China is in an interesting place right now - both politically and socially.

If you spoke to people 6 months ago about China - they would have told you that there would have been some movement on Covid after the 5 Year conference that just occurred (including myself). That did not seem to happen - even though you need to spend less time in isolation which is a positive thing.

Can I confirm that you'll have 2 years teaching experience as I believe that is the minimum expectation for visa. I'd be happy to be proven otherwise and I do believe that there has been some movement on this.

For finding jobs in China - there is Search Associates, TIE, Teaching Horizons and many more. To put it simple - if you are willing to move to China and have a pulse then there is a job for you there at the moment (with the correct qualifications and experience of course).

Feel free to ignore the following - but here are some things to consider before moving to China.

(1) The number of flights in/out of the country is still really small. This means that flights are expensive and difficult to get due to demand. This does not appear to being significantly improved in the near future.

(2) The Yuan is currently depreciating (currently at a 15 year low from memory). As such - some of the ultra high wages are losing a bit of their shine due to currency fluctuations.

(3) If you don't work for one of the schools which can employ everyone they need and get them in country - then expect to be completing lots of replacement classes on top of your normal teaching allotment.

(4) Once you are IN CHINA - travel in country can be open but can change on a dime. Also - it's challenging to leave for holidays/family emergencies at present. As mentioned before - flight prices are currently astronomical due to demand and support.

(5) If you are after a full international school experience - then the number of expat families living in China has (and will continue) to drop rapidly as it's difficult to get full families in and out. Many have not left the country since March 2020. It's almost 2023! Let that sink in. That means that apart from the best school in a few cities, international student numbers are dropping and the recent change in laws for teaching compulsory education will make this interesting in the next few years.

I've had my time in China and enjoyed it - but would not go back as I felt a change in the country for the worse. Call it my western perspective - but I've seen my Korean kids hassled on the streets in 2017 due to the THAD missiles. With the covid hysteria there at the moment - I'd hate to think what is currently happening.....

As predicted, Psyguys responded...

Sorry - I feel like stirring a pot today .... :-)

As predicted - the school list is slowly getting stronger.....

To be honest - MYP is more of a teaching philosophy with marking criteria and Common Core is what you teach. As such - it's possible to teach Common Core at an MYP School.

In general though - there are 4 criteria in MYP math which makes it a bit different than national curriculums. They are:

Criteria A: Basically a test which includes unfamiliar questions that requires students to use their knowledge in new situations.

Criteria B: Patterns. Students often complete a small investigation looking at a pattern in math against specific ideas.

Criteria C: Communication. This is kind of a criteria that looks at how you communicate mathematically. It's discouraged to include this criteria with a Criteria A test.

Criteria D: Using math to solve problems. A 10 minute look at the criteria will give you an idea of the differences.

Note that what I have said includes sweeping generalizations but I find the MYP tends to try and teach through the inquiry cycle. This is challenging in mathematics - but a stronger emphasis on explaining and showing how you got your answer is often needed in MYP compared to pure national systems. Others can discuss if thats a good or bad thing.

For you specifically - showing that you are a constructivist teacher is probably a more important thing as a newbie to IB than showing your wares of IB excellence. As you are probably aware - there is a shortage of qualified and competent math teachers internationally which is only getting worse. Being able to teach upper years with proven results can make people hot property. As such - you should be able to get a job much easier than say a PYP or English teacher with 2 years IB experience. Note that there is still strong competition for the best schools. However - I would also study schools well as you are more in a position to choose a general location than any job that is available.

I've been to a number of Job Fairs and find the Bangkok fair to be often filled with people peacocking around - so it feel a bit like a meat market. This was pre-covid of course.

Note that it's still extremely early in the recruiting season with schools just starting to get into the swing of the new school year.

It's very common for better schools to push their way into the BKK fair at the expense of supposed "Lower Tier Schools" when the number got to around 130 schools. If I was looking for a job in 23/24 - then I'd expect job to come up a bit later this year as schools are slower to work out where they are with numbers (both student numbers and financially).

