Job Responsibilities
Teaching 15 hours
Discipline 2 hours
Policy 5 hours
General Administration duties 10 hours
Special Project/Event Organisation 10 hours
Co-curricular activities 3 hours
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Job Requirements
3 Year specialist degree plus one year postgraduate teacher
course OR 4 year dedicated Bachelor of Teaching.
* 3 + 1 can often be a 'better' option, as it allows a true
specialisation in a subject. It depends on the school attended,
but sometimes a 4 year teaching degree can lean too heavily on
the education perspective, and not enough on the background
knowledge needed for actually teaching the subject. The
postgraduate degree can also be more challenging, as professors
are more likely to treat you as an adult, since you are already
degree qualified. This course you get a broader range of people
too, as many who retrain for teaching only need to do the one
year course. The one year program also allows one entire year to
concentrate on the methods and nature of teaching, as you are
already established in the subject you will teach.
Teaching experience
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Uppers
Being in an international school definitely has its opportunities - the students
are quite dedicated and driven, and of course the setting provides an enormous
opportunity to learn a new language and culture. Also, since international
Schools round the worlld operate in a similar vein, it is also easy to adapt to a
new job in a new country. Benefits and salary are also quite competitive,
depending on location.
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Downers
Being so far from friends and family at home/homesickness.
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Lifestyle
While work hours seems long at first, there is the distinct advantage of being
able to complete everything at work, allowing one to separate work hours from
leisure hours. This way time outside of work is truly one's own. Social events
are run on a regular basis, either staff organised or around major festivals.
There is a huge range of people from different countries, all with different
experiences of working all over the world, which makes for interesting stories -
and good research for the next destination!
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Compensation
Salary varies according to the region and type of school. Most
schools will publish the salary scale - be careful if they do not.
Keep in mind that in many countries, especially developing
countries, that serve the local population as well as the
expatriates, wages will be indexed to local wages.
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Advice to Jobseekers
The world is increasingly becoming "smaller". There are more and
more international schools as companies around the world increase
their fields of operation and send their expatriate staff out to
the new positions. Once the families move out, the children need
schools. In Asia, demand is outstripping supply.
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