International Teaching Predictions: 2013 (and a goodbye....)

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

It’s been snowing in London so it must be January. According to my husband, it’s a Snow-pocalypse because if we get more than 3 inches of snow here - everyone’s in a panic.

And because it’s January it’s time for my annual Predictions! What do I think will happen in 2013 in the international education job arena, you ask?  Well here goes:

Overall, I see the market continuing a slow recovery in 2013. According to ISC research, the number of international schools has increased over the past 12 months by about 7%, which is down from the heyday of 13% growth back in the mid 2000s but still not too shabby when you consider the IMF is expecting the world economy to grow only by 3%. On top of this, teachers who are bound for international jobs also have an array of interesting state school jobs to pick from in foreign countries which increases the opportunities further beyond the standard international school arena.  Yet as always, the opportunities vary depending on where you want to go.

So here’s a breakdown by segment.

Leadership posts:

3 years ago, I predicted that many school leaders would stay put due to the economy and indeed this happened, but this slowly changed last year and I predict that there will continue to be a decent amount of job opportunity for leadership posts –from Heads of Dept to School leaders. That being said, many schools trimmed their leadership staff to save costs and most schools will prefer to recruit from within (which is considered good practice) so I predict the opportunities will be more at the lower end of the scale rather than at the Director levels. Some state schools who hire international teachers in foreign countries such as Abu Dhabi and Kazakhstan are hiring foreign head teachers to help solidify educational reforms, but these are slow tentative steps and wisely so.  It’s hard enough to learn the cultural and legal ropes when running an international school abroad but one’s cultural adaptation and flexibility needs to be tenfold higher when going into a state school.  Those schools looking for teachers to move into promoted posts will likely have plenty to choose from early in the season, so teachers wanting to move into leadership posts will likely face stiff competition for the more financially and regionally desirable jobs, as always.

Europe

In Feb 2012, it was announced that the Eurozone economy shrank for the first time since 2009, and with all of the arguments within the EU about whether belt tightening or stimulus is the answer, unemployment has crept up to over 11% as the malaise continues.  This obviously does not bode well for international schools whose livelihood is based on parents having disposable income so it should not come as a huge surprise that things are not looking buoyant.  Yes, there will be handfuls of jobs here and there but schools looking to hire will have plenty of candidates to choose from so it will be very competitive for a teacher wanting to land a job for the first time in Europe.  There’s more action in the non EU countries and particularly Eurasia – countries with their own sources of wealth such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, etc – where there is internal wealth and a stable government, then international schools can thrive – but the scale is smaller even if the growth percentage is higher.

Middle East

Still lots happening in this part of the world – stability has set in since the Arab Spring in most parts, and whilst schools and governments are not spending with wild abandon, they are seeing at tentative light at the end of the economic crisis so they are spending wisely.  State school hiring such as ADEC has pushed up salaries almost across the board for all schools who are seeing a constricted supply due to a higher educational and/or post-qualification experience bar being set for incoming teachers in many countries, notably the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Egypt.  For teachers this means that they will see plenty of jobs, but they need to be aware of how the new restrictions will limit their choices. There is less and less wiggle room allowed, even for schools with some wasta.

Far East/SE Asia

Things are bubbling still in this part of the world, with new schools and jobs being added. In this part of the world, brand is king so you will see quite a few new ‘brand name’ schools popping up.  I’m finding China particularly interesting, not just for the sheer number and variety of international schools on offer, but also because I suspect  that China will soon be looking at international teachers in either bilingual or state settings and when this happens, there probably won’t be enough teachers in the world to fill the need.  The Chinese economy is still growing at a rate that outpaces the rest of the developed world and it knows it needs an educated workforce for the future.  In the Far East and SE Asia, education is culturally very important and taken very seriously so there will be lots of opportunity for academically minded teachers who are also culturally flexible ... provided you meet the MOE criteria which is getting stricter by the year.-2 years of experience is usually required  in China for instance.   There are also opportunities for teachers in state schools in the region- Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea etc, and often these schools hire teachers who are only TEFL trained rather than certified/qualified.

Africa

Africa sadly is in the same situation as Europe  - the economic doldrums.  There are far fewer international schools in Africa than in any other region, and because there is little disposable income except from a handful of foreign expats, the number of opportunities is limited. That being said, staff turnover in Africa is often higher than in Europe so there should be some posts and they will not be quite as competitive.  Northern Africa will be an interesting area to watch – those who are living and working in Egypt, for example, say they don’t even notice the political issues but it may affect a schools ability to attract teachers so there should be a decent number of jobs on offer for those who wish to go.

