So a couple of things first....

You have a teenage son, so you need to think about the timing of doing this. You say in a couple of years - what stage will he be at? Will he be entering at, say, IGCSE (so about 14 or 15) or IBDP (16 or 17)? Like any parent, you want a good education for your son, so I'm assuming this is a priority for you. This does have a bit of a limiting effect, in that the schools you are likely to prefer for him will normally be fairly competitive to get into.

Also, do you have a partner coming with you? Are they a teacher, or a trailing spouse? The reason I ask is if they are the latter, then you will be considered an 'expensive' hire for many schools and some simply won't look at you, experience or not.

In terms of countries, you want it to be somewhere warm - so you're looking at SE Asia or the Middle East. Most of the countries in those areas usually have a good demand for native English speaking teachers. Also much of SE Asia is on the same/close time zone to WA so easy to keep in touch with relatives and friends at home!

You are more likely to want to be in an international / private school, as much for your son's sake as anything else.

The standard benefits you should look for would include a school place, accommodation or accommodation allowance, health insurance for you and your family, and at least one return flight per year for all of you (this is what I mean by being an expensive hire - the more people the school has to cover who are not employed by them, the higher the cost to the school with not much benefit.) Personally, I wouldn't consider a school that didn't offer at least health insurance. They don't vary much - but in China, some of these which have previously been tax free will now be taxed and it's not clear yet how this is going to be implemented.

You don't need to be familiar with either the British / American / IB system, though it will help you if you have an understanding of it. In primary, this is less of a concern than at IGCSE/IBDP level, TBH. You could look at doing the IB PYP Category 1 course - not essential though, as most schools will look at getting you through it anyway. In terms of additional qualifications, as you're in Australia I would look into the TESMC qualification for EAL teaching - it seems to be the 'buzz' qualification just now so if it's available to you in your current role, I'd take it.

Finally, the COVID warning - even though you are looking a couple of years in advance, just be aware of the restrictions in place at present. Hopefully they won't be around - but there's no guarantee of it. Make sure you are all vaccinated and get any boosters which might be needed.

I'm kind of at Heliotrope's point. I know that staying here would be easy, that I know the kids well, I'm pretty trusted, and I can see some great things coming up. But on the other hand, I've been here a few years now, family requirements have changed and we're more able to move, and frankly it just feels like time. I can answer all of sciteach's questions are yes, but it just still feels like the right thing for me to do. TBH, this is the longest I've been in one place of employment in all my working life, including before becoming a teacher, so maybe I just get itchy feet every few years!

I know a few people either doing or who have done this, as well as the Senior Leaders one (NPQSL). It seems to be welcomed a bit more for English NC schools, including one which do IBDP after IGCSE, but US and IB World schools tend to look more for a Masters (either MA or MEd). I think to offer the programme too, the universities have to be certified by the DfE in England (though I'm not 100% sure).

No.

Personally, I always feel really uncomfortable when people do that. It might just be a friendly thing - but it's my personal space and I don't really want anyone else in it.

Looking up the rules here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ing-advice - you need two years teaching experience before you can complete the AO QTS. So yes, option 3 is probably your best bet at the moment.

However, longer term if you are accumulating experience, I still wonder about the need for QTS if you are remaining in an international setting. Yes, it helps demonstrate experience, but to use an -, who would you rather have rewire your house - an electrician who has completed his City & Guilds courses but has only rewired a couple of houses, or the electrician who has 10 years experience of doing the job? Part of the reason I've always resisted doing a Masters is that qualifications like that can look good on paper, but actually tell you little about a teachers' ability in the classroom.

My first question is - do you ever want to return to the UK at some point? If the answer to that is 'no', then to be honest you are probably not going to need your QTS - the PGCEi should suffice (and the MSc / PhD definitely will.) Most international schools look for the actual teaching experience rather than a certification, though some schools will want this.

