The International Schools Review Forum

I was a local hire at my current school, so I never went through the usual international recruitment process. I am 99% certain I will be leaving at the end of the 2023/2024 school year because we will need to move for my husband's job.

Do people normally wait until they are required to sign their statement of intent before they give their notice? That is November at my school. Or should I do it at the start of the year so I can get a reference from my Head before I start applying elsewhere? Is there any particular reason to do one or the other?

There are about five answers to that question:

First; What does your contract say? There may be a clause or a term indicating when you are required to give notice of non-renewal. An alternative to that is to examine any policies that may be in a handbook or in ownership (board notes), or other memorandum (which may be disseminated to faculty through email, etc.).

Second; Consult with the government. There may be labor law or regulations that stipulate a required period of notice and possible penalties for violation. It's common to actually find both in many regions. Generally (not legal advice), there will be various regulations about the classification of workers and release or dissolution requirements and often these regulations provide some room for an individual contract to modify those regulated minimum times within some boundaries. For example, both employer and employee might agree to a longer time of notice. Usually a contract wont allow for the waiver of minimum requirements or rights. If the regulation requires 30 days notice, or payment of 30 days salary in lieu of notice, a contract allowing less than 30 days without penalty probably isnt legal.
In the alternative of government regulation you also need to check with any labor unions or trade associations you may be a member of (whether you are aware of it or not).

Third; Ask your leadership. In this case you want to ask the executive leader that hired you. This is the person that signed your contract or their designee. Ask them through email (and use an email address you own, not one that belongs to your IS) so you have a paper trail to fall back on. This is a common area for 'misunderstandings' and you want to be able to go back and have evidence of what information you were provided. Don't do this though until you have consulted the above sources. Leaders like to think they sit in a the big chair and whatever enters their head is the way things are. Its not uncommon for what a leader or ownership thinks the requirement is to differ from what was agreed to. They often have the mistaken belief that agreements can be modified unilaterally to be whatever they want them to be. If your contract states that your notice is required before 1 November, but at some time during the year some leader provides you a memo that the date is 1 October, your notice is due 1 November. It doesnt matter if ownership discussed and voted on it or leadership met and approved the change your obligation is only what you agreed to.

Fourth; If you just dont have any other guidance or for other reasons you need to establish action for yourself, giving the IS notice the first day of classes provides you some reasonable understanding with employers in the future that your actions werent unreasonable and it would be difficult to fault you for giving what amounts to a years advanced notice. It also protects you from possibly being dismissed and replaced before commencement of the AY.

Fifth; Whenever you want. This all assumes that you value a positive reference and/or have EOC benefits available to you that you dont want to risk losing or take advantage of. If you dont, then you can leave whenever you want, and you dont need to provide any notice. Even if leaving violates some regulation its very unlikely the IS can recover anything from you even if they were inclined to pursue legal action.

Thank you, PsyGuy. The legal requirement is 60 days here, but I will give notice well before that either way. My preference would be to tell them in September that I will be leaving once the school year is over, but I didn't know if that was frowned upon and I should wait until I receive my statement of intent. I have a good relationship with the Head, so I would like to have a reference from him before I start my job hunt.

I came to international schools from the corporate world, and the hiring/giving notice process is very different - I have never given notice prior having another job lined up, so I want to be sure I understand the process before I do anything.

@emmjay

Its unusual in IE to have such a short notice period, 60 days is practically into the summer holiday, but the EUR for example has generally, really tight notice requirements (labor unions) that makes the period very late in the IE recruiting cycle, its the primary reason we have the Spring recruitment period at all.
Its so different because of the trends in DE. Many DOEs/LEAs in DE have regulations that identify specific periods for resignations that are typically a certain date before the end of the AY or a certain amount of time before terms. Failure to follow them results in 'contract abandonment' and can result in breach of contract or in some cases (mainly in the US) for sanctions against an IT/DT credential (typically its an administrative suspension for 1 year). These were established for continuity reasons, much like a theatrical troupe, replacement of a performer is not so easy, and DE doesnt have understudy's. These conventions (either established traditions or regulations) keep one DS from poaching another DSs DTs and creating a mess for students.It would become a very cut throat and eventually paralyzed system if there wasnt such conventions. Essentially, unlike the corporate world, DTs arent at-will employees (though sometimes they are). However, aside from credential sanctions, edu contracts are just like any other contract, even the hallowed red and burgundy books for all their strong language, the enforcement really just comes down to a suing for damages and the reference. Which is what any employment contract regardless of field or profession comes down to, to be otherwise would be slavery or indentured servitude.

There is a system in the nursing profession that some parts of DE (primarily in the US) have been looking at. In this system nurses as part of their employment contract agree to a certain period of 'training', if they leave before the expiration of their contract the employer they leave turns them over to a collection agency to collect damages incurred as a result of lost costs for the 'training'. One of the issues with filing a civil suite for breach of contract over a lost employee is the burden of proof the employer has to meet to show actual damages and monetary losses as a result of those damages. If the damages are 'training' its much easier to give a cost for training, even if the value of the training is nebulous, its a cost that is much more conceptually easier to define, describe, and defend. Some DSs will ultimately play with it, but I dont think it is going to catch on. As for IE, the strongest and easiest case to make against an IT by an IS is still going to require securing personal jurisdiction over the IT in such a way as to enforce a judgement. If the IT hops a plane and leaves for another country, there is very little an IS can do to actually get coin out of that IT.

September sounds fine. Generally and historically 31 October was the magic date to coincide with the start of early recruiting, but that date has been creeping earlier and earlier over the years. Will it some day get to the point you have to provide notice before the start of the AY, maybe. Anything earlier than September though is going to hit a lot of resistance.
I cant imagine it being frowned upon, at least by leadership, the frowning your going to get, if at all, is going to be other ITs. Youre leaving and they dont want to be subject to a precedent in a scenario thats unlikely to be very common.
You could of course, stop by HR or email them and ask for a copy of the intent form to be sent to you, and then just return it to them at your leisure in September, and then inform your leadership of submitting your intent notice. If you get any push from anyone, just say you want to start your job search early and you need your reference sooner rather than later.

Thanks for your help!