Latin America

The fate of Latin America is tied to that of the US and Canada, and the US is still recovering very slowly from the economic crisis amid the crippling political infighting. There are not many international schools in Latin America when compared to Europe and Asia, but it often behaves as a combination of Africa and Europe – many schools have a decent turnover of staff like Africa, but it’s still a popular destination like Europe. I’m personally watching Brazil this year – there seems to be more foreign investment but that being said, I don’t see miracles happening there either.

Advisory posts

Advisory posts are still slow going in Abu Dhabi, unlike the heyday of 2006, and there are still smatterings of posts in Kazakhstan and Malaysia.  Advisory posts are usually government type jobs, and until governments have more disposable income, I don’t see them coming back in a huge way this year.

All this is to say that I’m cautiously optimistic about the coming year, but cautious is the operative word and my optimism varies by region. There are still lots of teachers without jobs in many parts of the world such as the US, Canada, NZ and Ireland so you need to be aware of your competitive position when going for any job.

I hope this helps and I wish you luck for the coming year. This is probably going to be my farewell notes  – the blog will continue but I will be leaving Teachanywhere next month to start a job with a new company – so I’d like you to know that it’s been my pleasure to write these each week and I am thankful for all of the many comments and responses I get!  It’s nice to know people read them. 

Best regards and best of luck in the coming year,

Diane Jacoutot

General manager, Teachanywhere

Teachanywhere's New year Message

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

Happy New Year to those not in the Far East (sorry but Chinese New Year  starts 10 February so I’m withholding  from those in East for just a short while). 

If you are like me you have made a New Year’s resolution, a practice started by the Romans when they made promises at the start of the year to the god Janus for whom January is named.  A 2012 study of modern day New Year’s resolutions by the University of Scranton  showed that the most popular resolutions were to lose weight (yup, I’m there), get organised, stay fit and healthy, save money, learn something new and to live life to the fullest. Unfortunately, two weeks on, almost 30% of those studied abandoned their goals.  Why is it that what seems such a good idea on 1 January seems impossible in February?

At Teachanywhere, we notice a huge increase in inquiries into teaching abroad in January every year.  It’s like a light switch flicking on.  Perhaps it’s spurred on by those resolutions to learn and save and to live life to the max by challenging themselves but whatever the reason we like it. And luckily our retention rate is far more than 70%... which must mean that working abroad is easier than losing weight... and this has certainly been my experience.

But teaching abroad is certainly not easy – it means uprooting your life and taking a big risk to leave your family and friends behind, if only for the school year. But it has huge rewards, personal and financial.  I recommend that when they first consider moving abroad, teachers write down all the reasons they want to go – whether it’s to save money for a down payment on a house, to experience a new culture, or because they are frustrated with the status quo in their home country and put those reasons in an envelope to be read in June when they start getting cold feet because they are tempted to stay by the evil that they know and frightened by what they don’t know.  Because those reasons will still be there this October if they decide to abandon their resolutions and their dreams and I think it’s a huge shame.

I have a long held belief that most people are good at heart, but that we all should strive to improve ourselves. Every day. And if we only succeed 7 out of every 10 days, that’s still an accomplishment that should be celebrated. 

  

I just need to remember to celebrate with a couple of carrot sticks rather than a cake this year.

All the best,

Diane Jacoutot

General manager, Teachanywhere

Teachanywhere's Christmas Message

Christmas Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

It’s time for the Christmas break, here at Teachanywhere, though as usual there will still be a number of staff working over the holidays – because jobs are coming in even as I write this.  But it is time for me to shove off, and so to celebrate my last blog, I thought I would write a holiday poem for you.

Twas the night before leaving, I was sat working late. Last I looked at my watch, twas a quarter past eight.

And thus startled was I when a man did appear, stood fast in my doorway with a bushy white beard

Dressed all in red with round cheeks that were rosy.  Was I seeing things? Was I getting dozy?

I rubbed at my eyes, but it was no folly. The old man stood his ground, with a smile quite jolly.

“Are you lost?”, I inquired as I rose to my feet. “You’re likely not far – the pub’s just down the street”.

“Well no”, he replied, “I came down for a chat. I was just passing by and your demeanour looked flat”

I replied, “I’m just busy, there’s much to get done. Next week I am leaving, so there’s no time for fun.

