Taking a job at an international school that you have never visited is just a part of the game in our community. So, many of us try our best to gather all of the information we can before and after signing the contract. One main way of gathering this information is from the administration that interviewed you. Certainly, they do their best to inform you about the aspects of the school that you are interested in knowing about. Ask the administration lots of clarifying questions as well to make sure you are hearing them correctly; so that you can have the best understanding of your future workplace.
Once you start gathering all of this knowledge, you instinctually start to create some expectations. Whether your expectations are realistic or not-so-realistic, they are now there in your brain for the whole rest of the school year at your current school and through into the summer.
Now that the expectations are there, of course many of them will be exactly what you thought. The possible issue that may arise though is once you get to your new school in July/August. Will all of your expectations indeed come true or will they be slightly different or even non-existent? There is a real risk that some of your expectation will not come true.
Even if some of your expectations don’t come true straightaway, it doesn’t mean that they won’t after a half or a whole school year passes. Stay positive! If a few expectations are bringing you down, some good advice might be to focus on the expectations that did come true, especially those ones that inspire you as an educator.
Not having all your expectations come true is just another part of the international school teacher experience. Knowing how to handle those moments is the key. The admin hired you from a reason, and they thought you were good fit for the position and their school. Don’t let some high, unreal expectations that you may have derail you. Make sure you stay open-minded and be willing to be flexible. And definitely don’t forget to realize and enjoy all of your expectations that were met once you started working at your new school!
Luckily, International School Community has a comment topic on our school profile pages related to this topic of has your international school met your expectations once you started working there. There are a total of 202 comments (January 2018) that have been submitted by our veteran international school teachers in one of 65 comment topics called – “Has the school met your expectations once you started working there?”
Here are a few of those submitted comments:
“At first, I was not impressed with the high rate of misbehaved students (because the school advertises that there are “no behavior issues” in the school. However, once the school year got underway, I have watched how teachers have reflected on their management routines and changed them accordingly. I have come to love working at this school because I see students learning and engaged in their work. I also appreciate the camaraderie among the faculty and staff. However, the thing that I did not expect was getting paid late.” – Beijing BISS International School (Beijing, China) – 67 Total Comments
“During my interview it was clearly described what I was getting into and what was expected from me. I have been at the school three years now and look to stay on longer.” – American International School of Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Netherlands) – 52 Comments
“The educational provision of the EYFS and Primary departments has improved rapidly in the 15 months since their establishment. It is now a well organised school and everyone is moving forward together. I could not envisage the progress being so rapid when I started. Currently the school exceeds my expectations.” – Varee Chiang Mai International School (Chang Mai, Thailand) – 65 Total Comments
“Exceeded- I’ve grown a lot as an educator and the collaboration with my colleagues has really pushed me to try new things and think more deeply about my own practice.” – International School of Brussels (Brussels, Belgium) – 31 Comments
“The interviews were extremely realistic and did not deceive in any way. The school was far better than expected.” –Woodstock School (Mussoorie, India) – 58 Comments
“The school definitely exceeded my expectations. It’s such a wonderful place to work at. Teachers , students and office staff really live and work in harmony.” – British International School of Stavanger (Stavanger, Norway) – 24 Comments
