It’s no secret the world is in an economic downturn. But did you know as result the US, UK and Canada have been laying off public school teachers at an alarming rate? These cuts even include science and math teachers. A Chicago-based educator reports his school opened up a position (due to increased enrollment) and had 170 applicants in two hours.
An option for unemployed public school teachers may be to turn to international education in search of employment. If this happens, will the job market become saturated? Will recruiting fairs become flooded with available educators? More importantly, will schools feeling the effects of countless poor reviews suddenly have their pick of previously “out of reach” educators now in dire need of a paycheck?
Not many years ago organizations such as the American Academy of School Heads expressed concern over the dwindling pool of international teaching candidates. At a New York recruiting fair it was noted that there were 3 to 4 available jobs per each applicant. In response, a task force was formed to solve the problem. It appears the problem may have solved itself but, through no one’s fault, to the detriment of current international educators.
What is your take on the situation? Will fired public school teachers go international or will they stay home to gut it out? If they go international, will schools scoop them up at a reduced rate? Or will schools continue to give priority to seasoned overseas educators? We invite you to weigh in on this topic.
ISR Discussion Boards 
Having 5 years PYP experience, countless workshops, overseas experience and a masters I’m not worried about the competition.
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Most of the unemployed will not be willing to travel to South Africa, Bangkok, London etc for fairs; they can’t afford it. Therefore, if you are worried about not having good choices hit one of the fairs that aren’t local, meaning U.S or Canada. Also, I think that having more teachers will give the not so developed or popular schools more of a field to chose from.
Teachers are either interested in teaching abroad or not; some will simply leave the profession, others will take off a year to do some other things. Don’t Panic as plenty of independent schools in the U.S. are also hiring so you might see people switch from public to private.
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For all of the unemployed teachers out there I don’t know why I have been unable to fill our current vacancies.
I am the High School Principal for Modern Knowledge Schools located in the Kingdom of Bahrain. We have an emergency opening on our staff for a certified English Literature teacher. Our former teacher had a medical emergency and has left the school suddenly. The position is a combination of IB English and Debate.
We are also looking for an experienced Counselor in the HS. This is a position that deals with student behavior and discipline as well as student support. Our current counselor is feeling a little overwhelmed by herself. If you speak Arabic that would be a plus, but is not mandatory.
All qualified people are welcome to apply. You can visit our school website at http://www.mks.edu.bh or email me at mrbaileymks@gmail.com.
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Teaching overseas is not for everyone, and while the pool of international teachers may grow, I do not believe that it will grow too much. Many U.S. teachers are not comfortable with the demands of international teaching, the long hours, and the extra work. Not to mention the very often challenging infrastructures of many of the countries. It takes an adventurous, sometimes courageous, spirit, and most people prefer home – home is comfortable and a known quantity, and there is nothing wrong with that.
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There are ups and downs in all professions at different times depending on what the society values at given points. But teaching is different. What happens to the spoilers is not the point. If most teachers really value and understand what education is, why it is important for humanity, then the profession can bear the bad apples. My concern is that not enough teachers seem to really understand the difference between education and mere literacy. Let’s face it, most societies do not VALUE teachers or education because as soon as things get tough, teachers are among the first to be cut and then they work those who remain to death. The entire system of financiing education in the US is going to collapse if the financial basis continues to be based on property taxes, which are tied to a community’s employment and the salries/wealth of the jobs.
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I, for one, am happy to see the ranks swelling. I am at a good, expanding, school in S. America and, as we have to add two HS math positions (and probably one or two MS) welcome the news that our admin will be choosing from young, energetic, qualified candidates.
Recession notwithstanding, good candidates have been few and far between.
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What’s going on in the states is that many states are turning to private companies to open schools and so public schools are closing as students are transferring to charter schools (privatized schools). Charter school teachers have much longer work schedules than their public school counterparts. Also, the salaries in these schools (in most cases) are much lower than in the public schools. Teachers in these schools are basically working in the private sector, which is a different ethos than what was in place when they went to school to be teachers. Because of this many public school teachers are being downsized, and they tend to leave teaching altogether. Many international schools are also privatized and are very similar in ethos to the charter schools that are now taking the American public school system under siege. As a result, many teachers are very resentful and feel if they are going to work for a charter school they will do it here rather than somewhere in the world that just happened to hire them. So the international job market will not be flooded by laid off public school teachers as they will stay here to work in unfavorable conditions rather than travel overseas to do so.
