TeacherGal wrote: > I don't really know how to tell if a program is quality or not.

Some schools give bios of all their staff, including what degrees they have and where they got them from.

Might be worth looking at some of the good and less good schools to see if there are any patterns ?

I know it's an old fashioned idea, but how about picking a masters based on the quality of the course?

How you apply can sometimes have an impact. Going through Search / ISS as if you are out of the country can help when you're negotiating.

I remember about 8-10 years ago my HoS telling me that when they went to job fairs they would have people in tears begging for jobs as they'd been laid off at home and needed to feed their families. We had a lot of teachers back then that didn't really want to teach overseas, but had to to put food on the table. They've mostly gone back to the states now.

Since then, I've read articles about teacher shortages in the US, UK, NZ, and even Australia and Canada. I was just wondering if there had been any knock on effect in international teaching?

I remember a couple of years ago lots of talk about there being an upcoming shortage of teachers what with all the new international schools opening etc.

Any news on that front? How's it been over the last couple of seasons? Any predictions for next year?

I've known plenty of unqualified / uncertified teachers get jobs in good schools. Even ones that claim that they only hire teachers with certification.

Being a 'good fit' is what counts. By that they mean you get on well with colleagues, admin, students, and the parents don't complain about you.

If you're charming enough and can sell yourself, then Search will take you on and plenty of even 'top tier' schools will hire you.

Yes, that is one way to get around it. A brown envelope stuffed with cash or free places at the school for the children of senior officials are two other methods I've also seen work. Sometimes, however, if the political winds are blowing in the wrong direction then nothing will work. But as Psyguy points out, the school will likely know and so won't offer you a position even if they would like to.

The issue won't be the schools, but rather some countries. In order to get a work permit in some countries you need a degree in the subject you're teaching. Whether an engineering degree would be considered acceptable might depend on a range of factors, which might include what the person processing the paperwork has had for breakfast that morning.

I think that the thing is, most recruiters seem to prefer meeting the teachers face to face before offering them a job.

What would be a not antiquated way of hiring teachers? The problem with e-fairs is that it's quite a superficial way of meeting someone. Ok for an intro, and to get an idea, but there is something lost if you're just chatting to someone on skype or similar.

It's been a great read - thank you :-)

Out of interest, is it a fair that you'd recommend to others with similar levels of experience?

If you look at the description of the January London Search job fair, it says this:

CURRICULUM
Recruiters attend seeking mostly to hire teachers whose experience is consistent with the fair's curriculum focus (see above). Teachers lacking this experience can sometimes be successful if they offer shortage expertise as first choice - Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics HL, French plus Spanish, Early Childhood and KG, Music, Elementary PE, Elementary Art & Design, Special Education, Counselors, Apple-experienced technology integrators, and Librarians


https://www.searchassociates.com/intern ... n-january/

They don't seem to mention Equestrian Specialists, but I'm sure that's just an oversight on their part . . .

mysharona wrote:
> There is more learning happening when kids learn to code than simply
> learning a particular coding language. Whether its applicable 20 years
> from now isn't the point.

Yes, and I'm sure that I benefitted from it immensely when I did it 30 years ago or so. It's not new - I really wish people would stop pretending that it is.

As for it really benefitting young children, the latest research is far from encouraging. I'm sure that 30 years from now, the idea of giving a 6 year old an ipad to play with all day will be put in the same "I can't believe that they used to do that" category as smoking in an enclosed space with babies, or putting gin in a baby's bottle of milk to get them to sleep.

I remember 'coding' - or programming as it was called - when I was at school several decades ago.

I went into our school's new maker space and design lab and looked at some of the stuff the kids were doing. It looked remarkably similar to stuff I'd seen years ago, but with a slightly more '21st century' package.

It's all a load of nonsense - after all, any coding done by a 6 year old now will be totally irrelevant once they're 26. Looks good on the school prospectus though.

Sounds very British to me.

RE: Humanities - too true. Although I've had quite a few ex-Science teachers as admin too. The Science ones have tended to be the better ones - or at least my favorites. Saying that I've had some good Humanities ones too. (Does Geo count as a Science or Humanity?) Math is rarer, but they've also generally been pretty good.
Very few Languages (A or B) or Design / Arts admin though. Had quite a few PE back home, but not since coming overseas.

As for your second question, I've found that the ones who are good at their jobs aren't at all like that. It's the insecure ones that are. Bit like teachers, I guess. I've also been lucky over the years to not have come across too many.