This is the second of a three-part series on choosing the right international school for your first move abroad. Part 1, on academic culture, is available here; Part 3, on management and autonomy, will follow next month.
Someone I know recently made the move from a boarding school to a day school, and is still working out whether they have gained more than they have lost. Working weeks used to be all-consuming, with long holidays making up for intense terms. They knew their students inside out, personally and educationally, and worry that in this new paradigm they simply can’t have the same impact on their students’ development. Perhaps there really is no substitute for a quiet conversation in the boarding house common room when someone is trying to overcome a challenge.
On the other hand, they now arrive at school at 8am, leave by 4pm (maybe 5pm once or twice a week, when they have a meeting or a co-curricular activity), and rarely take work home. It has been great for family time, and has given them plenty of opportunity to explore their new home. A lower cost of living in the new location made the move financially neutral in theory, but in practice the change in lifestyle means they aren’t saving quite as much as they were.
When I last spoke to them, they were genuinely not sure which version of the job they would choose if they had to decide again. For now, the extra time is winning. Whether the honeymoon period will end when the exciting new environment becomes the norm is yet to be seen.
A school can be your life, or just your job
Some international schools are all-in communities, where co-curricular life is central to the student experience and evenings and weekends are part of the job, particularly in boarding environments outside major cities. Colleagues and students start to become friends and family, and the school can feel like something of a bubble during term time. Others, more often day schools, offer a contained role with clear edges. Staff may have busy timetables, but the working day has a clear end, taking work home is unusual, and checking emails outside of work hours is rare. Your evenings and weekends are generally your own.
The all-in end of the spectrum brings depth of relationships and a strong sense of community. The cost is time that is never quite your own and holidays that have to do most of the work of restoring balance. Schools of this type favour teachers who are happy for their working and personal lives to overlap and who thrive in an immersive environment. They also tend to offer the best salary and benefits packages, which may be important if part of your motivation for going international is improving your financial position.
Many teachers want the international adventure to leave as much time as possible for the adventure itself. Not quite a working holiday, but not far off. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you count yourself among them, seek out a school at the other end of the spectrum. Clearly defined working hours and responsibilities, combined with the right location, can provide a platform for a genuinely life-changing couple of years of travel and cultural enrichment. However, relationships with both colleagues and students can stay more professional than personal, and with fewer additional responsibilities on offer, professional development and career progression can stall.
Two years from now, after their current contract ends, the teacher I mentioned at the start may be back in a boarding house, or may never want to see one again. Either would be a reasonable choice, and the decision will be made with eyes open. They will have lived both lives and will know which they find more fulfilling. If you are considering your first international move and haven’t spent years on that kind of A/B testing, the prompts below may help.
Finding your fit
Ask yourself:
- Does ‘teacher’ describe who you are, or what you do?
- Is simply living in another country enough of an adventure, or do you want to spend substantial time travelling and exploring different cultures?
- Would you be happy for your colleagues to also be your neighbours and your social circle, or do you need a life outside school?
- Assuming you would be appropriately compensated, how much of your evening and weekend time would you be comfortable giving, not just in your first term but in your third year?
- How important is saving money, compared with having the time to spend it?
- Where do you want to be professionally in five years, and what does this role need to offer to help you get there?
- If you are moving with a partner and/or children, how will the school’s demands on your time fit with theirs?
Look for:
- The co-curricular commitment, duties, and any weekend or residential expectations in the job advert and description, and later in the contract (if it isn’t clear, ask).
- How many events on the school calendar and social media fall in the evenings and at weekends.
- The length and timing of holidays in the school calendar, including how much of them boarding or trips can eat into.
- Where the school is: how far from a city and an airport or other transport connections, and how easy weekend travel would be.
- What the package includes beyond salary, such as accommodation, flights and fees for your own children.
Ask at interview:
- Expectations and realities around contact time (both in lessons and beyond) and the length of the working day.
- Whether most staff live on site, nearby or across the city, and how much they socialise together.
- In a boarding school, what boarding means for staff who are not houseparents.
- How additional responsibilities are allocated, and how often staff are promoted internally.
- What support the school offers accompanying partners and families, from visas and work to settling in and community activities.
The final post in this series will turn to the aspect that is hardest to judge from the outside: how you will be managed, whether you can count on the support of the leadership team, and how much autonomy you will have.
About the author
Rob Earl is an independent adviser to international schools and education groups, based in Budapest. He began his career teaching economics and business in the UK, before senior leadership roles at British international schools in South Korea and Singapore and a year as Academic Director for a new education group in Vietnam. earl.pro
