Well Abu Dhabi isnt that fierce unless your only interested in the american school. Switzerland is impossible if you dont have an EU passport. Your right though Spanish isnt that in demand a field, maybe a half dozen a year world wide, and the odds are against you that one of your select schools will have one.

In response to your questions:

1) Your friend is right you are going to be expensive, and foreign languages arent something a head is likely to want to sink a lot of money into for a teacher (especially if there is someone cheaper)

2) The IBO doesnt run fairs so you cant get an invitation from them. ISS doesnt have a London fair either. Your options are Search and CIS if you want to go to London, you must be a candidate with each of those agencies to attend their fair.

3) If you send a C.V. to a school blind it will probably get lost and or ignored. You should only send a C.V. in response to a posted position. The schools your interested in get so many resumes a year, its hard enough to sort through the ones they get for positions they need to hire for.

4) I didnt really understand the question about your current administration and what they would say about you? Most schools and you should check with yours require notice sometime in December (some earlier) about returning or leaving faculty. Maybe I misunderstood the question?

5) It should really be easy for you to focus on the few schools you are targeting, and if you use search and list Spanish as one of your preferences you will get an email update for all spanish vacancies that become available, so you could monitor it easily enough. Though honestly I dont think youll get lucky. In my experience Spanish isnt a popular choice in Japan or Singapore. If you dont have an EU passport Switzerland isnt likely to happen (you might be the exception, your certainly competitive). I couldnt comment on the other countries though.

6) I know you didnt mention it, but if your really interested specifically in those areas, have you thought of higher education? Its very doable to do a 1-3 year Visiting Professor, or Lecturer position with your credentials. Especially considering that universities like to have "well rounded and represented" foreign language departments. It would be an "in" to some of the regions your interested in. The compensation package might not be at generous, but you will certainly have more time available, since you want have to concern yourself with research and publishing, like you would in a TT (tenure track) position. If you do decide to pursue higher education, in addition to Spanish in the department of foreign languages, you should also look in the department of education for possible appointments (which tend to be more common and have higher demand).

I was eager to read your post, and after checking the schools you listed with Search I couldnt find a housing package listed for Brussels, Hamburg, London (see below). I suppose when saying "europe" I should have specified "western europe", and not "eastern europe" (Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, Moscow, Prague and Warsaw) since thats what the original poster asked about (as far as Italy and Denmark are concerned), but thanks for catching me on that I should have been specific.

Only one school in the western european area you mentioned offered a housing package (TASIS The American School of England).

No schools in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, (or Denmark) provide a housing allowance, and pretty much provide as i stated previously: salary, insurance and a relocation package (a mix of moving, settling, airfare, and temporary housing).
To be fair these schools also provide tuition waivers (I dont have kids, so I overlook it often), and a retirement plan (provided often through high tax rates).

Im sure you have a story, about how they made an exception for someone you know, everybody knows someone who knows someone who was/is special. Its the recruiting page of CISs own website, I guess i just make things up, and the agencies find my comments so compelling they adapt them as part of their own candidate recruitment process. I suppose someones supposed to believe you over official published information from the company themselves.

For what its worth, I KNOW there are people who exceptions are made for, but this forum isnt a personal journal for myself or anyone else. I'd hate to claim something was totally true or totally fabricated, just to be called out, and shown that I'm wrong when its in black and white.

P.S. I hit 10 before getting done with China (those Dulwich schools really did it)

Well thats good to hear, I like to know that theres hope I can get a decent housing package. Where in europe are you? Its just been my experience that thats pretty much what you get, and I did a brief review of schools in europe on Search and didnt see too many with housing packages. Though the top elite schools are a different world (still didnt see many there either). Yeah I dont have all the answers, but Im pretty much on target for the majority/bulk of schools. There are always exceptions to every generalization.

