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
