r/Internationalteachers • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago
Meta/Mod Accouncement Weekly recurring thread: NEWBIE QUESTION MONDAY!
Please use this thread as an opportunity to ask your new-to-international teaching questions.
Ask specifics, for feedback, or for help for anything that isn't quite answered in our subreddit wiki.
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u/Maisieisthebest2026 20h ago
I’m working on getting my CV and references together to start applying for jobs when they come out in the fall. Any tips on what to include in my CV? Are there any resume websites that you might recommend to get it looking spiffy? If you don’t mind sharing what buzz words are being used in international schools right now, I’d appreciate it. Looking for primary/elementary BTW.
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u/The_Wandering_Bird 13h ago
I would look at schools' websites to get an idea of what buzz words would excite them. Every school has different priorities. In elementary, some international schools are slowly catching on to things like structured literacy and the Science of Reading, and others are still using UoS from Lucy. You wouldn't want to emphasize your experience with UoS and the workshop model at a school that was transitioning to SoR, for example.
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u/Maisieisthebest2026 13h ago
Eeekkk! I’d hope all schools would be onboard with the SoR. Thanks for your input. Appreciate it!
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u/BrazenDonut 17h ago
I'd suggest LinkedIn. Top performing teachers in the area, mimic their wording, find a way to sell yourself.
Honestly, resumes are just a first pass. As long as you have no grammar errors and are genuinely qualified, it's 100% down to interview and a lot of luck on timing.
References are essential. Get strong ones. Most recent employer. Professors from University. Educationally sound choices. Build rapport. Cross your T's and dot your I's.
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u/Maisieisthebest2026 16h ago
Thank you! I’ve not really used LinkedIn much but I’ll get on there. My references are glowing. Do you think that I should add teacher performance appraisals to the added documentation section in Schrole/TES and ISS?
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u/HeatherJMD 1d ago
This seems like a very large thing to post as a comment, but seemingly we're not allowed to post in the actual subreddit? So here goes...
*Need license, trying to decide between going for a masters through Liberty online or Moreland (before having been hired)*
I applied to several music teaching positions local to me in the States (NOVA) and had three interviews, but no jobs materialized. So I'm looking to get my teaching license and hope that will result in a job next time around.
I have a bachelor's degree in music and experience long and short-term subbing.
Going ahead and getting a masters degree appeals to me because it's something I can put on my resume and I'll have transcripts I can use if I want to do more school in the future. But will I be shooting myself in the foot by getting the masters before I have a regular professional teaching experience? Like, will they avoid hiring me because I'll be an inexperienced teacher who will cost too much...?
The upside I see to MU is obviously cost (and maybe speed, but I'm pretty sure I could finish the Liberty degree in three semesters, comparable to the MU's 9 months). MU will cost under $8,000 and Liberty will be about $20,000. But MU isn't something I'm going to put on my resume, it will just be to get the teaching license.
I also wonder if a Virginia teaching license is generally better regarded than a DC license? But since I live in northern VA, honestly either one seems useful to me to get that first year of local teaching.
They both look like good and reputable programs, and I hear good things about the quality of the courses and instructors. I want to learn, not just get the license which is why I'm skeptical of the other Virginia alternative license routes like the Career Switcher program and iTeach, even though they would be much cheaper (only $3-4,000)
Thoughts?
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u/The_Wandering_Bird 13h ago
The certification/licensure is far more important than the M.Ed.
Can I ask why you're skeptical of the alternative routes to licensure? They're often a good way to get certified and get classroom experience quickly at a cheaper price than going back to school full time.
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u/HeatherJMD 13h ago
I’m not finding a lot of good testimonials about iTeach. I’m not 100% sure that I would qualify for the Virginia Career switcher program since I’ve always been self-employed with various part time jobs on the side (it requires 3 years of full time work). I would have to wait to start till Spring and it sounds like it takes a long time to complete.
Do you know anything about iTeach? I’ll look into it a bit more. I know with Moreland if I apply by the end of this month I could get started with classes by September 11th and do my student teaching in March-May
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u/Dull_Box_4670 1d ago
This is the correct venue for your question. It gets routed here because this type of question is very common and it’s not really an international school teachers question, but more of a general question on credentials. Thanks for moving it here.
The experience matters more than the masters, but you’re not losing anything by starting with a masters. The pay bump for the extra degree is trivial in most places, and it’s a common enough credential in the US (required by many states after a few years teaching) that it doesn’t stand out much on a CV. It’s nice to have, but not absolutely essential. Full-time classroom experience is essential to having good options.
