Could you explain how you came to be living in France, and why you chose an international school for your children?

My husband was relocated to his company’s Geneva office. When we arrived, our two oldest daughters were 11 and 8 years old and we were keen to make the transition as easy for them as possible.  Since they didn’t speak French we felt that they would find the social and academic adjustment very difficult in the French system.

How did you all feel about the option?

Together with the children we visited three international schools in the area, and allowed them to have a say in which one they preferred.  The children were very keen to go to this particular school and, as it was also our choice it worked out very well.

Could you tell us a little about the school?

The school is one of the International School of Geneva’s three campuses. It is in a semi-rural location 20kms outside Geneva and serves the international community in Vaud and neighbouring France. It has a primary and secondary section and offers a choice of academic programmes. The primary school has recently introduced a bi-lingual programme (English and French).

How does it differ from schools back home?

In Scotland my children attended a small village school. Apart from size there are obvious differences in terms of the facilities on offer and the diversity of the student body. We also lived in Nairobi, Kenya for a time and our daughters attended a British-curriculum Kindergarten and preparatory school there. We felt at the time that our daughters benefited from the exposure to other cultures and backgrounds that they experienced, and it helped us to make our decision about whether to opt for an international school this time.

What’s the biggest plus of sending them to an international school?

For us, the ability for them to feel that they ‘fitted in’ very quickly was vital, especially since we had moved them around a bit already.

And the biggest downside?

Not having the opportunity to integrate fully into the local community.

Do you think it will set them up for the future in terms higher education, employment, etc?

Yes, definitely.  The school has an excellent academic reputation and in addition I believe that my daughters are benefiting socially. They are becoming more outgoing and confident already and I can see that standing them in very good stead in the future.

Could you give us a flavour of what it’s like to live, and perhaps to work, in your part of the world for an expat?

We live in France, practically on the border with Switzerland and with views of the Alps and Lake Geneva. It’s an amazing place to live: the physical landscape is stunning, and the climate is excellent, with a lot to do in both summer and winter. There is a large expat community in this area and there is a huge range of sporting, cultural and social activity which is accessible to it.   Being only two hours from family and friends back in Scotland with direct air connections means that we have plenty of visitors and can easily nip back to Edinburgh if we want to. The only disadvantage we have found is that the cost of living is comparatively expensive.

Fancy teaching in Switzerland, France, Germany or Belgium? Then sign up to these countries’ Talent Pools and let the jobs come to you as soon as they crop up.

“Make of it what you can and Jeddah will return your efforts and not disappoint you.

The sun always smiles in Jeddah.”                              

“Make sure you have plenty of fancy dress costumes!”

“You never have to iron again!”                     

“Make sure you are good at journey directions especially if your partner is not, alternatively buy a GPS on arrival!”

“Visiting old Jeddah is magical and an experience you should not miss and try to repeat.

Interview:

Could you give us an introduction to The British International School of Jeddah?

The British International School of Jeddah (BISJ) is one of the largest international schools in Saudi Arabia. Established in 1977, BISJ provides a British-style education to the expatriate and local community in Jeddah. The school is a non-profit organisation governed by a Board of Trustees.  It was originally set up by the British and Belgian Embassies and was called the Continental School until 1998, when the Ministry of Education designated it the British community school and renamed it as The British International School of Jeddah.  However many in the community still refer to the school as affectionately as the ‘Conti’!

Since its inception, the school has grown and developed rapidly, culminating in relocation to the current purpose built campus in 1999. The school is accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. We are a member school of the British Schools in the Middle East and are authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation and Cambridge International Examinations.

In total, the school now has more than 1550 students from over sixty countries. Teaching staff are mainly recruited from the United Kingdom, Australasia, North America and locally. The school has primary and upper school sections, each with their own individual buildings, play areas and administration. There are some 90 rooms, eight science laboratories, five computer rooms, a large sports hall, a gymnasium, a multi-purpose hall, a refectory, three libraries, a clinic, two pools and an outside sports area with running track.

Could you ‘introduce’ readers to Jeddah?

Jeddah is a cosmopolitan city on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.  It is a busy commercial seaport as well as being the entry point to the Kingdom for millions of pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina.

The town has grown very rapidly and continues to do so, with development in Saudi Arabia little affected by the economic difficulties faced elsewhere in the world.  Major shopping malls abound, with several being within a five-minute drive of our school.  Supermarkets are well stocked with the full range of products normally found in the West.  While imported products may be expensive, local produce is relatively cheap.

The climate of Jeddah is moderated by its proximity to the Red Sea.  Thus summers, whilst hot, are cooler than the interior of Saudi Arabia.  Winter temperatures are perfect, ranging from around 22°C in the evenings to 28°C during the daytime.  In some years we have one or two days when it may rain, but this is not certain!!

Where is the school?

The school is situated in the northern suburbs of Jeddah, some 15 minutes from the International Airport.  For those interested in diving, wind surfing and other water sports, the private beaches to the North are within a twenty-minute drive of the school.

Could you tell us about the syllabus that you teach.

The curriculum throughout the school is British in style. The school does not follow the English National Curriculum, but uses it as a basic instructional resource, for example drawing on publications issued by the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority, and literature concerning standards and curriculum changes. Additionally, the school is heavily dependent on British textbooks, which are, quite naturally, based on the National Curriculum. There is strong support in the Primary School for the use of enquiry based learning through the development of integrated thematic units, which draw on the International Primary Curriculum.

In Years 10 and 11 the curriculum leads to the externally assessed examinations of the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, set by Cambridge International Examinations. Post 16, education is based on International Baccalaureate courses, with the majority of students taking the full Diploma course.

Our results at both IGCSE and IB are consistently higher than world averages.

What kinds of opportunities exist for UK teachers – and others working in education – to live and work in education in Saudi Arabia generally?

There are a large number of international schools in Saudi Arabia, the majority of which are privately owned.  Schools advertise internationally for staff and facilitate entry into the Kingdom.

And to work at your school specifically?

BISJ is classed as a community school and as such is allowed to be co-educational.  We recruit staff both locally and internationally.  By regulations however, the Ministry only allows us to employ teachers who are fully qualified with a degree and teaching qualifications and who hold a passport from a western country.

What’s the major appeal for someone in the UK thinking about teaching in Saudi Arabia?

In general the students attending the school are hard-working, enthusiastic and committed to their learning.  Parents are supportive and the school is well resourced.

The school offers a very attractive benefits package to teachers including a tax-free salary, fully furnished housing, travel allowance, medical insurance and end of service bonus.

