Job Discussion Forums

[Kypace3348]

Hey everyone!

So my wife and I are looking for some advice and insight into the world of applying to international schools. Here is a little background about us:

I have my BA in management with two years of teaching experience abroad in Korea, with a 120 TEFL certification.

My wife has her BA in education and is a certified teacher in the states. She also has two years of teaching experience in Korea.

We would love to expand ourselves out of teaching ESL and work for an international school somewhere. Does anyone have a good insight as to what our chances would be, since I don't have a formal certification? Are there any more avenues I can take in order to look better to a school? I'm debating getting my teaching cert. but that takes a bit of time and money we don't have and we probably only want to do this for another 5-8 years.

Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[nomad soul]

I suggest posting on International Schools Review since that's their focus.

[Kypace3348]

[esl_prof]

International Schools typically require teacher certification and two years of certified teaching experience. Though, I believe exceptions are made to that latter requirement if a school has a hard-to-fill position or is in a less-desirable location.

If you're willing to move to Florida and teach in the public schools for a year or two, you should be able to easily get Florida teacher certification in secondary business education (while working and getting paid) without doing a full-blown teacher education program. Check the following webpages for the Florida DOE:

http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/level3.asp
http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/rules/6A-4-056.asp

Given your background in business administration, another option might be for you to try getting hired on the business side of things (e.g., accounting, etc.) at an international school.

In addition to International Schools Review, you might also want to check school websites and expat job boards for schools and countries that you're interested in. For example, DR1.com currently has a couple of openings listed for international schools in the Dominican Republic at http://dr1.com/classifieds/cgi-bin/view.cgi .

Good luck!

[nomad soul]

I just posted an August 12, 2014, article on the general Mid East forum about countries worldwide with the most international schools and student. Surprisingly, the tiny UAE came out on top with 439 international schools and 389,000 pupils. You'd think that with so many schools, there'd be plenty of job opportunities to fit various teacher backgrounds. However, unfortunately for the OP, the UAE is now requiring all international school teachers hold a teaching license. His wife could easily get hired, but his chances would be nil.

For those interested, there's a similar report, "New data on international schools suggests continued strong growth," http://monitor.icef.com/2014/03/new-data-on-international-schools-suggests-continued-strong-growth-2/