Job Discussion Forums

[christee]

I run a recruiting company for certified teachers looking to teach in international schools overseas and we've been approached by Singapore's Ministry of Education about possibly recruiting for them as well. We don't know any teachers personally who have taught for them and were wondering what it's really like... has anyone taught for them? If so, can you comment on the benefits they provide, the assistance in getting set up in Singapore, teaching experience, the quality of life, etc.??

Any input/opinions would be greatly appreciated, as we don't want to recommend anything to teachers that we wouldn't do ourselves!

[Pinchy]

[k1w1]

I agree, Pinchy. I applied to the MOE through some very dodgy recruiters, who jerked my chain so many times and eventually asked me to do a few things I had a major problem with (one example - colour scan all my documents: passport, degrees/teaching certs, birth certificate, marriage certificate and send all these to a third party recruiter that was completely separate from them and from the MOE. Then they told me NOT to contact this company under any circumstances.) Yeah right...

By that stage, I had been in Singapore for a while, and had been teaching Singaporean kids so I had a reasonable grasp of their english abilities and curriculum. I was really interested in working in public schools for these reasons. I also knew that there was no way the building that I was being asked to send my highly confidential documents to had a reputable recruitment agent in it!

In the end, I wrote directly to the MOE and complained about how appalling their recruitment was, and how badly they were going to be perceived by would-be applicants, and withdrew my application. I reminded them that there are a number of less-than-favourable recruiters based in Asia who think nothing of ripping off Western identities and stealing from them. They responded and were clearly disturbed by the whole fiasco, saying that the recruitment company that had contacted had hired a third agent they were not aware of.

I would recommend anyone interested in working at MOE to apply to them directly as they were both prompt and professional with me. The local kids are fantastic, and I think working in local schools would be a great experience too. It is an option I would consider one day, but I am now in a long term contract elsewhere.

Christee, you should also fix the link in your handle because your website doesn't even work.