My relocation allowance paid my airfare and shipping (but I was one person, and that was still out of 3000€). I have national health insurance and it provides for global care as well. I also received retirement contributions from my employer. I suppose I didnt go into much detail on those. Anyway I never claimed to have taught everywhere, and i'm glad your situation and experiences are different. We need more not fewer perspectives on this forum.

Hi, Im responding to your question about Denmark here, as opposed to on the other thread, because it just seems like a better place. This year im in Denmark, and last year I was in Italy.

So your a teaching couple and you have three kids? Your husband teachers math and you teach???

Honestly, Europe is not the place for you. I'll get right to the heart why. European schools dont have the same compensation packages as you find in say Asia. Mostly you get a salary, insurance, and a relocation stipend (typically around 3000€). You would use up your relocation allowance in just flights alone (for 5 people). In salary in europe most international schools cap salaries at 10 years. So your husband would make about 3000€ and not knowing how many years you had would make around 2500€ (average starting). A three bedroom apartment would eat up one of your salaries by itself (and a house a salary and a half, if you wanted more then 3 bedrooms). You'd have a hard time living off the rest. Though with both of you on staff getting 3 tuition waivers wouldnt be too hard.

In Denmark specifically we use the Crown (were not on the Euro) and salaries are very very static. All teachers make the same amount regardless of years of experience. Its part of the equality mentality. People who do the same job, get compensated the same, so a teacher with 10 years experience gets paid the same as a teacher with 1 year experience. Theres a small stipend, about 10% increase for having an advance degree but thats about it. Admins get paid more as well, but its not a lot more. The teaching salary at our school is about 25K Crowns (3300€ a month, which isnt bad until you talk taxes).

Outside of housing costs, the biggest expense is taxes, depending on your country you get anywhere form 6 months (Scandinavia) tax free to a reduced tax rate for 2 years. In italy the first year tax rate was 9%, and would have been 11% my second year, but then it goes to 40% your third year. In Denmark you get 6 months tax free and then it hits at about 50%, but you can get some deduction, such as the church tax, but you will end up paying about 33%-40% after all is said and done. Thats a big chunk of change (although you get EXCELLENT health care).

Language was more a problem for me in Italy then here in Denmark, everyone studies english in primary and secondary school, so english isnt a problem. Though Im not a member of any athletic associations, so I dont know if they are more Danish speaking or not, I do know people here prefer to converse in Danish. The biggest problem is reading mostly, as everything is written in Danish (just to give you an example, our computer network uses a virtual client. You login to a sever and use a virtual desktop, the problem is its all in Danish and there are no language settings to change. I do a lot of my work on my iPad, or personal laptop.)

@heyteach:
Yeah I miss the beach, warm weather too (I also miss Japan at times), south China was nice... Lived a higher lifestyle as well. everyone in Europe is "just getting by" pretty much. I agree with you, I would never teach back in the states again, and honestly I dont think I could, at least not in a public school. I havent really kept up with the changing laws, and regulations regarding Curriculum, and assessment. I could maybe do a private school, but I wouldnt be happy (well maybe in Hawaii). That said, and no offense but I'd also never teach in the middle east.

@silvertone:
Yeah your missing a lot of backstory. I really dont know what I said to Daisy or InterNationalGirl2011, but I guess everyone has to have a nemesis, and I just stood in the nemesis line twice???

@InterNationalGirl2011:

I understand you want the full page PsyGuy treatment as well. I suppose you will just have to wait.

Daisy can you refrain from vulgar commentary.

In regards to daisy's claim's in 1-3, her and I will just have to disagree. Daisy tends to think that her experiences have more "weight" because they are hers.

You can look at the attendees for the COIS fair at (http://portal.cois.org/WCM/CIS/fairs/sc ... nding.aspx), as a majority of them offer GCSE/IGCSE (the British curriculum), and these schools do span to a lessor extent European schools (a majority of these schools also offer IB as well). At least that is my past experience.

