Job Discussion Forums

[Hunken]

Hi every one, I am looking for few advices.

I was born in Vietnam and moved to the UK more than 10 years ago. Since then I've done A level, worked for few years, a degree in maths and a PGCE secondary maths. I'm planning to finish my NQT year and at least another year then will be considering a move back to Vietnam.

Having been away for such a long time and hardly gone back home at all, I don't really know what the local market is like for secondary/high school teachers.

I have been looking into the international school sector and I'm aware that most teachers have PGCE or equipvalent + experience. There is only one thing that concerns me is I do not sound like a native speaker and defenitely don't look like one (although I'm British on paper).

Is this going to prevent me from finding a job and getting the same pay?

[BenE]

Because of your previous experience you'll probably be able to apply to the international schools and not have any problems. I wouldn't apply to any of the private language institutions to teach English because you're overqualified and you'll get less because you don't look 'Western'

I'm pretty certain though that with a PGCE you should have no problems.

[Hunken]

Thank you for your assurance BenE. I'm trying to gain as much experience as I could before coming back.

There is one thing I wasn't clear about is the salary of a secondary/high school teacher in an international school. All of my Vietnamese friends came to the UK to do economic studies, accounting, business studies etc, went back to work in the banking sector and get about 1-3k/month on average. Am I right to expect a teacher wage to be a bit less than that?

[BenE]

Well I get somewhere in that range in US$. You can earn a very good wage if you work in an international school.

I don't think there's anyone on here in the international schools. I have however met people working in them and doing quite well.