Do expect schools from China attending to not get near the 30-50 mark which was common pre-covid. Looking into my crystal ball - I'd expect around 10 Chinese schools which are individual entities to potentially attend the fair with some cancelling once they realize they can't easily come back into China or airfares are really expensive. A lot of schools have no idea what's going on with inflation and student numbers so expect some schools to tighten their belt as fairs are not cheap things to attend.

So will there be over 100 schools that attend the fair? Probably. I found that school numbers and quality generally tends to solidify by late November.

To be honest - there is not specific answer to this question.

Some schools will interview as soon as they receive a viable candidate. Some schools will wait until the deadline and then review then. Others will do it when they feel like it.

I've even seen school advertise to get resumes and use it as a bargaining tactic to get a teacher to sign on for another year. Remember that it does not cost anything to receive and review resumes on Search - but the payment occurs once the job has been filled BY SEARCH.

Note that I don't see anything wrong with your question - just that there is not a specific correct answer to your question.

I won't comment on ASIJ as I don't know if we are able to in the public forum.

I'll be a bit more specific when it comes to finding partners.

This is a massive generalization and there are always exceptions to the rule - but single females find looking for serious partners challenging in Asia.

In general - the foreign talent pool of similar male (if your that way inclined) people to date are either married or also have options of dating local. That significantly reduces your dating pool with foreigners.

Some Japanese men do date foreigners - but they tend to be the more "international" type who may have lived overseas or have been around foreigners in general.

There are some gaijin hunters who want to date a foreigner for the experience - but I'll let others talk about that in more detail. Let's just say that I would not want to date someone like that if I was a female.

It's also quite sad - I've seen lots of smart intelligent females who are catches in their home country leave international teaching in Asia (remove Singapore, Bangkok + KL from the list) due to their inability to find a serious partner and feeling lonely + worthless. I've also seen others who have been happy being single for a decade.

When it comes to jobs in Japan - there are basically three tiers of schools (don't think of it as the International Tier list of quality). Tier 1 are schools who pay well and you can save a bit and live comfortable. You can count these schools on one hand and some staff have been there for 30+ years.

Tier 2 allows you to live comfortably in Japan but there is more turnover. The schools are either lesser known or in smaller major Japanese cities (so not Tokyo / Osaka).

Tier 3 are some of the worst schools you could possibly imagine. Dictatorial administration, one of the world's longest teaching years and even longer work year, administration who mainly communicates in the home language etc.

Note that internationally some schools which are considered Tier 3 are fine - but in Japan these schools can be abysmal and tend to be more private Japanese schools who run an international department.

Wages also look extremely low in Japan at present due to the low Yen. Setting up to live in Japan is expensive - but living over time is reasonably priced.

I agree with Helitrope on this - re : negotiating pay.

I've found that schools which are very transparent on wages (such as providing pay scales) during the interview process are often more likely to be transparent in how they run the school.

If you teach an "in demand" subject in a hardship post (say Physics in Pakistan) - then I do see a strongly likelihood in a possibility of negotiating salary.

Note that the salary ranges are self reported by the school and are not always the most transparent.

In general - many of the best schools have steps which are dependent in years of experience. Often there is a limit at what step you can enter an organization at - but you can continue to climb when you are at the school. For example - a school may have 12 payment steps but the most you can enter a school at is step 8.

Also note that the wages for some schools are totally wrong and it depends on the school. Some wage estimates include all benefits before tax. Some wage estimates are for after tax without benefits. To put it simple - it's labyrinthian and there is not much Search can do about this.

American schools are often more interested in Masters and PHD's than say IB schools - which means that the Bachelor or Masters question is actually irrelevant.

So can you ask for 60K? Yes - but don't be surprised if the offer of a job is rescinded as unfortunately international teaching is a buyers market with more qualified teachers being present than looking (apart from China and some schools in the ME). If you have 10 years experience - your wage may be more than 46K but I doubt it would be anything like 60K. Think of something like a $500-$2000 step per year as more of the norm depending on the school.

There are even schools where everyone gets paid the same - and some schools where everyone gets paid different and it's mentioned in the contract that you are not allowed to discuss wages with other staff....

It really depends on the school and country. But remember - working overseas normally does not allow for as much negotiation as you might get in the states.

I agree with them

Editing NOTE - I changed him to them as I don't know who the original poster was)....

Just some things to consider.

