Yes, it's slower than normal in my estimation. Many positions that have at least one or two listings by now have none anywhere good. I think people are just staying put and/or school heads/principals are giving postings to internal candidates or friends they worked with at other schools.

It's a date Shawanda.

You know, it's sad but true, everything that Psyguy has stated in this thread. It's crazy that someone would have to work like a dog to learn all the facets of counseling only to be removed when the wife of the new head moves in, is bored, and wants a job; yet, I have seen this happen too many times. Being a gossiping wife is not a qualification for the role of counselor. Similar to my timely Halloween theory, if you are assessing the quality of an international school, look to see who the counselor(s) is(are) and if even one of them is related to the head or one of the principals, run in the other direction.

idonteven wrote:

> Yes, I'm sure their researching skills are terribly inadequate; it couldn't possibly
> be that they didn't care enough to bother Googling anything.
>
> Hopefully you will have the opportunity to regale us with your high school level
> researching skills in the future.

Took me three minutes genius. Have you gotten a job yet idonteven?

Gosh, I hope most of you don't teach high school students how to conduct research, because you are horrible at it.

This mystery is not hard to solve at all.

Hint 1: She mentioned the place could be referred to something in Portuguese. How many Portuguese speaking countries are there?! Starting with the most populous in terms of people and international schools, that leads us to Brazil.

Hint 2: What means little farm in Portuguese? Go to Google and you will find Rocinha, which is the name of Brazil's most famous favela (slum).

Hint 3: Rocinha has been in the news in recent weeks for massive violence (most newspapers are referring to it as open warfare in the middle of the city, which is spilling over into the city's most elite neighborhoods like Gavea) between drug gangs (Shawanda referred to these as animals) and the army:
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/25/roc ... -violence/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... and-police
http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/r ... st-favela/

Hint 4: What is right across the street from one of the entrances to Rocinha? Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro, the American School of Rio de Janeiro.

Hint 5: Going to Google News and typing "Escola Americana" brings up multiple articles in Portuguese about how the school was shut down for days because of the violence in Rocinha. Tanks were right one Estrada da Gavea, the road EARJ is on.

Shawanda, I pray you are safe and that the violence has now subsided. As international teachers, we all should be better informed about what our colleagues are facing in regions around the world. Even "great counties" can often see sudden or prolonged bouts of violence (anybody following Barcelona this weekend?).

Shawanda, assuming you are safe (safety first), what do I win for getting it right?

A lot are looking for 2018, not 2017.

They are teasing it on the website. I would assume it's going to be a virtual fair or something similar.

The quote in particular is this:

"Our new COO Rajiv Bhat highlighted the vital role that Search Associates will continue to play as international education evolves and grows. We seek to offer new and improved services this coming year, and are very excited in anticipation of a HUGE announcement this fall regarding a new service that will empower our member schools to recruit more efficiently."

What do you think?

PsyGuy wrote:

> You could also try switching associates if that dosnt work, there really isnt anything
> stopping you from claiming to live in a different associates territory (they will
> never mail/post you anything).

So true. They are masters without whips.

This is a question I asked myself in my first job, and I've asked it again and again as I've advanced in my career. I thought of it again this weekend when watching House Hunters International and the teacher was moving to a city in Europe to teach at that city's international school. This teacher was, to put it diplomatically, less than impressive.

Sadly, I can think of only one position I've held where I would be okay (not thrilled) with my colleagues teaching my child. At all of the others I would be terrified. The fact that the above-mentioned teacher got a cushy job in a European city furthered my perception that many a school are more interested in filling a position as cheaply as possible than they are in filling a position with a high quality educator/individual. This is of course true in all regions, not just Europe, but my point is that there are a lot of bad apples in education and when I first got into international education I assumed the best of the best would work the best locations because these schools could be picky. Now, I see that schools in great locations all around the world often don't take the effort to be picky - they want what the lowest of the low in China or Kuwait would want - someone who can do the job but not necessarily in a manner that is anything special. This speaks very poorly of primary and secondary education as a field if those in positions to fill roles are so much more interested in the short-term bottom line over the long-term value proposition they are responsible for providing to their students/parents. We need better educators and people going into education at all levels and in all regions. Sadly, the longer I stay in the field the more I see that education is not only not attracting the best, in many cases it's attracting some of the worst.

I realize most of you will say I am too picky or elitist, but that just proves my point: we should be getting elite people to teach the next generation. If we aren't then what we leave behind will be a lot worse than what we were given when we started out.I always saw education as a calling, but so many of my colleagues see it like a job at a factory - they put in their time and they leave. How uninspiring for the students, and it's no wonder that in the last fifteen years alone I've seen the quality of the students plummet the longer they stay in school.

I am so thankful to the original poster for creating this thread. I think the reason international school admins are so bad relative to even domestic school administrators is because of the feeling of transience of being international. They think they can be just evil and get away with it because no central authority (national government) is watching them because they are supra-national and in a few years they will be on another continent anywhere. They get away with murder (murder of schools that is) and then get a better gig to destroy another school a few years later. This is not failing up; this is murdering your way to the top.

If South America is in your sights there is no question that you should aim to go to the relatively early AASSA fair in Atlanta right after Thanksgiving. More information:

http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=481

http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=830

South America can be a wonderful place to live and most of the best South American schools recruit at this fair.

Good luck!

Two accountants in a row ruined my taxes because they are incompetent on the international rules. It's pretty pathetic. Don't go abroad and then back home and then abroad again. Either stay home or leave forever. By the way, forum members near and far, I'm back b****s!

The schools in Europe are all over the map - quite literally. Some hire before the fair (I once interviewed in Feb for a start date two Julys in the future and I once interviewed in Nov for the next July), and I've also interviewed for European jobs in July for a start date of a few weeks later! Good luck.

Remember @marina? She left for a US job that paid - Net (not Gross) $100,000. I wonder how that's working out sometime, but the fact that she has been MIA on this forum for months tells me sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side (and in this case, back in the USA).

Aren't all former directors liars? Most current ones too.