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by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:26 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Resignation and reapplying help
Replies: 15
Views: 166298

Response

Have you already resigned?
Whats the labor environment in your region? Are there strong labor rules/laws/unions?

No one can force you to resign. You have a contract for services and compensation that binds you and the IS. You dont have to take their poo sandwich because its the only thing they see fit to serve you. If leaderships lack of planning and design leaves you in a position where the role you agreed to doesnt exist, thats a them problem not a you problem. They can either pay you the coin to make the position happen, or assign you to other tasks and roles. What they can not do is just discard you because their idea didnt come to fruition. This is hard for ITs to do because we have a climate where youre not allowed to say no. Its insubordination, its not being a team player, and the big one, its not in the interests of the students. The reality of the matter however is that this is business and you have a contract of performance that you and the IS have to abide by. This is of course highly contingent on where you are and what protections and rights you may have. There are regions like China where this would be hard to make work, and then you have places like the WE where youre very likely to be successful. However, success might be much less than getting your position reinstated, you may only be entitled to something like 30 days comp, or something equally minimal.
If you havent resign yet and you refuse to do so, youre going to lose any good will or "help" the other leaders are offering. Its going to become a you v. them situation.

I dont feel these other leaders are really on your side. Talk is cheap, actions matter. Sympathy and an empty sack is worth an empty sack. A positive reference is just a given. No one is getting on the phone or sending off emails to find you a position somewhere else. Moreover even if they were they could make some kind of position for you where you are, even if it was something like instructional support or permanent substitute/relief IT. They are offering you consolation, nothing more.

No one cares about your child. No one cares about you either for that matter. They are just trying to discard themselves of you in the least damaging and least expensive way.

The position you were appointed to doesnt exist now. You should have not been poking the bear all this while, just sit at whatever desk/office/room you had until someone approached you. Its to late for that of course.

Youre not leaving mid-year for another job. You havent secured one of those yet despite whatever 'help' leadership is giving you. Youre just unemployed. Are they giving you any severance or is it just the reference?

First, where are you, and whats the status of your visa? It doesnt sound like you have a place to go. If you can stay where you are than start looking for whats available locally. Start with whatever ESOL might be available.

Second, as to your resume either ghost the position or list what would have been the contract dates for what the position would have been. Add a note that position was dissolved if you must. You need to explain what happened and the best time to do that is going to be at the interview, with those glowingly positive references.
At this point I would be remiss in addressing if those references really were or are going to be overly positive. You may be in the situation where their expectation was that you were going to develop the position and your role by taking the initiative. That they couldnt define the position and so you were going to define it for them. They waited three months and all you did was ask what to do. They may really feel that you lacked core competencies to make the job what they envisioned it to be. Those references may very well be a a dagger in your back.

The HOS as well as the entire leadership team sleep very well at night. If youve resigned youre not a problem competing with the real problems that havent been resolved yet. They all have other things to think about and contend with. If you havent resigned yet youre still a problem just not an overly dominate one competing with their other issues. Most people are just too busy with their own personal issues as well as other work related problems to concern themselves with you.
by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 3:45 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Teaching to Admin back to Teaching?
Replies: 2
Views: 22104

Response

What leadership role are you seeking?

HOS/Executive leadership roles are either recruited for in the year prior to the appointing recruiting cycle or during early recruiting in the current cycle. Late winter/Spring is way to late for anything except an urgent appointment. Theres just too many issues and concerns to ask a new HOS to hit the ground running, it happens and its been done but its far from an ideal scenario.

If its senior leadership than it depends a lot on the position/role and the current demographics of the leadership team. An AP/VP/DP in a small IS who is the only other leadership member, that also is a position that Executive leadership is going to want to take their time with and to have them inplace they are going to want to do that early (again baring an urgent hire).
Its not much different with a larger IS that has a heavier leadership team where roles can be consolidated or workload dispersed among the current team members. Its not uncommon to absorb/dissolve a position and count the savings as an accomplishment by executive leadership.

Its not really early for leadership vacancies as the SA leadership fair is coming up in a week. If youre not hearing from anyone its because your resume doesnt have a lot of value yet and ISs are confident there is better value they will identify. Situations arent going to get critical enough until February/March. The issue of course is that by then youre going to have missed the Early and Peak recruiting time for IT appointments.