Staff are able to save a significant proportion of their monthly salaries and travel widely in the holidays.

And what are some of the drawbacks?

Working overseas, whilst professionally rewarding and offering opportunities to travel and experience new cultures, also has challenges. Living away from home and family presents challenges for some.  One major challenge that faces women is the fact that, currently, they are not allowed to drive in the Kingdom.  The school provides transport, however, and has buses going to the shopping malls most evenings.  The buses, with driver, can also be hired at minimal cost by staff members.

What kind of teachers are you looking for, and how would the interview process take place?

We are generally looking for candidates whose track record proves they are excellent practitioners, who go the extra mile and contribute widely to the life of a school.  We would normally look to recruit teachers with at least two years’ experience. [You can view current BISJ vacancies by scrolling down from this link].

Our main recruitment period is in late January and we would look to interview candidates face to face in London at that time.  However, where candidates are in other parts of the world, we may use Skype or Facetime for interviewing.

What support do you offer new teachers?

Prior to arrival new teachers are paired with ‘mentors’ who are able to inform them in more detail about what to expect in terms of living and working in the Kingdom.  On arrival we offer new staff an orientation period which covers both professional and personal settling in issues.

It’s doubtful that many UK applicants would speak Arabic: is that a problem?

The school operates in an English-speaking environment and English is widely spoken throughout Jeddah.

Many thanks for taking part.

We also asked some of the school staff to give us a quick quote about working at the school. Here’s what they had to say:

“The stars in the desert are amazing as is the life under the water.”

 “Wonderful community life for families.’’                           “Family orientated community life.”

 “Living in Saudi Arabia has its challenges but the pros far outweigh the cons. I enjoy the community spirit here and the activities available for my children and me are great. The beach is wonderful and when diving you could be anywhere in the world. I do seem to shop more than I used to – not sure if that is a good or bad thing.”

“Working in Saudi Arabia is very similar to schools around the world. There is a great mix of cultures and the children are generally well behaved and enthusiastic. The curriculum offers a teacher the opportunity to respond to their class and develop their skills in an interesting and relevant way. For a parent, the support the school offers is invaluable and the crèche and after school clubs allow flexibility.”

“Overall I thoroughly enjoy working and living in Saudi Arabia. It is a great place to be with young children.”

Click here to go to the Saudi Arabia Talent Pool, and scroll down to view current teaching vacancies in the country.

Could you begin by telling us a little bit about St. George’s School in Switzerland?

St. George’s School in Switzerland was originally a British girls’ boarding school set up in 1927 by two Oxford graduates, who were horrified by the First World War and who wanted to establish something that would promote internationalism and the spirit of communication between cultures and countries.

Over the years the school has grown enormously: originally we started off with just a handful of students, and currently we have over 480 aged three to 18. The biggest change over the years has probably been the fact that it’s now no longer a pure boarding school: we still have a good size boarding section with around 70 boarders, but the majority of our students, especially younger ones, are day students who live in the area. There are a lot of multinationals that have set up base in this part of Switzerland, and with our good reputation it’s always been one of the schools recommended by these companies for their expat employees.

But the school is totally independent, and with all the changes that have occurred, we’ve pretty much stayed true to the original idea behind the school, in that internationalism for us is the most important thing; we have a very broad range of students from 53 different countries this year. And because we serve both the day students’ market and the boarding school market, it means that the kind of students that we have here is particularly broad.

What I say now is that we’re no longer a ‘British school’; we have ‘British traditions’ – things like uniform, a house system, and a tutor system – but for me this is an international school.

So how has this affected the curricula you teach?

We’ve moved away from the British curricula, so we no longer teach A levels, but we teach the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB), and we teach a modified version of the English National Curriculum up to Key Stage 3; it’s ‘modified’ as it’s particularly heavy in languages – in particular we have a lot of extra French, and there are a lot more international topics. Then we have the IGCSE for two years, followed by the IB Diploma Programme, or our own High School Diploma Programme.

So tuition is mainly in English?

Yes, most of the teaching is in English, although we have Francophone assistance particularly in the Junior Department, speaking only French to the students some of the time. However that’s about to change, as we’ve been working on what we call ‘progressive bi-lingualism’ for a while, and it’s something we’ve initiated to meet the needs of the community as well as the expats working here. So we’ve gradually been increasing the students’ exposure to French, and from September 2012 we will be offering a humanities subject in French at Key Stage 3 for the first time in the history of the school. So students with an appropriate level of French will be able to choose to take Geography in either English or French. And we intend to carry that through to the IB.

Would you like to tell us about the results that students achieve?

All our results in publicly examined syllabi are excellent; we have 100% success rate in the IB; 99.6% success in IGCSEs, with 24% A*s and 90.5% A* to C in 2011. These results are similar most years.

Could you tell us a little about Switzerland?

Switzerland is a bit of an unusual country in that it is in the heart of Europe, but it isn’t quite a European country. It sits outside the European Union of course, but now you don’t need your passport to travel between France and Switzerland. However if you have a book sent to you by Amazon from the UK over a certain value, then Swiss customs will open it up and will charge you customs duty and sales tax, just like in the olden days when you sent things from the UK to France or other parts of continental Europe. All those bureaucratic complications still exist in Switzerland.

So it’s quite a ‘strict’ country, but rules mean that things work very well. You could say the country operates like clockwork: for example if you need to get a train from one end of the country to the other you can – you can check the timetables and things will be on time. Switzerland has a very low unemployment rate – less than 3% currently, and probably the highest number of immigrants of any European country. At the same time it’s quite conservative, although interestingly there’s just been a major election here and people were expecting a swing to the right and that hasn’t happened. In fact it’s been the opposite if anything, which is quite a surprise.

It’s also an odd country in the way in which it’s governed. It’s split into ‘cantons’, which are similar to American states, and which have a surprising amount of autonomy. There is grassroots democracy in that any citizen can set up a petition, and if enough signatures are gathered, there can be a referendum on pretty much any topic. Some call it ‘grassroots’ and others call it a waste of time, and it does mean some strange decisions are taken here, even at national level.

In general, in the major urban centres, and in areas where they are used to a large number of expats, it is a very tolerant society.

The main thing about Switzerland is its central location: you’re within easy reach of many places, and from where we are I can be in France in half an hour, and in Italy in just over an hour.

And if you love nature and the outdoors, or hiking, skiing or anything to do with winter sports, there can’t be a better place in Europe.

Could you tell us more about the school’s location?

We have a beautiful large campus on the shores of Lake Geneva, within easy reach of Geneva; it’s one hour to Geneva airport, Lausanne is 20 minutes away by train, and we’re on the main train line so it’s very straightforward; we’re a few minutes from Montreux, where the jazz festival takes place, so we’re very central.

