| I am currently teaching in Arkansas in the united states. I have registered with bluewave. I hope to come to Britain in september. Do you think it is possible for me to get a job. I teach special Education and science. I would be happy to teach around London. Any body to ENcourage or discourage me? I would hate to fail to renew my contract here and at the same time fail to get a job in the united Kingdom. |
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I'd like to be encouraging, but at the same time, there's no guarantee. However, there are definitely MANY openings, especially in and around the greater London area.
When do you have to give notice at your present job? For us (here in the UK), it's the end of May, so lots of jobs will come up right after that. I guess what I'm saying is, you might have to blindly give notice not knowing if you'll be hired or not, depending on your school's requirement/cut-off date. It's hard to do.
Keep us posted as to how you're search is going. In the meantime, read lots of back posts and learn everything you can about working and living here.
Good luck! |
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| Thank you, for your briefing. We normally sign a contract of one year. It ends in september but we give notice in may. In simple you just let them know that you will not be renewing the contract. By the way you mentioned something to do withe greater london e.t.c. Did you mean to say that more schools are concentrated there? Another question, is the life too expensive around those areas. I live in Tennessee although I teach in Arkansas. Life is not very hard particularly rent. I do not mean to save every thing that I earn but as well I do not mean to spend all what I earn. Meanwhile back to the thread. If you come across some finer details of how high or low the probability of being hired as a special ed teacher is, please let me know. |
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Hi there,
Science is definately one of those areas which are in demand over all over England (especially if you have a specialism in physics...sorry, I didn't catch what your specialism is.) There are higher rates of demand for all fields around the London area though. The fact that you are also equipt to support students with special needs would be a definate plus and would go a long way towards helping to sell you as a science teacher.
However, my experience has been that the special education posts are fully staff with either educators from Britain or the EU countries (my experience is limitted to this area of England though). Based on this, I'd say the likely hood that you could find a post as primarily a special education provider is a long shot at best.
I don't know about Arkansaw, but in Ohio you can sign the school's contract and still change your mind by a certain date in the summer without legal issues. However, if you are on staff and don't sign the contract by the time stated on the contract, you can automatically loose that position. Check with your union to see what's up for Arkansaw ok? Also, make sure that your teaching liscense is not up to expire while you are over here because it may be difficult to renew.
This is a great time of year to get yourself placed on the bluewave boards as this is when most of the hiring occurs for the next school year. Are you thinking of coming over for a one year experience or are you considering a possible change of career? Either way, all the best of luck to you.
Meli
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George,
One big suggestion I forgot to mention: What ever your science specialism is, make sure that you are posted under both it and "Science" in general...that even goes for physics. Not many people over here get to teach exclusively in their specialism and so dept heads will be looking for a well rounded science teacher. They will therefore most likely go to the "science" section first. Hope that helps when you post. Again good luck.
Also, a note to you and everyone else involved in this critical process:
I just sat through an applicant screening with my department. 3/4ths of the applications my department received were rejected on the basis of the quality of the writing. Things like spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraph structure were used to weed out undesirable applicants before invitations to interview were even issued. I must add that my school has difficulty finding teachers. Therefore if it is like this here, it must be as intense or even more so at the more desirable school. Best foot forward and all that: use your best University English on the application and double check that you've included all the appropriate details.
Sorry about the "DAH!" lecture here, but you'd be surprised at what I saw on those applications...
Again, best of luck to you.
Meli |
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