Dave, Dave, most of the tosh you write simply makes me snicker and move on, but you really are excelling yourself in this thread. Where is the data that supports this absurd list you've drawn up about Japan being #1 in the rankings of Asian destinations? I presume this is more of your so-called "experience and trusted sources". Well as many have observed, your "experience" in year-long (if you're lucky and aren't found out sooner) sojourns in dodgy Tier 3 schools is meaningless, and I can't imagine that you have any acquaintances who have significant leadership time in serious schools.
So here's my OPINION. (Get that, Dave. I wrote it slowly so you would understand.) The best of the schools in Japan don't begin to measure up to best of the other schools in Asia. Not in terms of facilities, resources, curriculum, teaching quality, school culture and energy. Sure people line up to get jobs there, because they have a romanticised view of life in Japan. just like people line up to get to schools in France and Italy, because they have a romanticised view of life in historic Europe. And just like Japan, there are no top quality schools in those countries either.

Oh Dave, I don't know whether the "League of PsyGuy Nemesis" is paranoia or overweening self-importance, but funnily enough I was reading one of my Christmas presents - "Mythos" by Steven Fry. There, in the second chapter, he writes about our dear friend, Nemesis:

“Strife’s sister, NEMESIS, was the embodiment of Retribution, that remorseless strand of cosmic justice that punishes presumptuous, overreaching ambition the vice that the Greeks called hubris. NEMESIS has elements in common with the eastern idea of karma, and we use her today to suggest the fateful, retributive opposition the lofty and wicked will one day meet and which will bring them down.”

Perhaps I'm being vain, but I do see myself and my fellow detractors as part of the "remorseless strand of cosmic justice" and as "fateful, retributive opposition". Meanwhile, "presumptuous" and "overreaching" both hit the mark pretty well as descriptors. To be fair to you, Dave, I think "wicked" is going a bit too far, and as for "lofty", I always thought SMS was your inspiration...

And it was his scathing comments on this site about his Associate, together with some sketchy advice about how to cheat recruiters, that got him canned from SEARCH.

"@Walter has no clue who I am and has never seen my resume.

@Walter

I am a full member of both SA and ISS"

Dave, that's four lies in two sentences. You were found out years ago because of posts on the DODEA chat site and because of revelations you made on this board about your so-called skills. People can check back on Dave's contributions - if you can bear the thought of wading through acres of tosh. As for SEARCH, we both know what happened and why.

More important, though, is the challenge I made and which you have, of course, avoided:
"@Dave: "...individual associates simply dont invoice for X ITs for those ISs to attend their fair." Dear old Data Dave - this is just untrue. SEARCH has no need to bribe schools to participate. I call you out as a liar or a fantasist. Prove me wrong Mr "Only-the-data-matters". Name the schools or name the Associates. Of course you won't - because you can't. "

People have wondered in the past why I am so unkind to Dave. The thing is I think he provides a service to some people. If anyone wishes to know the most recondite information about how to qualify as a teacher in Rwanda, Dave is your man. He has an intimate relationship with Mr Google and is prepared to look up anything and everything. What concerns me is the way he poses as "the expert" on every issue in international education, his predilection for dismissing contradictory views as "cheerleading" or "admin-speak", and his absolute determination to have the last word in every discussion. Neophytes to this site may well give him credibility and be swayed by his opinions (which he always presents as "the way, the truth and the life"), when in fact he has the sketchiest reputation imaginable.

@Dave: "...individual associates simply dont invoice for X ITs for those ISs to attend their fair." Dear old Data Dave - this is just untrue. SEARCH has no need to bribe schools to participate. I call you out as a liar or a fantasist. Prove me wrong Mr "Only-the-data-matters". Name the schools or name the Associates. Of course you won't - because you can't.

That said, Davey boy, I do stand corrected on one of your claims that: 'ISS and SA have "filters"'. SA certainly filtered you out of their organization quite a few years ago, didn't they? As I remember, you threatened legal action, but that was just more bluster wasn't it?

"Its not just poo ISs, its the poo ISs with SA smell worse, and are more likely to be a train wreck."
Ah Dave, only data matters eh? So where's the data to support this? Fact is, there isn't any. So what you're really saying is only your opinion matters. Now I do accept that you have an abundance of short-term experience in a variety of Tier 3 schools, and there may people out there who would be impressed by that, but sadly I'm not one of them.
As it happens, neither ISS nor SEARCH have any kind of filter when it comes to allowing schools to attend their fairs. If they have the money to pay, and they apply early enough, they'll get in. Only if they prove to be disasters - as in significant numbers of candidates complain about pay and conditions of service - will they be barred.
Oh and this is nonsense, too: "There are also discounts typically offered to high tier ISs that give the agency prestige more than coin." I really don't know where you get this stuff from.

Dear old Dave will continue to tub-thump for ISS, but the fact is that ISS Bkk is small and getting smaller by the year. The number of Tier 1 schools recruiting through ISS diminishes by the year.

Time to check in again as recruitment season looms, and what do I find but the same old baloney from Dave. Next he’ll be spinning his usual nonsense about ISS being the “boutique” recruitment organization for candidates and schools, or claiming that he has a doctorate or worked in DODEA. (Oh no, I’m too late.)

