The International Schools Review Forum

@secondplace

No they arent. In DE where DTs started their career the vast majority of those that started there had 1 year contracts.

Yes it is true. Claiming that you need caring and nurturing is just your claim, it isnt self authenticating. Professionals can fake whatever it is they need to do. Lots of ITs are just waiting to retire, having long lost whatever caring and nurturing they had.

@Sid

Oh Im sure you and @secondplace and others will come out and claim your first year as an educator you were special and that prior to entering IE you were a DT in DE and you got a multi year contract as opposed to some category of a 1 year contract when you started your careers.

@Psychometrika

Lots of people hate their jobs and they still do them.

My first job (other than casual employment during my uni years) was in an international school and I had a two year contract. I’m not making any claims about “special” anything.

PsyGuy wrote:
> @fine dude
>
> Which was every single one of us who started their career in edu with their
> first contract, which likely was a year and every IT I know with a career
> in IE started out with a 1 year contract.
>
> The cost of living is usually going up, and not everyone pays health care
> premiums. Not everyone has student loans and mortgages to pay off. Sounds
> like a lot of self projection.
>
> @Heliotrope
>
> Its just a job, and ITs are responsible to themselves as well.
> We disagree.

@PG apart from last minute pick ups due to necessity, I have never been at a school or known anybody to come in on a one year contract. At the level of schools I have always worked at, that is NOT the norm and NOT expected.

@psyguy

- I'm not claiming to be special. I am however stating that my first international contract was for two years. As were the initial contracts at two subsequent schools.

You can choose to believe what you want, it doesn't make my situation and experience less true.

xx

First contract out of university was 2 years. All contracts afterward as well. Standard. Only thing that seems to have changed is that more and more schools also have their subsequent contracts be 2 years. Used to be first contract was 2 years and the ones after that always 1 year.

@sid

Im sure youre very special, the vast number of ITs came from DE originally and started their careers in a DS, which in the vast, vast majority of the time offer a one year contract.

@SJ

The vast number of ITs came from DE originally and started their careers in a DS, which in the vast, vast majority of the time offer a one year contract.

Lots of ITs and ETs have one year contracts its the norm in JP for example.

@secondplace

The vast number of ITs came from DE originally and started their careers in a DS, which in the vast, vast majority of the time offer a one year contract.

@Illiane_Blues

Im sure youre very special, the vast number of ITs came from DE originally and started their careers in a DS, which in the vast, vast majority of the time offer a one year contract.

I would agree with that trend as well. In IE the original contract would be two years (3 if leadership) and then 1 year renewals for ITs, now its more common to find 2 year renewals in IE.

Personally, I've seen something in-between what PsyGuy and others have mentioned.

You are given a two year contract, but there are no consequences to walking away after a year (at worst you aren't paid for the summer). You aren't really forced to commit to the two years.

That's been the experience at most schools that I've been too.

It's called breaking the contract. Of course, there are exceptional personal situations where a few quit after a year, but the (un)written rule is you keep your word. Pile up 2 or 3 breaches on your CV and you can kiss goodbye to getting an interview, let alone finding a job at a decent school.

@psyguy

What does this mean?

'The vast number of ITs came from DE originally and started their careers in a DS, which in the vast, vast majority of the time offer a one year contract.'

As in DE and DS?

Again, my first international contract was a two year contract, as were the initial contracts at two subsequent schools.

xx

@secondplace

DE = Domestic Education, the educational system providing localized education for host nationals of the same region. American students in the US, English students in England, Canadian students in Canada, etc.

DS = Domestic School. A school that provides education in the NC (National Curriculum) to host nationals of the same region. Typically this refers to public schools in the US providing education to American students or maintained schools in the UK providing education in the UK, etc. However, it does include private or independent schools where the predominate composition of the student body is focused on localized nationals.

My position is that in the vast majority of cases, educators (teachers) were employed in the domestic education system prior to entering international education at the beginning of their teaching careers, and that those domestic positions predominately offered a one (1) year contract to those teachers entering the teaching profession.

@fine dude

Its only breaking contract if one or both parties consider the contract broken, if the IT is permitted to exit the contract prior to the expiration by mutual agreement or consent, its not breaking contract.

fine dude wrote:
> It's called breaking the contract. Of course, there are exceptional
> personal situations where a few quit after a year, but the (un)written rule
> is you keep your word. Pile up 2 or 3 breaches on your CV and you can kiss
> goodbye to getting an interview, let alone finding a job at a decent
> school.

What I'm talking about is a line in the contract that you are allowed to leave without penalty after a year. It's not breaking contract in the example I mentioned.

However, you are right that being at an IS for only a year shouldn't be a regular occurrence. It would be tough to find gigs the more you do that.

@psyguy

I see what you've done:

@fine dude

Which was every single one of us who started their career in edu with their first contract, which likely was a year and every IT I know with a career in IE started out with a 1 year contract.

This is like saying that all international teachers started out with a paperround or a job as a waiter...

...clearly the conversation was about people's first international contracts, but you've chosen to spin it another way way because....well, who knows? Belligerence, attention seeking, insomnia? Again, who knows.

It's tiresome.

@secondplace

The conversation is about career building and career starting. Many ITs started their career in DE at a DS with a 1 year contract, that these career transitioning ETs are moving into IE for the first time with a 1 year IE contract is not problematic.

Signs it's time to move on...

Motivation is low.
You feel stale.
Environment is toxic.
Leadership suck.
You are not happy outside of work.