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“In the UK, I felt most of my lessons revolved around crowd control. Here, I can be really creative with my teaching".

“In the UK, I felt most of my lessons revolved around crowd control. Here, I can be really creative with my teaching".

Over the next few weeks, COBIS will be publishing the stories of a selection of teachers and leaders that were interviewed for the COBIS Teacher Supply in British International Schools research project which studies the flow of education professionals into and out of the international schools sector. The following post is an extract from Teacher Supply in British International Schools – Case Studies. Case study interviews were completed between February and April 2018.

Sarah Winser taught for six years in the UK, having trained with Teach First. For the past three years, she has been a Year 6 class teacher and humanities coordinator at The British International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia but is now leaving the international sector to pursue new opportunities in education.



Moving to a British international school

Having trained with Teach First, Sarah stayed in her first school for 6 years and had a number of development opportunities. She gained experience in a range of roles: ICT coordinator, music coordinator, drama coordinator, phase leader, etc. She had always wanted to live abroad at some point, but from a personal perspective (family, relationships, etc.) it had never been quite the right time. She started thinking about international opportunities and decided to attend an international school teacher recruitment fair. Although she wasn’t interested in applying for a job yet, she attended the presentations and got to talk to teachers who were looking at international jobs. A number of schools at the fair invited her to interview at that event, but she explained she wasn’t really looking for a job at that stage. One school in Turkey invited her to come along and talk to them anyway. They answered her questions about working abroad and helped pave the way for her future move.

Although Sarah knew that she wanted to work abroad at some stage, she was not aware, during her training or first years of teaching, about the size and variety of the international schools’ sector.

In the UK, the next step in Sarah’s career was likely to be an Assistant Head role, but she was concerned that she was moving up the career ladder too quickly.

“I felt that I didn’t have enough breadth of experience to do that role as well as I would want to. I wanted to have more experience in different year groups, more experience managing, before being able to look people in the eye and be their Assistant Head.”

She felt it would be better for her career and long-term prospects to take a step back, evaluate, and clarify her interests and priorities. This led her to apply for and accept the job in Malaysia. At the point when she was applying for international school jobs she was not thinking about leaving the profession, although the thought had crossed her mind in the past but she was really looking for something that would allow a better work-life balance.

 

How has your experience abroad differed from your time in the UK?

Sarah’s current school is much larger (five-form entry) than her school in the UK, and she has had the opportunity to work with different year groups. Although the school follows the UK National Curriculum, she feels that she has more freedom in the classroom, without being tied down to the statutory systems and curriculum guidelines.

“My classroom is more my own.”

Behaviour management also posed more of a challenge when she was in the UK, which has an inevitable effect on the quality of the lessons.

“In the UK, I felt most of my lessons revolved around crowd control. Here, I can be really creative with my teaching. There is the opportunity to take risks, to try things out.”

The combination of tight finances/limited resources and more difficult behaviour management meant that there wasn’t scope for that sort of creativity, innovation and development when she was working in the UK.

 

Leaving the international schools sector

After three years in Malaysia, Sarah is now preparing to leave the international schools sector at the end of the current academic year. On one hand, she would like to be closer to friends and family, but she also feels that it is time to leave the sector in order to continue her own professional development. She entered the international sector to gain breadth and feels that she has accomplished that in her time abroad. She loves the school, but with a well-established middle and senior management team at the school, there are not any obvious opportunities for career progression at the moment. She has applied for a Masters programme, but is also happy to explore other options (probably in education, but not necessarily in a school).

“I’m going to go back and see what happens…I have friends who have returned to the state system in the UK and found the transition quite difficult.”

Sarah’s teaching background was in the State sector, but she admits her perspective about independent schools has changed as a result of her time abroad.

Working in the state system I didn’t have time for anything else in my life; I would definitely consider an independent school – better work/life balance, and capacity to be creative. If I had more time it would enable me to do voluntary projects; social leadership projects.”

One of the things that attracted Sarah to her current school was the fact that they offered one-year contracts. Moving abroad by herself, the short contract was appealing for a first international post. She quickly decided to stay for two years, and then three. There were professional development opportunities that she wanted to take advantage of, and she was also keen to see more of Asia.

“I do love it out here; I would stay for longer.”

But she is also conscious that she wants to go back to the UK at some point, and is concerned that too many years outside the UK education sector would be a detriment to her career.

She expects to play a bit of catch-up when it comes to UK education policy and changes. She feels her international school is quite good at keeping abreast of relevant changes in the UK, but many of them are not pertinent.

Teachers returning to the UK bring with them a range of experiences and skills.

“I think the fact that you have moved abroad – independently and so far – shows you are willing to try new things; willing to take risks.”

And she points to the way teachers working internationally need to adapt to new cultures, interact with lots of different people, and make relationships quickly. These are all positive, beneficial assets for the British education sector both at home and abroad.

 

  • British International Schools
  • Case Study
  • International Schools
  • Recruitment
  • Teachers
  • UK