I have budgets and projects with deadlines, you see.  I’ve been working since sunrise but I just can’t break free”.

He sat as he heard this, and pondered my case. I needed some help. He could tell from my face.

He seemed lost in thought; he was deep in the zone. Then his smile appeared and he whipped out his phone.

He barked out some orders as I sat by myself. “It’s Nicholas here, get me the Head Elf!”

“Send me Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.  I want Comet and Cupid and Donner and Bitzen!”.

“There’s a woman right here who needs all of our help.”. Then a knock at the doorway. I let out a yelp.

‘Cause there to my wondrous eyes did appear a sight quite amazing- twelve full sized reindeer.

“Don’t you fret”, he then smiled, “They are here to assist. What do you need doing? Let’s make out a list!

My deer are quite clever, they can add and subtract. They can type with their hooves. It’s a little known fact.“

So he set them to working, he started with Dancer. “Take that monthly report, and you write it with Prancer

Cupid, you take the emails, and then do the budget. If you don’t have the figures, don’t sweat it, just fudge it.

China jobs, that’s for Blitzen -you can do it with ease. Your writing’s quite good and you speak Cantonese.

Donner there’s something for you –don’t get your tail in a fluff. I want you to work on that database stuff. “

Soon the deer were all busy, quite a sight did I see, when the man finally turned his attention to me.

“You now should be going. I’ll stay and patrol. We are quite good at this, it’s all under control.

Go off on your trip and don’t ever look back. If we find any problems, we’ll take all the flack. “

I didn’t know what to say as I gave him my key. “If you need some refreshments, the kitchen’s got tea.

I am ever so thankful. This has been a great gift”, there were tears in my eyes as I stuttered and sniffed.

The deer looked quite grateful, with their typing hooves flashing. And old Nick gave a smile that almost made him look dashing.

Said I to them all and to all who could hear, “Merry Christmas to all. And a Happy New Year!”

A Fish out of Water: Teaching Abroad and Culture Shock!

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

It was announced today that the EU has agreed to plans for an EU wide banking supervisor in 2013. The agreement is seen as a pre-cursor to allowing the European Central Bank to give emergency money to ailing banks without going through national governments and pesky, short-sighted politicians which should make crisis management go quicker. And it’s only taken us 3 years of non-stop crisis talks to reach this point.

Solving problems is something that we do all the time, and we know instinctively how it works in our home country. A child gets bullied in the playground? You know how the reporting is done, what is required and what to expect will happen next.  Your landlord won’t fix a broken tap? You know who to call and what to do if you cannot get your point across to the first person you speak to.  A parent politely asks you to change a grade on their child’s paper? You know whether this is acceptable or not, and how to react.

But when you are in a foreign country you can literally throw away your old rule book. You are a fish out of water. You must make a new rulebook and this can be very disconcerting until the new rulebook is written in your mind and only then will you feel confident again.  I think pretty much everyone has looked at news reports of something happening in a foreign country and thought – Why are they dithering around, why can’t they just.......   and imagined how you would sort it if you were in charge. But the fact is that if you were magically transported to that country and you tried to fix a problem in a way that works at home, it probably wouldn’t work.

Culture is the air that we breathe and the water in which we swim, and we don’t really recognise its impact until we are taken out of it.  It’s frustrating at first – and this forms the basis of “Culture Shock” which is a reaction (emotional and sometimes even physical) to this change of environment, rather like a fresh water fish being moved to a brackish pond.  To read more about culture shock and how to cope click HERE.   It's something that Teachanywhere tries to prepare all of its applicants for.

So how can you navigate the cultural divide between your new and old culture?

The best advice is to understand your new country as best you can.  A good place to start is with Gerte Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. It gives you a snapshot into different facets of culture by country and the trick is to compare the new country to your own.  Remember there is no right or wrong, just different.

For instance, if your home country has a low ‘power distance’ – i.e. decisions are usually made at a low level in a hierarchy – and you move to a high power distance country like the UAE or Russia where even small decisions have to run up the chain of command and then back down, it will seem like decisions take forever to be made and that the people at the low level with whom you are dealing are just being obstinate and useless. But they are not- they are doing their part and they know their part in the process even if you do not. It instantly becomes less frustrating and you can reset your expectations with this knowledge.  To find out more about Hofestede’s cultural dimensions for your country/ies, click HERE. Click on each of the dimensions to understand what they mean and then go to the “Countries” tab and click on your country and then your country of interest to see how they differ.