Their is some merit to Daisy's ISS opinion, ISS has seen some decline lately (they increased their previous membership from 1 year too 2 season) to offer better value. Search does have all the big (elite) schools. They just also have a lot more (Search has almost a 1000, and ISS 150 schools). ISS has ONLY the top schools though. So when you go to their fairs Searches will be huge with a somewhat overwhelming number of schools. ISS's will be smaller, and you dont have to weed through all the undesirable schools. That being said ISS simply has a smaller database

What works in theory doesnt often pan out in real life. I cant really comment on available help at the fairs as i never really needed it. Im a member of Search, and a past member of ISS. I prefer Search, that said my Search Associate doesnt do a thing for me, and i received more attention when I was an ISS member. Some people with Search have a GREAT associate, who really helps them. I'm just not one of those people. My associate takes weeks to respond to an email, and I think an agencies "service" needs to go beyond just that supplied at the fairs.

This was all in my original post response, but I want to thank Daisy for giving me an opportunity to elaborate.

In regards to number 4, "that I just totally made up", here is the teacher recruitment link (http://www.cois.org/page.cfm?p=251), the 6th bullit point down clearly reads:
"All candidates are required to be currently teaching full time within either the USA, UK, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian or IB curriculum, teaching grades K-12"

This post isnt a page long, hows that prove your point, not that you had one.

@heyteach: I got bored, seriously its cold, and there's like 8 hours of daylight here.

Not every post.

I'll start with the easy question: the big reputable recruiting companies are 1) International School Services (ISS) and 2) Search Associates (Search or SA). ISS is smaller and only handles ISS schools (even if all they are providing a school is Recruiting Services) ISS has the "better" schools, as they have a higher bar/standard on what schools they will represent. Search has a much larger datatbase (almost a 1,000 schools compared to ISS's 150), as they accept pretty much all of the tier 1 and tier 2 schools (and some of the tier 3 schools), so they have more opportunities available (although you have to tolerate all the job vacancies coming out of schools in the middle east, which never seem to end). ISS also has higher standards for what teachers they will accep. ISS works a little more personally to help you find a job, where Search recruiters may or may not do anything for you. Cost is also an issue. Search is $200 for three years of database access, and one free fair (additional fairs are $50 each). ISS is $185 for two years (2 seasons, it use to be one year), and the conference fee is $290 (which covers all conferences, but most people cant afford to go to more then 1 a year anyway). I'm a member of Search, and use to be a member of ISS. The really elite schools list with both companies, and the big fairs for each agancy kind of run back to back of one another (the Big fairs for Each are the Cambridge/Boston fair, and the Bangkok fair).

CIS is another organization that does teacher recruiting though they arent as international, they primarily cater to UK schools (and the brittish school curriculum), and to a lessor extent european schools. Their big fair is in London (there is no cost to attend), and they dont accept teachers who arent currently employed. Their standards are pretty high though.

In the smaller recruiting agencies (and cheaper) you have Joy Jobs and TIE-Online (The International Educator), they have small fees about $40 each. They get the smaller schools, and some last minute positions, but they have pretty small databases. I've never subscribed to either one, and have heard mixed reviews about them. One person on this board found a DREAm job in Japan on them, one person hasnt gotten them to take down his profile for years, and keeps getting messages from them (honestly other people on this forum, are in a better position to comment).

Below that you have all the "free" web sites, though these mostly are for ESL positions, sites like: TES, Daves ESL cafe, Gaijinpot, Ajarn, Footprints, are free and occasionally have non ESL positions advertised. Back in the day when I first got into education I got my first teaching job (in Thailand) through one of those sites. if your a real educator/teacher though they wont have the caliber of schools youd be interested in.