The best international schools in Europe at high school level are either IB Diploma or IB Diploma with a side plate of AP. I can think of only one exception – in London. In the meantime, schools that were AP-only have converted – entirely or in part – to IB Diploma. So here is a more accurate picture (with the term "top" being used to denote the generally agreed best school):

France, one top school. Used to be AP only; now IB/AP.
Belgium, one top school. IB with a side plate of AP.
Netherlands, two top schools. One IB with a side plate of AP. One IB only.
Germany, one top school. IB with a side plate of AP.
Spain, one top school. Used to be AP only; now IB.
Italy, one top school (not in Rome). Used to be AP only; now IB.
Austria, two top schools. One used to be AP only; now IB; one IB only.
Switzerland, two top schools. One used to be AP only; now IB/AP. One IB only.
Hungary, one top school. Used to be AP only; now IB only.
Czech Republic. One top school. IB only.
Poland, one top school. IB only.
Russia, one top school. IB only.

Bored with Europe? What about Asia?
India, two top schools. One IB with a side plate of AP. One IB only.
Thailand, three top schools. One, IB with a side plate of AP. Two, IB only.
Indonesia, one top school. IB with a side plate of AP.
Malaysia, one top school. IB with a side plate of AP.
China, two top schools. Both, IB with a side plate of AP.
Hong Kong, various contenders for top school, but I’ll quote two. One IB only; one AP only.
Singapore, three top schools. One, IB only; one AP only; one IB/ A levels.
Taiwan, one top school. AP with a side plate of IB.
Vietnam, one top school. IB only.
Philippines, two top schools. One, IB with a side plate of AP. One, IB only.
Japan, one top school. AP only.

Of the best international schools in Asia and Europe, then, I can only think of four that are exclusively AP.
Dave, of course, will say that his list of top schools is not “congruent” with mine. Which is Dave-speak for “I won’t engage, because I know I’m wrong.” So here’s the challenge, Dave. Go on to the paid site, and we can compare and contrast our views of which are the top schools in each country. (Wait a minute. You haven’t paid your annual fee!)

Oh Dave, This is such nonsense: "Ive (sic) only heard a few English and Brits refer to Golden Triangle or Russel (sic) Group Unis as 'Ivys' (sic)." No Brit would EVER use such a term.
But this line is funnier still: "I attended and received a degree from an 'Ivy'." You forget, I've seen your resume. I suppose there's no harm in using the Forum as a kind of "Second Life" game, but what you are doing is making use of false claims and experiences to give greater weight to your opinions. Now that may not strictly be a breach of Forum rules, but it does seem to me to be a breach of etiquette.

Hahahahahahaha Literate Dave:
"What @Walter alleviated too..."

Dave, when someone challenges you, don't get so upset. It impairs your understanding and actually makes your writing even worse. I never said this: "SA has declared that ISs that are Schole members wont be allowed to register as clients with SA." I said that they won't be allowed to post their vacancies on the SEARCH website - a rather different thing as I'm sure you'll admit. As for the rest of your claims, I think it best for you to try to digest other points of view and then reflect a little rather than race into a tirade of tosh.

Well Dave, for me a spin-off is something like the relationship of GMail or Google Classroom to the original Google site rather than the hundreds of start-ups established by ex-Google employees. As for "agreeing" with you about the functionality of Schrole, this is rather like one of your "water is wet" claims. Since when has Schrole ever been anything else? Please don't credit yourself with some astute perception that no one else had quite grasped. As for "Admin speak" versus "Davish", I think most people would understand what I write since I am literate.
None of which is really important. What may be significant is the impact on the recruiting landscape and how messy the battle between ISS/Schrole and SEARCH/APli gets. Already, SEARCH have made it clear that schools using Schrole will not be able to post their jobs on the SEARCH website. Only a fool (wake up, I'm talking to you) would think that SEARCH will continue to shrug its shoulders as "their" candidates spot positions advertised on the SEARCH website, contact the schools, are told to apply through Schrole and then the schools refuse to pay any fee to SEARCH.
And to forestall the slew of comments, please know that I'm not defending this posture; it's simply a commercial inevitability.

@Dave: "Schrole was originally a spin off from SA, as a application management system that provided more inline with HR than it did with a jobs database for recruiting. SA didnt want to compete with itself for a lower priced product, since all the associates are essentially SA franchises. ISS has a different model, and their boutique experiences can handle growth out of the side shop. Its common for SA to appropriate businesses ideas and expansion that tests itself successfully in the market place."

Not quite sure what this is supposed to mean, since Davish isn't one of the languages I speak. Schrole wasn't a spin-off. It was the creation of a former SEARCH Associate who sold off his candidate portfolio and used the connections he'd made with school heads to sell his new product - which works particularly well for those schools that receive many hundreds of teacher applications each recruiting season and are looking for an online warehouse to store all these in the same format.

For some while, SEARCH and Schrole were uneasy bedfellows, but tensions inevitably arose when schools began to tell their SEARCH candidates to apply through Schrole, complete Schrole reference protocols and then appoint teachers without crediting SEARCH. Hence the creation of APli, the declaration that SEARCH will no longer work with Schrole candidates, the alliance of Schrole and ISS and the revival of FairWars.

@ Dave
"You could even be a profitable side hustle for yourself, make coin instead of paying coin for PD. Leadership does it all the time, usually every week, blathering about some nonsense with a captive audience of faculty.

You could also just forget the workshops entirely, and print out some certificates for yourself in whatever you want for whatever number of hours you need."

Priceless, Dave. This is nearly as good as the story about your overseas doctorate.

@funny old Dave: "the locust of that position"
There are times, Dave, when you make it worthwhile waking up. By any chance, was Mrs Malaprop one of your forebears?

@Dave This is called being a professional teacher:
"As for the rest of the year, kick into high gear. Wear professional dress daily. Plan assiduously. Provide feedback. Complete all paperwork early. Open your classroom door. Have nothing to hide."
But I understand why you might see it as "a lot of work with zero reward "...