I've been lucky enough to teach in some 'tier 1' schools, and they all had non native teachers in them. They were damn good teachers too, which I guess is why they were hired.Those that fall back on "but I'm a native speaker" - that tends to be all they have. So be confident that good schools will look at your teaching and not at your linguistic background.

As for the iPGCE, as long as you do one that has a teaching practicum element, you should be fine. Good luck !

If you're working in British schools, the NPQH is the accepted qualification for headteachers (even at top tier schools!). Not sure about your 'international one' though. Ask them where their alumni work - that should give you an idea.

As you can see from earlier comments, most Americans won't have heard of it, which I guess would hurt your chances if that's what you're after.

Phil wrote:
> Interesting! I would like to know more. Were they Swiss or German? What were their
> motivation for preferring Germany?

North Americans, Antipodeans, Brits, and yes a couple of Germans.

They had a range of motivations, from wanting to live in Germany, to career advancement, and some were following spouses who's companies had moved them on. In other words - the usual.

Phil wrote:
How often do you see French and German teachers moving to
> Switzerland to work? How often do you see Swiss teachers moving to France
> and Germany (granted, this does not tell us much about teaching at
> international schools, but it does say something about the perceived
> attractiveness of the respective countries)?


When I worked in Germany, my school was full of people who'd worked in Switzerland.

Rhysboy wrote:
> But I’ve heard that teachers salaries are high to offset the cost of living?

Bare in mind that the monthly minimum wage in Switzerland where these schools are is between 3800 to 4000 Eur ($4500 - $4800) - so many of these 'schools' pay their teachers barely above the minimum wage.

The issue is that most of the bottom tier schools in Switzerland are for profit boarding schools. They charge exorbitant fees (often in the 100s of thousands of US$ / CHF), pay their teachers less than the day schools, and treat the teachers extremely badly. They're often for profit money making machines, that hire semi-qualified teachers, and take on the children of the wealthy that the genuinely good boarding schools around the world don't want. While there are some exceptions to this, it does seem to be a very popular business model in Switzerland.

lol - my previous response was deleted as I mentioned some schools by name.

What I said was that there are some notable exceptions to the "avoid Swiss boarding schools" rule. It's true that many of the super expensive schools are shockingly awful babysitting services for the hyper rich. However there are some excellent Swiss boarding schools. Just be very careful when you're accepting a post.

What are you qualified to teach ? There are overseas schools that will take on NQTs.

Elysium82 wrote:
Their problem is that my PGCEi didn't have a practicum side.



Nottingham Uni by any chance ?


So many people have tried to warn against this, yet time and again people get sucked in.

How about training to be an EAL / English teacher, if that's what your degree is in ?

sciteach wrote:
> - you'd probably need to be closer to $150,000 SGD which does not exist
> unless you are in admin.

You sure ?

I know of schools that were offering $120,000 SGD or so over a decade ago. And that was just the salary and housing - not including the bonus etc

I remember someone expressing reservations about a post someone had made about this school which they found over the top. They were saying that hyperbolic postings about schools were suspicious. I remember agreeing. Needless to say several posters jumped to this school's defence, quite vigorously.

Clearly the reservations were well founded.

Maybe try the Assessment Only (AO) route for QTS. You might have to be in a British International School, but it's simple and once you've done it, that's it.
https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/study/shor ... route-qts/

my favourite thing to teach ?

Students

I never understood those that go into admin to get away from the kids. In my view, they're what makes the job worth doing - if I'd wanted an office job, I'd have gone into banking/IT like my college roomies and earned a lot lot more.

They still think that I'm mad for going into teaching.

sid wrote:
Certification only
> matters as a tick box item, so we can get you a visa. Otherwise I don’t care so much.

It's true that there are some great teachers that don't have certification, and some ropey ones that do. However just a short anecdote. When I asked the Head at the best international school I ever worked in what he'd done to improve the school, he replied, "Simple. I got rid of the unqualified teachers, and put the ones that were teaching outside their subject back in it." He'd been head of school in 3 different regions and has since retired. It ran like a smooth machine, and everybody knew exactly what they were doing. Parents and students loved the place.

I've since worked in several famous 'tier 1' schools with heads that have the same view as sid's. They've been great places to work, and I've really enjoyed them, but none of them have quite felt as effective - or frankly as good quality - as that first school.

I know plenty of folk that work in international schools, and many of them don't even have a real PGCE, let alone the NQT year. I really wouldn't worry about it.

The Green School in Bali sounds like a great fit for you - although you might have to apply as an EAL teacher or something as I don't think that they teach MFL. I've also heard of some interesting schools in India that sound like a good fit for you.

Anyway - good luck. It sounds as though you're about to embark on a great adventure !

How about instead they spend their energy resolving the issues that have caused people to post in the first place . . .

Just an idea