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The charter schools that I have worked in are certainly not “privatized.” They are a legitimate part of the district though their funding comes from the state. Teachers must be certified and and they are paid on a district pay scale. There is more freedom to create a more individualized program, but your depiction of “much longer work hours”, “lower pay”and a form of education that is “taking the American public school system under siege” is a bit biased and not completely accurate. Seen Waiting for Superman? Charter schools set out to offer alternatives to the factory model. Perhaps they are not always successful, but thank goodness someone is looking for positive alternatives.
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You are very fortunate.
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I do feel fortunate. However, it is not by accident that I work in these conditions. Choice is everything. Just as newbie international teachers are encouraged time and time again on this site to “Do their homework…research and then research some more..” I worked hard to find charter environments that fit the needs of our whole family. I looked hard for schools that used district pay scales for myself. One child was able to attend a performing arts school. another attended an Expeditionary Learning school, and I love my inner city store front program that I was blessed to be a part of. To each his/her own. What I learned when returning to the US after 23 years overseas, is that you have to be a strong advocate for your child and not let the status quo ever dictate the quality of your child’s education. For all of the teacher union chit chat, my child never had a single teacher in the US public schools who was on a tenure track that was worth the ones he had who were ‘unsure of their job security..” those teachers were working hard for their money and were happy to be doing so.
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I agree with you so much!! Yes, you have to seek out a school that is good, the unfortunate thing is there aren’t as many to choose from, but you are right. It is your responsibility to find a school that allows you to thrive.
As far as what you said about the teachers unsure of their job security being better teachers, I have to disagree. I know very hardworking teachers who put in all kinds of hours and stayed after school to organize teams and clubs for students in the public school system and loved every minute of it. Many of this was unpaid, or for very low paid stipends. However, because their job security is at risk, that means so are their homes and their own children’s education. This is making teachers coming from a place of fear, and not strength and they are taking this into the classroom. I do believe that unions are a necessary evil. I said both, necessary and evil. Unions would be okay if they did what they were supposed to do, unfortunately they have become too involved in other enterprises and what they are suppose to do is taking a back seat. They are to protect teacher RIGHTS. Not jobs, RIGHTS! There is a difference. And teachers pay dues for these protections. Why is the right to due process held in such contempt as such a bad thing. Unions are scorned that they are protecting bad teachers. They are not, for every “bad” teacher there is a “bad” administrator. There is a procedure to follow to remove a “bad” teacher and many administrators choose not to follow it.
Unions would not be needed if all school boards and administrators were always fair and equitable. In many cases they are not, and that’s unfortunate. Many “seasoned” teachers are dubbed as “bad” teachers because the “good” teachers are under 25 years old, and are also much cheaper in labor costs. In NO other profession is age discrimination taking place as it is in teaching. Because of union contracts circumventing laws teachers are helpless when it comes to hiring. Also, in MOST not all cases, after a grievance is filed, the union and the board agree on the case and it is not in the teacher’s favor.
I agree that parents MUST be an advocate for their own children first, but must one teach overseas for 23 years to acquire this wisdom?
The working conditions in schools overseas are coming to America. Yes there are jobs, few and far between, that no one leaves overseas for their whole career, as there are here, but now with the advent of charter schools with similar conditions to the majority of schools overseas, people will just stay here to work double and make half.
Teachers are professionals. We went to school to hold our posts in our classrooms, and we must continue to recertify in order to keep our certificate up to date to teach in many of the states in the US. This means taking on more coursework. Many international school’s boast that their teaching staff is degreed and certified in their home state/country, but many let their certifications in their home states/countries go to the wayside once they get their overseas gig. In the US certification is ongoing, not a one time deal.
