Job Discussion Forums

[blueberrymango]

This isn't really on the topic of ESL but it is on the topic of foreign teachers. Please delete if not allowed.

I'm an elementary teacher in the US, although I've taught abroad previously and think often about doing so again.

The area I'm teaching in, Las Vegas, has a huge teacher shortage. Many other parts of the US do also. This, in my opinion, is due to issues in teacher pay (good compared to teaching abroad, but poor compared to other professions in the country), rising and ridiculous demands on teachers, and increasingly tough discipline problems.

Our local district has addressed this problem by importing teachers from the Philippines. My particular school, a charter school, has a lot of teachers on foreign work visas from Turkey.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/filipino-special-education-teachers-get-warm-welcome-to-clark-county/

It's an interesting solution to me. It seems like a better solution would be to raise teacher pay so that you didn't have to source your teachers from foreign countries. However, to ballpark these figures, a beginning foreign teacher with a Bachelor's degree might make 40k, while someone with a few years of teaching experience and a Master's degree might make 50k. In my opinion, many districts don't work too hard to find teachers, because they're not willing to hire teachers at a high salary. Instead, they claim there's a teaching shortage, and often hire long term substitutes for even less (maybe 25k a year!).

Moral of the story? I'm not sure. US education system sucks? Reform is needed? If you are looking for a teaching job, try Las Vegas?

Does anyone else work or live in a country where foreign teachers are hired to teach general ed subjects in regular (not international) public schools?

[nomad soul]

[blueberrymango]

No, I'm a general education fourth grade teacher. Special Ed jobs are especially hard to fill, but Las Vegas has a shortage of all teachers in general.

SpEd can be a hard gig. Some of the jobs aren't bad... but the jobs involving severe disabilities, emotionally disturbed, and severe autism are really rough. I knew a first year teacher who was hired for special ed and was put into an autism classroom. He had students who would physically beat him and his staff. He also had a child who would smear feces everywhere whenever he had the chance. I think it was something like three adults and eight students in the classroom, but it was still the roughest job you could have.

And on top of that, here in the US, we leave "no child behind"... meaning, even a child who is nonverbal and hits himself in the face all day is supposed to be reading at their normal grade level. So that 6th grader should be reading at a sixth grade level, no matter what (according to our government).

[RedLightning]

There was a similar trend with math teachers when I was in junior high/high school.
Obviously, if there aren't enough teachers stateside then bringing in teachers from abroad is a solution. However, while there is an English spoken in the Philippines, its not the sort ideal for teaching American students in subjects that are already more difficult by default. I also wonder if, regarding special ed, these foreign teachers have the same training as do those from the U.S.(despite whatever regulatory/quality boards/committees who say they do

[mitsui]

I got certified in Arizona and Oregon but I found Nevada requirements quite picky.
It is weird they are so eager to hire those from abroad instead of Americans.

[nomad soul]

[blueberrymango]

[blueberrymango]