Search found 325 matches

by Walter
Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:51 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?
Replies: 35
Views: 44417

Re: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?

There is no centralized list. For any of the organizations to host one would be in contravention of labour law in many parts of the world. However, I do know that heads make their own lists based on advisories that come out on a regular basis. Most of the advisories are pretty vanilla and simply give a name and tell other heads to make contact before hiring. There are a few, though, that are quite specific. Most often, these latter are about student safety issues.
by Walter
Sun Feb 11, 2018 12:29 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?
Replies: 35
Views: 44417

Re: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?

@vandsmith The answer is that if I really liked a candidate and subsequently discovered him or her to be on the list we keep, then I'd check with the head and with the candidate. It would certainly not be in the candidate's favour if the time at that school were "forgotten" on the resume.

@dave "I only comment from personal experience and reliable and trusted sources..." Not sure that your stories and the stories of your imaginary friends really count as data, David.
by Walter
Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:35 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?
Replies: 35
Views: 44417

Re: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?

Dave, Dave, with all due respect (which is deep code for absolutely none at all), you are not and never have been a school administrator, much less a school head, so you have no idea about the messages that come through head.net or aish.net.

I do agree - and have never argued to the contrary - that there is no official blacklist. I know, though, that some/many heads do what I do when the alerts come by e mail saying "If you receive an application from Teacher J, please contact me before proceeding": they forward the e mail to their HR Department, and the name is added to a growing list. This is not an attempt to "fear-monger"; rather, it is advice that it is always best to leave a school on good terms.
by Walter
Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:40 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?
Replies: 35
Views: 44417

Re: Go for 2nd tier in 2nd choice city or hold out?

@Dave "The truth is very, very far away from there being any kind of blacklist. Probably the closest there is to it is every year a couples messages get posted on AISH from X IS that if someone is working with or recruiting Y IT to contact X IS. Thats a couple times a year, but the membership of AISH is a few hundred members."

My dear Dave,
I'm sorry to say that you're woefully wrong in terms of the number of alerts. These come out at a rate of at least 6-8 a month through aishnet and headnet. The most serious ones relate to child safety issues; the majority concern teachers who have skipped out of their obligations. You should also know that because of the plague of child abuse in schools everywhere, there is ever-increasing pressure on heads of schools to call at least a couple of previous employers, while the so-called gap year (which may be a ghosted year in a candidate's resume) is seen as a big red flag for recruiters. Now I've no doubt that you will dislike the data that is presented and make your usual cry of "administrator scare tactics", but these are the facts.

You are right, though, that this is by no means a failsafe process. I think I told you about the late-hire teacher who was fired for gross incompetence from his job in North East Asia. After his departure, the head of school discovered that the bloated list of educational qualifications from Texas in his resume were, shall we say, exaggerated and the references were also falsified. The name of this teacher was published across the usual list serves , and the recruitment agencies were alerted, yet said teacher still got a job at a 3rd tier school in Japan - simply because the head of school wasn't in the e mail chain. So, as you say, there is life after being outed as a dodgy teacher.
by Walter
Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:12 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: downsides of working at national schools?
Replies: 5
Views: 7862

Re: downsides of working at national schools?

@YoPreachTeach "If the student body is say 95% local even if they teach IB they wouldn't be considered international , is what I'm understanding you wrote. So, that could jeopardize my experience as an International school teacher if I stayed there over 2 years."
Well I'm not sure that's what Dave said, but if it is, let's just assume he "misspoke" himself.
There are dozens of arid doctoral dissertations on the subject of what are the defining characteristics of an international school, but here are the usual culprits:
An international student body
An international faculty
An international curriculum
An internationally minded philosophy
One of the established United World Colleges (Atlantic or Pearson for example) would hit the 100% score on every line, but beyond that there are many so-called international schools that would struggle to match every single criterion. If a predominantly local student body means a veto, then there are scarcely any international schools in South and Central America and far fewer international schools in the Middle East. Chadwick, Dwight, Branksome Hall and North London Collegiate in South Korea would also fall foul of this rule, and yet all of these are plainly "international schools".
In short, going to an international school with a large local population is by no means necessarily a "bad thing", and it would certainly not be a bar to employment in other international schools later in your career.
by Walter
Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:40 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Where to go from here and how to find it?
Replies: 16
Views: 28206

Re: Where to go from here and how to find it?

Dave, you do brighten up my vacation. Your comments re SEARCH reminded me of your old line about how it was a good job I wasn't drinking something when I read them or the bubbles would have come out of my nostrils...
by Walter
Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:29 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Best Recruitment Sites
Replies: 20
Views: 46556

Re: Best Recruitment Sites

@Dave
"ISS is smaller and repps the better ISs (even if all they are providing a school is Recruiting Services) ISS has the "better" schools, as they have a higher bar/standard on what schools they will represent.
...ISS also has higher standards for what teachers they will accept, generally ISS doesnt accept teachers who arent currently employed. ISS works a lot more personally to help you find a job, assuming your worthy. They are a boutique experience, they either are very attentive or they ignore you…I'm a member of ISS."

There is only one person in the world of international education who maintains this to be the case, but he takes every opportunity to repeat this tripe. (Could it have anything to do with the fact that SEARCH expelled him several years ago?) For all its faults, and they are many, if you wish to use an agency to help you get a job as a international teacher, then SEARCH is your best bet.
by Walter
Mon May 22, 2017 4:57 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: When to Stay?
Replies: 15
Views: 28311

Re: When to Stay?