Leadership roles in IE are defined by reports, peer deliverables, or resource budgeting and allocation.
There are 3 general avenues into leadership:
1) Grow In: You start at an IS as an IT, you work well with leadership, parents and ownership, and then when there is an opening you get the job because ownership trusts you and leadership and parents like you. This pathway is faster at lower tier ISs, where there is a lot of turnover and longevity often means your only one of the few staff to renew.
2) Work In: You get a M.Ed in Ed.Ld, you add a credential, you build some leadership or management experience and you work your way up into leadership. This may and often requires some work in DE. This is the pathway that accounts for the majority of leadership. Candidates were leadership in DE, and they were hired as leadership in IE.
3) Edge In: You make friends and build a network, maybe you marry into, but someone in ownership likes you and gives you the job, or someone in leadership helps you get into the job. This is the least common path into leadership.

The issue with your second scenario is thus three fold:
1) While you can do anything for a year and not have it effect your resume in more than a trivial way, beyond that your skill set starts to get dated. Its a matter of perception the more time you spend away from leadership roles, tasks and activities the less you are perceived as being a competent and proficient leader. Leadership is a very different skill set from IT/instructional roles. While you will grow and master the skill set of an IT during your long tenure there, youre leadership skill set isnt getting any better, and its not growing in title or responsibility.
2) Youll fall through the glass ceiling. Once youre in leadership moving about in leadership is much easier to do, getting 'in' to leadership in the first instance is the hardest part of getting/breaking into leadership. If you step back to a classroom role you will be crossing that threshold and become an IT again, you did that already by moving back to the US to get into leadership, if you leave for an IT classroom position you will essentially have to break into leadership again.
3) Since your focus is only on Tier 1 ISs for classroom IT roles, not only is your resume very lite for leadership roles at that tier of IS but you will very likely finish out your career in the classroom. Theres simply not a lot of room at the top for mobility in leadership. Leaders that get to leadership in those tier of ISs tend to stay until they retire out making for a very long cycle of maturation/turnover. Youre going to be waiting forever for a vacancy to open up and when it does youre resume as a leader isnt going to be any better than it is now.

Ive written this often but you dont have any decisions to make until you have options. There is nothing to say you cant do both, you can apply for IE vacancies at both IT and Leader level roles. Once you have an idea of your marketability than you can apply what ever metrics or schema you use to determine what to take. In the meantime you dont likely have to give notice to your current DS until much later in the AY.

Its probably to late for you to realistically put travel together and leave to attend the SA Leadership fair (in SG), but that would be my other suggestion. Youd need to leave in a week and youd likely need to take 3-5 days of leave to account for travel. To be worth while you would need to have already gotten a positive reception from ISs attending that fair, as going cold might be exciting its not likely to be productive in the way youd be happy with.

The other option and its the stronger one as written above is to stay where you are and build leadership experience moving into roles of increased responsibility until you have a competitive marketable resume for IE leadership roles (at the tier and location you want)
by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 3:06 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: 24/25 Job Search
Replies: 11
Views: 75167

Response

Early Recruiting is just starting. Yes it creeps earlier and earlier every year and while there are some positions being filled many ISs that have posted vacancies, etc. are just building their applicant pool, its screening activity.
by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 3:02 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: 'Normal' full time teaching load in Secondary
Replies: 17
Views: 108268

Discussion

So one less holiday than typical, or at least part of one holiday.

@expatscot

Its very likely in the contract or in the policy manual, or at the very least a clearly communicated expectation and not one where there have been many resignations over.
by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 2:58 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: COVID Vaccination requirements in Thailand, Singapore, & SE Asia
Replies: 4
Views: 13706

Reply

@ABunDance

Maybe just get the COVID vaccine and then put your time into more worthy pursuits.
Youre never going to have complete assurance anyway. Even if a government entity doesnt require vaccination an IS on its own can at anytime enact a new policy requiring any vaccination, and government positions can change overnight. If an IS announces a new mandatory vaccination unless you have some documentable medical condition that prohibits or is contraindicated for vaccination no excuse otherwise is going to be acceptable. They will say your non-compliance is a safety and health risk and dismiss you. Being a conscientious or religious objector or anti-vaxer isnt going to save you. They will just roll their eyes and point you to the exit.
by PsyGuy
Wed Nov 08, 2023 2:49 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: deposing IBO
Replies: 4
Views: 10602