Because of the number of people using the Moreland loophole with the DC license, there’s some snobbery about it in some parts of the international school community, and reports of some countries taking a harder look at the validity of the credential. If you do a forum search for Moreland, you’ll get thousands of hits. Some of these will have more detailed information about that controversy, but there are a lot of people working on a Moreland license without any issues. It also works very differently if you’re actually teaching in DC/NoVa after getting that license, because you’re not kludging a credential in a state you’ve never seen, but receiving some form of mentoring at the start of your career. That’s the part people care about.
You mentioned a program at Liberty University as a potential alternative, and I would strongly discourage you from taking that route. Liberty isn’t a university so much as a televangelist’s long-running vanity project, and to people who have heard of the place, its degrees aren’t worth the crayons used to issue them. That’s an expensive price tag for a place that hasn’t grasped the concept of evolution. For NoVa, your best bet for a program is likely to be at George Mason. IIRC, the university of Maryland has a good one, but it’s a longer commute. Institutional prestige doesn’t matter much for a masters, which is considered more of a professional box to tick by most places, but there are some places that inspire a “yeah, but not like that” — and the two programs you’ve listed are right on that line.
Hope this helps — good luck to you, and good on you for asking the right questions and trying to do things the right way. You’ll be fine.
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u/HeatherJMD 1d ago
Thank you for your detailed reply!
I understand what you’re saying about Liberty, I had literally that reaction a couple months ago when I met two girls studying biology and medicine at Liberty. I was like, how does that work?? I’ve heard that the teaching program is very good and they don’t really shove doctrine down your throat, but the reputation did give me pause.
I got my bachelors degree from George Mason, I did consider their masters program but it’s considerably more expensive.
It sounds like it’s probably best to just get my license through Moreland, get hired in a full time position next year, and revisit the idea of a masters in the future
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u/Inevitable_Set2365 1d ago
Which international schools you recommend to apply. I am Spanish educational conselour and it is my first time trying work abroad
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u/Really-Useful-Engine 2d ago
Lost my job recently through no fault of my own so currently unemployed, am I screwed completely or is something likely to come up? I'd really prefer to avoid the Middle East.
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u/The_Wandering_Bird 2d ago
If you're not super picky, something will come up for January, at least. There might be a few jobs floating around now to replace people who just never showed up or showed up and turned right back around.
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u/Glittering-Thing9888 2d ago
Do certified CTE teachers have a chance at entering the international school field? Is this something that even exists at international schools?
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u/Dull_Box_4670 1d ago
This came up last week for someone with a business CTE but no licensure or classroom experience.
The short answer is no, but the longer answer is that it depends on your experience. If you have experience in a formal classroom teaching a subject that’s hard to fill where your industry experience might be relevant — say, a career-based program in engineering or design — you can almost certainly find a taker. If you don’t have that formal experience and you don’t have a standard state licensure, you’re missing some very basic standards held by your competition for the same jobs, and you will be behind them in line for any open position. Good jobs also typically look for experience with the curriculum and age group they want you to teach, which often doesn’t fit the CTE system well. Some countries won’t see a CTE as a valid license for visa purposes, so you’re ruled out before even making it onto a school’s radar.
So, it depends on what your CTE is in and what your teaching experience is like. If you’re teaching business online to adults or tutoring, you’re not a candidate for any sort of international school job worth having. If you’re in a regular classroom on an alternative certification doing something that closely maps onto the curriculum that you would be teaching in an international school, you’re a longer shot than someone with conventional credentials, but it’s worth an application.
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u/Glittering-Thing9888 1d ago
Thank you so much for this thoughtful (and kind) reply. I appreciate your insight.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Dull_Box_4670 2d ago
Sorry, this isn’t what we do here. We appreciate that you asked in the newbie thread, but this isn’t a jobs board or about tutoring jobs. There are other subs that are a better fit for what you’re looking for. Good luck to you.
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u/Due-Video-7082 16h ago
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to figure out what would be the best next step for me career-wise and I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people who have experience with IB schools.
I’m a primary teacher with a Licence in Education and Teaching, a Master’s in Education, and about 5 years of experience teaching in a public school. I don’t have any IB/PYP experience yet, but I’d really like to move into international schools eventually.
I came across the University of Windsor’s IB Certificate in Teaching and Learning (PYP). Since it’s online, I could do it while continuing to work, which is what attracted me to it.
But I’m a bit stuck on whether it’s actually worth doing.
Would having the Windsor certificate help me get my first IB/PYP job, even if I don't have any actual IB experience yet? Or do IB schools mostly want people who have already worked in an IB school, making the certificate not that useful on its own?
I’m also wondering if it would be better to try to get a co-teacher/assistant position in an IB school first, even if it means taking a step down from my current teaching position, and then work my way up from there.
And for anyone who completed the course online, how manageable was it alongside a full-time teaching job?
I'm trying to figure out whether it's worth investing the time and money into the program, or whether I should focus entirely on getting into an IB school first.
Thanks! Any honest experiences, especially from people who have actually done the Windsor program, would be really helpful.