Danish music teacher. What are my possibilities?

[music]

I would like to hear the opinions of people in this forum regarding my possibilities.
I am a Music teacher, graduated from The Danish Royal Academy, and I have worked for 20 years in the Danish educational system on a pre-conservatory level. My specialties are band instruction (rock, jazz, pop, salsa), rhythmical coordination and choir, but I also have a thorough knowledge of music theory and ear training.
I am 53 years old, and I speak and write English fluently (though not a native speaker, of course) and I also speak Spanish quite well.
I have two dependants – my nine-year-old son and my wife, who is a physiotherapist and would also like to work, if it is possible to get a job. We are all EU citizens.

My wife and I have talked for some time about moving abroad, and I would appreciate some opinions on what my chances are to get a position as a teacher at an IS.
I am a quite experienced teacher at a fairly high level, but naturally I don´t have any experience with IB or the national teaching systems like the American or the British ones that seem to be most used in International Schools.
We don´t want to go to China, Eastern Europe or the Middle East, but apart from that we are open to most locations.

Are there things I could do to improve my chances? For instance IB courses? Or isn´t it worth it when I don´t have IB teaching experience?

[eion_padraig]

International school music teachers seem to know each other pretty well from conferences and other musical gatherings (some international schools have athletic/performance art workshops where students and director gather together), so when there is a job opening at a good school folks generally know about it in advance. People let their friends know and pass on their friend's resumes to the recruiters.

Once you break into the international school scene, you have an easier time on the next job search. If you're ruling out a lot of the areas that people consider less desirable (Middle East, China, Eastern Europe), then you may have a harder time breaking in.

You'll be more marketable if you've been a musical director (choir, band) and if you've worked with a range of age groups (some small schools may only have 1 music teacher), and are open to either younger or older kids.

The general consensus seems to be that paying for IB training isn't really worthwhile. Schools that want you to teach it that are worth your time are willing to pay for your training.

The big issue is having two dependents. Your son will be taking a spot in the school and that could mean a loss of revenue plus most schools will bear larger costs to house and pay for other benefits for you. For a specialty position, you can still get jobs with two dependents, but some schools will rule you out.

I'd suggest you make friends with someone teaching at an international school. Do you have any former colleagues who have gone that route already? Although it is probably not an issue yet, but as you get close to 60 years old there are countries and schools where your age will impact your ability to be hired and get visas. Not an issue in Europe, but it's an issue in lots of countries in Asia.

Whether your wife is able to work as a physiotherapist will depend a lot on national laws of the country. Some places it may be very easy and other places she won't be able to work.

[music]

Thank you for your answer, eion_padraig. It has given me something to think about. Perhaps I should change my priorities regarding location and be more open.
In terms of curricula what do you think of the fact that i don´t know the American or British teaching systems? On most of the homepages of schools that I have read it seems to be more or less mandatory that you are familiar with them.

[Thames Pirate]

Ignore that. And if you're good, be picky. A lot of people skip those locations, and a lot of schools hire without curriculum experience if you can demonstrate content mastery, delivery, and flexibility. People often don't realize the value of a strong initial application and high quality references, particularly if you are using a database like Search, where a click can provide that reference.

Sure, networking and working your way up the food chain are obviously tickets, and curriculum experience helps, but lots of people are hired at good schools all over without either. Your EU passport might be an asset, and sure, your not being a native speaker might be a knock, but don't overthink it. If you are good, trust that and apply anyway. You might want to consider places like EE, but if you won't be happy, then don't. We ruled out China and the ME from the start, and we got jobs in a fantastic place with a lot less on our resumes than you have and in more competitive fields. Just apply, apply, apply, and keep an open mind about location without settling. Networking doesn't hurt, though!

Good luck.

[eion_padraig]

I don't know enough about music teaching to say about the curriculum. It seems to me that my school's music program is skills driven in middle school and early high school (prior to grade 11 when we have the DP). That's my impression talking with the music teachers. The IB music program requires a lot of different skills though and I don't know that our schools earlier courses cover it all as they seem much more performance centered. The students we have who do IB music pretty much all do music outside of school with private teachers and most (all?) end up doing things like the ABRSM Music Theory courses.

I was talking with a woman I know who was applying for music teaching jobs and she is a full time private music teacher. She said the big weakness for her was not having experience directing ensemble groups and that most of her teaching was limited to older students when she was applying for an elementary school position.

You may get a great job even ruling out Eastern Europe, China, and the Middle East, but those are some of the areas where a lot of people breaking in get their start. South America is another area to target, but be aware the salaries are pretty low except at a few select school throughout the region. If you don't have expectations for you to earn a lot and/or your wife will be able to work, then that might not matter. Some people beat the odds and get amazing jobs right away. You could be a lucky one, but I think the dependent situation for you will probably make it tougher.

