I teach at an international school, which many of you and the parents consider elite. I have an American certification which I gained via an accredited online program in the US. None of the school administrators questioned my credentials so far.

So, I don't really believe in this one-size-fits-all propaganda.

-Will schools be turned off by the fact that my licensing courses came from an online program?

Not really, do not believe in the naysayers; as long as the courses are from an accredited university, it doesn't really matter. Make sure that your teaching philosophy is up-to-date and incorporates current pedagogical practices that you learned from these online courses. Internet education is the future and IB already offers some courses online.

-I will have three years of ESL teaching experience under my belt, but no experience teaching back home in the States. Will my experience be considered relevant/sufficient by international schools?

This is one area where you need to work on; if you can gain a couple of years experience teaching at an accredited international school or a candidate for accreditation, you can aim for the big schools.

-How important is it to have a masters degree in the international school job market? Can I get by without one, or should I definitely plan on getting one if I want to be competitive.

Of course, schools love teachers with advanced degrees, which means you have an edge over others in terms of content knowledge. However, experience matters a lot when you are teaching students to an external curriculum, say AP or IB. If you can produce solid scores on these exams for two or more consecutive years, and if you can coach a sport or a scheduled activity, you'd be able to get great references, thus increasing your chances of being hired by an established school. And you can always enroll for an accredited master's online, where you will have a five to six-year window period to complete and state the same on your CV. Even some of the established school administrators are currently pursuing PhDs online.

And finally, more generally, is there anything you wish you had known when you were just getting started with the transition to working in international schools?

Creativity, you will need tons of it. Incorporate technology creatively wherever it can engage students better. Giving second chances, revisiting concepts, after-school help to your slow learners all will show you in positive light, which means you are the guy who walks the talk and walks the extra mile for your students' who pay a bomb, so that you as a private school teacher can have luxurious vacations and decent savings.

-Will schools be turned off by the fact that my licensing courses came from an online program?

Not really, do not believe in the naysayers; as long as the courses are from an accredited university, it doesn't really matter. Make sure that your teaching philosophy is up-to-date and incorporates current pedagogical practices that you learned from these online courses. Internet education is the future and IB already offers some courses online.

-I will have three years of ESL teaching experience under my belt, but no experience teaching back home in the States. Will my experience be considered relevant/sufficient by international schools?

This is one area where you need to work on; if you can gain a couple of years experience teaching at an accredited international school or a candidate for accreditation, you can aim for the big schools.

-How important is it to have a masters degree in the international school job market? Can I get by without one, or should I definitely plan on getting one if I want to be competitive.

Of course, schools love teachers with advanced degrees, which means you have an edge over others in terms of content knowledge. However, experience matters a lot when you are teaching students to an external curriculum, say AP or IB. If you can produce solid scores on these exams for two or more consecutive years, and if you can coach a sport or a scheduled activity, you'd be able to get great references, thus increasing your chances of being hired by an established school. And you can always enroll in an accredited master's program online, where you will have a five to six-year window period to complete and state the same on your CV. Even some of the established school administrators are currently pursuing PhDs online.

And finally, more generally, is there anything you wish you had known when you were just getting started with the transition to working in international schools?

Creativity, you will need tons of it. Incorporate technology creatively wherever it can engage students better. Giving second chances, revisiting concepts, after-school help to your slow learners all will show you in positive light, which means you are the guy who walks the talk and walks the extra mile for your students' who pay a bomb, so that you as a private school teacher can have luxurious vacations and decent savings.

UWCSEA
IS BKK
ASIJ
IS Beijing
Shanghai American
NIST, BKK
YIS

Criteria: academic rigor, student diversity, quality of teachers, test scores, PD, salaries, job satisfaction, and admin support

~90 - 100k Baht a month

They have a farm on the campus with cattle and goats around. Probably, they don't want dogs to chase them away.

@PsyGuy
Seems like you overdosed on nasty pills as you always do! I was just stating facts and it has never been about my ego. FYI, Got better offers than Patana (definitely not the imaginary Tier 1 school in Kyoto that you worked at). You seem to act like a punk who knows everything about IT when you hardly do. Oh wait, did you say that you have a vast network of teacher-friends, admin spread across the globe? And you share notes with these imaginary sources and then enlighten us here with your crap. Gimme a break!

@Nemo
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm a bit picky and I only have a handful of dream schools that I wanna work at. Unfortunately, these schools are done with their hiring for 2013.

@Ann

Some of them do hold a teacher license, while many others may not have a license but do have lots of experience.

Not so bad. However, many schools try to recruit these language teachers locally. They usually tend to be spouses of expats who are already in the country.

Looked up on wikipedia and their most famous alumni are thai actors, singers , and VJs. Public schools in Thailand have better alumni to boast about. So much for being an elite school!

@PsyGuy
With their average pay pegged at 44K US (before taxes) a year, I'm not sure if I'd call this an elite school in BKK. With so many better-paying schools in S.E. Asia, how many experienced IB teachers would really complete such a lengthy online application every year? May be they had a glorious past, but I don't think they are the best of the lot in the region.

They should at least have the courtesy to send an automated response to applicants who spend about three hours completing that friggin online application.

What's wrong with this school? They expect teachers to fill in a lengthy online job application and they never respond. Is this sheer arrogance or callousness?

Thank you both for your replies. I have signed up with SA a few years ago. The only tricky part is that my license is up for renewal in June 2013. Anyway, I'll ask my associate to activate my profile and see if I could request an invitation to the fair as early as possible.

The offer that I was expecting has gone sour. So, for a single guy with certification and over 6 yrs of exp in teaching IB HL math, when do i start planning to get my dream job in asia? Thanks.