I'm not being mean with this question, but why do you want to live in Europe?

The reason I ask is that Europe has lots of teachers who want to move there. Savings potential is low and taxes are high. Simple supply and demand.

Most IB schools require either a teaching degree and/or teaching certification. Some schools might not see your 2 years IB experience as experience as you were not officially qualified at that time.

If I were you, get some type of teaching qualification or certification. Others on the forum with more European experience can tell you what to do in more detail.

I'm general, a university degree may be important for your first job but it's really about experience and references. Teaching maths will mean that more doors can potentially open once you are seen as qualified with 2+ years experience.

What may be your biggest problem will be getting a work visa. That's why getting certification is so important.

The only one which I think is totally acceptable before an interview is getting permission to contact your references.

Any schools which asks for an expected pay amount of a big red flag for me. It really depends on the country and what amenities are offered.

Sending ALL OF THE OTHERS seems as a great way to steal information that makes up a lot of your identity

Also confirming that none of the schools which have contacted me seem like good schools. I also agree with the general statements about Linkedin being a place for job related self flagellation.

I will slightly push back on it not being at all relevant. Keeping your general info up there (such as what you teach and when you've worked at a particular place) I think is very helpful. It only takes a 5 minute update each year.

LinkedIn is a strange one. I've found that some of the better schools look you up before they contact you - which was the case from a few schools I've interviewed with. However - they all came through search associates. I have had schools contact me out of the blue for interviews on LinkedIn - but that's mainly for countries like China, Vietnam (unknown school) and the middle east.

So to put it simple. Have people got jobs from Linkedin - I think so. But it's just another tool - not THE tool

I have major reservations about the authenticity of this post (it's a sohu thread - think twitter on steroids!), but to be honest China is an authoritarian government so anything is possible.

To know if it's real - we'll start to see things in the China centric English press a couple of months before. Something similar happened when China introduced the A/B/C foreign visa scheme in 2017/18 from memory.

I'm probably wrong but I've noticed the following with major crackdowns in China. It often goes in the following direction.

(1) Major articles start to appear in Xinhua and to a lesser degree the Global Times about a specific vice that is affecting Chinese society.

(2) Some time and major tea leaf reading normally occurs with Chinese and the foreign press/expats trying to work out what is going on.

(3) 6 months later - a new law or strengthening of an older law occurs.

Something similar was seen with the severe restriction of gaming for kids that started a couple of days ago. Is there a problem in China with kids spending too much time (but the money spent on micro-transactions has probably got a lot to do with it) on computer games? Yes probably - but China makes it's own rules and it does not have the same western ideals of personal liberties.

I understand your pain - but this WILL NOT HAPPEN! (if you want to transfer already written confidential references)

Now that I could research this since I now know the companies name - it looks as though it is a teaching couples side hustle since covid started.

Hi All,

I was just scrolling through Linkedin when I noticed an odd post (apart from the vast majority of self praise or sycophantic posts) which piqued my interest.

It stated that they were looking for 100 international teachers for a new school and they would take a 30% cut of the wage. I unfortunately did not click on the scam to get more info.

Has anyone else come across other recruitment scams such as this?

Sid makes a great point that I think many people should seriously consider. Would it be better to consider saving $20-30K a year, living in a location you want to live in, at a school that you want to work at along with visiting places for holidays that you would like to travel to.

Saving 50K as a single parent with 2 dependent might allow for say - somewhere between 5-20 schools internationally that would allow this. Changing that to a slightly lower amount of 20-30K savings a year significantly would increase the number of schools on your potential radar.

There may be the main outlier school - but forget Western Europe. Taxes are high - but not as high as teacher demand in working here. I mentioned that there are no schools in Japan that would allow you to save 50K a year with 2 kids (Japan taxes tuition) but it's possible at two schools. The same is probably true at 2-4 schools in South Korea and 2 schools in Taiwan. 3-4 schools in Singapore are also probably the same.

One thing to seriously consider is being flexible with the year that you go overseas if you are focusing mainly in theater. There are not a large number of high quality theater teachers (say - compared to English teachers) but the jobs that come up are also less common.

For example - there may be 50-100 jobs that would allow you to save what you want as an English teacher each each - but specialist positions depends on the year. Some years you can count it one your fingers - other years its an embarrassment in riches.

I'm a Science teacher and have been to a number of fairs and Skype interviews. I've been to a fair one year and there were like 5 or so jobs that I was suitable for at a Bangkok fair (130+ schools) that year. Then I've gone to a London and a smaller fair in a secondary location and have ignored more that 5 interview requests. It depends on the year!