Thank you.
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Well as a teacher who works for a charter school that does not pay on any sort of district scale (and not the good way), does not even offer an employment contract (I can be terminated for no reason, they literally do not have to say why) and in no way is any different to any “factory model”. I think I’d say I have seen the very epitome of “privatized” education and not the good kind with posh buildings and the best technology. Because of these factors I am encouraged to consider that a 35% in quarter 1 and a 35% in quarter 2 should equal a 70% overall for a passing grade in my class. If I am not open to this “suggestion” I am given a poor review and made to feel as if I have failed students for no reason despite giving multiple chances to complete or resubmit work, to attend individual tutorials, to give credit for work completed verbally, etc.
Very, very, very few charter schools do any better than a local public school and often pull much needed funding from said schools that ends up in the pockets of businessmen who then lobby state legislatures to find ways to take more public money. They can often be exempt from testing and meeting AYP. Waiting for Superman is at best misguided and at worst deliberately manipulative in very harmful ways.
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Well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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So, do your homework. Find the districts who are working hard for school reform and be a proactive part of the solution. Then when you choose that overseas position it will be quite natural to intentionally choose quality environments who are trying to do the equivalent of those alternative school choices in the the US…schools where the focus is fixed on the child and not the adult.
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Easier said than done in this economy. A job is a job and if people want to work they take what they can get. We don’t all have the luxury of picking and choosing.
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I think I’ve mentioned on other blog posts that I’ve been researching employment trends in international education for an article I’m hoping to sell (fingers and toes crossed). It’s been very interesting information to say the least.
What I’ve learned — while the number of teachers is increasing, the number of jobs is increasing faster. In fact, if the trend continues, there will be 250,000 teaching jobs created at English medium schools by 2020.
The catch — most of those jobs aren’t being created at established, high-paying, nonprofit schools. In other words, we aren’t likely to new ASIJs or SASs springing up. A lot of that job creation is happening in the for-profit sector, where business people (who may or may not know jack about running a school) see an opportunity to market an English-language education to wealthy local parents.
Not saying that all these new schools are to be categorically avoided, but now more than ever, teachers entering the international teaching market need to do due diligence. If you’re considering a new school (and there will be many out there), make sure that the founders have established other successful schools. That’s really the only way to know exactly what you’re getting into.
Based on this trend, I’d also guess that many of these new jobs (not all) will be low-paying. How will that affect salaries at more established schools? No idea. But it might encourage teachers who are thinking about taking the leap into international education to think twice.
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Flood the job fairs? No, for all the reasons mentioned above. However, young teachers will give it a go. We had a young relative staying in our house and subbing just out of college. She applied all over the place, and was told there just were not going to be any jobs (Seattle area). So she interviewed on-line and secured a job in the UAE.
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I doubt that there will be a glut in the market – not anymore than there has been since 2008. It takes a special type of person to live abroad. I have been living abroad for over 11 years and have pretty much seen it all. Those who do best are those with families. It is a BIG investment to bring your family abroad. While, you, the teacher might feel like there is nothing left behind, your spouse and children will be leaving their friends and familiarity behind. Some kids really don’t adjust that well to being abroad in a different culture. Then there is the issue of what do you do with your house, car, etc.? All of that takes work. What I’ve found is that a lot of people with attachments that lose their teacher job move onto something else, but for all intents and purposes stay put. I think the single parent, or the new, young inexperienced teachers are more likely to compete. In all honestly, unless a school is looking to save money, I can’t see how they would take a fresh teacher over myself. A lot of those inexperienced teachers do ESL in Korea, Japan, Taiwan or China, but that still can’t compete versus real international teaching experience with solid references. I’ll be looking this year to move on, so I guess I’ll see what happens!
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There seems to be a tone of resentment by “international” teachers toward teachers leaving their “home country” entering the international realm. Why is this, as all international teachers left their home country when they became “international” teachers?
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Already happening. We are finally finding it easier to find quality teachers. Most international teachers seem to have a mercenary policy and jump ship every 2 years. On average they were also not as qualified in terms of post grad degrees and professional development experience. We now seem to be attracting a larger pool especially from North America where teachers do not bring the colonial mentality baggage.