(1) The main recruiting season I'd suggest would be August 2023. Most of the better schools will advertise between November 2022 an March 2023.

(2) The paid membership forum has a PM function. The other member also needs to be a paid member to access this feature.

(3) You are employable - but do remember that there might only be 3-8 positions that you can teach in Vietnam at these high end schools. There was many more positions available the upcoming school year in Vietnam due to their last extended lockdown which was meant to be quite harsh. The other poster will be able to talk about that more than I. Most jobs are for 2 years - so there may be less movement next year as I'd expect things to be improving and people at least finishing their first contract.

At least there are now 3 airlines to Hanoi/HCMC from Melbourne now (Bamboo, Vietnam and Jetstar).

Through friends that I have that work at the better schools in Vietnam - the other posters comment on hiring locals with international experience and treating them will seems to be the truth.

I can't talk too much about igcse (I've only taught this for 1 year) - but the IB normally consists of completing a workshop over a few weeks online that is normally paid for by the school. It's more about having experience teaching the IB in Yr 11/12 which is a big selling point. Being able to say "my students scored ####" is a big selling point.

This post is a bit more multi faceted than it currently looks.

I'll deal with the elephant in the room to begin with.

There are two main types of schools in SE Asia. One is a true international school which deals mainly with expat kids and is not for profit. The others range from teaching local kids to having a mix of expat and local students. These schools tend to be for profit.

The first type of school is what I'd suggest - but your current experience is not highly regarded enough to potentially get into the final rounds of interviews. Most of these schools are IB/AP and normally want teachers WITH EXPERIENCE in Yr 11/12 who have taken them through the two hole years.

You mentioned that the VCE is similar to the IB = but it's not. Your current teaching methods are not going to break down the doors with your current experience. The same would be the polar opposite in Melbourne at present. Have a good look at which subjects you can teach in the IB, AP or A levels.

The second type of school may be more likely to hire you - but is also more likely to screw you over due to having dual nationality. I've seen this happen first hand in another asian country (person was local but also had NZ passport) and then forced him onto a local contract (he quickly left and was snapped up in another country).

Others may disagree - but I think that another country (such as Singapore or Thailand) might be a good opportunity. I basically did the same as you are contemplating (was late 20's and went overseas) and spend over a decade gallivanting the world. Note that it's common to make new friendship groups at schools overseas. Another word of warning - don't mention which uni you went to at real international schools unless it's asked as it will automatically give a roll of the eyes. What you can do "after graduation" is normally what is looked at. For profit schools have in the past put which degrees and universities I've worked at on their website as a "look at what we employ" to gain notoriety.

One thing I don't really get still is how some countries have parents which are adverse to having a "local" teach their kid but are happy for some run of the mill foreigner to do it instead.

If you have Australian Citizenship then you are Australian - and use that in other countries and with recruiters. Your main problem at the moment is that the international school year starts in July/August - just when Semester 1 finishes in Victoria. That means the major recruiting season is already gone. Targeting the 2023 school year and joining an agency such as Search Associates (Nick Kendall who is based in Australia is helpful) and there is also a job fair in Jan based in Melbourne.

So to put it simply - you are definitely employable but don't expect Vietnam's (or the world's) best schools to employ you straight away. You can still apply and see what happens. I'd honestly stay away from the cluster truck of China at the moment where many teachers have left and they can't hire enough teachers who are willing to go into the country.

I will also say that you will still be employable coming back to Victoria - but the longer you are away the more difficult it will be to get a job at a school you might be at currently.

There is a lot more I'd like to say - but I also like my anonymity as the teaching world is really small.

I can't talk for others - but a year recharge after the covid madness did wonders for me. My home country (not the US and it pays well) has such an acute shortage of teachers that my position is struggling to get anyone applying apart from graduates and the dregs of the experienced.

China is it's own behemoth - with the shutting down of private english tutoring occurring at around the same time as qualified teachers started to leave. To put it simple - China is so dynamic that most of us can't accurately predict what will happen apart from many people changing jobs.

Also don't forget that China's severe international flight cutbacks makes it difficult (and expensive) to get out of the country.

One thing I'd like to head is if the job in Portugal was an anomaly or more like the current rule.