So what kind of standard of living might teachers coming to Switzerland expect?

Salaries are quite high by British standards – perhaps even 50% higher than in the UK – but don’t be fooled because the cost of living is higher. Certainly I know that families have tried to come here with just one person working and have found it impossible.

For single teachers it depends on what they want. Our salary scale depends on how many years’ experience you have, so that obviously means that the younger you are the lower your salary will be. We have teachers who like the high life and they stay in the urban centres, where life is reasonably expensive, so they’ll have less disposable income at the end of the month because accommodation can be quite pricey, and we have teachers whose dream it is to live in a small chalet half an hour’s drive up into the mountains, and there it is relatively cheap – more so than a comparable location in the UK. If you want to go out and party every night and go to restaurants, it’s very expensive, but if you want to do the same in France, that’s much more affordable. So it really depends on what you want to do.

But I always say to potential staff, you must do your homework and find out what the real cost of living is for you, depending on what your interests are.

So the question on many readers’ lips is probably, do you recruit many Brits, and if so, how do you recruit?

We do. The majority of our staff are still British. I don’t have a particular type of person that we look for, other than that they should be dedicated and good teachers of course, and they must understand that we are both a boarding and a day school, so that means extra duties need to be carried out in the evenings and at the weekends. I also always insist wherever possible that teachers visit the school and see what it’s like, because I don’t want surprises for the staff. It is a very hectic place to work, because we have so many extra curricular things going on.

I am also interested in teachers who either speak, or who want to speak French. I don’t want the kind of expat Brit who just wants to stay with their mates and go down the English pub in Montreux every night! I want people who would like to integrate into Switzerland. It can be a very insular place, and there are lots of opportunities for expats to stay expats, but that’s not the kind of person I’m looking for.

Another thing that I find quite amusing is that I have sometimes said “this is what we’ll do, this is how we’ll do it,” and staff have said you’d never get away with doing that in a British state school – and been upset that we’re doing something that you can’t do in a British state school. But my response is that that is the whole beauty of being here: we have no agency telling us how we must do things, it is up to our own conscience. Of course we are accredited by an international body – the CIS – but we have no Swiss government agency telling us which syllabus we must choose and so on. That kind of freedom is wonderful, but it does scare some teachers, especially those who are used to a much more bureaucratic, regulated existence.

And how competitive is it to get a post teaching either at your school or more generally in Switzerland?

It’s a difficult time across Europe; a lot of people are looking for work either because they’ve lost their job or they’re not happy with their work circumstances, and I’ve found certainly most recently we’ve had a huge number of applications for vacancies from the UK. We normally have quite a stable staff – unlike many international schools – so many staff will stay for a number of years. And of course we can afford to look for the very best teachers.

How much support do you offer to teachers coming over from the UK?

We have offered as much help as we can informally up until now. From now we’re offering any teacher who comes from overseas assistance from an agency here that helps them settle in, and get over the usual bureaucratic hurdles which you’d face in any country but which can be particularly daunting in Switzerland – for example registering with your local commune, sorting out health insurance, because there’s no NHS in Switzerland, and all those things that you don’t necessarily know about coming from overseas. We also offer a relocation allowance, and we offer free French lessons for our staff.

Of course one of the great benefits of working here is that teachers can get on with their job and actually enjoy teaching, without worrying about behaviour or discipline issues: we don’t have problems with kids’ behaviour.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about life at St. George’s, and in Switzerland.

Why not sign up to our Swiss Talent Pool? Just click here and then click the ‘Join our Talent Pool’ button on the right.

Could you kick off by telling us when and where your daughter attended an international school?

She moved to Brussels, Belgium with us in June 2008, which was the beginning of the summer between her Junior (11^th grade) and Senior (12^th grade) school year. She attended the International School of Brussels (ISB) in Watermael Boisfort, Belgium.

Could you explain something about your circumstances that led you to choose the school: presumably you were living and working abroad. What were your choices at the time?

Yes, I took an international assignment with a large, global company. At the time of our moving to Belgium, our daughter was 17 years old, and it was a difficult job to convince her to move with us as she naturally desired to complete her high school years in Zionsville, Indianapolis with her classmates.

We toured two schools in the Brussels area before choosing ISB. The first one was called St. Johns International School in Waterloo, Belgium (yes, the site of the famous Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated). The reasons that we chose ISB were as follows:

1. Our daughter’s preference

2. Location (ISB was much closer to our home in Etterbeek)

3. No religious affiliation (St. Johns had a Catholic affiliation)

How did you all feel about the idea of her attending this school?

My wife and I felt very good about it. We felt that it would broaden her and give her a deeper appreciation of cultural differences. Also, we felt that it would enhance her resume and improve her confidence (although she is not lacking in this area) and enable her to learn that she could succeed and make friends anywhere in the world. It is a great opportunity for a child!

She was of course excited and nervous: she was excited to see Europe and learn new things, but she was nervous to see if she would fit in with this diverse peer group. She did very well. I will never forget that the first weekend after she started school, she was going downtown Brussels with a group of friends from school. She integrated very well.

Please could you tell us a little about the school?

ISB is a good school. Keep in mind that Brussels has a fairly high concentration of expats, so there is high demand for international education. Due to this, the schools may come off as a little haughty at first, but once you get familiar with the people, you are fine. This is typical of the Belgian culture as well, where it’s not expected nor polite to talk to people you do not know. This creates an environment of isolation for new people, so expats tend to gather unto themselves, which is not the best situation.

Our daughter participated in Advanced Placement classes [a curriculum in the US and Canada offering standardised courses to high school students roughly equivalent to undergraduate courses in college], but since she was only there one year, she could not participate in the International Baccalaureate (IB ) programme. This was a little disappointing. The IB gives the student a real ‘leg up’ on the competition when applying for university. Our daughter is currently a sophomore at Purdue University studying BioChem, and during the application process, they were impressed that she had international experience, but really wanted the IB graduation.

The facilities at ISB were another reason that we chose the school. The administrative building is an old chateau that is quite impressive, and the campus has all the amenities, including football field, basketball gym, science rooms, etc. They were really prepared to let the kids have some extracurricular activities that reminded them of home.

As I recall, there were students from 70 countries attending ISB, which made it very interesting. Each year the school hosted an ‘International Exposition’ where the students (and their parents) would set up booths with things to sample and buy that were representative of their home cultures. This was a very fun event that really emphasised the diversity of the student body.

What are some of the ways it contrasted with schools back home?

