Teachanywhere goes Olympic!

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot

The Olympic Games are on, and it’s been quite a thrill to be a Londoner this year. Despite the numerous and constant warnings during the run-up of tube chaos, terrorism, immigration and bus strikes, the games have run like clockwork, a few empty ‘grace and favour’ seats aside. I’ve been so proud of the organisers for their hard work.

 Please don’t hate me for it, but I have managed to get some tickets to the games. I’m usually not lucky but somehow managed to win a few in the ticket lottery back in February so last weekend saw Judo.  I’m not actually a Judo fan but my husband and aforementioned mountain climbing son are. Ironically my son is almost to the top of Kilimanjaro as I write this, so my sister gratefully took his ticket and I went along. I really enjoyed watching men and women from the various countries we work with competing – Kazakhstan v Mongolia, Egypt v UAE, Spain v South Korea, Portugal (she was one scary Judo fighting woman) v China etc. And even countries we don’t work with such as North Korea (!) were there to represent their countries and the vibe inside the arena was fantastic – fans supporting their own countries as well as others. (OK, maybe not North Korea but the rest, yes.) Unlike the Badminton players, all the Judo athletes played by the rules and respected each other and the games.

The rules for teaching abroad however, unlike those set by the IOC, are often gray, selectively enforced and changeable and I thought I would update you on some recent changes and trends which are affecting lots of teachers because they are in very popular locations – China and the UAE.

China this year has been really enforcing their 2 year post-qualification experience requirement and this means that teachers who have less than 2 years experience are shut out of international schools in most of the region now.  Even teachers with significant pre-qualification experience are not being approved by the Chinese Ministry.  So if you are interested in the Far East or Southeast Asia teaching in international or bilingual schools (rather than TEFL schools or as a Language Assistant- rules are different there) and don’t have 2 years post-qualification teaching experience at the time you start your new job then it’s highly unlikely we can find you work in this part of the world. If you are having trouble finding teaching work in your home country then I recommend you look first to the Middle East or Africa, then jumping over to the Far East/SE Asia once you have got your experience sorted.

On the UAE front, for all but ADEC Licensed Teacher posts, the Ministry is now (mostly) enforcing rules that had previously been enforced only selectively/rarely regarding educational requirements. Similar to the ‘no child left behind’ requirements in the USA and current MOE rules in Kuwait, teachers who want to work in the UAE (including Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi as well as other emirates) need to have a first degree and teacher training that matches their teaching subject. This means that secondary teachers with a Geography degree who have a PGCE in English and 15 years of experience teaching English cannot be approved as English teachers. At the primary (elementary) level, the Ministry is now looking at teachers’ first degree and if not in Education, it must usually be in something relevant to what you are teaching. This means that primary teachers with Business degrees, Theology or Sports Management (etc) cannot be approved.   Teachers with these degree issues should look at countries nearby who do not have this requirement such as Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

Like the Olympics themselves, international requirements are always growing and morphing which is why many teachers like to work with a reputable agency like Teachanywhere whose business is to stay on top of such things. With our scale and breadth of interaction with schools and ministries around the world we are able to give you up to date guidance on where you will be considered/approved, saving you frustration and wasted effort.  If you have any questions you should definitely pick up the phone to your consultant or email us at teacher@teachanywhere.com.

Wishing you and yours Olympic glory,