It's going to depend on (a) the school, and (b) which part of it you're in (primary or secondary).

If it's secondary, and by the looks of your post it is, then it's not so much of a problem if the school does IBDP. Your experience in IBDP is directly transferable to IGCSE - and if the school's any good they will have looked at the IGCSE content and exams and worked out how they link from IGCSE to DP. I don't agree with @finedude - ultimately, the school is interested in your IBDP ability, and if you can teach that then it's a fair assumption that you can teach IGCSE and KS3 too. If the school does A Level, then it is more difficult but not impossible.

If it's primary, then you will have a lot more difficulty with this. I've seen American teachers hired into English curriculum schools and really struggled with it, particularly on the assessment side and also if the school is particularly rigid with the curriculum. Equally, English trained teachers find the less structured American curriculum difficult to deal with and understand.

One other thing to bear in mind is your age. Certainly in China, and also possibly the ME too, a lot of countries won't let you stay beyond 60 (or at least not without a lot of hassle.) If you're looking at covering your kids through university, then that is something to bear in mind.

Nationality can both be a positive and a negative. It can be useful as it shows that you won't have a problem getting a visa to work in the country - some have weird restrictions, like China's one on requiring language teachers to have a passport from a country which speaks that language, causing problems occasionally for South Africans teaching English. On the other hand, it can allow latent prejudice to appear.

I think marital status could be included, because of the visa impact and whether or not they want to foot the bill for a dependant - same thing as for kids, schools need to know if you're going to cost them in terms of a place so want to take that into account.

FWIW, Search aren't now asking for photos on their redesigned website, but still recommend it for the CV anyway.

If the school has influence, they could use it to open the visa office. I know of one school which had a number of staff in one particular location, all of whom had their PU letters but because of lockdown the local visa office was closed and they also couldn't travel to the one in the capital, which was open. So the school pulled some strings and kicked some butts - I think using parental influence, though nobody's quite sure - and the local office was reopened for one day only to process the visas.

Might be worth finding out if there's more than one new member of staff coming from that country.

OK - a couple of extra points following on from your previous post.....

> Just to clarify - yes, my husband will be joining me, however he won’t be
> relying on my income. He can do his current job online, or (depending on
> our location) could possibly find his own employment. He works in finance.

However, he'll still need a visa to enter a country as a spouse and then work there. He would need to ask his employer to check out the visa position if he works online - some will require a visa for him to continue working, even online, others might not (France, for example, does require this). The school might help, but it would depend.

> Our plan was always to look into moving overseas once our kids all finished
> school (3 kids) but, much to our surprise, our youngest has expressed an
> interest in joining us. This would turn our 4.5 - 5 year plan into a 2.5
> year plan. He would be in his second last year of school when we move, and
> he wants to gain entry into university after high school (so assuming he
> does join us, a good school for him is important).
> Asia would suit us due to ease of travel to Aus to visit family, but
> included flights in employment package is by no means a deal breaker.

So you do have to be aware of the effect of moving at this point on a teenager. Academically, he'll go into Y12 / IBDP year 1, which isn't a problem. However, you need to think about what's available for them to do - from experience, the last thing you want internationally is a bored teenager! Look carefully at the cities you are applying to as well.

> I’ll have about 7-8 years teaching experience by the time we move. Not a
> lot, but more than a little I suppose. I also have an environmental science
> degree, however no real experience in that field of work.

Depending on your teaching qualification, that might help. It could mean you're qualified to teach some science (biology, maybe?) or Environmental Systems and Societies at IB, possibly also Geography. That depends on your own confidence too.

So a couple of things first....

You have a teenage son, so you need to think about the timing of doing this. You say in a couple of years - what stage will he be at? Will he be entering at, say, IGCSE (so about 14 or 15) or IBDP (16 or 17)? Like any parent, you want a good education for your son, so I'm assuming this is a priority for you. This does have a bit of a limiting effect, in that the schools you are likely to prefer for him will normally be fairly competitive to get into.

Also, do you have a partner coming with you? Are they a teacher, or a trailing spouse? The reason I ask is if they are the latter, then you will be considered an 'expensive' hire for many schools and some simply won't look at you, experience or not.

In terms of countries, you want it to be somewhere warm - so you're looking at SE Asia or the Middle East. Most of the countries in those areas usually have a good demand for native English speaking teachers. Also much of SE Asia is on the same/close time zone to WA so easy to keep in touch with relatives and friends at home!

You are more likely to want to be in an international / private school, as much for your son's sake as anything else.