Reply

@fangpiren

You dont understand it nearly well enough and the timeline very clear. They IBO really promised you nothing and didnt owe you anything. You disagree with their interpretation of their policy, then made a nuisance of yourself and nothing further was to be gained by communicating further with you.
They dont need a compliance officer.
by PsyGuy
Sun Oct 22, 2023 7:10 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: deposing IBO
Replies: 4
Views: 10602

Response

A whistleblower complaint? TH has no whistleblower protection. The closest it gets is some witness protections, but theres no such thing as whistleblower protections in TH.
Truth, in the public interest, is a defense to defamation in TH. This might apply to your case, but who did you report the issue to? The IBO regional office in Asia is in SG. SG doesnt have better defamation laws, and it probably doesnt matter to your IS as they are going to pursue their issues in TH and its going to cost you a lot of coin to defend yourself.

I dont think you understand the IBO whistleblower policy. First, its not law, its a policy, and this policy is discretionary, there is no enforcement mechanism you can invoke because you dont have a contractual agreement with the IBO. A contractual agreement is the general cause of action for you to get into court so that you can move for a deposition. Even if the policy was an obligation to you the policy is very weak, the IBO states that disclosing the identity of the complainant may be necessary depending on the appropriateness of the complaint. At best the IBO can engage their inspectorate and could potentially withdraw authorization, but thats the IBOs remedy. They cant do anything else, and they wont engage in disciplinary actions or employment grievances. They will instruct you to contact a legal practitioner to pursue any claims through appropriate labor laws, etc.

So what would you hope to gain by deposing the IBO. Youre in a conference room, the camera is rolling, the reporter ready, oaths administered. You ask the IBO representative if they disclosed your identity to the IS upon receiving your complaint. Even if they answer yes, even if you get the smoking gun, so what? You have no legal protections as a whistleblower, and the IBOs policy clearly says they may disclose the identity of the whistleblower when appropriate, and they believed it was appropriate. You have no remedies, and you have no cause for damages. If you wrote the IBO and asked about an irregularity you want to report and some IBO representative wrote you back that they would not disclose your identity, and then they did you might have a cause of action that you could argue youve suffered damages from, but you dont have that. You have your interpretation of a policy for a whistleblower that is not supported by any legal protections.

Of course they arent communicating with you anymore. Its probably unproductive arguing. What more is there to resolve by continuing the conversation.

CIS accreditation isnt accreditation. CISs evaluation process is nothing more than an external validation that what an IS claims to be doing they actually are doing.
Regardless they arent going to do anything and neither is a US regional accreditation body. Nor would Ofsted for that matter. Assuming the IS is a member of such an accrediting/inspecting organization. These organizations concern themselves with implementation and execution of the academic standards and program, nothing more, and the bulk of their efforst are focused on examinations as opposed to instructional tasks and activities. Very few complaints even those the IBO receives, are of an academic nature, and of the ones that are its often discovered its the IT who is really the fault in the violation, since its very difficult to find evidence of the violation from ownership or leadership.

The other organizations (International Schools Association of Thailand and the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian) are just clubs that ISs join. Their allegiance is to the IS not the ITs. Even in the extraordinary scenario that they would be in any way interested and pursue action the worst they can do is drop the IS as a member IS, which amounts to little more than one less logo on the ISs webpage.
by PsyGuy
Sat Oct 21, 2023 12:08 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How Desirable Am I
Replies: 6
Views: 22207

Reply

@mysharona

The LW has already spent a year OS in an IS, they arent a noob.

@justme123

The fair effect is still a thing, though not as much as it was in the past. Candidates get offers at fairs, that still happens. Whats changed is the increase in recruiters/leaders wanting to "wait" as opposed to locking a hire as early as possible. It used to be you went to the BKK fair if you could get an invite and recruiters and leaders wants to fill vacancies at that fair and then move on to the other historical super fairs and their respective regional fairs. Each later fair was considered a step down, so in general the ITs you found at LON and then BOS and etc. were lower quality than the ones you found before it (big broad brush with that statement, there were and always have been other factors of course). Of late though your finding increasing numbers of recruiters/leaders at early fairs (BKK, etc.) waiting for later fairs (BOS, etc.) before making an offer/offers. There are a lot of dynamics happening at fairs but the primary two driving effects involve feeling stress and pressure to not leave with nothing (you dont want to feel like a loser if you spend all this coin and time and leave with nothing) and the loss opportunity pressure of signing now (the offers only good now/a few hours/today and then its gone). This increasing trend of waiting means those pressures increase. Ive seen all too often ITs sign with hardship location ISs and lower tier ISs because it was better than leaving with nothing and hope/promises. Why do leaders/recruiters do this, because as they have become more comfortable with online recruiting they have increased and opened up their applicant pools. They have less a pressure to sign an IT early because the fair gave them an idea and a poo of candidates they can turn to later. Most ITs are very indistinct from each other, the salient factor they focus on is fit, so if a recruiter walks away from a fair with a handful of candidates who will wait, there really isnt any loss for them.
by PsyGuy
Wed Oct 18, 2023 12:35 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Arizona vs Moreland
Replies: 19
Views: 32827