The biggest difference from a scholastic perspective was the availability of the IB program. Also, they offered a wider variety of language and cultural classes than in the US. Other than that, I think they did a good job of making the schooling as familiar as possible to all the students – a difficult job.

Were there many staff from the UK working at the school?

The staff was multi-cultural. There were many Brits and Americans that were ‘expatted’ to work at ISB. This, again, gave the students a sense of home. Our daughter did great in the year that she was there, which was evidenced by her election into the National Honours Society. I am sure that she would agree that this was due, in part, to the good teachers and instruction that she received.

What would you say was the biggest ‘pro’ of her attending an international school?

It has to be the exposure to other cultures and confidence that comes along with successful integration into a multi-cultural peer group. I think that there will be many long-term benefits that she will receive from having the international experience as well.

And the biggest ‘con’?

She would probably tell you that it was missing her friends back home and not graduating from her home high school. But, she is constantly saying that she misses her time in Brussels and would go back if she could… so, obviously, the good outweighs the bad.

Could you briefly give us a flavour of what it’s like to live and work in Brussels, and any particular pros and cons?

What I will say here will, I believe, be consistent with all expats: the pros are the international exposure for the worker (me, in this case) and the student. My career has blossomed since my expat experience both due to successes that I have had that can be partially attributed to the expat experience and due to the ‘global business’ experience that large companies are looking for today. You cannot discount the impact of global experience on your resume. Companies want people who are culturally intelligent and aware. The best evidence of this is living and successfully working abroad.

The challenge to expat living is the ‘Trailing Spouse Syndrome’ (yes, they have created a term for it!). For the first year living in Brussels, my wife had our daughter there as a companion. Keep in mind that I was responsible for sales for all of Europe for a multi-billion dollar company, so I travelled a great deal. As long as our daughter was there, then my wife was OK. However, after she left, my wife felt very isolated in Brussels. Also, life goes on in the home country with or without you, so while we were in Brussels, our older daughter got married (we went home for the wedding, but my wife was not able to participate in all those things that women dream of … picking out the wedding dress with the daughter, planning the details of the wedding with the daughter, attend the wedding shower, etc) and had a baby. So, we became grandparents (very young ones, though… come on!) while we were overseas. Again, we went home for the birth of the grandson, but she did not get to watch our daughter through her pregnancy, she did not attend the baby shower, etc.

The end of the story is that we moved home prematurely for my wife’s benefit. I had to quit the company that expatted me and find a new job… or risk the possibility of divorce. So, it is stressful for the spouse, especially when he or she is moving to a location that does not speak their native tongue.

Overall, though, a great, great experience. Would I do it again? My wife and I have discussed this and we would do it again, but only to an English-speaking country.

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us, and for being so candid.

Why not sign up to our Belgium Talent Pool? Just click here and then click the ‘Join our Talent Pool’ button on the right.

We caught up with Dr Steve Lewis, Director of the European School in Bergen, which is situated in the province of North Holland, to find out about opportunities for teachers from the UK to work in the Netherlands. Read more.

Could you start by telling us a little bit about your school?

Celebrating our 50^th anniversary in 2013, the European School Bergen (ESB) has provided a European education for the children of the employees of the Joint Research Centre for Energy in Petten, Noord Holland, which develops high-level knowledge and technology for sustainable energy systems.

The ESB is part of a system of 14 European Schools with around 15,000 students in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain which offers a genuine European education with an emphasis on languages, culminating in the European Baccalaureate – a qualification highly recognised throughout the EU and beyond.

Please tell us more about teaching and learning at your school.

The school in Bergen is in a unique position to offer a European education to the children of the international community and local Dutch community because of the proportionately low number of students from the Research Centre, and we have the space, potential, and aim to expand from our present 600 students in the 4-19 age ranges. Our growth so far has been limited only by our relative distance from the Amsterdam/Haarlem area, although we have many students and teachers who make the 30-45 minute commute from there.

The students are placed in one of three language sections – either French, Dutch or English – and they follow a harmonised curriculum which is the same as in all other European Schools. From an early age the students choose one of these three languages as a second language, and then later in the secondary school they go on to study history and geography in this second language. So all students will be fluent in at least two languages, and in the secondary school they’ll go on to choose a third, and possibly a fourth and fifth language. Sciences are also well catered for in the school, and are emphasised because of our connections to the centre in Petten, which is the reason for our existence.

There is also a strong artistic and musical tradition in the school, and because we are a small school with plenty of space, there is a relaxed, happy family atmosphere in which the primary and secondary schools share common areas on occasions, making the transition from primary to secondary smooth. Individualised learning is stressed, and teachers have to do a lot of differentiated teaching, especially in languages. Another major feature of the system is the use of native speakers as language and subject teachers, and as a result the national composition of the staff is as diverse as that of the students.

We are also specialists in distance learning, catering for entitled mother tongue students for whom we cannot find teachers locally. Currently in school, and by distance learning, we offer mother tongue tuition in English, Dutch, French, German, Finnish, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian and Lithuanian. In principle we have to be able to offer any European mother tongue to students who are entitled to mother tongue tuition – for example as a child of an EU employee, or if the parents take out what’s known as a ‘Category 2’ contract, which is more expensive than the normal school fees for a Category 3 student. Our fees are highly competitive as a result.

What kind of results do the school’s students achieve?

Given our diverse school population we achieve results which are comparable to all the other European Schools, and nearly all of our students go on to higher education in various European countries. Their Baccalaureate gives them great flexibility in their choice of country, and our students are highly regarded by universities and employees because of their linguistic skills, which complement their other all-round educational achievements. Visitors are astonished at the complexity and polyglot nature of the school, and at the same time its informality, cultural integration and friendliness.

Could you tell us a little about the school’s location?

Bergen is in an area of natural beauty in the province of North Holland, near the dunes, woodland, sandy beaches and the larger town of Alkmaar – which has good links by road and rail to Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Den Haag and beyond. It is an attractive, chic and stylish town, and popular tourist destination with an international flair. It was developed in the early 20^th century as an artistic ‘colony’ and still draws many artists and art events. It is also famous for its contribution to the architectural heritage of the country.

What opportunities exist for people in the UK to work at your schools?

UK teachers can apply for jobs to our school in particular, and the European Schools in general, by responding to adverts that we tend to publish in February each year.British teachers are in fact employed by the Department for Education in London during their nine-year contracts in the European Schools; they must demonstrate linguistic skills at the interviews, which are held in London. The rewards are high and there is strong competition for teaching posts.

