Thanks for clarifying wntrlscoming. I didn't look closely enough. : )

To clarify: Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses are not recognized by mainstream Christianity as Christian denominations. Their ideology and even what they consider to be the bible are very different. Concordia's requirement of Christian Church membership is quite vague. Some of the other schools ive looked at have much more specific missional statements and it would be really easy to tell if you agreed with it or not. I do believe faith based schools need to be very clear and up front about what they believe in and are looking for in teachers who are applying, I think schools like QSI that have major grey areas when it comes to who they hire and even Concordia with this vague "church membership" thing make it confusing for potential applicants.

As a Christian I have considered teaching at Christian international schools. All the schools I have looked at are clear about hiring teachers that agree with a statement of faith that they have available. I'm not really sure why that is being close minded. It's a school that follows a certain set of beliefs that are based on the bible. It's equally close minded to find the fact that they do that close minded and unacceptable. I do understand how that would make a Non-Christian uncomfortable with applying as quite honestly they would likely be uncomfortable with the whole culture of the school.

Wrong. They don't want you just to teach the ideology of it. They want your life to exemplify it. They want you to be able to show students how it has impacted your own life. It's totally different than any other kind of school setting. Teachers at evangelical Christian schools pray with their students when requested. You can't do that with any authenticity if it's not what you believe yourself. Again, with all due respect, it should not offend you if a Christian school will only hire Christian teachers. The same goes for any other religious school. It's way more than just teaching theory.

I don't understand why it would be unreasonable for a Christian school to expect their teachers will be Christians? It's a major part of the curriculum. If the school teaches about the Christian faith and Christian values, the teachers have to be on board.

Light stays- interesting you say that. I have one as well and I've really truly felt it gave me the best most quality experience I could have had. I'm not saying other schools out there don't offer something substantial, but I really got to work with the top innovators in education. My colleagues who attended more localized institutions tend to go much more by rote, don't think outside the box, and freak out with every challenge from authority. I wouldn't trade my degree for another from anywhere else. Its also opened nearly every door I've had professionally because of its big name.

Interesting. In my state in order to gain a professional/permanent teaching license you need two years of experience and a masters degree. You have five years to obtain it from beginning with a provisional license.

My masters degree was 2 years (4 semesters) past my undergraduate studies, exclusively education coursework. What is considered a masters in the UK?

Yep all this I know. I don't have any lofty or unrealistic expectations. Thankfully I believe I can just update my application year by year with not too much work. If it happens it happens...if not I'm fine with that too.

Thanks WDD. Your feedback is as always appreciated. I'm very passionate about what I do and I'm really good at it too. I think teaching is a calling not just a paycheck. Yes, PsyGuy I know we've argued this before but I never went into teaching for the money and I don't desire a DODEA job just because of the amazing benefits it offers. I want to work with other people who truly love teaching kids and I'd like to do that overseas and DODEA is my best bet due to my large family situation. But if I'm going to be working with people with the same attitude as PsyGuy I'll stay stateside. : )

Additionally though I'd be okay with doing the coursework to add a DODEA cert, I just don't want to put in actual years working in a Sped classroom for reasons memtioned above. Likewise my city has frozen our teaching licenses so even if I got the cert I couldn't teach it here right now.

I'm not interested in getting in the years of direct SPED experience because I would have to abandon my ELL kids to do that and working with ELLs is my passion. Would 8 years working with them me enough to turn the head of an elite school? Maybe I'll give it a shot. I'm happy here. If going overseas doesn't work out I'm okay with that, but I want to give it a try.

Sorry my typos are courtesy of my IPad.

I have extensive experience in ESL (US public school not overseas) along with a Masters in it. I have the DODEA qualification for ESL along with all elemtary grades, Spanish k-12 I also significant experience teaching elementary. I've just been on the fence as to whether I should add areas where I don't have experience. I'm leaning towards doing it because at the very least as WeDo Dude said it will help me be a better teacher

I'm basis my assertion on the international school thing based on speaking with someone at SEARCH well as what I've heard from people here. She told me if I didn't have my dependent situation they would have invited me to the fair of my choosing, but because of it they would have made me wait untill one of the last fairs and even then, a long shot.

I assumed based on what I've read here that Tier I schools only hire people already in the international school circuit without my family scenario. Not true?

In an attempt to not highjack a previous thread I'm going to post my question here. There's often been much discussion in reference to DODDS hiring and certs/cert combos. In higher need areas like mine (ESL) what amount of wight if any is placed on actual expertise? For example when a principal looks at everyone qualified for a particular position are they looking for the person with the most experience or just anyone who has the right license combo?

It seems like anyone can just whip through a few courses and gain another cert but it doesn't mean they have any experience in that area. I've pondered adding Special Ed or Early Childhood, but then I've also thought if there was a point to that being that I have no experience actually working with those populations. If ESL/reading/Elementary Spanish are the areas where I actually have significant experience should I just stick to those?

With that said I didn't hear about anyone hired for this school year with any of those so maybe I'm just experienced in the wrong area.

I would go the internstionl school route except I have no experience teaching overseas and three kids and a non teaching husband, so that's pretty much not going to happen.