@Psyguy

Why can't you just admit that you were wrong? A school of 2,800 is not small -- regardless of what is normal for the region. Just because there are bigger schools doesn't mean that one is small. There are also many schools in Singapore with less than 2,800.

The ability to admit when you were wrong will boost your reputation as a source of good information. Rather than twist things around when you are proven wrong, admit it and move on. Alternatively, you could also choose to post only when you actually have reliable information...

@psyguy

I take issue with your claim that "good" schools don't go the reimbursement route. The school I am moving to next year was listed by you in a few other threads as a tier 1 school. They reimburse for flights. I am also fairly certain that finances are not an issue -- they have an amazing relocation allowance and pay well. Of course, I don't know everything about their finances and I am sure you will say that they reimburse because they must financially. I don't think this is the case, however. I think they do it because it is not uncommon and it is a way to ensure that they don't pay up-front for someone who may or may not arrive. Things come up and people don't show up at some of the best schools. This is also not always an indication of a shady school. I grant that shady schools will have more of this happen to them, but it happening is not a sure sign the school is "bad".

I am sure that many "bad" schools might use reimbursement as a way to screw new teachers, but not all schools that reimburse are looking to do that. The problem with your posts are the blanket statements. To argue that reimbursing is something only "bad" schools do is just false. Schools you have identified as top-tier do it.

I'd like to second Shadowjack's comment on airfare/reimbursements. My current job and my next job both had/has me purchase my airfare and get reimbursed. In fact, at my current job, I also had to pay for my IB training and then get reimbursed once I started working. That one did worry me, but I was reimbursed within a day of showing receipts once I started work.

I don't think that reimbursement needs to raise any red-flags. I am sure there are schools that don't require it, but there are plenty of decent schools out there that do go the reimbursement route for initial tickets/trainings. It makes sense to me-- if the person decides not to show up for the contract, they aren't stuck having paid for your ticket or your IB training.

I'd like to second Shadowjack's comment on airfare/reimbursements. My current job and my next job both had/has me purchase my airfare and get reimbursed. In fact, at my current job, I also had to pay for my IB training and then get reimbursed once I started working. That one did worry me, but I was reimbursed within a day of showing receipts once I started work.

I don't think that reimbursement needs to raise any red-flags. I am sure there are schools that don't require it, but there are plenty of decent schools out there that do go the reimbursement route for initial tickets/trainings. It makes sense to me-- if the person decides not to show up for the contract, they aren't stuck having paid for your ticket or your IB training.

I'd like to second Shadowjack's comment on airfare/reimbursements. My current job and my next job both had/has me purchase my airfare and get reimbursed. In fact, at my current job, I also had to pay for my IB training and then get reimbursed once I started working. That one did worry me, but I was reimbursed within a day of showing receipts once I started work.

I don't think that reimbursement needs to raise any red-flags. I am sure there are schools that don't require it, but there are plenty of decent schools out there that do go the reimbursement route for initial tickets/trainings. It makes sense to me-- if the person decides not to show up for the contract, they aren't stuck having paid for your ticket or your IB training.

I'd also like to bring up another area of concern -- overlap in training.

There are not always clear divisions between category 1 and category 2 trainings. Last summer I did an online training in category 1. Another teacher at my school did the same course but category 2. At the start of the year we got together to discuss the training and plan the course. We quickly discovered that we had gotten the EXACT same training. The only differences were participants and facilitator. The materials, organization, and activities were identical.

For face-to-face trainings, you are often grouped together for category 1 and 2. My first IB training was a face-to-face conference and category 1 and 2 were grouped together. Other teachers at my school have reported the same experience at their workshops.

So, if your school is asking you to do the same course in both category 1 and 2, you might discover it is a total waste of your time and money because you are doing the same course twice.

At the risk of making myself a target, I just wanted to say a few things.

@psyguy

Many people take issue with what you have to say because of your lack of RELEVANT experience. I don't think (most) people argue that your information is not valid for you or that it doesn't represent your personal experiences in a country. What they take issue with is how relevant your information is for the OP. When you have only visited a country once for a few weeks or dated someone who is of that nationality, you can't give much relevant information on what it is actually like to LIVE in that country. Most posters are looking for people who have direct experience living in a country or working for the particular school.