There are also opportunities for local contracts where there is a need, and the recruitment procedure is arranged by the school using local newspapers and networks. However in practice it would be rare for someone to come from abroad for such a post because there is no expatriate package, as there is for those on nine-year contracts.

What support do you offer new teachers?

New teachers are given individualised support because their needs are so different, given that they come from so many different places, but the normal approach would be to appoint a mentor. The school is also small enough for many others to become involved, and the bursar provides information about the local authorities, registration and tax.

What opportunities are there for Brits to work more widely in the Netherlands?

In the Netherlands in general there are some other opportunities in the international schools, mainly in Amsterdam and The Hague.  International education is developing in other cities as well (Maastricht, Hilversum, Arnhem and Eindhoven). UK teachers can also work in the Dutch system if their qualifications are accredited, although in practice this is difficult without being a fluent Dutch speaker.

What is the Netherlands like as a place to live and work?

The Netherlands is a great country to live in with lots of possibilities for culture and travel. It is a safe environment in which to live and work, but it can also be expensive for people coming from outside London. Anyone looking for a move abroad, yet wanting to stay close to home, with all the comforts, products, TV etc that they are used to would find almost everything they need here. From Schiphol you can also fly to all the regional airports in the UK, which makes visiting friends and family very easy. Other than traffic jams, a lack of mountains and a relatively high cost of living there are no real disadvantages. Public transport is excellent, reliable and relatively cheap, and there are historically interesting, beautiful sights everywhere.

If you have the chance to come to the Netherlands to work… take it!

Why not sign up to our Netherlands Talent Pool? Just click here and then click the ‘Join our Talent Pool’ button on the right.

Eteach spoke to Elementary Principal of the Berlin Brandenburg International School, Camille Du Aime, to find out about opportunities in Germany for British teachers.

Could you start by telling us a little bit about your school?

Well it’s an IB World School, which means that we run the International Baccalaureate programme, and we were actually the first school in the world to have all four IB programmes: there’s the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme, the IB Diploma which is what kids end up with, and there’s something called the The IB Career-related Certificate, which is more for kids who are a little less academically able.

Results-wise, a larger percentage of our students manage to handle the IB requirement: it was originally designed for the crème de la crème, and we manage to get about 80% of our students through it. Our average scores are above the worldwide average. Last year we even had a student with a perfect score!

So that’s the curriculum that we run, and I know that most of your readers are in the UK, so it’s definitely not a British national curriculum.

Different international schools come into being for different reasons. Could you give us a bit more background about the Berlin Brandenburg International School?

We’re a non-profit school, with a governing board made up of mostly business people from the community, and we serve the international community of Berlin, and the internationally-minded community, so we try to be an inclusive school that has all kinds of different learning styles. The school has around 650-700 students from age three up to age 18.  And I’m the principal of Elementary, so I’m in charge of the kids from age three up to 11 – what we call Grade 5, and you would call Year 6.

And presumably you have many different nationalities at the school?

Yes we’ve got over 45 nationalities of students, and about 20 or more nationalities of teachers. Our intent is to be as international as possible, so when we buy resources, for example, we’re buying them from the UK, New Zealand, Australia and the US, and try to create a balanced experience. The teaching is all in English, except when it’s a language class; of course all the kids take German, and we also offer French, Spanish, and sometimes for individual studies we’ll offer Korean or Arabic for example, to support the kids who are doing a mother tongue.

So what kinds of opportunities as far as you’re aware exist for Brits to work in education generally in Germany?

Well because the UK is within the European Union in terms of work permits etc, they have an advantage if they’re looking for a job in an international school in Germany, in that it’s a little easier than it is for someone from the US or Australia. Our school specifically aims for a balance of about one third UK teachers, US teachers and Australian and New Zealand teachers, so there are always openings.

And is it very competitive to win a position, and how do you go about recruiting?

We receive a lot of applications. First I’d look to see if they have relevant experience – and obviously we are most interested in people who have international school experience, and who already have some PYP experience, which is our curriculum – but I frequently hire people who don’t have either; it just depends on the things that they’ve shown a particular interest in in their teaching. I also ask them to answer some questions that I send out, and that offers another vetting process in terms of the extent of their interest. And I follow up with a Skype interview, and if that goes well and I’m very seriously considering them, I sometimes fly people into Berlin, so they get to see the school, and we get to see them,

So for an advertised position, what kinds of applicant numbers would you receive?

Last spring, and it was a mid-year opening, following an advertisement I probably got 30 or 40 applications. And it would be even more if it was an opening for the next year.

Of course there are many different things that appeal to different people, but in general what are some of the benefits of living and working in Germany?

Well in general, Germany is a first-world nation! So things function very well, and it’s a socialised system basically: you’ve got excellent health care, work conditions, maternity leave – and those sorts of things. So employees are very protected.

Berlin itself is a very attractive city, and a very ‘edgy’ city. It’s very rich in both historical and cutting edge culture. It’s also a great hub for travel: there are inexpensive airlines, trains going every which-way, so teachers who come here often do quite a bit of travelling.

And in terms of accommodation and standard of living, what might someone coming over expect?   

What we say to people considering coming here is that if you’re a single teacher living on a single salary, you will be able to live well and travel every time there’s a holiday, or you’ll be able to save – but you probably won’t be able to do both!

All of that healthcare and pension provision that I was referring to previously, is possible because there’s quite a high tax rate. It’s almost 50%, depending on what tax status you land in: that takes a big chunk out of things.

But you will be able to live in a nice apartment in the centre of the city, and the rent will be less than a third of your salary. And Berlin is one of the least expensive European capital cities. However most people will be using public transport, rather than running their own car.

Are you far away from the city?

Geographically we’re not far away: we’re the first town outside the Berlin city limits. But we are in the former East Germany, on the other side of ‘the wall’, and in terms of public transport that division, even though it’s been gone for 20 years, means that we are on a bus system rather than on the S-Bahn and U-Bahn public train system. That adds about 20 minutes at the end of the journey for most people. So people who live in the trendy, funky parts of the city travel for at least 45 minutes to get out to us…

But many of our teachers who have kids of their own live around the school, and that works very well for them. Part of our package is that children of staff members are allowed to go to the school for free as far as the school is concerned, although that ‘free’ tuition is taxed, in that it’s seen as a benefit as though we’re giving them that money, so therefore there is in fact some cost. But it usually comes out about even, because Germany also gives a ‘Kindergeld’, which is a payment for people who have children to help them meet costs, and this pretty much covers the tax on the tuition that you don’t pay for.

Can you tell us what support you offer to new teachers?