Please note the above comment is a generalization. There always good and bad apples on all sides of the equation.
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“Most international teachers seem to have a mercenary policy and jump ship every 2 years.”
Just a quick response. Do you believe that a teacher who is only going overseas because they can’t find a job back ‘home’ will be more permanent? There are large liklihoods that they will still be applying to education positions and will leave the moment the have a position at their real ‘home’.
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I would like to hear more from Teacher Recruiter…is there a shift away from couples t o singles or old to young? Do teachers with dependants or non teaching spouses still have a chance of getting a job? What are the positions/areas/coutries that seem most effected? Tell us more!
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I find it concerning (and somewhat mind-boggling) that you refer to teachers who fulfill their contractual obligations before moving on as “mercenary.” If schools wish to improve teacher retention, they should offer competitive benefits, effective management, and a healthy work environment. The idea that teachers should accept substandard treatment indefinitely out of some misguided sense of loyalty is ludicrous.
I’ve worked with several teacher recruiters in both my international teaching and journalism careers, and I cannot imagine a professional recruiter making such a statement on a public forum. For the sake of establishing credibility, will you tell us which recruitment outfit you’re working with?
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Isn’t a mercenary somebody solely motivated by money? Let me get this straight, you are generalizing that teachers are motivated by money? If working long hours for substandard pay defines teachers as mercenaries, then your generalization would be correct. Might want to try a different direction with your generalizations. Otherwise, one may make the generalization that teacher recruiters really have no idea what they are talking about. Although there are always good teacher recruiters and some bad ones as well. Right?
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I’ll just replay the conversation I had with a brand, new, first time overseas teacher at my international school.
Me: “So, what made you want to come overseas?”
New Teacher: “There weren’t any jobs at home.”
Me: “Ah well, now you’ll get to be overseas, meet people from other countries, travel…”
New Teacher: “I hate traveling.”
OK…I hope this will not be the future of international teachers–I always felt like we were a special breed and that our passion, both for teaching and for the world, put us in a different category entirely. Hopefully recruiters will see this, too.
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uff, we are indeed a special breed of teachers, ones who when hearing a foreign tongue do not automatically think that we are being spoken illy of. I would say to the new International teachers to come on over. The strategy will play out, those who can handle it and are good will stay and move around a bit, those who can’t get used to the European way of life, the Korean way of life, the African way of life….will pack it in and go home
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If you’ve got a teaching position, do your best and be thankful that you’ve got one. Watching the news and hearing about what teachers are going through back home should be a reality check/wake up call for you. Moaning about working conditions and how your school doesn’t do this or that or how your salary doesn’t compare with school X isn’t going to get you anywhere but down or unemployed. Teachers back home are learning these lessons firsthand. Be happy you are employed and working in your chosen profession. Continue to improve upon how you run your classroom and pursue professional development opportunities which will benefit your students and build your resume. If you stay on top of your game and don’t get bogged down by the things that don’t go your way or your inability to pocket your pride every once in a while you’re going to be fine. Don’t give up or sell yourself short, these are things we work on everyday with our students. Good luck!
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Good points. While I feel I am underpaid at my current job, I am thankful to have a job. I also realize the grass is not always greener someplace else. I still plan to recruit this year, but I may sit tight and stay on at my current school if I don’t find something that is to my liking. I think about a return to the states, but the job market is miserable.
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Although I am employed, at least for the coming year, I become more nervous with each passing year. I’ve worked in the public school system in Oregon for the past 9 years and each year we lose more teachers and support staff as well as programs to budget cuts. Of the teachers that have been laid off, the majority have either moved on to other things or are subbing. Of those that I have spoken too, none would even entertain the idea of teaching overseas. I recently made the decision to pursue an overseas position next school year, due to life changes and feeling as though if I didn’t do it now, I never would. As excited as I am and as supportive as my co-workers are, they say that it’s wonderful, but they wouldn’t do it! As a newbie to the system it can be quite disheartening to read about the horrible schools and how careful you need to be in your search. But then again, I’ve worked in some pretty horrible places in the U.S. and just kept my head down, did my job and then moved on.
