Just trying to work this out - so do you point the camera at yourself only, or have it across the classroom? How exactly can this be of much use to people - I don't really have the knowledge or ability to edit a video!

@psyguy - that's true (I didn't learn anything on mine that I didn't already know), but is it not the case that (a) you have to get it at some point to teach IB, or at least by when the school is certified, and (b) it would then be $800 that the school doesn't have to pay out?

If you get a job in an IB school, you will have to go through some training at least to Category 1 level pretty much as soon as you get there, so it would probably be of benefit to get it done (in your case, it's one less thing for the school to pay for!) Certainly at secondary, though, it's experience which counts as much as anything else.

Put it this way - it wouldn't hurt to do it (my wife just did, completed the course before Christmas, paying for it ourselves, before landing a job with a UK curriculum school. Typical....!)

@psyguy - but to me (as someone looking primarily at British schools) that would ring alarm bells. It's such a basic thing for UK teachers that it would show that the head either was so out of touch with British teaching that he didn't understand why this was a problem, or that he was a little creepy.

You need to ask for info on this on the members' boards - can't do anything here.

joe30 wrote:
> All that stress, all that work, all that expense...for something that could
> be just as easily accomplished with a 30 minute Skype interview.
>
> These fairs are very outdated and I can't see them lasting much longer.

I get your point - but I still think that meeting face-to-face is better than Skype. You get a much better feel for someone's personality that way and how they look, present themselves, etc. And not everywhere has fantastic internet which can sustain Skype (even in places like the UK!)

CountingCarbons wrote:

> Cons -
> Was told not to have a digital portfolio and then in my last interview it
> was requested. I had to throw something together and it's not quite up to
> the standard that I would want it to be at. I wish it had been stressed to
> have one, especially for new teachers.

If schools are insisting on this then it's going to be a real problem for them with teachers coming from UK schools. It's forbidden through child protection legislation (you have to get individual permission from each parent of each child pictured or whose work is used, whether named or not making it incredibly difficult) and even for those of us abroad could threaten our continued registration.

That said, I hope something works out for you!

Gluxnis wrote:
> Just an update to the original post: It's been 17 days since we first sent
> money to Spinks / GEL. Still have not been refunded.

Like I said before - go to CAB. Get a small claims notification and tell him you will take action. Report to Trading Standards at your local council.

This all sounds awful.

Firstly, on the fees paid. It's illegal in the UK for a recruiter to charge a fee to recruit - the fee needs to be paid by the employer. This is why Search candidates registered through the UK office - not all of whom are either UK nationals or even in the UK - do not pay for the London fair, or pay the joining fee. This applies whatever your nationality - so there would certainly be interest from Trading Standards about this.

If you don't get your money back, I would look into getting a Small Claims Court settlement against them. Your local Citizens Advice would be able to help with this - you can probably find details on your local council website. Brit Expat99 - do the same, this is a service which has not met reasonable expectations.

Just say "Hello, I'm a friend of Donald".....

OK, I'm getting seriously frustrated now by the prehistoric approach so many schools seem to take to recruiting. When applications were by letter, I could understand not getting a reply. But it's so easy now to set up a simple automated reply that it just strikes me as unprofessional and lazy not to reply. I don't accept the argument that "oh, they get 100s of applications so it's too difficult" - major companies can get that for low level jobs and still at least send out a blanket rejection email so you know where you stand.

It's also immensely frustrating not knowing why I'm not being considered. Is it my teaching experience? Is it because the school
is and American system school and I'm a British teacher? Is it because, although I have taught university entrance exams in my home country, I haven't taught A level because at my school students aren't encouraged to teach Humanities?

joe30 wrote:
> I do not believe there's any good reason why a school should not have its
> salary scale published. Who really cares if some random can find out what
> you're earning by checking the website? Why the hell do people get
> defensive about salaries anyway? Do you all like lying to other expats down
> at the pub you're on 100k or something? I couldn't care less if everyone
> knew what I was earning, and I've had some fairly low paying ESL jobs in my
> time.

Well that's fine for you, but certainly not for most UK teachers I know. What I earn - whether that is here or back home - is a matter for me and my employer. If a school I was at decided to do this then my resignation would be on the head's desk before the ink was dry - for me, it's a clear matter of confidentiality. I suspect too it's cultural - Americans tend to be a bit more chilled about discussing salaries, whereas we Brits keep it all much closer to our chests.

They should publish a broad scale though. Frankly, if for no other reason than to have a salary scale keeps your biggest business cost within a known level - it's the reason why most major businesses have one.

vandsmith wrote:
in my experience,
> 'british' teachers seem to have a more difficult time with the PYP than others.
> that's a generalization and probably not fair but there it is!

It is a bit - it's actually ENGLISH teachers who have more of a problem with it. Teachers trained in Scotland are used to a more topic-based curriculum, and IPC and PYP are very similar to the Scottish Curriculum (Scotland took some ideas from both, and then PYP certainly took some back from Scotland.)

chilagringa wrote:
> Man, I would LOVE a free lunch like that.
>
> The cafeteria at my school is terrible. Chicken nuggets, cardboard pizza,
> etc.

If only my school's cafeteria would sell chicken nuggets and cardboard pizza....!

If it's your first IE experience, and depending on the school, it might be worth considering. Egypt is an OK place to start out - it's only a few hours flight from Europe (1 hour if you include Cyprus) so it's easy to get out if you need to, the areas where schools are (especially New Cairo - where I'm writing this now) are relatively safe. I've felt more threatened on a Saturday night in Glasgow than here. The weather is always good, you can easily escape to the Red Sea resorts or Sharm, and food is - currently - generally very cheap. Getting money out of the country has been quite easy - the banks will transfer, and friends have not had a problem taking cash out (if you have lots, it's quite easy to buy gold which has no restriction!) I would agree that it's not "great", though some people still love it, but it's doable for a couple of years.

The key problem just now is currency - what you have to ask the school is the currency you will be paid in, and what % is in LE - it should be in the contract they offer you, if it isn't then right now I would decline and explain clearly why. Schools are having problems getting parents to pay just now because the devaluation of the LE against the £ and $ means that fees are twice as much as they were. Try to find out what the school is saying to parents about this (if anything) as this might give you an inkling of whether the school will be around in August or not. Is it as bad as Venezuela? No - it may get things wrong frequently, but the government is still by and large in control. Prices are going up, but not remotely near 700% inflation in Venezuela. It's probably more like Britain in the 1970s at the moment.