When on the ground, you should also seek out someone who can act as a cultural guide and ask them for advice before you assume things. The best guide is an expatriate with at least 2 years of experience in that country but try to find at least two guides if you can to get a range of viewpoints. If you cannot find an experienced western expatriate then try to find a person who knows a little about your culture and who understands that there is a cultural gap such as a host national who has themselves lived abroad.  These people can serve as the editors of your new rulebook and are invaluable as you make your transition.

You should also look out for and try to recognise the signs of culture shock and understand how this might influence your emotions and outlook on any problem you encounter. Usually it makes them seem worse than they are. The good news is culture shock is temporary and you WILL feel differently in about a month’s time so try to stick it out with as much good humour as you can muster.

But the message here, as always, is that the more you can prepare yourself for your cultural experience the better you will be.  The more research you can do and the more open minded you can be the smoother the transition will be for you. And when you make the transition and become accustomed to two or more different cultures, you will feel proud and special that you have this knowledge that few other people have.

It’s  a gift... but a gift you have to work for.

Notes from the General Manager: Looking East!

Chinese author Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2012, the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel in its 111 year history. This is an extraordinary achievement for a man who was forced to leave school at 12 and work in the fields due to the Cultural Revolution. In many ways this reflects the journey that China has been on and continues on now. I know China-bashing is in vogue in certain parts of the world, but personally I remain awed by the continued transformation taking place there – from country almost literally starving to a world superpower in less than a generation. And they are doing it their own way, picking and choosing what they want to assimilate. While we may not always agree with their methods, you can’t but admire their single-minded ambition and undeniable results.

All eyes were turning East this week at Teachanywhere, as we won two major contracts for recruitment next year. Woo hoo! First we were awarded a large contract to recruit Australians and New Zealanders to Hong Kong for their state school EFL programmes for the 2013 school year, which is making our Australian and New Zealand offices ecstatic. Then we were announced as the strategic recruitment partner for Dulwich College Schools in China, which is a rapidly expanding group of English National Curriculum schools with a very long and prestigious history in the Independent school sector in the UK (Dulwich College in London was founded in 1619 and it’s a member of the Eton group of schools to give you an indication).  We are assisting in their recruitment drive starting with an interview event in November in London.

Both opportunities are so very different in terms of what they are looking for, but both provide dedicated teachers with an opportunity to experience the very best of China and Hong Kong by working for very reputable and established operations. Both are very specific in what they want – in Hong Kong they seek only Australian and New Zealand trained teachers with a specialism in Primary and Secondary English/EFL. At Dulwich, as you can imagine, they seek very experienced (minimum 3 years) British trained teachers who have a solid history teaching the best and brightest children with a UK curriculum ideally with independent school experience.

Don’t get me wrong, the Middle East team had their share of success as well – we are in the midst of a huge recruitment drive in London, Ireland, Sydney and Auckland for teachers to work in state schools in Abu Dhabi for January or September starts, and the Middle East team has a huge variety of immediate start vacancies in international schools around the region.

All in all it’s been a super week for the company. As the weather is turning bad in London (dismal, dark and rainy yesterday. Hello October!)  the climate within the company is bright and sunny.

All the best

Diane Jacoutot

General Manager, Teachanywhere.com

Ps. If you want to send in your CV or express your interest in any of the above here’s the emails:

Dulwich:  LMC@teachanywhere.com

Hong Kong: HongKong@teachanywhere.com

Teachanywhere loves Technology

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

 

400 High Schools in Ghana are set to get internet access for the first time next year. The project is just the beginning, said Director General of Ghana Educational Services Madam Benedicta Naana Biney, of great things happening in the educational sector as teachers and students get needed resources. 

On the other side of the world, in General Santos City Philippines, the city government has launched a pilot programme to teach robotics in schools, having bought some fancy kit for their programme called SHEEP. SHEEP is a fancy acronym which basically means that they like technology because everyone knows that to do technology right you need good acronyms and the city Fathers in General Santos are not fools.  I just want them to make a Robot Lunch Lady who will never get tired of picking the forks out of the mashed potatoes and won’t need a hair net. But somehow I don’t think that’s the main aim of this initiative.  

Both projects illustrate the point to which technology has now become an essential part of education for developing countries who wish to pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty.  I’m all for it!