The standard benefits you should look for would include a school place, accommodation or accommodation allowance, health insurance for you and your family, and at least one return flight per year for all of you (this is what I mean by being an expensive hire - the more people the school has to cover who are not employed by them, the higher the cost to the school with not much benefit.) Personally, I wouldn't consider a school that didn't offer at least health insurance. They don't vary much - but in China, some of these which have previously been tax free will now be taxed and it's not clear yet how this is going to be implemented.

You don't need to be familiar with either the British / American / IB system, though it will help you if you have an understanding of it. In primary, this is less of a concern than at IGCSE/IBDP level, TBH. You could look at doing the IB PYP Category 1 course - not essential though, as most schools will look at getting you through it anyway. In terms of additional qualifications, as you're in Australia I would look into the TESMC qualification for EAL teaching - it seems to be the 'buzz' qualification just now so if it's available to you in your current role, I'd take it.

Finally, the COVID warning - even though you are looking a couple of years in advance, just be aware of the restrictions in place at present. Hopefully they won't be around - but there's no guarantee of it. Make sure you are all vaccinated and get any boosters which might be needed.

I'm kind of at Heliotrope's point. I know that staying here would be easy, that I know the kids well, I'm pretty trusted, and I can see some great things coming up. But on the other hand, I've been here a few years now, family requirements have changed and we're more able to move, and frankly it just feels like time. I can answer all of sciteach's questions are yes, but it just still feels like the right thing for me to do. TBH, this is the longest I've been in one place of employment in all my working life, including before becoming a teacher, so maybe I just get itchy feet every few years!

I know a few people either doing or who have done this, as well as the Senior Leaders one (NPQSL). It seems to be welcomed a bit more for English NC schools, including one which do IBDP after IGCSE, but US and IB World schools tend to look more for a Masters (either MA or MEd). I think to offer the programme too, the universities have to be certified by the DfE in England (though I'm not 100% sure).

No.

Personally, I always feel really uncomfortable when people do that. It might just be a friendly thing - but it's my personal space and I don't really want anyone else in it.

Looking up the rules here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ing-advice - you need two years teaching experience before you can complete the AO QTS. So yes, option 3 is probably your best bet at the moment.

However, longer term if you are accumulating experience, I still wonder about the need for QTS if you are remaining in an international setting. Yes, it helps demonstrate experience, but to use an -, who would you rather have rewire your house - an electrician who has completed his City & Guilds courses but has only rewired a couple of houses, or the electrician who has 10 years experience of doing the job? Part of the reason I've always resisted doing a Masters is that qualifications like that can look good on paper, but actually tell you little about a teachers' ability in the classroom.

My first question is - do you ever want to return to the UK at some point? If the answer to that is 'no', then to be honest you are probably not going to need your QTS - the PGCEi should suffice (and the MSc / PhD definitely will.) Most international schools look for the actual teaching experience rather than a certification, though some schools will want this.

Assuming that you want to stay in Vietnam, I'd say that option 3 is your best bet. You might not be able to start at the best of schools, and it might be a few years before you get to the good ones, but as your son is only 1 that's not really a problem. A quick look on TES shows two jobs in HCMC for next year, though I can't vouch for the schools. If you then want to return to Europe, then you may need to get QTS or a similar certification to work there (there are US certifications which can also be used.)

Hope this helps - good luck!

TBH, depends on the reason behind it. If there are tax changes, they might no longer be able to offer certain things, so have to make the change. It's up to you to judge whether the changes are significant enough that, had they been there when you initially agreed to stay, you wouldn't have signed the contract, or would have asked for a shorter one.

The good thing is that just now with COVID, there seem to be a lot of jobs still going in schools which have normally completed their recruitment.

I think Thailand has generally done well - certainly, when colleagues who moved there over the summer went through quarantine, it was a lot more pleasurable than those of us who did it in China!

If it's the online learning which bothers you - don't get too concerned about it. If it's a good school, then it will have procedures in place which by now are well established, unlike most UK schools. Certainly, when we went back online after Christmas it was just like flicking a switch - we knew what we were doing and what the expectations of the school, parents, kids and colleagues all were.

On the plus side - if you're online, then is there really a requirement to stay at home? I know of people who managed to escape Bangkok and are now teaching from their beachside hotel.....

@twoteachers - if your new country has a huge mark up on electronics, watch that they don't have a similar customs charge for importing them. You need to figure out how much it's worth with the customs charges factored in on top of the transport over simply buying one new.

Again, depending on the country, you might actually find that some of the local makes are just as good as, if not better than, a major brand elsewhere. For example, in China, there's a huge customs markup on electronics which come by removals (if you can't carry it with you like a laptop), but local makes like Xiaomi and HiSense are just as good and as cheap too.