With only a few exceptions, an initial contract for a school is usually 2 years (2-3 years for admins). Some (few) schools only offer 1 year contracts initially. After that your contract is typically renewable 1 year at a time (sometimes 2). You can stay or leave.

You see a lot of mobility and moving around by teachers, because many (almost all) teachers dont get their dream job right away. Usually you have to put in a couple years at a tier 2 school in in asia first, learning IB, then you get to move up to a tier 1 school, and then to an elite school. Thats a 6 year commitment with each of those schools being 2 years each. Many tier 2 schools would LOVE to reduce their turnover, but many teachers are basically there for the training and the experience on their resume.

Sometimes people settle down in one school early in their career because they get married or something. Some people just really like their school. For all the greatness of the elite schools, they arent for everyone. Some people would rather be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, then a little fish in a very big pond.

It wouldnt matter both lists would be the same (though not in the same order)...

Well said, well said, thats impressive. Lifetime/permanent certificates are pretty much extinct in the USA. A lot of people complain about having to do PD, and how do get it done and document it, and get it accepted when they are at an international school.

@liketotravel

Not everyone, never heard a Brazilian say that...

Of course when the one Brazilian woman I dated was in her blue and white bikini, or in a dress, or a tshirt and short shorts, or, well it didnt really matter because i wasnt really paying attention to what she was saying most of the time, my attention was always elsewhere.

@flyingrob31

Top spot for single guys. Toss up between Thailand and the Philippines. Indonesia's good if you can deal with Jakarta. In western europe Italy. Eastern Europe Iceland. South America, Brazil but no one complains about Columbia. Then theres the guys (myself included) that just have a thing for J.girls.

@nikkor

For me the three most important attributes for a teacher and educator are patience, persistence, and a thick teflon skin. Besides that my nemeses have to actually be right.

Cant help you much about the school directly. Cairo was a long time ago, and i've only visited Capetown once on holiday.

That said if the admin, and school are so great why doesnt everyone know about it? As Margaret Thatcher once said "Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't." I like to think of a schools reputation the same way.
Second, just because its great for someone working there doesnt mean its going to be great for you. This employee could be the admin cheerleader for all you know and everyone else is miserable and locked up in the basement in chains, eating gruel.


Postal Script:
*Looking around* [OK really dont tell anyone, but in reality just about anywhere is doable for two years. Everyones got what I call the "camp" story. The "its miserable, the pay is lousy, the housing is old and dirty, the students are all spoiled, the admins are all insane", but people make relationships, and bond over their shared suffering. Everyones got one, and maybe everyone needs one. Cant say id be better or worse with out my nearly 2 months in Cairo, but if I hadnt I wouldnt have needed to do a runner to Thailand, so who knows].

You have to go for the money, there really isnt any other reason.

So how did that happen, if you dont mind me asking? NYS is pretty picky and a permanent certification is an advance level certificate.

The only people that can answer that are at the NYS DOE, you can check your certification at the site below:

http://eservices.nysed.gov/teach/certhe ... on=INQUIRY

Whatever it says is whats going to matter. If it says you have a "permanent" certificate then your fine. Descriptions such as "expired, suspended, invalid" etc all mean *your not certified*.

What constitutes certification/licensed/credentialed/qualified is very region dependent. In Canada a B.Ed, degree IS the certification. Dont let yourself be deluded though with long explanations. Either someone is qualified or they arent. You could say well i have a B.Ed in Teaching and in Sweden thats what you need to be qualified, so if Sweden considers me qualified, then based on having that degree everyone else has to accept im qualified as well. Every country has a process in addition to and aside from simply graduating with a degree to determine (even if its just an application process) who is "fit" to be a classroom teacher.

Lastly, dont let passport nationality limit your point of view, there would be nothing wrong, improper, or invalid about an american obtaining a teaching degree at a university in Stockholm and be required to return to the states to get an "american" teaching certificate from a state to be a legal teacher. There is also nothing that prohibits an american teacher from applying for a teaching credential in Canada, and working on that credential. An brit could just as easily apply and complete a certification program in the USA, as opposed to a PGCE, and be just as qualified a teacher (and you dont have to do QTS).

Anyone who has an excuse why they dont have a valid credential, is just that, making excuses. When i ask "Do you have a government issued teaching credential?" and they say "Yes, but..." nothing after the but matters, and yes really means no, because if the answer was really yes, then you wouldnt need the but.

Gender plays a pretty big role, if your into the single scene. Many places in Asia, practically cater to men, where if your a single woman, you might want to bring a couple of cats with you, because nothings happening.