@wt123 Spoken like someone who had never been anywhere been for longer than two years (and a lot less than that in some cases, "run like an Egyptian") before getting a DoDDS gig.
Dave's DoDDs position, like his claim to having worked in Cape Town, is part of his myth-mongering.
Nearly as ridiculous is his idea that recruiters take no notice of how many times teachers have hopped from job to job. Those who do so are likely to find themselves in Tier 3 land forever - just like.....
by Walter
Wed May 17, 2017 3:16 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Visiting an IS
Replies: 29
Views: 47397

Re: Visiting an IS

Dave and quantitative - - you're such a fraud. You're the data boy. Well I don't believe there are people out there who have made a school visit under the false pretext of being parents of imaginary children and then scammed jobs during a walkabout with an administrator. So tell us. How many and in which schools. And none of your "trusted sources", who may be more accurately described as "trusted imaginary friends".
by Walter
Tue May 16, 2017 2:09 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Visiting an IS
Replies: 29
Views: 47397

Re: Visiting an IS

@Dave, why on earth would you want to begin what could become an employee/employer relationship with a stupid, pointless lie? How could this “advice” possibly help someone?
"My advice is to present yourself as potential parents who want to enroll a child, and then let it drop that you are a IT/DT as well. Regardless. Dont just drop by, but contact the admissions office or leadership through the posted application system."

What would be the first questions an administrator would ask if you managed to see one on such a pretext? “How old are your children?” “Who do you work for?” “When are you being relocated here?” “Where do you live?” “Where do your children go to school?”

How many lies do you plan to tell? And then, miraculously, you manage to scam a job. Of course that would be as a local hire since you’re coming to the country anyway or you’re in country. Next question: “Where are your children?”

Or what about your next gambit? “I’m asking on behalf of a friend.” The same series of questions. The same lies. Then you drop the line that you’re looking for a job as well. Do you really think that people wouldn’t see through a gambit so transparent?

As it happens, I have no problem showing prospective candidates around school. Why would I? And if I’m not available, someone else would. From time to time, after a long and arduous process, I’ve even hired one or two. So why not tell the truth? If it works, good for you. If it doesn’t, so what?

Your advice to others is always the same: lie, cheat, fraud, deceive – even when there is no purpose in it. Eventually people like you get caught out – as did that teacher I mentioned a while ago – who claimed on his resume to have worked in places that didn’t exist, had referees that didn’t exist and boasted of qualifications from Texas he hadn’t earned.

“A pathological liar is someone who compulsively tells lies or fabricates information. They may not be completely rooted in reality, believing the lies they tell, often in an effort to remedy low self-esteem. To spot a pathological liar, pay attention to their behavior and body language, such as excessive eye contact. Also, listen for any inconsistencies in their stories. Problems like substance abuse, and a history of unstable relationships, are all indications someone may be a pathological liar.”
by Walter
Fri May 05, 2017 11:46 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Trouble getting child's transcripts released from the school
Replies: 18
Views: 31531

Re: Trouble getting child's transcripts released from the sc

Dave, Dave, you do get snippy when you're challenged. Have you ever tried camomile tea or ovaltine when you're having one of those days?
Eion is the first name of the (male) captain of England's one day cricket team, and Padraig is the first name of one of Ireland's (male) great golfers, so I assumed that this contributor was also male. But you're probably right...
As for the questions, Dave, I wasn't asking you, I was asking the OP. So be a good boy (I know you're male, Dave, since I've seen your photo on your resume) and let us see the answers before you start with another of your blurts.
by Walter
Fri May 05, 2017 3:04 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Trouble getting child's transcripts released from the school
Replies: 18
Views: 31531

Re: Trouble getting child's transcripts released from the sc

Dave, Are you sure eion_padraig is a she? That would be a first.
A copy of IB results is just that. It isn't a transcript, and that's what most non-European universities would require.
It would be helpful to have more information in order to suggest ways forward. Otherwise you're just going to have Dave blurting out solutions with a degree of certainty that only he can fake.
1) What is the cause of the problem?
2) Who at the school (at what level in the hierarchy?) is giving you the runaround?
3) Where is the application going?
4) Is the school accredited?
5) Does it belong to one of the regional associations?
6) Is it proprietorial?
by Walter
Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:33 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Negativity in the workplace
Replies: 85
Views: 138518

Re: Negativity in the workplace

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings:
"Its not like working a corporate job with billion coin contracts, or peoples lives are at stake. Its basically walking children through a textbook. If your working at a lower tier IS you dont have to do very much, basically show up on time and give high marks."
Classic advice from Dave. If you want a life at bottom-feeder schools - six months here, twelve months there - where all the owners want is a person who speaks English, then this is how you should view the job. If you want to work at a school where education is valued, then, believe me, you will NOT be walking children through a textbook.
And in return for the long holidays that Dave so looks forward to:
"Lots of long breaks and vacations, compared with 10 days leave you find in corporate life. When your an IT no matter how toxic it gets 2.5 months off at summer is a summer I dont have to deal with them."
In top flight schools you will often be working beyond the seven hour day that Dave enjoys. No other profession gets such extraordinary holidays, and there will be times after school when you need to be assessing and preparing and reporting in order to give the students what they need. That's how you earn the holidays.

Senator Ted, working with you would certainly appeal to my sense of humor. It would be like hiring Darth Vader.
by Walter
Sat Apr 29, 2017 11:36 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Negativity in the workplace
Replies: 85
Views: 138518

Re: Negativity in the workplace

@Senator Ted, what a priceless contribution on "Negativity in the Workplace":

"There seems to be 2 tribes of newbies: The young ones who seem to have as their only skill set being able to suck up to their superiors, and the older ones who couldn't hack "the real world" so they thought they might give teaching a go (since, after all, anyone can teach, right?). This second tribe is even more skilled at ass kissing, due to their years of humiliating themselves in the corporate world, and as bad, know how to screw over their colleagues."

Is it true that you missed out on a part in "Grumpy Old Men" because you were just too miserable?