i second the above.

my wife and i have spent a lot of time doing search but some of the best schools (not necessarily top tier, but ones we were interested in) require you to apply through their own intranet application. the sas application was brutal for example. there are others in europe and elsewhere that were similar. i don't get it. i figure it's mostly due to the school having an established hr department but i could be wrong.

to the op's question - again it varies considerably. we've had auto responses of course, but quickest real person was about a couple of hours after applying. you will see it increase exponentially from here on out. a lot of schools will know by winter break - definite and potential openings - and the rest will know by early january. many of the schools have a quick chat with you if they have lots of candidates, pick several they like, then likely do a second interview. but as cafare52 says, it varies wildly.

good luck

v.

europe could be tricky as it seems to be a highly sought after area. i don't know much about it but that's just what it seems like.

other areas you might have success in include the middle east and southeast asia. she's got the experience, you've got a degree. and some previous experience so all is not lost. the only thing that might go against you a little is that you're not married (or are you?) couples seem to be more attractive to recruiters in my experience but depending on the location, you may have trouble if you're not married. of course i know a lot of people over here in the middle east who are couples/GF-BF and have got hired. depends on the school. long story short, it's definitely possible so you should try everything you can. there are some good schools in china from what i hear.

on search, schools will list whether or not they're willing to consider teachers without much experience in their profiles.

good luck

v.

my bad.
i meant india as a whole, and as a generalization.
the former colleagues that now work there report little to no problems that plague other parts of the country.

v.

i would agree with the previous posters.
IB is what good schools do even if they're not technically affiliated. the schools i was teaching at in canada come to mind, and it seems most of the education programs where i come from in canada teach these kinds of things as a matter of fact, especially when it comes to assessment and approaches to learning.

affiliation seems to also be a driving motive for a lot of higher tier schools for the flexibility it offers in terms of tuition. i suppose the really good NP schools don't need it, but i would guess that they would teach fairly similar concepts as the IB.

n.b. i teach IB PYP currently, so can't say much about the MYP/IBDP. if you ask me, it's a little over the top. schools should be teaching this way anyways...

v.

my friend worked at GEMS in abu dhabi last year and they had similar problems there as well, i.e. with the housing and moving in/instability. i believe even part of the building they were in collapsed - might have been just the parking garage but pretty shady. at the start of the contract, they had them living out of suitcases for several months as well.

overall, this corporation seems to be great at making money, but not sure about what lies underneath. ive heard complaints of schools being force-fed new students when the resources weren't there. don't get me wrong, they seem to have beauty campuses and state of the art everything - they even have a 3D planetarium in one school - but from what ive heard from some working there, it's by and large shiny outside, crumbly inside. there's a reason why they're always hiring a lot of teachers...

take that with a grain of salt - there's always the possibility they have improved, or are improving!

v.

i worked with a number of teachers who went there and they all seem to really like it.
i can't speak to the fica question, and although there are def. problems, it's one of the few
schools in india i would consider.

v.

however, it does seem that maybe the call to attack foreign/us teachers and schools was heeded by at least one person...

good news - suspect found and arrested.
the most startling thing about this is apparently no personal ties or connections to the victim.
the emirati suspect also placed a homemade bomb outside an egyptian-american household.
due to the high profile nature of the case, look for the book to be thrown at this one (unlike most
cases involving locals, it doesn't look like she'll see any leniency).

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/crime/ree ... ce-custody

v.

information hasn't been released as of yet. but likely somewhere in abu dhabi.

v.

I would echo what others have said - not a requirement for all schools, but is certainly an asset. Depends on the school and their needs - it seems to me that the more reputable the school, the better choice of candidates and experience. Though having said that, when my wife and I were interviewing we were straight out of teacher's college and got quite a few offers at the fairs. Other experience pre-cert. can help your chances.
The worst that can happen is you don't get the job. I would also suggest going to a fair if you can afford it - face to face interviews are a lot better than just sending a CV.

Hey,
Any newer, up to date on AISB?
Seems to be an alright school and I'm considering an offer from them now...
v.

there are also a couple in abu dhabi, though i'm not sure they pay as much as dubai.

no need to limit yourself to brit curriculum either.

good luck!

from what i've seen, a lot of it's shine and sheen. the only interview i had with them, it was like i was a customer or trying to be sold a new car or something.

as for students, they accept anyone without any real interview or assessment policy. my colleague ended up having several serious LD issues with next to no support.

they do offer higher salary (at least the ones i know of in the ME).

it's possible they are better elsewhere in the world, but only to certain extent - they are still highly profit-motivated. take that as you want.

also, any time i send a message to a school through search, my wife also sends one. i don't know if that's overkill or not...

from what i've heard from people who went to bangkok, it is very competitive and the schools are really picky, even if you have a lot of experience. IB experience, couples with both, high level experienced specialists seem to be the main selling points in BKK.
my wife and i have several years IB xp, but definitely aren't going to BKK. it can get very pricey, even with the free entry.

on the other side, you might get lucky. but the ones from our school who went there and got hired - they all had significant IB experience, were married, and/or had very specific job titles, e.g. IB physics, chemistry; HOD humanities, and the like.

good luck!

v.