Lastly, you can always do a very successful job search without a recruiter on your own. Many members of this forum, have and continue to be successful this way. It depends how much time you have, and what your focus is. Agencies like Search and ISS certainly provide bennifits (your references are all in one place), and they make the search easier, as well as provide contract information such as salaries, and other compensation information. You also get to go to the fairs where the hiring really happens (especially if your new). That being said, if you have a specific region that your interested in such as france, its very easy to just google that and get a list of schools, and just keep checking their HR site for vacancies. If your interested in only the DOS schools (Department of State supported schools) you can go to their website and just click on the schools websites and bookmark their HR pages. Of course this also requires more time on your end, but for people who have specific focused (narrow) interests it could be worthwhile. For instance Search only lists 3 schools in france in their database, and their are 11 International Schools in france, so even if you were a Search member youd have to do your own updateing with the other 8 schools on your own anyway. $200 for 3 schools isnt a whole lot, especially for schools in Eastern Europe where there is only 1 or 2 search Schools in their database. For some people its more important where they are, then how much money they are making.

Teach Away is a recruiter that works mostly with the public school system in various locations. If your really really new, are looking for an internship, or an exchange type of program, they may be able to help you. For seriously credentialed (real) teachers, they arent very helpful.

Search Associates recruiters dont do very very much to actually find you a job. Mainly what your paying for is access to the school database, and the fairs (of which your first one is free).

So after you've filled out your profile and been accepted. You login to the site and then select "Search for Openings in International Schools" from your home page. enter the criteria that you want to use (Jobs in the last 10 days, schools in a certain country, schools with vacancies in your field, etc). Click "Submit Search", you will get a list of schools. Place a check mark in the left hand column of the schools, then click "Find Application" and that schools page will come up. At the top of the screen is a drop down menu for each of the schools you selected.

If one of your 4 preferences on your profile matches a position vacancy you can click on "CLICK HERE IF YOU WISH TO SEND AN EMAIL TO THIS SCHOOL " this link will only work if one of your 4 preferences on your profile matches a vacancy they have. You can then copy and paste your intro/cover letter into the mail window.

If the position is not one of your 4 preferences, but your qualified for the position anyway you can copy and paste the schools email address (at the top of the page, under item 2) into your email, and send them an email with cover letter, resume, and any other attachments.


Associates with Search vary greatly, some people LOVE their recruiter, some (like mine) dont do anything and take weeks to return an email.

There are about 12 international schools in France. Depends on your qualifications, but France is usually tied with FIRST place (with Italy) for more desirable region in europe (and europe itself is pretty hard to get into). I'm sorry I just hear this a lot, some young teacher with little knowledge of the international school scene decides "Oh I want to teach in Paris for a couple years" and ride a bike wearing a cute sundress, up to the chateau, meet a tall handsome, wealthy french business man, who will spoil you like the princess you are. Sorry got a bit carried away, but really they just arent competitive.

First, it would REALLY help you a lot if you had a French or even EU passport. Second, you would need about 5 years of experience in an international school already. You would need to be certified in your field (and a hard to fill field would be better, something like physics, or math), and a Masters would make you competitive. You should have AT LEAST 2 years of IB experience. Third, a working knowledge of French would get you noticed. Fourth, turnover in French schools is very, very, low maybe 1 opening a year (2 maximum), many schools go a couple years with no openings at all. So youd need to be certified and qualified in a wide range of subjects, otherwise you could be waiting years just to apply for one spot along with 3,000 other applicants. Fifth, I hope your single, because french schools seldom have more then one vacancy, so your spouse would have nothing to do and no availability to work. So you would have to support your family on about 3000€ a month (assuming an average salary is €50K a year [this is on the high end of the scale, at the elite schools, where salaries can top €70K a year. I took the low end of the BA+4 years for the tier one schools, and averaged with the mean population salary], and a 30% tax rate [payable after 6 months], annualized over 12 months). European schools dont provide the generous compensation, housing packages you get in Asia, etc. Your basic package consists of a salary, insurance, and a relocation stipend (usually around 3000€) from this you pay for your airfare, and 1st months housing costs, and everything else in startup. A one bedroom apartment with utilities will cost you about 1400€ a month (about half your salary). Needless to say, you wont save very much, especially if your in a city like Paris.