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It worries me that if this over-supply of teachers on the international market is real, schools will use it to their advantage to drive down salaries and benefits.
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My concern as well.
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I am from California….enough said we lost over 19 Billion dollars to our education fund.
I have 3 Master degrees, 2 B.A degrees, 1 A.A. degree, a teching credential and a counseling credential. I CANNOT get a job in Cali. Thus I went overseas to Taiwan to work. It was either that or I sleep in my car. I have sent in over 200 resumes since Feb. 2009 and have had only 5 interviews. For every counseling position that I apply for there are over 400 other applicants for that same job.
So yes, I can see domestic teachers looking overseas. The thing is though, overseas teaching is still kind of not well know among domestic teachers.
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I found the contracts overseas available this year but the salaries are much lower (try $1,200 for someone with experience) and not always paying for summers or airfare. It is definitely competitive this year, even for math, science, Special Ed, and graduate work in TESOL. I feel like the last one standing after the music stopped after one year of not teaching.
Wisconsin is dire and there have been massive layoffs in Texas.
I even applied in small rural towns where the salaries are mid $30,000s.
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I left my tenured job in 2004 to go to Korea for 2 years. I enjoyed teaching there and found the students to be extremely respectful and parents very supportive. I loved it and would go overseas again in a heartbeat but the same time teaching rich kids is not always as rewarding as teaching at a public school at home where we have an excellent union and there are limits to what can be asked of us. Here all kids are accepted, special ed kids are not excluded, and there is a sense of satisfaction in doing your job that is not the same at a private school where people are paying15k for their kid to go to school. This being said the situation in Wisconsin is now dire (if you don’t know what’s going on here you should. The whole world is watching) and we are losing benefits and having to fight for every last dime and resource for our students. Because of this I have thought very seriously of going overseas again and giving up my job completely. The one thing I didn’t like was that I didn’t feel that the quality of educators overseas were as good as they are here. Both administrators and teachers seem to be on some sort of power trip and arrogant about a private teaching job overseas. When I signed up I went with the intention of giving my all to the job as I am a well respected educator here. More than one interviewer/school seemed less interested in me than in filing the position. If I choose to go overseas again I will only apply to schools that have the integrity to choose high level educators and respect their employees more.
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It is certainly possible a flood could occur, but I don’t know how long term the affects would be. I’m American and I think in the US there is a general aversion to living overseas, particularly teaching abroad. Most people would not do it unless they were quite desperate. I live in China and a high percentage of foreign teachers do not last more than a year or two due to cultural differences, so I question whether the flood of teachers onto the market will have long term repercussions.
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Have you noticed the salaries for foreign teachers going down this year?
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My school (in the Middle East) has not raised salaries for years, a real sticking point for me. I am grateful to have a job in this tough economy and I am still saving good money. However, I am still not happy about the lack of a raise, and I noted a long time ago that the school seems content to let teachers leave every 2-3 years and to replace them with first year teachers. The pool of experienced or veteran teachers at my school seems to shrink each year. I am starting to feel…yikes, old. I believe many schools will not raise salaries if the market is flooded with unemployed teachers who are desperate to find work.
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This article is clearly not taking into account the heartache involved in being a laid off teacher at this time. Don’t I have a right to enter into the international school experience? I am an excellent educator, with significant travel experience and speak two languages. I am working night and day to find a teaching job anywhere right now – and the last thing I need is to read some provoking article in my email account reminding me of the fact that I now have a flood of competition in this arena as well.
