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Long Term Overseas Teacher

Last post 15/03/10 at 14:43 by John Howson, 4 replies

Post started by LTE on 12/03/10 at 05:50

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Posted by: LTE 12/03/2010 at 05:50

Joined on 03/02/2003

Posts 8

Dear John,

I qualified as a mathematics teacher in 1991 and, having spent the first four years of my career in a large comprehensive school in the UK, moved abroad in 1995. Since then I have lived as an expat in three different countries and have taught in 4 different schools. I have taught GCSE, IGCSE, A level and IB Diploma Programme. I have been Deputy Principal of a 900 student secondary school and am currently looking for a position as Head of Secondary.

My wife and I have discussed the possibility of moving back to the UK and going back into teaching there. Since I left, the pay scale has completely changed and bears little or no resemblance to the pay scale that I knew. When I left the UK I was at the top of the pay scale - in those days that was scale point 9. I haven't taken much notice of UK pay scales in the intervening time but I left before Advanced Skills teachers, the Threshold, MPS and UPS, the GTC etc, etc.

What I am interested in finding out is, if I were to come back to the UK, would my 15 years of overseas teaching experience count for anything, would my SLT experience count for anything, would there be any point in applying for SLT positions and where would I be likely to fit into the pay scale. I should point out that the top of UPS is less than I earn at the moment.

Many thanks for any help and advice you can give me.

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Posted by: the hippo 12/03/2010 at 08:41

Joined on 30/04/2008

Posts 1,901

Having taught in Kenya, Saudi and Egypt, I made the mistake of returning to the UK. Then I discovered that "Rip Off Britain" is not just a TV programme. It's a real place. My guess is that you will be shocked at how expensive everything is in the UK and what poor value. There is also the little business of paying tax, tax and more tax.

My overall impession is that a lot of schools in the UK seem to think that working in an international school is really just a paid holiday in the sunshine. I have the feeling that many heads will say that because you are not au fait with all of the latest jargon and educational fads in the UK, you do not deserve to be properly paid. Cuts and more cuts in schools' budgets will mean that heads will be looking for excuses to pay less.

The "teaching overseas" forum has quite a few threads about teachers who have returned from teaching in an international school and (surprise, surprise) they have not received the warmest of welcomes when they returned to Good Old Blighty, lousy weather and Council Tax.

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Posted by: LTE 14/03/2010 at 05:35

Joined on 03/02/2003

Posts 8

Hi Hippo,

Thanks for the reply. To be honest with you this is more or less what I expected to hear - and I am guessing that John will come up with a similar answer when he reads this thread. When I left Britain in 95, my then HoD told me that if I was abroad for 2 - 3 years it wouldn't be a problem but if I stayed longer than that I would find it difficult to get a job on my return. To be honest I find it difficult to understand what makes Head Teachers in Britain have this sort of opinion. It is a matter of fact that international schools regularly out-perform British schools both in (I)GCSE and in post 16 education (be it IBDP or A levels), so what is it that makes people who chose to pursue their career overseas so unemployable upon return to their home country?

It is my intention to start the NPQH this year - I wonder if I will still be similarly unemployable once I have got that? Perhaps doing such a qualification overseas doesn't count for British Heads?

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Posted by: the hippo 14/03/2010 at 07:19

Joined on 30/04/2008

Posts 1,901

There is an interesting article in this week's TES about how the numbers of appallingly behaved children are increasing in British schools. Even in Key Stage 1 it seems to be becoming a major problem. Therefore I simply cannot understand why anyone would want to go back to teaching in the UK.

Professor Howson has written, more than once, that the job market for teachers in the UK is becoming increasingly competitive and, with budget cuts on the way, heads are looking for excuses to pay teachers less.

Of course there are sometimes urgent family reasons why teachers have to return to the UK, but I would look at every other possible option before returning.

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Posted by: John Howson 15/03/2010 at 14:43

Joined on 23/02/2004

Posts 3,677

I would expect you to apply for a post on the Leadership Scale, perhaps at assistant or deputy head level. Without NPQH you cannot become a head. With many independent schools taking large numbers of pupils from overseas, your experience and the fact you teach mathematics may also be attractive to that sector where a headship would also be a possibility. There are vacancies for heads of numeracy in large secondary schools paid on the Leadership Scale. Moving to a post on the Leadership Scale would avoid any concerns about how you would be paid. The same is true for a mathematics AST post that has its own scale.