Do note that I'm happy that fairs are kind of dead and online fairs are not the future.

Your qualifications, methods and living situation have a lots of pushes and pulls compared to others. I'll try and break them down below but I'm sure others will have different views.

Your methods (English + Theater): English is one of the most common methods and the best schools often look for proven results either in A-Levels, DP etc. Theater is more specialized and is probably your ticket into the better schools as you'll have to sell your ability to put on flashy shows which are a major selling point of the better schools. I have heard of some drama/theater teachers losing jobs after average shows at the end of the school year.

Your Qualifications: Have a PHD from a major university ironically more important for the schools that you won't be working at. So call perceived lower tier schools will often look at the qualifications of a teacher as a selling point to parents. At the better true international schools - they will look at your experience. Not having experience putting on a show at an international school can be seen as a drawback as there are some 'so-called' rockstar theater teachers which bounce between the better schools.

Living Situation: Being a single parent puts further pressure onto that parent. If something happens to one of your kids - your out of class until your kids are back as you are their sole carer. Add on top of that a theater position which has a LOT OF OUT OF WORK HOURS and having two dependents is a major negative. Some schools might employ you for having kids with a foreign face - but they don't often pay what your looking for. In the time of covid - having two kids is taking two paying positions for some schools in for-profit schools

Pay Situation: To be honest - there are only a handful of schools where a single teacher can SAVE $50 K USD a year with two traveling dependents. Many of these schools are not in the best location (think Saudi Arabia) and people often spend lots of money on travel for a reason. I can tell you that NO SCHOOL IN JAPAN allows a single person to save $50K a year with 2 dependents. Don't forget that many countries in asia have tuition as a taxable benefit which significantly cuts down on potential savings. The only thing which may allow you to earn more is if your position gives you a significant pay increase over a normal teacher.

So are you hireable? Yes - but the number of ME and Chinese schools offering you a position paying 30 - 45 K a year before tax will be large. Looking for which schools that would allow you to save your desired amount would be interesting.

Hi EdwardTeach,

I think you misunderstood the last post by the other poster.

Most of the posters here are international teachers. That means that most have a 4 year degree in teaching, multiple years teaching experience and certification in their home country. This is for positions teaching primary and secondary schools - not universities.

TEFL certifications are helpful at language schools - but have almost no use at international schools.

Onto your main question - to the best of my knowledge there was some controversies in Indonesia at least a half a decade ago which made all international schools remove the word "international" from their name. It also increased the university qualifications and years experience so no - you cannot legally work at a private or public school with no teaching qualifications and get legal visa sponsorship.

If there are jobs in language schools - I suggest you look for an ESL Teaching forum.

As I like to be a fly on the wall to see how covid is affecting the new school year - I'd love to ask three different questions to get a snapshot on how things are going in different countries.

The questions are:

(1) Which country are you located at
(2) Have all teachers who had a job managed to get to the school (aka - visa problems or inability to employ people)
(3) Have student numbers increased, stabilized or decreased since last year?

It's probably be not to mention your actual school - but I will find it interesting to see potential results.

If I wanted a job in Europe, I'd prefer to have an EU passport than not have one. Think of it as opening 5 doors for every one that closes....

A local hire normally means you are a citizen of the EU and it will not include flights, accommodation and international medical insurance.

In general, there is less of a difference in pay and conditions in Europe compared to say Asia or the ME. Some schools employ the best teachers they can find, but why bother bringing in someone to the EU when there are thousands of Teachers that don't need a visa and the like.

To be honest - your real problem is not that you are from a non-English speaking background, it's that (as it appears to me - I may be wrong) you don't have a teaching degree. This means that almost any major international school will not employ you as you have not completed formal qualifications.

In general, the minimum expectation at international schools tends to be a teacher qualification (most of the time with certification) along with a minimum of 2 years teaching experience. Completing a qualification as you have mentioned will get you part of they way there, but then you will also need to work at a school that has proper credentials. These schools only tend to employ teachers who have specific qualifications and can teach in their home countries or country where they completed their degree.

Another thing to consider is what you will be qualified to teach. You mentioned that you like Drama and Visual Arts. Some people on this forum are free to correct me - but I do believe that these subjects are not "highly in demand" methods which will make it more challenging to get a job at what some people consider "high quality international schools".

I have come across many international teachers who speaks a language other than English as their main language. To be honest - the best schools tend to look for the best teachers so it's not always linked to your native language. I'd say that in a highly competitive method such as math or physics where there is a dearth of high quality staff - visa regulations might pose a bigger threat that schools employing you because of an Argentine/Italian passport.