Reply

@Alchemeister

Im interested in finding out myself. The past reports were all from insiders in the UK. It will be interesting to hear what an outsiders results are.
by PsyGuy
Thu Oct 12, 2023 5:26 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Arizona vs Moreland
Replies: 19
Views: 32827

Reply

@Alchemeister

No, you can have earned the experience prior to obtaining a credential, and the experience can have been obtained anywhere, even outside the region of your credential. It just has to be KS/K12 experience. The TRA/TCL will look more closely at experience prior to being credentialed, but they have accepted experience from those who were working on the "unqualified teachers pay scale", these were DTs working in the UK though. At worse though they will say you have to wait and resubmit.
You only need 9 months to have obtain partial (ECT) QTS. Its 20 months to obtain full QTS without the requirement for Induction.
What you want to avoid

MO doesnt have full reciprocity in the way youre thinking. Its not a have a credential and you get a Career Professional credential (Advanced grade) which is the 99 year credential. Youll end up getting the Initial Professional credential (Entry grade) and you wont be able to transition it to the Career Professional credential without teaching in MO. The Initial Professional credential is only a 4 year credential which you would need to extend with PD. Youre going to have to renew the MS credential in 5 years and the AZ credential in 12. The goal of QTS is to park your credential in the UK so that you 1) Dont have to do PD. 2) Not lose your MS credential during an audit.
by PsyGuy
Thu Oct 12, 2023 4:06 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: What you wish you knew before going to China?
Replies: 9
Views: 25479

Reply

@expatscot

Its not that broad. There are some of the rent a name ISs that arent train wreck of ISs, but as I wrote all of them are bad compared to their parent institution they are renting their name from. No ones going to spend a week in the best rent a name IS and confuse it with the quality of the parent institution. None of them even come close where you could argue that the rent a name IS is a reflection of the parent institution. Maybe a pale and hollow shadow, but having to use such adjectives would put it in the bad barrel of ISs.

I can think of more non-Native English speakers who have done well at learning English as a non-native speaker, many are fluent or very close to fluent, but none of them would be comparable in English ability to their native English speaking colleagues. Do they speak more eloquently then some bumpkin sure. Thats not what were talking about though. My position is comparing colleagues, peers, students educated in comparable environments, apples to apples, or even apples to oragnes, not apples to acorns. There isnt one of them where I cant tell the native speaker from the non-native speaker, and none where I would be able to claim the non-native speakers fluency is better than the native speakers.
by PsyGuy
Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:57 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How many applications do you receive for a position?
Replies: 5
Views: 21562

Reply

@coughingfurballs

I didnt intend to imply using the Kingdom as a stepping stone to Europe.
The Kingdom has a very small small small small small pool of reputable ISs (which doesnt mean good, just not horrible train wreck ISs).

EE is a different creature than the WE or the rest of the EU. Its still early in recruiting and those ISs with vacancies will begin recruiting for them in due time.
There are 3 tracks in IE in regards to IE recruiting. You have inside circuit, outside circuit and off circuit.
1) Inside Circuit: Is really small. Its the ITs that arent recruiting but are open to opportunity, they are putting out feelers to leaders in other ISs that are also putting out feelers. When their little feelers merge and find themselves mutually aligned then changes happen, sometimes. Its essentially what GRC formalized but then got to big and then moved closer to outside track recruiting.
2) Outside Circuit: Is what is generally regarded as the recruiting cycle in IE. Its the accumulation of premium agencies, the recruiting services, job boards, as well as the traditional application process and fairs/REs that are aggregated into 'recruiting'.
3) Off Circuit: Is everything in DE from public/maintained to private/independent DSs that may look like IE. These are local DSs that are open to hiring foreigners. Generally they are LH hire positions as opposed to OSH positions. In many WE and EU ISs the OSH package is much more similar to a LH package anyway, which makes on circuit and off circuit ISs and DSs more comparable.

