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.

There are no specific requirements for British schools overseas, unless the host country has its own requirements, but these can be very varied. Ofsted inspects foreign schools in the UK.

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.

France may be one of the world’s top holiday destinations, with more space and fewer people than the UK, but what’s it like to actually live and work there, and what are the opportunities and challenges for Brits? We spoke to Dr Steffen Sommer, headmaster of the British School of Paris (BSP), to find out more about his school and about working in France generally. Read more.

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?

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