzzwords.

There are also some school directors out there who have lived part of their lives outside of teaching so tend to be less myopic but you have to look around for them.

As for your husband, his TEFL qualification is only likely to get him into a smaller school teaching TEFL only. The money won't be great. He needs to go back and get his teacher's license and a few years of (non-TEFL) teaching experience in your home country first.

The "three kids" thing also puts you at a massive disadvantage. Sorry to be discouraging but even if you do get lucky enough to have someone sensible read your CV:-the 3 kids are a financial burden to the school. If you are willing to put your kids into the local schools then this would no longer be a barrier.