In addition, you rile people up because you disagree with information posted by those with the direct experience of living and/or working in the country/school. You disagree based on your limited experience. Yes, your experiences did occur and are relevant for you, but they are usually quite a bit less relevant for the person who posed the question.

Also, does it matter how out-of-date your responses are? One-year or one-month? Out of date is out of date and irrelevant to the OP.

It's a shame that people choose to attack you personally and exaggerate, instead of dealing with the actual problems with your posts (based on limited, less relevant or irrelevant experiences, out-of-date, second-hand sources, based on quick research that anyone can do themselves, etc). Again -- I am not saying you didn't experience what you say you did, nor that your information is not valid for you. What I am saying is that people want to hear from those who have valid, relevant information to share. They don't want to have to wade through arguments and irrelevant information.

Based on your posts, you have a lot of good, first-hand, relevant information to share. You just don't have it on every topic posted.

[quote="Pippafrit"] For Europe you would need to be EU citizens for most schools to hire you. [/quote]

I have to disagree with this. It may be helpful in some schools, but I didn't come across very many European schools that had this as a strict requirement for employment. In fact, in London I interviewed with Zurich, Amsterdam, and a school in Germany and none of them required EU citizenship to get the job.

I think for some countries it might be more vital than others, but it is definitely not a requirement for most. Some might say that you are on your own for getting a work visa and therefore they prefer EU passport holders.

I am sure it is an advantage for many EU schools, but not being a native English speaker (as the OP is) might negate the EU citizenship advantage.

Face to face (as opposed to online)

Since I haven't seen this posted in other licensure threads I thought I would put it out there. My friend has a 99 year license from Missouri. I checked it out and not sure if I will pursue it -- it has weird breakdowns in teaching levels -- 1-6, 5-9, and 9-12. No pure secondary (7-12) or pure elementary (K-8), so it would depend on what your certification is in. It looks like to cover middle and high school, you'd need to get two certifications. Not sure if you could get the middle grades one if your are certified in another state as secondary since most secondary certificates only cover 7-12 and don't include grades 5 and 6. It seems really weird, but if you are only looking to teach one level, it may be an option.

http://dese.mo.gov/schoollaw/rulesregs/ ... /Index.htm

I am certified in both English and Social Studies (history, poli sci) and found that most of my job opportunities were coming from the English certification. There weren't nearly as many ss positions. There were quite a few ms humanities but not many pure hs history positions. On top of that, history has a glut of candidates. It seems Econ was more marketable than history.

Just to support the op, this does happen. It is the case at my current school in Europe, and I've talked to friends in Latin America where it happens as well. One friend's school in LA even took away overseas status if you got pregnant! At my current school we have quality teachers who have lost os status because they married. They started as overseas, found someone they loved, and then lost status. Another friend has been dating the same woman for years but won't marry her because he'll lose status.

It would make sense if my school had some clause about length of stay -- I've seen schools where you lose os status if you stay longer than 5 years. But my school doesn't have this. You can stay forever just so long as you don't marry a local.

I have friends who always visit schools on their vacations. They just call them up and ask if they can visit. They don't always meet with admin, but they are allowed to at least see the school. I don't think it hurts to ask.

And you skipped the part where it clearly stated to see the additional information on env systems and societies since it is an interdisciplinary course. Hey, everyone is wrong from time to time, you just always state things with such certitude -- even when you shouldn't. If you don't know, don't do quick research then contradict what people who do know have said.

@PsyGuy -- Not sure where you found the information that environmental systems and societies is offered at HL on the public side of the IBO website. I just looked --

"Interdisciplinary subjects
From September 2008 schools began teaching (for first examinations in 2010) environmental systems and societies as a standard level interdisciplinary course."
(http://ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/additional/)

@ everyone else on this thread
This may also explain the smaller numbers and lesser recognition by universities -- it has only been offered for 5 years.