Job Discussion Forums

[mortman]

I friend of mine who teaches the same humanities subjects as me has just be notified by the recruiter here that his qualifications are acceptable to teach in Brunei and they are setting up an interview. We started teaching at the same time and he has a humanities load and some English - i.e mostly history and one class of english a week.

I am secondary qualified in Oz and have nearly 10 years experience. When I enquired about teaching a few months ago, I was informed that it had to be straight English with ESL experience.

Still quite keen to look into Brunei as I am halfway down the path with the MoE in Singapore and would much prefer the Brunei option. Have emailed CfBT in Brunei but with the public holidays, no response yet.

Is anyone teaching in Brunei with just humanities qualifications?

[gajackson1]

whoops! You forgot to mention which school/program you/your friend are applying for. That makes a difference, I would imagine -

My certs are USA-based, secondary ed, in Public Speaking/Debate & Composite Social Studies (Govt spec). I also picked up a TESOL in 2005. My practical work experience is pretty varied, but has mostly been ESL/EFL + subject areas like social studies, science, etc. - about 15 years of documented public sector/private sector jobs.

And ECAs here are based upon desire/interest, not always what you are capable of teaching/doing/overseeing.

I'm currently teaching Form 1 & 2, in English, History (Brunei history) and Geography. The Geo is pretty standard, just built around Brunei-centered topics. History is currently ALL Brunei-based (either Brunei, or Brunei's interactions with others). The English is based on Gateway, but uses Brunei-specific modules/materials.

But! That is just here at Yayasan - what CfBT, JIS, ISB, Panaga, Chung Hwa, etc. want/require may be different. All of our teachers are certified, and most of them teach most of their classes in their direct certification/subject fields. I imagine some schools are more stringent in that regard, and some less so.

[mortman]

Its for the CfBT program. They are advertising pretty heavily in Oz at the moment for teachers - I am assuming that they are struggling to fill their quota? I have had some great advice to apply directly to the Brunei office as they have a far better idea of the requirements.

[celtica]

Teaching with CfBT in Brunei is not EFL/ESL alone. The govt schools have an exam based system culminating in O Level English for their students. Therefore, you are teaching the kids with the aim to get them to succeed in O Level (and A level) English.

For this reason, , the MOE requires all CFBT teachers to be qualified teachers with ESL experience. If you have no English papers in your degree, or have no teaching English experience, then you might not be considered.

CfBT has had difficulty filling their quota over the past few years and have a major focus on changing that, which would account for the ads. (New CEO!)

Changes to the curriculum in the lower secondary area (Yrs 7-9) are going through at the moment. More skills based teaching and internal assessment rather than the old four exams a year!

[BOBBYSUE]

I know of a few people here who did not teach straight English/ESL but presumably have enough of it in their recent past to make the overall application attractive. Perhaps that gets discussed at interview. Definitely wait til CfBT get back to you. I don't think the issue is that they are having trouble filling the quota...not many people left last year and I don't know very many who are planning to this year. I think it's more because the schools asked for a lot more teachers quite recently. There has been quite an increase in the number of people arriving over the last 6 months so I guess the word is getting out. Anyway, best of luck - we love it here, although it hasn't been without its little challenges (much like any overseas job).