Assuming that you want to stay in Vietnam, I'd say that option 3 is your best bet. You might not be able to start at the best of schools, and it might be a few years before you get to the good ones, but as your son is only 1 that's not really a problem. A quick look on TES shows two jobs in HCMC for next year, though I can't vouch for the schools. If you then want to return to Europe, then you may need to get QTS or a similar certification to work there (there are US certifications which can also be used.)

Hope this helps - good luck!

TBH, depends on the reason behind it. If there are tax changes, they might no longer be able to offer certain things, so have to make the change. It's up to you to judge whether the changes are significant enough that, had they been there when you initially agreed to stay, you wouldn't have signed the contract, or would have asked for a shorter one.

The good thing is that just now with COVID, there seem to be a lot of jobs still going in schools which have normally completed their recruitment.

I think Thailand has generally done well - certainly, when colleagues who moved there over the summer went through quarantine, it was a lot more pleasurable than those of us who did it in China!

If it's the online learning which bothers you - don't get too concerned about it. If it's a good school, then it will have procedures in place which by now are well established, unlike most UK schools. Certainly, when we went back online after Christmas it was just like flicking a switch - we knew what we were doing and what the expectations of the school, parents, kids and colleagues all were.

On the plus side - if you're online, then is there really a requirement to stay at home? I know of people who managed to escape Bangkok and are now teaching from their beachside hotel.....

@twoteachers - if your new country has a huge mark up on electronics, watch that they don't have a similar customs charge for importing them. You need to figure out how much it's worth with the customs charges factored in on top of the transport over simply buying one new.

Again, depending on the country, you might actually find that some of the local makes are just as good as, if not better than, a major brand elsewhere. For example, in China, there's a huge customs markup on electronics which come by removals (if you can't carry it with you like a laptop), but local makes like Xiaomi and HiSense are just as good and as cheap too.

20 mins by taxi, 40 mins by metro (with a bit of walking.) I'd like to be closer because I do most of my work in school and by the time I get home I'm shattered.

Back in my home country, in my first year of teaching I had a 1hr drive to and from school (100 mile round trip). In some ways, I actually preferred that - it meant I had to be organised and gave me time to decompress on the journey home.

Agree with marieh. It's actually a good time to be a teacher in China moving to another school in China, but for people coming in it is going to be difficult. Anecdotally, I know of schools here who are simply not considering applications where there is a dependant, be that a trailing spouse and/or kids, because there's no guarantee they will get the kids in and the risk of someone backing out is too high.

It's definitely not the PGCEi that's the problem - it is a teaching qualification, although it doesn't get you work in the UK. I know of people working in the ME with this, as well as in Asia.

PsyGuy wrote:

> Ranchers dont say goodbye or give explanations to the cow before it goes up
> the ramp of the slaughterhouse, why would recruiters and leaders explain to
> ITs who arent being appointed.

Because teachers are humans, not cows?

I can understand a school not responding to an initial application (even though these are the easiest ones to respond to - a mass, impersonal email is still better than nothing) but if you have gone to the effort of asking someone for interview, then it's poor practice not to respond. Indeed, I'd go as far as to say that not responding is probably a sign of how that head considers their staff and as a result you've probably dodged a bullet.

It's possible - but it would be tough. Sid is right, it's about how the coursework aligns to the IGCSE course, but also the order in which units are taught.

If your son could cope with it, it might be that Y11 has to be seen more as a year to get him up to speed so he's ready for IB (or A level). This might mean not taking a full suite of IGCSEs but focusing on, say, English and Maths. If not, then it would be worth considering the possibility of putting him in Y10 in his new school so he gets the full run at an IGCSE course (the benefit of this might be that he finds some of it is effectively 'revision' - although equally a teenager can easily see this as boring!)

I agree with the second post. We have a house in our home country which is rented out, and a second one in another European country which is where we (normally) head for holidays, and where we spent 6 months outside China. It is useful having your own bolthole if things go wrong - one thing which I want to try to do is make sure that we have enough savings again to cover, say, 6 months of ongoing costs in the house so that if things ever go pearshaped then we at least have the mortgage covered!