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The key term you use is “provoking”, I agree it may be thought provoking to some and just plain provoking to others, but I suspect, like most things in blogs and forums, it was meant to get people talking rather than feel bad about oneself. This is after all a form of media, and not above sensationalism. In fact there is a lot of sensationalism on ISR. When it first started some years ago I was appalled at what I considered yellow journalism, but have come to understand over the years that the deck is stacked against educators overseas and we need this forum. I am sure most people are pulling for you and no one wants you to despair. However, there are a lot of creepy job-hoppers out there who are darn near criminals jumping from school to school especially in under-developed countries sometimes with fake credentials, and in the worst case pedophiles, perverts and crooks. I hope good folks from the national systems around the world who need work come out to help. Lord knows it is not just the school owners and administrators who are the bad guys out here. We could use some fresh blood, and everyone knows it. Keep your chin up.
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I think that with the case of ” creepy job hoppers “, this could all be avoided if the heads and directors who are interviewing simply did the job right by checking references, police record etc with a fine toothed comb. Sometimes, you also have to wonder about the calibre of the director or head who will hire WITHOUT checking references! They’re entrusted with the safety and well-being of over hundreds of children…and you mean to tell me that they can’t be bothered to take 1 hour of their time checking references of potential hires?
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Probably the worst of the creepers get picked up locally through ads in the newspapers and don’t come in through the job fair system. However the “local hired expat” vs the “overseas hired expat” is a topic of its own, and generates a lot of controversy. There are a lot of guys like John Mark Karr out there, and quite frankly I would welcome some out-of-work public school teachers from the states. The lack of regulation we bemoan in regards to schools also allows a lot of unsavory types to prey on the system. Too many drunks, drug addicts and perverts in the second and third tier schools, especially in Latin America and SE Asia.
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I’m 110 percent for checking references with a fine tooth comb … but not sure that police record checks will do the schools a whole ton of good unless the crimes were committed in fairly developed countries that track offenders systematically.
Case in point — I obtained a “background check” from Shanghai, China, for my Indonesian visa, and I have to say the process was somewhat less than rigorous. Show up, pay a fee, get a piece of paper written entirely in Mandarin. I was standing right in the room during the entire processing, and I’m fairly certain they didn’t even look me up in a computer. After waiting in line, the process took all of 15 minutes.
(I don’t mean to pick on China, and they may have tightened up their system in the meanwhile — this was in 2006).
Since that experience, I’ve often pondered how easy it would be for disturbed teachers to move around undetected, so long as they chose their locations carefully. I’ve never ended up with a colleague like this, but I have several friends who have, particularly at the more marginal schools.
All the more reason to check those references and check them twice …
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I agree…heartache and heartbreak. To lose a job not because of your qualifications but because of budget issues is very, very hard and sad. I went abroad because of a layoff and had very good and very bad experiences…that I can never write about. I am home again looking and hoping. I wish you luck. Most of all I wish that all the good jobs go to the best people, that good teachers keep their jobs, and that someone somewhere starts a conversation about teacher quality. It breaks my heart that good teachers lose their jobs. My heart is broken (but healing!) that I lost a good job while a careless colleague kept his. People see this…they really do and I believe a change is in the air. If you are a good teacher you will find work. I have to believe this. Again…good luck to you. It is also important to note here to the person who opened up the conversation that we were not “fired” this is an important distinction in the conversation.
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I went to the UNI fair in February and met tons of unemployed and underemployed teachers from all over the US. Every position I interviewed for there had loads of applicants. It is already happening to some extent. With that said, it takes a certain type of person to even consider living abroad so I would not expect every laid off teacher to suddenly start showing up at the job fairs.
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I think they already are flooded. I took a new position this summer, and during the process of looking was told by many (including Search Associates) that the market is flooded with teachers. Many jobs I applied for told me, “we received over 300 qualified applicants for this position.” I ended up with a great school, but was sweating it for a few months.
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There certainly will be an increase in candidates which means an increase in potentially interesting hires for all International schools. However, from my limited experience, the type of teacher who will try overseas, regardless of the current economic climate at home, is one who is usually younger, often single or a single parent, looking for the adventure. A teaching couple might look seriously at working overseas but they are few and far between and are often the prized catch,especially if they both work in sought after disciplines like Maths,Science, Student support services, etc.
Unfortunately, these neophytes will quickly fall prey to the minority of unscrupulous and unethical parasites who run cash cow operations they boldly call ¨International¨ schools and the indifference of recruiters and will become quickly immersed in the ambiguous overseas merry-go-round called Job Fairs.