We pay transport here. We do as much of the paperwork – applications for visas and work permits if needed, and so forth – as possible ahead of time, although some can’t be done until the teacher is there. The school assists with all of that. We also have a relocation person who helps teachers look at apartments, and helps them through the contract period, set up bank accounts etc.

But that’s sort of it. Anyone who has worked in Asia or the Middle East, for example, who’s maybe been accustomed to a rather paternal organisation, that offers people a ‘package’, perhaps offering accommodation on a compound or something like that, will maybe feel less supported.

And would you say it’s essential to speak German?

It makes your life easier! As I said, Germany is a first world place, lots of people speak English, but you do receive letters in the mail, and think “what in the world is that about”! We do set people up in school with a ‘buddy’ to help with things like that, but those are the challenges of international relocation. I would say that German bureaucracy has a fair number of hoops to leap through, but it’s well organised, it’s friendly and it’s not corrupt. I’ve obviously lived in other places that were harder!

Why not sign up to our new German Talent Pool? Just click here and then click the ‘Join our Talent Pool’ button on the right.

The Department for Education (DfE) was approached by several countries to give an assurance that British schools in their area are run properly. As a result, we introduced the BSO Inspection System last September, providing a government-approved inspection process which is absolutely voluntary.

We called for expressions of interest in carrying out inspections from interested organisations. We had applications from nine international organisations with roots in the UK and six were approved, including CfBT Education Trust, Cambridge Education and Tribal Education.

So far nine inspections have been carried out and they all went well. The schools were sufficiently confident about the education they provided to put themselves forward for the first wave. The problems in the Middle East resulted in a number of inspections being delayed last term because of concerns for the safety of inspection teams, but they’ll take place as soon as things quieten down.

During this first year we have been trialling the process.  At the moment we’re not actively promoting the inspection system but I’m confident it will grow organically, by word of mouth. Once national governments decide to support it – and Egypt and Dubai have been finding out more about it – it will snowball. Large corporates who move people around are very interested as education is very high on the list of priorities for people being relocated.

The British Council is often asked to recommend an international school but until now they’ve had nothing to go by. This inspection system helps them discriminate between schools and direct parent to a respected independent report about the school.

How does the BSO Inspection System work and is it similar to Ofsted?

The inspections are broadly similar to Ofsted’s. However, the international aspect means that they’re not short notice visits and most inspections will be booked in advance – it’s all about being pragmatic. The costs of an inspection depend on the organisation that’s carrying it out; the DfE isn’t privy to this as it’s a commercial matter.

The system looks at two overarching issues:

• how easily will a pupil slot back into schooling in the UK and
• if a pupil completes their education in a British overseas school, how difficult would they find it to fit into a UK university, in terms of their qualifications and awareness of how British society works.

I’d like to stress that the system isn’t just for the expensive top public schools; it’s for every good British school overseas that provides a good quality education: it’s not necessary to have lavish facilities. We want to be inclusive, to provide parents with the best quality information about a range of schools, with the reports giving them a real understanding of the ‘flavour’ of a school.

How does the inspection system combine the British character of schools with the need to allow for different cultures?

Again, we need to be pragmatic. Where there’s a conflict between international standards and the requirements of the host country, schools must comply with the host country – and the schools must make this clear to inspectorates who can reflect the situation in their reports.

The ‘British’ aspect of education in international schools can relate to the school’s ethos, values, and extra-curricular activities – its ‘Britishness’!

What are the benefits of the system?

The benefit for schools is that it makes it clear to parents who want a good quality education and understand the value of inspections that the school has reached the gold standard and is as good as the best schools you’ll find in Britain. It also provides an independent view of whether a school will deliver what parents are paying for and that the education provision on offer is as good as it can be.  This means that they need have no hesitation in sending their child there. A further benefit is that the inspectors can suggest how a school can improve, update them on forthcoming developments and things on the horizon.

It’s useful for teachers too. The inspection reports give teachers a better idea of the kind of school they’re considering working for. They can get information on issues like the curriculum of the country and how it impacts on international schools, the school’s facilities, turnover of pupils and how many teachers speak English.

Finally, the government has just confirmed that schools that have had a BSO inspection will be eligible to provide induction for new teachers training in the UK. These new arrangements are likely to come in from September 2012 and we anticipate consulting British Schools Overseas in the autumn on these new arrangements.

For more information click here.

Colin Bell, from the Council of British International Schools (COBIS), commented:

“We support all schools to work towards a DfE approved inspection. We encourage schools to focus on this in their development plans and target setting, with buy-in from governors, senior leaders, teachers, and parents. The inspection system gives schools confidence, increased pride, a feeling of well being and an opportunity to share collective success. It enables a clear comparison with quality education in the UK independent school setting, and evidence of ease of transition for pupils.

Another tangible benefit for a school with a successful BSO DfE approved inspection and fully accredited COBIS membership is that from September 2012 they will be eligible to support NQTs to complete their induction process – something which COBIS has campaigned for.”

A stint teaching overseas is a fantastic way to gain some work and life experience, and even create a whole new future. International schools offer Brits plenty of opportunities to find employment around the globe. But just what kind of animal are these ‘international schools’?

International schools, as opposed to national schools (those set up to serve the general population of a particular country) come in all sorts of flavours, and no two are the same.

Most commonly, English is the language used for teaching, and schools are often founded to serve the needs of expatriate communities – for example those of one or more nationalities working overseas for a particular employer. Schools have also been set up to introduce a particular faith to a community, or by locals believing that they offer their children a better education.

Mary Langford, Deputy Executive Director of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS), described her organisation’s school membership in the following way in a recent interview with Eteach:

‘Broad church’

“I tend to describe the ECIS membership as a ‘broad church’. We have small schools with under 100 students, and large schools with over 2000.  We have schools that offer the International Baccalaureate programmes, US curriculum including Advanced Placement, UK national curriculum, CIE IGCSEs and A-Levels, International Primary Curriculum, host country curricula, bilingual programmes, and a combination of any of these.

Some schools are populated almost entirely by students from the host country, some are entirely international with no majority of any single nationality or culture, and anything within that spectrum. Some are ‘company’ schools set up by corporations such as Royal Dutch Shell who want to ensure quality education for the children of their expatriate employees, and ‘state funded’ schools such as the JFK School in Berlin, which is largely supported by the German and US governments.

“Despite the ‘E’ in our name and our European location and legacy, ECIS has member schools throughout the world. The International School of Havana, Cairo American International School, Western Academy in Beijing, French-American International School in San Francisco and Escuela Campo Alegre in Caracas, illustrate that!”