Its those off circuit DSs/ISs what Im referring to. To recruit for those positions though you have to be local. They dont advertise using IE agencies or job services very often if at all. Youre only going to find them on the DSs/ISs website and on a local (maybe regional) jobs board. Some of them may do an interview online, some will want to have a F2F interview in person. A driving force of these positions is availability, they need the IT to start comparatively soon compared to the processing time in on circuit recruiting. What makes those positions feasible and more marketable to ITs is being there. Thats what you need to be.

I dont think you should resign your position. You can keep your position and be in those locations your interested in during the summer holiday and keep your eyes and ears open and possibly make some moves if an opportunity presents itself. Off circuit DSs/ISs really dont care about what on circuit ISs think or that they are poaching you from an IS somewhere. They dont care, they need an edu in the classroom and they dont move in those on circuit circles of ISs. If nothing happens you count it as a working holiday and go back to your IS no one in leadership the wiser.

It is easier to get a position when youre already in a position. You can do anything in IE for a year without damage to your marketability. That makes it risky but its no different than the risk you take in on circuit recruiting. You will want to give your current IS notice in the early parts of Fall (if youre not going rogue) so that when your at a fair or talking to an IS you have a reference. The common position though is that youve surrendered your position at your current IS not for a position in another IS but ONLY the opportunity to purse other positions. You might not find one or may end up having to take something worse or more of a hardship. Neither strategy is without out risks and the risks are substantial in both cases.

EE off circuit DSs/ISs generally dont comp well. There are some exceptions, but salary tends to be around €2500 (between €2000-€3000). You may get a flight in for yourself and whatever social insurance scheme is available. They are very LH in respects to comp.
by PsyGuy
Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:12 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Arizona vs Moreland
Replies: 19
Views: 32827

Reply

@Alchemeister

You got very lucky, and slipped through a crack. Theres nothing wrong with cracks, but again lucky. I would suggest you consider using the MS credential to apply for QTS. MS has an online portal to verify the credentials.
It wouldnt work in the future as MS is restructuring their applicant requirements. Applicants will have to furnish evidence of completing an EPP/ITT program in the future. If youre going to add additional endorsements understand thats a process of someone reviewing your application, and you may be required in the future to provide documentation of completing an EPP/ITT program when they see there isnt one on file as a requirement for future endorsements.
It also wouldnt work for foreign ITs as MS doesnt issue non-sponsored credentials to foreigners.
by PsyGuy
Tue Oct 10, 2023 2:29 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How many applications do you receive for a position?
Replies: 5
Views: 21562

Response

Its still early in the upcoming recruiting season. Early recruiting starts the end of October, prime recruiting starts in Early January and finishes in mid February, when late recruiting starts until the Spring push in May with the Summer shuffle in Early July.

Elite tier ISs in highly desirable regions can get a thousand plus applications for a single vacancy.
There are typically, in very broad general terms about 10x more applications for arts and humanities vacancies than there are for STEM vacancies.

The WE is absolutely among the most competitive regions in IE, which also include other EU regions, the NE, and parts of Asia such as JP and HK.

The Kingdom as well as the rest of the ME is one of the most difficult places for ISs to recruit for with a couple exceptions.

Many British ITs have commented in recent time that with Brexit they have found it much more difficult to secure interest from EU ISs and recruiters.

SA isnt going to help you much with the WE or EU. The ME including The Kingdom, yes, but I dont think you need SA to get a job in the Kingdom. TES should easily accommodate you, you just have to wait.If your going to attend a RE/Fair SA can provide a strong benefit, again especially in the ME. Without an EU passport though the WE and EU ISs that are actually recruiting and that will be in attendance at even BKK will be small and with a small number of vacancies. The lines can be absolutely depressing and without an EU passport you are just not going to be in the priority pile regardless of your experience or resume.

If youre truly set on working in the WE/EU and your flexible about the tier of IS, than just go to where you want to work in the Spring and teach ESOL online and keep open to lower tier ISs and independent/private DSs that are off circuit.