Gwenia,

Three dependents for a language arts teacher will be a tough sell. The fact that your children are not school age may help you as your children are not taking a seat from a full tuition paying student, which is far more expensive than airfares and the like.

I would encourage you to go for it, but keep an open mind. If your goal is to go overseas, then be open to the whole world. You have a better chance of landing a position in the Middle East or Asia. Indicating you are willing to negotiate on dependent benefits may help as well. In the past I have hired teachers in your situation but limited the number of annual airfares and the teacher had to pay out of pocket for health care. It may be a situation where you can stay at a post until your youngest is ready for school. Depending upon the city, you may have to live VERY frugally as the cost of living is high.

There is no such thing as a substitute license. Saying he is available to sub will not help you. A better bet for you if you get a position would be for him to tutor. You can make the same if not more money than subbing and he could have more flexibility over his schedule, so he could tutor when you can be home with the kids.

Good luck in your search. Casting the widest possible net will increase your chances.

Nomads

kloste,

What degrees you get should be based on what you want to do with them. A B of ed in biology with chemistry would be strong. A chem/physics degree or chem/math degree are probably the best, but bio with chem is a need area. The only real reason to get an ed leadership degree is if you want to move into admin at some point. Technology certificate is fine, but not essential. I would recommend getting a masters degree, just to have one. It will not help your job search enough to justify the money and time. I would recommend you wait until you find an area you are passionate about.

As you mentioned experience is generally more important that degrees, although most of the top tier schools require the a bachelor's in education and certification.

Any experience you can get with students is great, particularly if it can be some form of student activities; coaching, Model United Nations, debate, student government.

Climberman,

Unless you have three children and a non-teaching spouse, I agree with gengrant that there is probably something in your references. I was at the Cambridge fair as a recruiter. There were a number of math openings and your IB experience would be highly valued. The fact that no one responded to your applications in October, November also indicates it is an issues with the references.

If the offer is in a country where you feel safe, take the offer. The recruiting season is winding down. The odds of you getting an offer with similar benefits in a better school/country is pretty low.

Good school, solid administration and faculty. The students are largely culturally Asian/Taiwanese. The current admin has tried to create an environment similar to an a East Coast Prep/Private school. The compensation package is quite good.

As a recruiter with ten years experience, the recruiting season is coming down the home stretch. Virtually all the positions at the top schools have been filled.

People do get hired in March and April at these schools, but this is generally due to late resignations. The jobs available now are largely at tier 3 schools.

I would wait until the end of the second interview. Asking before that sends the wrong signal. Most schools that are interested will provide basic information during the second interview.

Schools almost always contact the finalists with the outcome generally with an emailIf it has gone past a week they may have offered the position to another candidate and are waiting to her the other person's decision.

You can contact them if you want, but they obviously have your information and will contact you if they want to offer you a position.

MidTMike,

Yes, being away from the classroom for 15 years will be a drawback for most schools. There have been changes in instructional and assessment strategies (Readers/writers workshop for example). The best advice I can give is take any job you can get, gain experience and then you can go after more established schools and/or more desirable countries.

Most schools require checking references with a phone call. Make sure you have home or cell numbers for your references as well. The recruiters often need to make the reference checks on the week-end.

Bellarex,

If you may come back to the states, you definitely want a program that leads to certification. The state does not matter and does not have to be the same as your teaching certification due to the Inter-state compact. The only caveat would be if you know you are absolutely going to return to a particular state, then try to get a program in that state.

An international school focus is nice but not necessary for international schools.

I personally do not know of fully online ed leadership programs that lead to state certification. For most programs like this they do want you to take a few classes in residence, but these course are over summer break.

I would recommend you check out Plymouth State University, Lehigh University, and College of New Jersey. In have known people who have graduated from these over the years and have been reasonably happy with the programs.

Mrbrian,

The window is still open, but the majority of the jobs will be filled in the next three weeks. Next week-end are two of the largest fairs in Iowa and Cambridge, MA followed by Boston ISS. Most of the top tier schools are done after these fairs. The San Francisco fairs are in two weeks, which are the end of the major fairs.

Having said that some schools do not always find suitable candidates and there are late resignations. My advice is to check the school websites of the places you most want to go. Email the principals directly with your resume. If you do it early this week, you could be interviewed by Skype and considered along with the candidates at the fairs.

Word is your bond.

Play out the scenario a bit more. Imagine the second school contacting your references, only to hear "He has already taken a position with another school." The admin at the second school now questions your integrity as well as your current admin. You better hope they don't know the admin at the school where you accepted the position.

International education is a surprisingly small community. Once you get a negative reputation, it is very hard to repair it. If you are good enough to get an offer at a top school at this point, you will get an offer in two years once you fulfill the contract you committed to in January.

UM2001,

You are certainly viable for an admin position in an international school and having a spouse in a high need position helps. You will be battling two things, though. One, many international schools like to promote from within whenever possible. While you will see ads for vice-principal positions, a number of them will go to internal candidates. The second issue is the lack of overseas experience. International teachers and students are different from US public school teachers. I have seen a number of stateside admin transition successfully overseas and I have seen a number fail. Do you research to understand the difference so you can be ready to discuss it at your interviews.

The best way to land a position is to keep and open mind and be willing to consider a wide range of schools and countries. What at first glance may not appear to be a desirable country or school can be a great opportunity. Obviously, the top European and Asian schools will have the most competition, but do not be deterred from applying as you never know what they are looking for as BlueJay's success indicates.

Ignore higgsboson. International schools are a small community and your integrity is vitally important.

Reneging on a verbal commitment can lead to the major search firms refusing to accept you as a candidate and admin have long memories. You never know where you will run into them again.

In this case, being open and honest with all schools led to a favorable outcome.