You can read the rest of this extensive interview with Mary on the Eteach blog: part one is here, and part two is here.

Management structures and ownership of international schools vary widely, with some privately owned, others run by foundations, and others still perhaps sponsored by a particular country’s embassy.

Parental involvement in international schools

You may well also find that parents are far more involved with day-to-day school life than in UK or national schools: ‘The Essential Guide for Teachers in International Schools’* suggests that ‘it is not unusual for a parent to come into the staff room to look for a teacher or to use the staff photocopier’!

International schools range from being fully integrated into the local culture, to existing in a segregated compound, perhaps with cultural differences or even security making integration difficult.

British schools

British overseas schools, as you might expect, focus on some or all of the UK National Curriculum. As the Council of British International Schools’ (COBIS) website puts it:

‘Choosing a British international school not only gives students the benefit of a British education, it is also eminently transferable. The structure and consistency of the National Curriculum allows students to move easily, if necessary, between British schools in various countries including the UK, and facilitates an easy progression to university in the UK or elsewhere in the world.’

You can find out more about COBIS in our interview with executive director Colin Bell here.

As Dr Steffen Sommer, headmaster of the British School of Paris (BSP) , observed in an interview with Eteach: “We are very proud of the Britishness that we uphold here: we teach a completely British curriculum, and what you find at the BSP is exactly the same as you’ll find at any independent or state school in England, but the cohort we have is very international; we’re 38% British with 50 other nationalities represented.”

Different strokes

When it comes to deciding whether to work in a British, or some other flavour of international school, it seems it’s very much ‘different strokes for different folks’. For UK teachers wanting to work overseas but within a little more of a comfort zone, a British international school environment may well fit the bill. Meanwhile those up for a greater challenge – who are happy to get to grips with differences in teaching methods, routines and management structures, and muck in with colleagues from around the world – may well want to cast their nets more widely.

Could you start by giving us an introduction to The British School of Paris?

The BSP is a co-educational British school based just outside Paris in a prestigious western suburb close to Versailles in Croissy sur Seine, on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Seine outside of the city centre.

We are a high achieving school – if we look at examination results we consistently achieve GSCE and A level examination results that are comparable to high achieving independent selective schools in the UK, yet like all British international schools we’re not selective.

We’re catering predominantly for the British expat community in Paris – or that was certainly very much the case up until nine years ago. But the expat climate and community has changed quite significantly because the major employers are employing fewer Brits, which has had an impact on the BSP. However the result is simply that we are more ‘international’ than we used to be.

The crux is that we are very proud of the Britishness that we uphold here: we teach a completely British curriculum, and what you find at the BSP is exactly the same as you’ll find at any independent or state school in England, but the cohort we have is very international: we’re 38% British with 50 other nationalities represented. We start at the age of three and go up to the age of 18, and we have one big campus and two sites – one for the junior school, and one for the seniors, which shares with administrative offices in the oldest part of the school in a château. There are roughly 400 children in each school.
The campus is breathtakingly beautiful!

How are British schools recognised and monitored?

We’re one of the biggest and one of the very oldest British international schools, and we’re a founding member of COBIS – The Council of British International Schools. We’ve been fighting hard to get the level of recognition by the British government that we are now enjoying. Now we have statutory inspections in all British international schools, whereas previously the label ‘British’ seemed to be available to anyone founding a school, regardless of the kind of place that it was.

Now the British government, very much like the Americans and Australians, actually say “No you can’t call yourselves ‘British’ unless you do all of this”.

What opportunities are there for UK teachers?

The vast majority of our teaching staff are from the UK. However our staff turnover is minimal. The reason is that it’s a fantastic place to work, in one of the most beautiful areas you can imagine. The school is also extremely well appointed, with state of the art facilities. I wouldn’t ever say that teaching is easy, but one can live out one’s professional ambitions completely without having to focus on mundane things like discipline! The students are extremely well behaved, and we uphold British standards, with a uniform code and so forth.

We’ve fought very hard within COBIS to be able to accept newly qualified teachers, and I think that before too long it will be possible. We’ve also had very close relationships with British universities, and have accepted students for work experience.

Although we’re in France, we’re very conscious that with the train link between Paris and London, we are actually much more conveniently placed for insets and so forth than many schools back in the UK. So all our in-service training and examination training takes place in the UK. No one coming to Paris to teach would miss out on anything they have in the UK.

It sounds very competitive because it’s such a great place to work!

Well our documentation is very upbeat, in our adverts we say who we are, where we are, that we are a high achieving school, that our class sizes are very small, and that our students are very well behaved, so yes – even for shortage subjects like maths or physics: for example this September we had a physics post going, and I received 74 applications, out of which 10 were appointable.

That’s not the case all the time: we had an ICT vacancy recently and there weren’t many in the cohort applying, and they weren’t of the calibre that we normally get. But certainly our location is a major attraction.

Could you tell us about the opportunities in France more generally for UK teachers?

There are two British schools in France: the BSP, and the Mougins School, which is a fantastic place to be, very close to Nice and Cannes. It is a smaller but very popular school in a more rural and exceptionally pretty location.

There are a fair number of international schools: here there’s the International School of Paris, and the American School of Paris which tends to employ American teachers who understand the American programme. The International School would be more generally focused, and you’d end up with ‘the international experience’. It’s a different environment of learning, which is less formal than at the BSP. But they also employ British teachers, who would be in a staffroom comprising many different nationalities. You’d have a melting pot of all kinds of experiences of different teaching and education systems, which comes along with its own complexities and difficulties. Here or at Mougin, by contrast, you’re more likely to have predominantly Brits and some other Anglophones.

Are there many particular bureaucratic hoops for UK teachers wanting to work in France?

There aren’t any particular stumbling blocks. France like the UK is a member state of the EU, therefore you have freedom of movement, and freedom of employment – there is no problem at all. If you apply for the job and get it, you’re there. But I always ask at interview of our many applicants what they know about France. They don’t have to speak French because the lingua franca is English here, but living in France is different from being on holiday in France. It is not as easy a country to live in as the UK. Bureaucracy is rife, it always takes time, and it is very very difficult to lead an adequate life – although it is very pretty and very nice – without speaking French.

Having said that, at BSP we have our own community: many of our parents are expats, who may only come for a year or two, and our community is a bit of an enclave. So not only are we a school, but we also provide opportunities for parents to take part in activities – including learning French – and we involve the whole family, providing opportunities for them to meet each other, to speak English. And those who are not British join in with this: they choose British education because they like our values.

What would you say is the biggest attraction for someone in the UK trying to get a job in France?

