I have seen a few posts in recent months (and some olders posts that turned up in a search) stating that if one is over 35, the odds of being considered for a position at UWCSEA is not likely. Any truth? I know that being over 55 can be a disadvantage in some schools/countries, but 35?

His comment was not a topic of conversation in the staff room.

But, if they did evacuate US military dependents, I suspect there would be a lot of nervous people in this country.

No and not sensing it's a primary reason people are leaving our school this year. Maybe secondary. I agree, things do seem a bit different than the usual crazy talk we're used to. Time will tell. In the meantime, I'm happy here. It's a nice place to live and work.

Always lots of talk about top tier 1 schools, for obvious reasons. I don't have the experience to make a legitimate shot at those schools...yet. So curious about top tier 2 schools, or maybe bottom tier 1 is another way to look at it. Solid schools but maybe lacking in one way or another.

I prefer Asia, but willing to hear opinions for other regions too.

We’ve had a few issues arise recently that will likely preclude us from participating in the winter recruitment fair season. We hope/believe the issue should be resolved by March/April/May. Clearly this is a huge disadvantage, but we’d rather know the problem is resolved before taking jobs we may need to decline later. I know there are still a number of jobs offered after the primary recruitment season ends and a friend told me he and his wife were getting good offers through the summer and right up through the end of August. But certainly options will be limited. I know Search and maybe others have a fair in last spring/early summer for tough-to-fill jobs or late openings. Anyone have experience, or general thoughts on late season recruiting? At this point, I’m trying to balance hope with realism.

Anyone have recent/current info on this school? I've followed it a bit in recent years via their web site and noticed quite a bit of turnover in staff. They currently have an interim director, and have for some time.

It's certainly a nice place for a holiday, and wonder if it's also a nice place to work.

Thanks to the three of you who clearly understood my valid questions and provided thoughtful and informed responses. All three were very helpful.

Realizing that being a teacher also means one has the opportunity/obligation to take on duties related to after school clubs, various extra cirricular activities and coaching sports teams, I'm wondering if there is a trend either way of schools compensating teachers for these extra duties, or is it just expected to be provided w/out additional compensation? I've coached before and it can really take up a lot of hours for which I've been modestly paid. I get the impression that extra pay may not be offered by some/most international schools. Are my impressions incorrect? It would be a real mind shift to [i]not[/i] be compensated for these extra duties.

I was quite interested to read these results and have one general observation (recognizing that this was certainly not a scientific survey): It seems like many teachers are willing (and sometimes unwittingly by dishonest employers) to accept benefit packages that really are not a benefit, but rather a financial liability. All the unreimbursed money to set up home and classroom astounds me. (Again, recognizing that there are good schools that pay much/all of these expenses.) Why do we teachers allow ourselves to be taken advantage of? Do we need these jobs that badly? Take a look at the parents of many of the children you teach who are working for business/government/NGO employers; I am quite sure their employers pay all expenses related to these moves and don't ask the employee to bear much/some/any of the financial burdens. My friend teaches for the U.S. DoD schools and his moving benefits are amazing; he's treated like the professional that he is. And with the skyrocketing cost of transportation, my guess is teachers will be paying more out of pocket expenses to cover new baggage fees and other shipping costs. And don’t forget the devaluation of certain currencies (the U.S. Dollar in our case) in which many teachers are paid.

Am I missing something here? Is this a reality that will never change?

Good question. And I'll add to it: two kids, one parent a seasoned teacher with overseas experience and the other parent with a teaching license but no classroom experience beyond a lot of subbing.

Any sense how the "average" school would look at this couple?

As one who has not yet made it into the overseas teaching world, I enjoyed both posts that humorously point out the two perspectives of many similar issues. I think we all know there are marginal and whining teachers in every school just as many schools have an administrator (or more) who can't administrate very well. If I were to avoid every school on this site that has a bad evaluation, I would not have many options left. This site provides good perspective for me, but I must balance it against other information that I discover on the schools that interest me. And I always keep in mind that a negative post could have come from a teacher who won't be happy anywhere, just as I try to keep in mind that a glowing post could have come from an administrator trying to make a bad school sound better. I've found that oftentimes unhappy teaching colleagues can make my life nearly as miserable as a bad administrator can.

In my research of overseas schools, I have noticed that some schools have a connection to the US State Dept. For example, the recent posts on two schools in Guatamala (Colegio Maya and the American School of Guatamala). The former is listed on the web site of of the Office of Overseas at the Dept of State, the latter is not. And I've noticed some schools note that one or more members of its board is appointed by the sitting US Ambassador. One assumption I have is that the US State Dept funded many of these schools in the "old" days when few school existed for staff, and I presume funding remains to some extent today in many schools. I have even noticed that the US mailing address for many schools is in Washington, D.C., at what I assume might be a State Dept office.

For those who have worked in schools where the Dept of State provides funding, is there anything different about these schools from others where that support is not provided? Are these the only schools where the Dept of State will fund the education of their employees' children? In general, does this association make any difference in the type of place is to teach and be taught?

My wife and I are seriously considering a move to overseas teaching next year and we're just trying to work out in our heads some of the logistics and expenses that we must consider. We are looking at both DoD schools (which share the same benefit package) and international schools (which seem to have a wide variety of benefit packages). We recognize that in nearly all cases, the overall DoD package is pretty much unmatched and we have a friend in that system who confirms many of the perks they have. But it's not all about $ for us, but we certainly have some financial obligations and goals, as many of you do as well.

Two questions we struggle with now:
What do you do with all of your household belongings that you leave behind? I assume the options are to leave them in the house or put it in storage. The latter being quite costly depending on how much "stuff" you leave behind. I see that most schools don't allow for much to be shipped at their expense. Do most of you spend a lot of your own money to ship things to your new home, or just take the bare essentials and collect and sell stuff along the way? I realize that many benefit packages provide some level of furnished housing. Or maybe shipping a crate or two of personal effects to your new location is just a cost of being an overseas teacher?

How about those of you who own a home. Do you leave it empty, rent it or just pack up and sell? I know all circumstances are different, but i'm just not sure we could afford to not rent it. But the idea of being a remote landlord is also not appealing. Nor is leaving the house empty a perfect option.

I'd love to hear how some of you overseas teaching vets handle these "minor" logistical things.