The International Schools Review Forum

Hey guys,

I'm currently doing my NQT year in the UK after completing my certification (PGDE) in secondary English. I taught ESL in Vietnam before returning home to get fully qualified and I'm pretty keen to return there to work in an international school in September 2020. I'm aware of most of the international schools in my chosen location (Ho Chi Minh/Saigon).

What are the chances of being hired with only one year's experience? It won't actually be a full year when I'm applying as this is my first year out of certification. I've heard that a couple of lower tiers may be interested. Is this true? And would they be possible stepping stones to the higher tiered schools?

Thanks

It is often tough (but not unheard of) to move from one school to another in the same city. I would advise going elsewhere first for a year or two, get some teaching chops, and then head back to Vietnam...

I dont agree with @SJ, this really depends on the city shuffling between ISs is rather common in places such as HK and Tokyo for example.

Vietnam has some of the wort ISs globally, the absolute bottom of the third tier. There are third tier ISs that would consider your application in Vietnam even with just a year of experience, provided you had a decent reference.
You could absolutely use them to transition to better ISs, though if your moving from bottom of the third tier your likely going to have to spend another contract or two (2-4 years) moving through the third tier before getting into the second tier.

I agree with @PsyGuy here. I know some teachers in HCMC that have move from one IS to another.

With one year's experience you can definitely get a job in HCMC, if you don't care about it being a tier 3 school. Some of the ITs I know there got jobs there without zero years of experience, and moved on to better schools in HCMC after a couple of years.

Good luck!

That's encouraging to know! Do you know which third tier schools these people got jobs at? I'm happy to start at tier 3 and do my time.

If I apply in December, will I be seen as having zero years of experience or having one year's experience?

ScottishLoon wrote:
> That's encouraging to know! Do you know which third tier schools these people got
> jobs at? I'm happy to start at tier 3 and do my time.
>
> If I apply in December, will I be seen as having zero years of experience or having
> one year's experience?

Neither, likely. You'll be seen as someone with one full year (by the time you arrive) who is still developing, but who didn't flake out and leave (or get fired during an early probationary period/induction). You'll also likely get some credit, particularly from the schools who will strongly consider you, for your time in Vietnam. It shows 1) why you're leaving domestic education (to return to a place you like), 2) that you're unlikely to get homesick and pull a runner like a first-time IT, and 3) that you're comfortable with SLLs.

All in all, considering that you probably won't get full credit (pay scale wise) for your ESL experience, it makes you an attractive hire to many schools: iow risk and low cost. I'd rather hire you (for most jobs) than someone with an M.Ed. and 6 years in U.S. teaching who's never set foot in Asia.

Full disclosure: I've never been an IE admin.

@ScottishLoon

I'm sorry, I don't remember the names of the schools, but they were described to me by them as 'definitely tier 3'.
Going through the list of school reviewed on ISR to jog my memory, I think one of them was the Renaissance International School, and another was ABC or APU.

@ScottishLoon

I tend to concur with @GrumblesMcGee. Your contract will likely be written with placing you on step/year 1 of experience on the salary scale for your DE experience. You may be able to negotiate for another year of step/experience for your ESOL experience in country placing you at step/year 2. Bottom third tier ISs know there are always other bottom third tier ISs and your previous Vietnam experience in country and its challenges has some value that they would sweeten the offer for you to get the appointment done.