Therefore, I am convinced that we will see a gradual but steady increase in candidates but not a flood as predicted above.
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“…these neophytes will quickly fall prey to the minority of unscrupulous and unethical parasites who run cash cow operations they boldly call ¨International¨ schools and the indifference of recruiters and will become quickly immersed in the ambiguous overseas merry-go-round called Job Fairs.”
Yikes! Well said weedonald, but a bit scary, eh? Do we sometimes demonize these people, or are they really as bad as all that? Just came from two years with a very bad lot, but have landed at a school where I was picked up at the airport and driven straight to my flat. The place was freshly cleaned and painted, had cold drinks, fruit and a few days food in the fridge. Fresh orchids on the coffee table. The flat was kitted out top to bottom, a real turn-key operation. Settling in allowance handed to me in cash in an envelope with the paper work to claim traveling expenses provided as well. You know the drill. Orientation schedule prepared well in advance with both social and professional opportunities provided. The tech man hands me an HP laptop and the flat is Wifi’d with cable. Plenty of support people on hand to make my transition seamless. The good schools overseas are absolutely incredible in how they handle personnel. Unfortunately the bad ones are horrible and sometimes criminal.
The recent recession lasted 12 months and may double dip. The last one I recall this bad lasted 16 months in duration from 1981-1982 and beyond. Granted, international education at the time was not the growth industry it is today. Much of the work in American schools was in embassy schools related to the state department and department of defense schools. However, I don’t recall hordes of teachers abandoning the system in the United States, which in some ways is as close to being a civil servant as we have the US. Postal workers, firemen, policemen and teachers tend to hunker down in the states and ride these hard times out. I agree it will be the young who take to the road though. I tusually is. I did in 1979 and never looked back. But I was one of the few young people in my cohort to go into this line of education. I agree with earlier comments that most people still don’t see international education as an alternative to a bad economy. In fact, after spending my summer holiday back in my home town, I find many folks think it is just plain nuts. So no, I don’t see the fairs flooding anytime soon.
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I agree with you on this:
“…these neophytes will quickly fall prey to the minority of unscrupulous and unethical parasites who run cash cow operations they boldly call ¨International¨ schools and the indifference of recruiters and will become quickly immersed in the ambiguous overseas merry-go-round called Job Fairs.”
I was trying to be diplomatic but this is it in a nutshell. It’s ashame because it can be a great experience but so many are so bad and unregulated. This is why I like my public school where I work my tail off well beyond the scheduled hours but I have a union that protects me from those unscrupulous practices that you mentioned. In this country in my town many of those people would lose their jobs.
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This will surely make a difference. Flood the fairs, no, But positions especially in the impacted areas in secondary and primary will become even more competitive. This is a good time to focus on building your qualifications to make yourself more competitive. Get some IB experience or work to build your credentials in other areas.
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I don’t think the fairs will be flooded. You are forgetting that it takes a lot to move abroad. If you have family ( children who are in going to school ), are middle-aged ( or close to retirement age ) where top notch medical care is becoming more and more of a priority or have NEVER moved to another country before ( or even entertained the idea ), then you won’t be rushing towards the job fair. However, for the new, young, unattached, single teachers, the international job market is very attractive. The younger teachers grew up in different times ( where globalism has reached its peak )…..so I can say that the younger are more mobile and more open to searching for opportunities abroad.
If anything, international schools may have to bend in hiring teachers with 0-2 years of experience rather than only hiring teachers with 2 years of experience and above.
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I think teachers that may have been contemplating, or entertaining the idea of going overseas, but unwilling to give up the possibility of long term benefits at retirement ,will now have no reason to stay put. Some will enter international education. I don’t picture people that never had in inkling to travel or live overseas to suddenly pack up and move out of their home country.
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My guess is teachers that wouldn’t otherwise drag their family overseas won’t do it unless unable to find work in the states/home country for at least a few years. It also assumes they can’t find other work (non-teaching) in the states.
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