Job Discussion Forums

[CarolinaTHeels]

[tttompatz]

[naturegirl321]

"living comfortably" REALLY depends. I taught at an intl school and after losing 25% of my salary to deductions, I as making 1500 bucks a month, where the average salary was 250. And I STILL wouldn't consider that enough to live comfortably.

[littlelauren86]

[naturegirl321]

There ARE plenty of opps in the US, there just in high needs schools, where half of the teachers in the programmes don't even finish their first year. Look at the Colorado teaching programme. HIgh needs means hardships, danger, etc.

littlelauren86, there are zero openings in your state? really? Even in the inner city schools?

The thing is that since there are so few good jobs in the US, people are leaving. So those second and third schools outside of the US can pick from teachers with decades of experience. And they'll get the job over someone with no exp.

Plus, those second and third tier schools aren't going to allow teachers to live comfortably. They'll just be "Intl" schools.

To be honest, with a degree in business, you might have more opps. Starting salaries for grads at my sister's uni are 50K. starting salaries. And making 6 figures in business isn't unheard of. For teachers to make 6 figures it's a bit tough.

Look at expat packages for businesspeopel. My friends have all these covered by their company
rent (2000 usd)
food allowance
utilities
schooling if they had kids but can't
flights twice a year
flights to nearby countries for meetings that last a day
a month in a first class hotel while their house is being set up
car allowance
gas allowance

They literally don't have to pay for anything.

If you're in it for money, teahcing is the wrong career. If you truly enough teaching, that's great. Just keep in mind what tttompatz says, shortcuts are going to cost you. YOu'll be competing with peopel who have as much teaching experience as you do of years alive.

I don't know. I like teaching, but as you get older, money becomes more of an issue. I wonder how life would have been difference had I accepted the position at the Smithsonian that I was extended right after school.

[EFLeducator]

[naturegirl321]

[littlelauren86]

[EFLeducator]

[artemisia]

OP: I�m not sure how well teachers with a degree in one subject and a state teaching cert/dip. in an entirely different subject will fare abroad. I�m puzzled you can have a degree in Business but get a secondary cert. in Science in one year � just because it�s a sought after subject. If it�s possible to be accepted into a teaching program and do this, future employers may query it. I guess not in Texas, though, where this is being offered.

Littlelauren86: Based on job adverts I�ve seen and talking to other teachers, as far as I know, it�s the better international schools that have standing that offer good teaching packages, follow IB programs and offer Cambridge examinations and/or a state curriculum (British/American). These schools are seen as comparable to the school system in whatever country you come from. I guess I'm basing my knowledge of them on schools in Europe, however "international" should mean something. In other words, you may get a job in a school that classes itself as �international� but it may not be seen as genuinely having this status elsewhere and therefore, work experience there may not count for much either back home or in �real� internationals schools. Usually some experience is better than none, but that also depends on your competition. Generally in the international schools with academic standing it�s hard to get jobs and it�s unlikely they�d take someone without experience, unless you were offering a shortage subject and there were very few applicants. I know there are international schools in Korea, but I don't know what kind of standing they have.

I agree that a different set of teaching skills are needed in those high risk high schools. A lot of it is crowd control and the better schools will doubt your teaching ability if you�ve spent years in that situation. They won�t believe you�ve actually ever been able to teach your subject. In the UK, where I worked as a high school teacher for a while, I heard about this sort of thing all the time. The risk is you may get stuck at that end.

[artemisia]

EFLeducator: sorry to hear things are difficult there. Do you think you'll head overseas again? Sometimes in a recession, people decide they may as well return to uni and either upskill or retrain. Don't know if that's a possibility for you.

[naturegirl321]

your state sounds like the experience my sister has. There are two positions in her field in the entire country. Needless to say, she's decided to change careers.

You know, you could go out of state though. THat's what's great about teaching. You might have to take the Praxis or whatever, but there are jobs. I'd imagine in places like Alaska, Wyoming, etc.

Benefits in Alaska used to be great. things are changing though. I know there are first year teachers at international schools. There were a lot at the one I was at. And it wasn't in Asia either.

I think you misunderstood me about the money. It's not how or when you get certified, or the experience, but in general, teaching doesn't pay as much as other jobs, such as business, law, dentistry (though they have a high suicide rate), admin, etc.

I'm sure you can get a job. COntact places like Search Associates or the Iowa fair and go. YOu'll probably have your pick of jobs if you're open to going to any country. I've had friends that were offered jobs in -stan countries with benefits such as a house, maid, chef, etc. Salary was very very low, but still.

And in your senario, you're forgetting the rest of the people. So you go, you have two years experience and you're competing against teachers with 20 or 30 years exp, masters, PhDs, etc. PhDs are becoming more and more common among teachers. At my mom's dinky school there are more than a dozen teachers who are getting them. That's how tough the competition is.

I'm not saying you won't get a job. All I meant was: teaching is not the career to choose if you wnat money. And you'll be up against peopel who are way more experienced than you are.

[naturegirl321]

[tttompatz]

[naturegirl321]