Job Discussion Forums

robbie_davies · Joined: 13 Jun 2013 Posts: 133

I used to know an Algerian/Belgian/Canadian fellow who worked alongside me in Saudi Arabia and he used to tell me there was a lot of opportunity in Belgium regarding English teaching. He would say you could earn in the region of 2000 Euros.

I have seen job adverts for CLL where the vacancies are for teaching EU employees in Brussels. Is this a good job? Good pay? How is the industry over there in general?

I wouldn't mind living and teaching in Belgium, it is the nearest to living in the UK without being in the UK. Even down to those lovely little terraced houses which are more or less the same as their British equivalents.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I dunno how long ago your informant was giving this info.
In 2010, I was on a hiring committee in the Netherlands, and we had a very high number of well-qualified candidates applying from Belgium (including Brussels) because they were essentially starving there at that time.
If one could make 2,000 euro/month, that would be quite decent in terms of standard of living, I believe. I don't know how much the job market may have changed over the past three years, but three years ago it would have been fairly rare to make this much. Unless your informant is counting privates on top of a regular contract - and hence not really a reliable income.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

P.S. Luxembourg is another nice option in the neighborhood; there used to be a fairly strong market for English for the financial sector, and costs of living were low. Most UK teachers weren't particularly interested in the region because of the weather patterns - it's very London-like. Might be a nice change coming from the ME, though.

robbie_davies · Joined: 13 Jun 2013 Posts: 133

This is it Spiral, I questioned him about it but he was adamant. This was last year so the info is pretty recent.

I didn't know about Luxembourg but that would be fantastic also - thanks for the tip! Very Happy

Do you have to be 'Boots on the ground' when looking for work?

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

It used to be that the two language schools in Luxembourg would hire from abroad, and they also had summer start dates. Might be worth looking them up and shooting off CV and intro.

I obviously can't question your friends' info - my own knowledge of the market in the region is three years old now, and also based on teachers who were unsuccessful at finding something reasonable in Brussels, though most of them were very well-qualified (related MA+ years of experience + fluent French, for example). That doesn't mean some people weren't totally successful finding good jobs - but I would still hazard a guess that the market's fairly limited.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I just met a teacher who gave up on Belgium after teaching in Brussells after 12 years. The market was drying up and he could no longer keep his head above water. High rent, high taxes, low salaries. In fact was a freelance rather than in receipt of a salary.

Looks like the former Spanish Netherlands can be taken of the list of possibles !