“Come and join us in the sun!”
This was a phrase I recently saw used as part of a teacher job advert for a role in a school in Saudi Arabia - it made it sound more like a package holiday than a professional working experience.
Yet, with another grand vision for education being announced in the UK, it’s easy to see why teachers might be swayed to move abroad for work.
The reality, though, is that teaching overseas in an international school - while undoubtedly an incredible experience when it goes right - is also littered with pitfalls.
Applying for a job in an international school
While you can never pin down every risk, having spent the past 12 years as a principal at a 10,000-pupil school in the Middle East, I’ve spotted some red flags that may help you make the right decision if you choose to teach abroad.
1. A lack of policies
Most international schools are businesses - they are private schools after all. This means making money is central to their existence.
As such, open admissions policies can mean that pupils with behavioural difficulties and extreme special educational needs may be admitted into your classroom - but this will probably not be mentioned at interview. And you’ll be expected to manage them with little support.
One way you can get a sense of how a school may be approaching this aspect is to ask to see behaviour management and admission policies.
If they have them, and they are clearly thought out, coherent and detailed, it’s a good sign. But anything short, unclear or, worse, non-existent should be a warning sign. So, too, should a school that questions why you want access to their policies or refuses to share anything.
2. Clarity of role
It’s not uncommon for new teachers, appointed for one role, to find on arrival that they have had other roles stapled to their job description.
Many a teacher is given an additional subject to teach that they know nothing about or ends up teaching their subject to higher or lower age or ability groups for which they have no experience because a position hasn’t been filled or the board of directors wants to make a saving by sweating its asset - you.
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For these reasons, it is worth getting clarity on your role before signing your contract, and ensuring that any additional roles are highlighted.
If schools don’t want to commit to this or can’t offer clarity on what is expected of you, see it as a sign that you might not be doing the exact job that you signed up for, and consider whether it is the right school for you.
3. The parent trap
In some schools, parents are paying thousands of pounds for their children to attend and can be very vocal if they don’t see the results they want.
In the Middle East, parents have a loud voice when it comes to the various ministries of education and will actively complain to them about the smallest matters if they are not happy about the school.
How a school addresses these issues can be a clear indicator of the quality of leadership and the standing of the school in the community.
While checking school review comments isn’t an exact science - and can just be a pinboard for rants - the number of comments, their frequency and their relevance may give you clues about the general feeling towards the school and highlight some red flags regarding the atmosphere you will stepping into.
4. High turnover
A two-year contract is the standard time frame offered to new starters in international schools and this may be the legitimate reason why there are so many job adverts for a particular school.
But high staff turnover can also be an indication that something isn’t right.
While it may not be easy to get staff turnover figures, a Google search could inform you how many principals the school has gone through over the past few years - often a great barometer for assessing staff wellbeing.
For me, the decision to move abroad was one of the best decisions of my career, but it isn’t for everyone and I’ve learnt some hard lessons along the way.
It’s impossible to know everything and, to an extent, moving to work and live abroad is a leap of faith. But hopefully, being aware of red flags will help you make the right decision.
Chris Fenton is the primary principal at Al Noor International School, a 3,000-pupil, tri-curricular K-12 school in Bahrain
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