advice for American looking to go overseas?

[angelica1981]

I've been looking for an overseas job rather half-heartedly for the past year. I didn't get any offers from the few phone and webcam interviews I had, but I didn't apply to very many either.

I've been working at the same US school for the past 3 years, and I really want to move on now: recent cuts in our school's staff mean that this year I have a much heavier teaching load--I've been asked to teach 2 extra classes per day, neither of which is in my own field (I'm a Math teacher and they are Social Studies classes). I know, I know--I'm lucky to have a job, and lucky not to have been one of the teachers who was laid off. But I want to go overseas, and I'm now willing to go whenever I find a post. Here are my questions:

1. What are my chances of finding an overseas post, preferably in Europe, during the academic year? I would happily go at any time now. Is it common for overseas openings to appear during the term/year?

2. US private schools, at least here on the East Coast, are def. being effected by the economy. As I said, my own school has made recent lay-offs, but I am "safe" because I've been here 3 years. It seems that the new teachers are the first to go. Is it the same overseas? I would hate to leave for a new school/country only to be cut for financial reasons. What are your thoughts on this?

thanks so much!

[hydrogonian]

[quote="angelica1981"]

2. US private schools, at least here on the East Coast, are def. being effected by the economy. As I said, my own school has made recent lay-offs, but I am "safe" because I've been here 3 years. It seems that the new teachers are the first to go. Is it the same overseas? I would hate to leave for a new school/country only to be cut for financial reasons. What are your thoughts on this?

thanks so much![/quote]

Other people can probably address your questions better, but I can address at least the second. Schools abroad have the same financial pressures as the schools at home. Also, there is a wide variety in schools in terms of how they are run and by whom. Some are run very well, and others are not. Anyone can call their school an International School, and its a free market. Therefore, anything can happen, especially with newer schools. However, there are schools which have a history of being run well for a long period of time. Your chances of being cut midyear, or the school shutting down, is slim with these schools. If going abroad is a huge risk for you, just be sure to do your homework on the school before you accept the position. This will decrease your risk considerably.

[puka2]

There are few mid year openings. We had an opening in Nov. and by the time hiring and Visa work was done the teacher arrived Feb 1. Some schools make do, or hire a local to fill in.
There is a company that does long term sub placements overseas. I don't know much about them other than they are usually used for maternity leave, home medical leave, etc.. The advertise in TIE. You may get your foot in the door that way. I would sign up for Search or ISS and not only rely on the online sources.
There are jobs in Europe but no$.

[ichiro]

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[specialed]

I totally agree with ichiro. The schools will see right through the "half-hearted" looking, with many of them offering jobs quickly. They also expect quick answers and will not be interested in "let me think about it for a while".

I would also advise against leaving a stateside teaching job in mid-contract. In Texas they can pull your certification if you do not fulfill your contract.

I would really do some soul searching before continuing, but recruiting season starts soon so you don't have a lot of time. In October the schools start asking, "Who is staying? Who is going?" with an increasing number of schools hiring as early as November. I also agree about getting a subscription to tieonline.com. It does not cost much and you could very easily land a job from there.

As for teaching out of your area. I highly doubt a Math teacher would be moved. A lot of schools need math teachers and it is one of the harder positions to fill.

Good luck!

[angelica1981]

Thanks so much for the helpful replies. I really appreciate all the advice.

I did want to clarify that by "looking half-heartedly", I do not mean that I was playing games with schools or wasn't sure that I would take posts for which I had applied. I meant that I only sent my resume to a few schools--if any of them had offered me a post, I would have taken it.

Thank you especially for the advice about leaving my current school mid-year. I am a little torn about this because I have received so much conflicting advice from teachers here in the US: some say that my current schedule is "career suicide" because teaching outside of my field will make it difficult to get interviews for another post in the US within my field, but others say that it would be worse to bail out in the middle of the year. (as for the "breaking contract" issue, I work for a private school, and the contract states that either the school or I may end the contract at any time by giving one month's notice). I do like my current school, but I am nervous about the financial situation--as I said, they have laid off teachers for this year. The teachers who were laid off this year were not told that they did not have jobs until two weeks before the start of the academic year--all three of these teachers are now jobless and terrified, as there are few posts left to be filled at this time of year. So I don't really have any assurance that the school itself will be able to honor all of the year-long contracts of the current staff if enrollment continues to decrease. One of my good friends was among the three who were laid off two weeks before school started, and she is in a very bad situation--I don't want that to ever happen to me!

Again, thanks so much for the advice! I am carefully considering options right now, and I just paid for membership to TIE online, as advised.

a.

[specialed]

I forgot to add a point or two. The European economy is doing no better/maybe worse than the USA economy - European Ed jobs have never been plentiful anyway. I would highly recommend that you expand your "acceptable places" to more than just Europe. I know that Europe has that appeal, but the schools know this and the pay (after taxes and housing) isn't all that good. As a result, the higher paying schools in Europe are very competitive and they would be looking for international teaching experience plus graduate degrees.

There are very cool schools in South America, Africa, and Asia that are fascinating places to work/visit. These are also great ways to gain some international teaching experience and put you in a better position for a European job when the various economies turn around. That being said, math is in very high demand.

[angelica1981]

Thanks Special Ed,

I do have a graduate degree, and am working on a second one part-time (both are at/from local US universities, not online). Also, I worked in a non-teaching job in Europe for one year. Do you think this will give me a chance? (I don't care if I make less money, just as long as I get it in a reliable way...).

a.

[specialed]

A chance? Sure there is a chance, and teaching math will help. I would highly suggest you get moving on organizing your materials for a job fair. If breaking even is okay, you should be able to find something. I think ISS or Search would be better for you. UNI (Iowa) is awesome, but there are not a lot of European schools that go there. Someone else should comment on those as I am only familiar with UNI.

Good luck! I honestly think the economy will turn around slightly by the time the job fairs roll around so there might be more openings. It didn't seem like there were a lot of openings this year.