The Monkey Came To School One Day
Posted Under: Career
Taking a group of pupils into the rainforest, monkeys suddenly scampering on the school roof, an elephant spontaneously visiting the school yard, and using the Red Square as an art studio. These are simple everyday experiences for teachers working for international schools worldwide.
You don’t even have to be young and single to qualify or even make the move Rudi Powell from Penarth, South Wales was already retired when he decided to head off to Vienna then Rotterdam. ”How I wish that I had done the move early in my career. I would positively do it again,” he says. Teaching jobs abroad were also experienced and enjoyed by husband and wife Kevin and Lorna Gallagher. They taught in South Korea and Poland and have now moved to Italy to teach at the International School of Bologna.
Teaching Jobs Overseas
The move usually includes the entire family. “Travelling with our young children was very easy. As a family we’ve grown up with international life; it’s a very good and rewarding experience, giving our girls a very mature, global and compassionate outlook,” says Jeff Burt, a Physics teacher from London who lived and taught in the Philippines, in Turkey and in Sri Lanka along with his wife and two daughters. Single parents can also have their try at teaching jobs abroad. “I knew I was interested in working in an international school. I bided my time for what I thought was the correct time for my children,” says Janice Ireland who taught for twelve years in international schools in Cairo, Libya, Kuwait, and The Netherlands. “My son was, at the time, in university and my daughter came with me. She studied her A-levels in the same school where I worked and found that she absolutely loved it! I cannot even begin to compare the distinction to life back home particularly since I am a single working woman. It has been a really advantageous for me and my children, and I would highly recommend it.”
He currently holds the position of Director in an organisation that focuses in recruiting teachers for International schools – Teachers International Consultancy.
He says, “Having teaching jobs overseas meant I get to work in some fantastic schools in Colombia, Austria, and Germany, and even travel to some amazing places.”
“We decided to have a go at teaching overseas for a couple of years, but loved it so much that we stayed for 16 years!
During our time abroad, our two children were born but that was no problem at all. The truth is it’s given our whole family a sense of adventure, great trust in travelling and a bigger perspective of the world.”
Andrew says that finding a new job was the only difficulty with working overseas. ”Me and my wife, and a number of our work colleagues disliked the cattle-market approach of the big recruitment fairs. When we tried to apply for a job ourselves, it was difficult to determine which of the schools were highly reputable, and what paperworks were required. “My wife and I, including several work colleagues attempted to apply for jobs our-selves but we had a hard time determining which of the schools had a good standing and the paperwork involved. We did not really like the cattle-market style offered by big recruitment fairs. There were also stories circulating about teachers who had been let down by schools that were unreliable and unaccredited. The personal assistance offered by recruitment consultancies is one factor why we are more likely to transact with them.”
