We’ve opened our Saudi Arabia Talent Pool, and this week we’ve put together a special feature on working in the country. “In some years we have one or two days when it may rain, but this is not certain,” explains Bruce Gamwell, Director of the British International School of Jeddah. Read on to learn more about the school from Bruce and other teachers, and find out about current Saudi vacancies.

“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.

Read more…

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?

  Read more…

For the last four years, Helen Thorogood has been working at Priestley House Junior School in West Yorkshire, where she taught Year 5 and was a KS2 Coordinator. But this month she’ll be flying off to America to take up a post she landed through Eteach at the British School of Washington. Here she tells us why she wants to work overseas, how her preparations are going, and how she’s feeling in the run up to starting her new post.

Firstly, could you tell us what made you decide to look abroad to work?

To seek out the new challenges and experiences of living and working abroad! I want to travel, sight see, and sample new cultures and customs.

What made you choose America?

Having worked in Europe before, I thought I’d travel further afield. I’ve visited USA and was pretty bowled over by New York.

And the school in Washington specifically?

I chose DC based on the criteria in their advert; I felt that my skills, knowledge and experience were just what they were looking for!

Can you tell us a bit about your new job, the school, and the area where you’ll be living?

I’ll be joining the British School of Washington which is on Wisconsin Avenue near George Town in Washington DC. It’s a school which caters for children from the age of 3-18. They follow the National Curriculum and use an International Primary Curriculum. I’ll be teaching Year 5 for two years, and I’ll be living in Maryland.

This will be my first visit to Washington DC and Maryland so I’m afraid I can’t really tell you much about the area yet. I can tell you that the school organised the accommodation, which is an area in Maryland called Silver Springs. The apartments are called Lenox Apartments which is where the school puts new staff and it is where some existing staff live. It has a pool and a gym, and there are shops, bars and restaurants nearby. I might even have a walk in wardrobe – I’ll confirm that in my next update! I will be able to get the metro or a bus to school, and I think there may be a school bus.

What do you think the major plus points will be?

I think the key pluses of working in the US are that it will enable me to broaden my horizons, gain new experiences, travel, see the sights and sample culture in another country.

And the minus points?

I think the minus points will be being away from my family and friends!

When do you start, how is the preparation going – and how are you feeling about ‘upping sticks’?

I fly to Washington DC on Saturday August 14th 2010. Once there, I have a two-week itinerary of events, including sight-seeing (getting to know the area), a session on how to use the metro, shopping, a baseball match, barbeque, time in school for preparation, meeting colleagues, induction for new families and sorting out paper work, opening bank account, etc. School officially starts on Monday August 30th.

Preparations have been going well, although there has been lots of paperwork – for example my visa application, and appointments and courses in London.

I’m well on with my packing – I just hope I can fit everything in my case! The good news though is that I can ship more goods out.

Overall I’m feeling excited about my move – it’s just what I was looking for!

Why did you use Eteach?

I had already registered with Eteach online, and I just sent an initial email enquiring about overseas appointments, which is how I got in touch with the international team at Eteach.

Tell us about the process you went through to find your job?

Well after browsing through the ads on Eteach, I came across one for the British Schools of America. I had to complete quite a lengthy application form. Two weeks after sending it off, I was invited for an interview at a hotel in Heathrow, London.

What was it like, using Eteach International to find your placement?

It’s a good website, which is easy to use. I had the option to contact schools directly, or to go through Eteach, which was extremely useful as the Team know the heads/schools. I’d definitely use Eteach again, as the help and support I received throughout was extremely valuable.

We hope to catch up with Helen over the following months to find out how she gets on in her new post, so stay tuned to your weekly Eteach Newsletter

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that applications for teacher training courses have risen by more than a third, amid fears of job shortages because of the recession. And it seems record numbers are applying to teach maths and science.

The Telegraph reported that applications for teacher training courses are up by more than 10,000, after the new Lib-Con Government said that funding for front-line teachers would be protected.

“It is believed that the majority of the extra applicants are from ‘career changers’ attempting to break into the profession from other jobs”, said the paper.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) says that record numbers of candidates have been applying to teach maths and science; its figures show that applications are up by 40 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, although the Agency also stresses that there’s still an urgent need for high quality science and maths teachers, with around 6,000 required each year.

“Move into teaching was one of the best decisions of my life”
The TDA points out that the quality of the incoming maths and science teaching pool is also high, with 53 per cent of those enquiring about teaching since the start of the current recruitment cycle (September 2009) having a 2.1 or better. More encouraging, it says, is that these top quality graduates are moving on to application stage. The latest available figures from TDA for 2007/08 show that 91 per cent of postgraduates on a teacher training course have a 2.2 or better, and 59 per cent have a 2.1 or better.

“Making the move into teaching was one of the best decisions of my life. I’ve progressed to be Head of Physics in just a few years and hope to rise further as I become more experienced,” said Frances Wing, who is Head of Physics at Nonsuch Girls Grammar School in Sutton. “It’s great to see that there is a rise in people wanting to teach maths and science given how vital these subjects are in giving future generations the skills they need to succeed.”

Science and Maths “key to economic prosperity”

TDA Chief Executive Graham Holley said that the increasing appetite for teaching maths and science is really encouraging.

“However, there is still a huge job to do in getting high numbers of quality teachers into these priority subjects. I’d urge anyone thinking about becoming a teacher to begin the process today. Good quality science and maths teaching will be key to our future economic prosperity,” he said.

See also our earlier post: Teaching: “A first class career with second class perceptions”

One of the overriding observations that the general public have is that teaching is an excellent job because of the long holidays, especially in the summer. 6 weeks of doing nothing, just relaxing after the long school year. But how many of you actually do just that?

How many of you spend at least the first week filing that mountain of assessment work, sorting through resources, and trying to decide what to do with that piece of paper that doesn’t fall into any particular group! Were you the one who drew the short straw and had to move classrooms as well?

And then the week before you are due back in its planning, (with another new initiative to incorporate) classroom organisation, and hunt the resources. Before you know it you are asking yourself ‘Where did it go to?’

Not this Year! Don’t waste this precious time. Summer holidays are the time to do all the things you put off. Say yes to seeing friends and family. Say yes to visiting an exhibition or a place of interest. Say yes to doing a new activity like rock climbing or pottery painting. Read all the Whitbread nominations. My target, from my sons teacher at parents evening is to take him roller skating, something I haven’t done since I was in my teens. I have to say I’m quite looking forward to it.

So tell us what are you going to do to really make this summer holiday different? How are you going to get that work/life balance? Let us know … add a comment!