My BOTTOM 5 places:

1) Worst place, Mongolia. Its just dead, might as well be Sibera (without the russian models). There is nothing there, and the climate is miserable.

2) I dont have a lot of good things to say about the middle east or egypt either (I hate Cairo). Its all just one big repressive desert, too many rules, not enough fun. If your a homebody, or one of those family types and just want to spend time at home with the spouse and kids, and pretty much just live a very sheltered life, you could be fine.

3) Central/South America can be great (and Brazil really has the most beautiful woman in the world), but pick a region where theres any type of drug war going on, and then id draw a big red line through it. I have issues where teachers get mugged outside of school at gun point. Pick pockets I can deal with, getting dead, not so much.

4) Anywhere in Africa outside Capetown, mostly west africa. Ok the wildlife is awe inspiring, but theres too much poverty and not nearly enough modernization. Yeah theres a night life, but im pretty sure almost every native in the country has aids (ok not seriously, but close). For people that are into the whole third world country/peace corp, make a difference in a part of the world that really needs it, OK thats your thing. Not me.

5) Singapore, actually one of my favorite places, but after 3 months suffers from being the most boring place Ive ever worked. The first 3 months are great because everythings so easy, but then you realize your broke all the time, because there is NOTHING to do that doesnt involve eating out, shopping and going to the beach (Sentosa), and none of those are free. Singapore is just one big island mall. If you have kids that are teenagers they will love it. Singapore is basically hipster central. Everyone is trying to live the kind of lifestyle that you see in magazine adds.

Its well known on this forum, I dont speak well of middle eastern typed regions. There are too many problems and horror stories to be dismissed or ignored. I would never work there again, and wouldnt advice anyone else either. Even if the school is GREAT, its still set in the middle of Hades.

I can only imagine its worse for woman.

Its just true in my experience, yes its a sweeping generalization, but when i think back to the "least motivated" and distracted students they were "in general" the american kids.

I dont have a problem painting them with the same brush if the color is a good match.

An Ed.D would be a better selection then a Ph.D. or other type of pure research focused degree. A focus in C&I would be better then Ed.Lead. I take it your in Special Ed by your screen name, have you thought of something more "clinical" like maybe a Psy.D. or Psy.S. program? An Ed.D. just practically screams "Admin".

Again in a senior admin role (head/principal) a doctorate would more often be useful, out side that its just not my experience that it is. There is only so much theoretical knowledge you can apply in a classroom or in a school anyway. Nothing in my dissertation or preparing it has had any practical use for me. Even if you did a doctorate involving coursework you can only use so much "leadership" knowledge before its just repetition and too abstract to be useful.

If you have a senior admin career track in mind a doctorate would be useful, otherwise its not, and honestly when i was looking for a teaching classroom position the message i got was "I was over qualified for the classroom".

You picked the wrong time to ask that question. In the past the tax rate was so low as to be essentially zero. A new social security tax is supposed to be going into effect before next year. Whats really going to happen with it, and how much it will be isnt really known yet.

Officially the tax rate averages 25% (most teachers fit into that bracket), but you got just under a 5000 a month tax deduction/credit which usually made it almost zero.

Its pretty uncommon for a school in China to tax a tuition waiver, thats more the rule in europe. Even with the new social security tax, its supposed to be on salary, not all gross compensation. Setting that aside outside europe, a flat 10% tax on the waivers seems pretty high, and depending on the values of those could be another sizable chunk of change. We get students at our school (which is basically free) from other ISs because the tax on the tuition waivers is too big a bite.

worldtravlr should weigh in on this soon, hes in Beijing, and has his ear to the pavement there.

Yeah there are other admin roles you can do with a doctorate, but you can just as easily do them with a masters, and most of them dont have doctorates. Usually when I see someone with a doctorate at a school its usually the head or a principal.

As far as junior admin roles, the time spent getting the doctorate would be better spent building experience leading in that field. Newly minted doctorates (myself included) tend to come out with a lot of abstract theoretical knowledge, that doesnt translate well in an applied practical setting. Lastly unless your going into research or really intend to publish the research skills arent much use. A working admin with a doctorate is unlikely to create anything as vast or in depth as their dissertation was. Multi year studies just arent very useful locally, and are unlikely to produce a justifiable payoff in terms of findings.

Im not saying id not have done my doctorate if i could do it over, but if its for strict practical/economic reasons, its not worth it unless your goal is to become a senior admin, researcher, or professor.

LOL, but I wasnt drinking tea that time.