The other piece that you have no control over is how many openings there will be in music the year you're looking. Some years there may be lots and some years there may be few. If you can go through the search without resigning your job that puts you in a stronger position to wait another year if nothing worthwhile comes up.

[music]

Thanks a lot both of you for spending time to help me and for your thoughts that I find very useful.

As a matter of fact I have a fair amount of experience directing both ensembles (rock, soul, pop, latin and jazz music) and choir. So it seems from what is written that that could be helpful.

I am also an approved candidate at cois, and I know that my references there are quite good, but there hasn´t been many job openings there since I was approved there in late February – which is, by the way, funny since I have seen at least a handful of music teacher jobs on the websites of schools that are members of cois, but they don´t seem to announce them on the website of cois.

By the way, eion-padraig, when you mention the salaries in South America – is it hard to maintain a living on them with a family, or is it perhaps just that you will not be able to save any of the money you earn? Or perhaps somewhere in between? South America is a topic for me, as I speak the language and like what I know of it very much.

My conclusion at this moment I guess will be that I will continue applying, knowing that it might be difficult, but not impossible, to find a job that would suit me. Unfortunately I don´t have any network in this business, so I have to trust my qualifications. I will, as I wrote earlier, perhaps broaden my field of possible locations while there still are some places in the world where I´d rather stay at home and continue my life here than live there.

Thank you again, your answers have been very helpful. And any other contribution from you or someone else will of course be welcomed.

[Thames Pirate]

Late February is a bit late in the hiring season. Also, many schools list individually first and with agencies later to avoid the agency fees. So it is always worthwhile to apply directly to schools you find interesting.

If there is an IS near you (and there are several in Denmark), it might be worthwhile reaching out to the music teachers. Take them out to coffee and find out if they have any tips--especially if they have curriculum advice specific to music. It might be the networking step you need! They might also help you connect with admin (who, of course, also move around!), etc.

Good luck!

[mamava]

It's hard to generalize "living in South America" but I live here and in Brazil we have to pay 27% tax, which you don't in other areas of the world, so that is a factor that impacts your savings (in other countries, we didn't pay any local taxes). Also we have inflation issues and currency fluctuation...it might not be a factor in some countries, but in others, it does matter, esp. when you consider you lose some money every time you send it back to your home country.

That being said, we have 2 high school students with us and we save very aggressively. We take 1 big trip at Christmas each year and go home for the summer. We can usually do a couple long weekend getaways (Thanksgiving, and maybe Easter) and we are managing to save most of 1 salary. We don't eat out a lot and we don't shop a lot. We've always been pretty frugal and lived like that, so it's not a big deal. Compared to people who I know aren't focused on saving (and don't have kids in college as we do), they definitely travel and eat out more and have different entertainment activities than we do. You can save for sure, but it does require a discipline that we didn't have to have in the other places we've lived. It's doable, but harder (obviously) if you are not already used to living a more budgeted lifestyle already, esp. if you have home country expenses.

[music]

Again, thanks a lot for spending time to write and to share your thoughts and knowledge. It´s all very useful for me.

mamava, thank you for telling me about South America. Just out of curiosity – and to have a more precise picture: Do you pay fees at high school for your to children? Or is it part of your package?

A good idea, Thames Pirate, to contact music teachers at ISs here in Denmark. I think I´ll do that.
I know February is a bit late in the hiring season. I just wondered why I had seen these schools advertising at their own home pages and not at the one of Cois, and I was beginning to wonder slightly what I had been paying for. But it makes perfect sense that they want to save money, I hadn´t thought of that. It also makes it clear that in addition to keeping an eye on the homepage of the various agencies it is worthwhile to look at the homepages of the various schools.

Speaking of that – what are the experiences with unsolicited applications? Are they worth the effort in this particular business?

Thank you again for your replies.

[eion_padraig]

I've had friends work in countries like Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica (yes, I know the last few Central America) where people make salaries that can go far in the local economy, but it's a matter of how much they can send back home. Sometimes it's USD$5,000 - 12,000 per year which amounts to a quarter to half of their salary.

So if you have debt back in your home country or if you're just looking to save for retirement, you may find it difficult. There are some exceptions (handful of schools in a few countries where that can increase to $15,000 - 20,000). Look at the threads on South America and those schools will be mentioned.

[mamava]

At our school, our tuition and busing is free for our children (plus all the flight and insurance, etc. benefits). Our school provides free lunch for all students and staff (maybe it's built into the fees, but then we don't pay because we don't pay the fees). We do pay for all other fees, like school trips, school materials, etc. even if they are basically mandated.

[music]

Thank you both, eion_padraig and mamava, for your information on South America. It seems to me that there are locations there, where it might be doable to get a position that would be right for me.