It is ‘widening the horizons’, while having the comfort zone at the BSP of ‘knowing the system’; there’s nothing here that would be alien to any British teacher. At an international school, a lot of things would be alien. So if you come here you have the added complexity of being in France, so it’s a challenge for your own personal life to live outside the UK, but there’s the comfort zone that the job offers.  We also help with finding accommodation and ‘setting people up’, but then they lead their own lives. So for those who haven’t worked in another country before, it’s quite a nice thing to do, to have a comfort zone, and also opportunities to ‘have done something else’ – the opportunity to have lived in France for some time.

It’s also a valuable experience for teachers who come from areas that aren’t highly urbanised and who aren’t used to teaching a mixed national group… and our students come from all kinds of education systems: they might have spent two years in an American school in Houston; they might have spent a couple of years in a local Vietnamese school for example.

It’s also good for teachers to see first-hand that the majority of our students are at least bi-lingual; some are tri-lingual or speak four or five languages. That makes these students very different kids: not more intelligent than others, but they just come with a ‘worldliness’… they have travelled the world. They go about life with ease – even if they don’t speak French that well because they’ve only just moved here – but they go about with an ease that inspires teachers. Nothing ever really stops them – they are quite prepared to make the very most of life in a global environment. Because they are living global lives.

Walking, skiing, water-sports, amazing beaches and a beautiful countryside of contrast and extremes, New Zealand has plenty to boast about. We spoke to Bernie Feehan, manager of the Eteach New Zealand office in Wellington, about living and working in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

What’s the big attraction of New Zealand for UK early childhood educators looking to work overseas?

New Zealand has a unique appeal based on its location as one of the most isolated westernised countries in the world. It is a land of contrast – from beautiful sandy beaches to snow capped mountains, from large cities to small rural communities, and from modern sophistication to old world charm. There are two main islands, the north island and the south island, which are very different.

The north island has the largest population and the largest city Auckland which is the major business centre of the country. The capital city is Wellington, at the bottom of the north island, home to the government and its many departments and civil servants. Despite this, Wellington is regularly referred to as the culture and the cafe city of New Zealand. The coffee here is fantastic!

The south island features rugged mountains and beautiful scenery and is the main area of the adventure tourism industry; it offers a huge range of outdoor activities from outstanding skiing, to bungy jumping and jet boating. It’s been likened to a combination of parts of the Scottish highlands and parts of Switzerland. Large parts of the film trilogy ‘Lord of the Rings’ were filmed on and around these mountain ranges and there are some excellent tours that run to these locations.

New Zealand has a first class education system and is a world leader in early childhood education with its Te Whariki national curriculum. This is an outstanding, set curriculum highlighting activities and outcomes for the 0-5 age group, and there are excellent opportunities for UK trained candidates to work within it. This link will take you directly to the informative Ministry of Education website, and you can download a PDF about Te Whariki here (494 kb).

New Zealand also enjoys a safe and secure living environment and has a healthy culture of sporting, outdoor, cultural and artistic events. No matter what type of leisure activities you enjoy, you’re likely to find them readily available in New Zealand.

What do you think is the value for teachers of taking on an early childhood education post in New Zealand?

There are many benefits to working in New Zealand on a working holiday or overseas experience, just as generations of New Zealanders and Australians ritually head to the UK to work once they have completed their university studies

Working overseas demonstrates boldness, a sense of adventure and a willingness to try something new and learn new professional ideas and methodologies. The experience is invariably useful when applying for future teaching roles, and potential employers back home are likely to recognise this experience as a huge positive.

The New Zealand early childhood education experience is no different. It is a fantastic opportunity to live and work in another country that at the same time is very different to, but has distinct similarities with, the UK. New Zealand is a unique blend of the south pacific mixed with some of the traditions and cultures of the UK. Politics, education, law and sports are all based on the UK systems that arrived with the settlers over 150 years ago.

There is no doubt that teaching in a New Zealand Early Childhood Education Centre outside the UK broadens one’s horizons. Not only do you experience living in a different country as opposed to a fleeting visit on holiday, but you are also exposed to and experience different cultures and climates. There is always a healthy mix of ethnic backgrounds in these centres and teachers very quickly learn a great deal, not just about others but about themselves as well.

Could you tell us a little about the Early Childhood Centres?

The Early Childhood Centres are privately owned and funded by both the government and private funds. They are heavily regulated by the New Zealand Ministry of Education and must deliver the New Zealand early childhood 0-5 national curriculum. This regulation and curriculum has drastically increased the quality and delivery of tuition, care and professionalism within the industry. Whilst some centres will be different from others in small ways, the overall operation of centres across the entire country is now very standardised.

Centres can vary in size from 40 to over 100 students, and there are strict pupil teacher ratios which vary depending upon the age groups and numbers within those groups. Each centre is inspected on a regular basis to ensure proper practice is being delivered in line with the curriculum and regulations.

When a teacher commences a new job at a centre an extensive induction is given to ensure they are aware of all policies, occupational health and safety procedures and any individual or special needs or requirements of the children.

What do you look for in new teaching recruits and what would your advice to applicants be?

Eteach New Zealand is looking for UK trained early childhood educators that have completed or are about to complete a BA (Hons) Early Childhood Education that is equivalent to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority requirement of level 8. This is essential as it ensures that overseas trained teachers are paid at the same level as the New Zealand trained teachers they will be working with.

We have work for newly qualified teachers as well as candidates with experience. Some centres prefer experience and some do not, and we have a healthy mix of both. We are looking for candidates that can bring with them enthusiasm, commitment, a willingness to work in a team and who want to experience growth both professionally and personally. The Early Childhood Centres have a great family working environment, and a willingness to participate in the life of the centres both during the working hours and outside the working environment is a pre-requisite as well.

Eteach New Zealand offers a comprehensive pastoral care network to support and help overseas candidates make the transition into both New Zealand life and the New Zealand workplace as seamless as possible we organise regular social events for our candidates so they can share stories and experiences, make new friends and perhaps plan their next excursion or adventure weekend away.

What else should teachers considering a move to New Zealand think about?

As with any move to a new country, preliminary research about the country is essential to make a smooth transition. All candidates are encouraged to liaise with Eteach New Zealand with any questions they may have regarding the process, no matter how small.

If this sounds like something you may be interested in please make contact with Eteach and forward your CV to info@eteach.com, and we will promptly make contact and guide you through the process and New Zealand Qualifications Authority procedures. Eteach New Zealand is excited about what we can offer to suitable candidates: it will be a fantastic experience.

For a one-minute introduction to New Zealand, take a look at this video which was made by a tourist who recently visited the country.