So I guess the question to ask yourself is whats your resume look like and whats your family situation? About the only thing your going to get from the dream, is to ride that bicycle (because you wont be able to afford a car).

You would seriously have a shorter wait, if you went to business school (got an MBA in accounting), studied french and became an accountant, and then leveraged that into a position with an international firm like PriceWaterhouseCooper, at one of their offices in France. Law school is another option, but youd have to put in so many years at one of the top international firms before you would have a chance at being posted in france (and law schools 3 years, an MBA could be done in a year, though 2 is typical).

Another option if money is less an issue for you and you want to do something now, is to just go to Paris, and do the ESL/tutor under the table gig (AKA "the backpacker" approach). Maybe you do a little subbing, get to know a principal, at a couple schools, and something happens, and your already there so your in the right place at the right time...

Lastly, you could just get really skinny, get a new bikini, and head to France for the summer, meet some older guy in his 40's/50's, get married, and then qualify for french Permanent Residency (you could become a citizen after a couple years). Another option is to become a Political Refugee, there are several protests going on right now (and I hear the occupy wall street group needs some leadership), you could get yourself arrested, make a name for yourself, then flee the country, and apply for Asylum, claiming political persecution.

The bad things are mostly true, but what your not hearing are the good things. Most of the programs are at/in tier 2 schools, so you get some smarter/higher caliber kids. The curriculum is fully supplied, so all you have to do is deliver it (your preps will be easy, if you know your subject). The salary is good, and so is the rest of the compensation contract. its a nice benefit that after 2 years you get to transfer to another school in their system (but the waiting list for some locations like Italy, can be very long). Their admin/management practices can be very "corporate".

That being said their are too many bad experiences, not to have some merit to some of the bad practices going on. If your new, inexperienced, or looking for a good tier 2 position, you could do a lot worse.

They may ask as a legitimate concern based on their medical insurance, they want to make sure your condition would be covered by their carrier. It would be bad to have you in country and find out your condition/treatment/medication wouldnt be covered. That said medication is almost universally cheaper outside the USA.

On the other hand they might have a problem with it. I had a friend who was bipolar, completely controlled with medication, but as soon as the issue came up, either she wasnt offered the job, or the position had been filled. She has been trying to go to Japna for 5+ years now, and she just cant get passed the interview.

Some countries/schools do have medical entry requirements for a visa, and yes they are basically looking for TB (tuberculosis), and sexually transmitted diseases (mainly AIDS). Some schools will have the medical examination done when you arrive. Some want an EKG for people over 40/50.

Nothing guarantees you an interview. Competitiveness and marketability are really on a continuum. The more marketable you are, the more likely you are to apply at more competitive schools, which will have a hiring pool of candidates at the same level of marketability as yourself. We could speak in generalities (Tier 1 schools want 2 years, elite schools want 5 years, etc), and it could easily be argued that if you have a masters, certification, and 5 years IB experience, and you apply at some third tier school in the middle east you will at least get an interview.

IB workshops dont count for much when in comes to marketability. What schools want is EXPERIENCE, not training. Just as taking teacher education courses dont make a good teacher without experience, so IB training courses dont equal IB experience. Two years experience is the minimum, but at the top schools its just that a minimum, many teachers you will be competing with will have more (and their experience is likely to be international school experience). I wouldn't say that makes you a hot commodity, but again it depends what region your looking at and what you teach, some fields are much harder to fill then others.

Typically, teachers get IB experience by starting at a tier 2 school in a region such as asia (China, S. Korea, etc). Then after their 2 years they move on to better schools and positions, working their way to the dream position/post they want.

PYP is tough, a lot of people have primary certification/qualifications, and schools tend to save primary positions for teaching couples. The PYP workshops have some value, depending how new you are too teaching. MYP workshops are usually a joke, Dip workshops can be a toss up, depending how familiar you are with the IBO overall.