Not that unusual, no. I've had it happen to me before. Some people just like to be nice. It may, or most likely may not, have any bearing on your chance of success. It's true that schools are more likely to ignore you than acknowledge but it sounds like this recruiter is conscientious. Or, possibly, desperate. Perhaps even both?

PsyGuy wrote:
> @wilcoman
>
> No, new ISs dont start at the top or the middle of the tier hierarchy they
> start at the bottom.

Would you say there are, however, ways to jumpstart that?

Concordia Shanghai has been mentioned on this thread. Concordia Hanoi is new but has built up a reputation very quickly. That link seems to have made the teething troubles much smoother than in most start-up schools. I know friends who have moved there from tier 1 schools and they rave about the place. Again though, it has the Christian values like their Shanghai sister school.

I'd say Concordia is not a tier 1 for me because of the Christian values bit. However, it would certainly be so for a committed Christian teacher. They are objectively excellent schools if you take out that Christian part with great packages, facilities and international renown. I wouldn't work there, but then I wouldn't work in schools in some ME countries because I'd have to adhere by local laws. I'm not sure it's a massive difference...if the school or the location demands certain behaviours that are free in the west but restricted or illegal there, then it's a no go for me. So for me, Concordia isn't a tier 1 nor is AS Dubai. For others, it would fill all the boxes if that one aspect wasn't an issue.

expatscot wrote:
> A couple of points....
>
> From my school's experience, recruiting quality Geography teachers has been
> more difficult in recent years than Biology or Languages - in particular,
> with IGCSE / DP experience. For politics, although there is an A Level
> politics course in England it is not widely studied below that so the
> number of teachers who teach this is limited (appreciate it might be
> different for AP in the US though.)
>
> For me, if you're not using the IB system then the only core subjects
> should be English and Maths (and even then, there is a question of whether
> there should be any core subjects at all - if someone is doing Physics at
> HL, if you're trying to promote a balanced education why do they need Maths
> at HL too, or even Maths Studies? Why English in an IS, ahead of their
> native tongue?)

With IGCSE/IB aren't you mostly restricting yourself to UK teachers? Sure, some others might have taught IGCSE but not that many. If you are looking for IGCSE experience then you are already narrowing your focus.

As for why English in an IS? It's one of the main reasons for them. Parents want their kids to learn in English and be proficient in them. ISs hire teachers that think that way too. So, a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle. There's a bit of neocolonialism at the heart of the international school system that it's hard to deny. Ultimately, the idea is that western education at the IS = better than the local system is rife in many countries. Wanting your kid speaking first language level English is part of that, wouldn't you say?

I feel there's far too little talk about equestrianism and aboriginal languages this time around.

That was my favorite part of the other thread!

PsyGuy wrote:
> That literature/physics argument doesnt work very well, yes there will
> never be that many physics positions compared to literature, but your
> neglecting that physics ITs can teach more than just physics, to include
> general science, earth/space science, maybe chemistry (the hard part of
> chemistry is the stoichiometry, and thats math and thats something physics
> ITs are good at), plus ancillary subject areas such as engineering,
> robotics, etc. When an IS doesnt have a designated DT/CSI program its
> usually the maths or the physics IT that flip a coin to decide who takes
> it.
>
> No they will not ALL take maths at HL, they will all take maths but they
> will also ALL take science. Not every student will take physics at DIP
> level but there is a lot of science in secondary that physics ITs can
> offer.
>

My point wasn't that being a lit teacher suddenly becomes more valuable that being a physics teacher. Merely that it's a very different scenario for an experienced teacher than a newbie. If you're GOOD and you can back it up, then there's a lot of jobs to go for. Get 10 years IB + Master's + IB experience + IB examiner and factor in the number of jobs available each year, and I'm not too sure that's such a bad position to be in.

monkeycat - I think elementary posts and some of the social sciences are considered the easiest to fill. Elementary because of the sheer number of teachers available and social sciences because there are, say, a lot of history teachers but few positions in each school. English has a lot of teachers so it's obvious up there, but also a lot of positions.

So, while Physics or Chem teachers are the rock stars early on in their career, an argument could be made that if you are an experienced teacher of English with IB experience, tier 1 experience, IB examiner experience and so on, then you might be in a great position as you have jobs in nearly all schools to aim for and most of the competition isn't worth worrying about as they won't have the experience/background and so on. There'll never be as many physics openings so it might be that the schools you really want to aim at simply might not be an option that particular year.

Ultimately, I don't think you can beat being an IB HL Math teacher. A lot of Math teachers can't even teach that level (or choose not to, not sure which) and there are always lots of openings as it is one of two full core subjects along with English. Not every student will take physics at IB level, but they'll all take English and Math.

PsyGuy wrote:
> Actually saw this happen and it as at a tier 1 IS, one of the maths ITs
> ended up with sepsis after a gall bladder infection and removal, and it so
> happened one of the ISs year two ITs came from a maths DT background and
> had just transitioned into lower primary over the years because they
> enjoyed working with that age group more. They got reassigned out of their
> year two classroom and ended up spending most of the year teaching lower
> secondary maths.

Fair enough, seems an exceptional case.

The OP's experience seems to suggest it's routine at their new school and no real notification given. I'm pretty sure there were discussions related to the reassignment with the teacher. Their case sounds more like deception, whereas your experience was obviously an unforeseen, unfortunate situation. Perhaps that was the case with the OP as well however, but that hasn't been communicated.

Psyguy, now I might have got completely the wrong end of the stick here but I'm really not sure that the OP was looking for rankings of aboriginal language teachers or equestrian coaches.

Some flexibility is normal, of course.

Moving from "kindergarten to high school math" is not. If a "tier 1" school does that, then perhaps it's not quite tier 1. I've not heard of a radical change like that in anything other than a basket case school. Especially without any communication having taken place with the IT!

twoteachers and mysharona - best not to take it personally. They have tons of teachers wanting an interview with them and none of those teachers want to take no for an answer. A few years down the line with more experience/a better school on your resume and you'll be a different proposition. The difference between my first fair and my second fair was substantial. I had another five years of experience to go to bat with.

Experience counts for a lot. You don't need tier 1 experience to get into a tier 1 school, but you do need to have something that makes you stand out from the crowd on the resume. Those leaders that have been mentioned, it should be noted, run excellent schools and are highly respected by their faculty. You're not likely to get to know them at their best at a job fair signup session.

Doctor - how do you know it is "your" job that was reposted? Instead of it being two positions that were available?

Is your job role the only one in the school?

It can certainly help you when starting off in the profession and get your foot in the door. Once in the job it can count against you as people will think that is the reason that you got hired so, you better be able to back it up in reality. Then again, some people always look for a reason why such-and-such a person was hired, whether it be gender, hobbies, nationality, height, looks or whatever. Nine times out of ten they are just one minor aspect of the whole.

Looks help get the foot in the door, but most schools worth their salt would be scratching below the surface.

Certainly a few years ago there were quite a few of the major tier 1 Asian schools at the London and Boston fairs. They were hiring a lot of teachers, too. It might be that hard to fill positions might be gone by then, but they seem to enjoy the circuit enough to keep it going to the states. Some even go on to the SF fair.

That was 2016. Not sure if it's changed much or not. Doubt those heads will be giving up their international travel anytime soon, though.

That's incredible. I'm befuddled, discombobulated and gobsmacked.

For the first time in the history of ISR, PsyGuy has described ISS without uttering the words, "Boutique experience".

I didn't think it was possible. We live to proven wrong.

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