Technology is everywhere and the pace of change is incredible. Moore’s Law says – and I’m paraphrasing here so please, technophiles, give me a bit of poetic license- that the capacity of computer chips, which form the basis of all things technological, doubles every two years. To illustrate, I heard a statistic yesterday that the technology in a simple singing birthday card, (you know, the type that plays initially-funny-but-eventually-irritating music when you open it) has as much capacity as the computers used to send astronauts to the moon back in the 60s.  There’s Moore’s Law for you in a nutshell.  It can be scary when you think too hard about it. What will the world be like in 20 years? But as long as it means I can have a hovercar of my own with a hovercar drivers license, I don’t care.

Technology has moved on at Teachanywhere, I’m happy to say. This week we launched our NEW and IMPROVED website Candidate Portal. As those of you who have read my blog over the years know, I say every morning to my reflection in the mirror, “My name is Diane and I am a Closet Geek”. I love technology that makes your life easier and doesn’t require you to read a manual in 6 different languages to do so.  Finding an app or gadget that is clever and useful and easy to figure out makes me excited, fidgety and bubbling over with happiness. It’s a sickness.

The great thing about the new features of the website is that you can update your information and upload documents, as well as apply for jobs and set up your own job alerts.  It gives you more control and it’s something that people have been asking about for many years. We get at least 10 inquiries a week asking “How can I change my CV/Email/address/etc”. ...and now you can!  Yes there are some bugs (from time to time when updating a photo you get an error message – we are working on that) and yes, the font on the web page is small enough that those of us on the verge of needing reading glasses are forced to grope around for the blasted things... I know they are around here somewhere... but all in all there are some great features, made by some very clever people like Ross the Webmaster, bless his little tapping fingers. 

I know that for most non Closet Geeks this might not seem earth shattering but like all things technological, it will make your life easier in small ways.

And it doesn’t require a manual to figure out.  (I hope!) 

If you want to try it out, go to our website and hit the login button, HERE

Teachanywhere and the last minute teaching jobs on offer...

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot:  Speed

Cyclist Lance Armstrong gave up his fight against the USADA this week, who accused him of using steroids and blood transfusions to win his 7 Tour de France medals.  Whilst not admitting any wrongdoing, backing down from a fight isn’t something that Armstrong -a former hero of mine and at one time the world’s fastest distance cyclist, would do without a reason. It’s sad. Competitive athletes are programmed to win at all costs but perhaps that’s the problem.  At the same time, over in Los Angeles on Thursday, rapper LL Cool J “detained” a burglar in his home who was not fast enough, leaving the man with a broken nose and ribs. 

Speed is the theme this week, now that Principals and Head Teachers come back from holiday and are realising that they have more enrolment than they expected or finding that one or two teachers they thought were coming back had change their minds.  This happens every year and gives us an exciting array of jobs sprinkled around the globe, this week from Abu Dhabi to Tajikistan to Thailand and everywhere in between.  

What’s slightly different this year is that many of our clients are sticking to their experience requirements, not bending the rules as much as normal. In some cases it’s because Ministries of Education have set governmental regulations and this is true in China which now requires 2 years of post qualification teaching experience, the UAE and Kuwait which now require that first degrees are completely relevant to the subject one is teaching (even down to core subjects only for Primary teachers), and an increasing number of ‘expatriate ‘ type international schools in the Middle East, including the UAE, being told that their teachers must meet the previously loosely enforced 2 year experience requirements. 

This means that teachers looking for international jobs for September are faced with a dazzling array of possibilities, especially if they are Early Years, Primary (Elementary), English, Maths or Science teachers but at the same time many doors are not really open to them. I think this makes the role of Teachanywhere more crucial to guide teachers to schools that can hire them.  Every country has rules which are constantly changing, and within those rules some schools can bend them and some schools cannot.  I can imagine how frustrating it must be for international teachers wanting to move to a new country and not knowing why their applications are failing. So this is where we can help.

Speaking of help, one of our consultant’s Ben, did a webinar about Kuwait as he taught there himself quite recently.  It was only our second webinar and the feedback from the teachers who participated was super. If you missed it, you can catch it HERE for the next 10 days.  Have a listen- you might learn something!

All the best,

Diane Jacoutot

General manager, Teachanywhere

Ps. Watch out for our World Teacher Day flyer coming out next week. You could win £500 in free teaching resources!