 Poster: A snowHead
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Skier from Argentina I'm a Hydrographic Surveyor working for an Aberdeen firm but they send me all over. Recently back from Nigeria for my sins.
hammerite Thanks for the info. Yes my partner went down the PGCE route for this very reason.
Steilhang Zurich accommodation does seem to be very high but then I used the assumption that with my partners salary would be the main one covering day to day living I presumed a teachers salary would be relative to the cost of living - so would earn more in Switzerland.
Would be interested to hear about Feldkirch and anywhere else within a few hours of Munich or Zurich.
Liechtenstein or Zug anyone 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| davidof wrote: |
France has a complicated system of "competitions" to be a teacher. Agrégation, Capes, Capeps, Capet etc etc. I was particularly thinking of the case of anglophones who wanted to be English teachers in France. When the teaching profession was opened up to non-French nationals the French changed the Agrégation exams to be an English teacher to have a largely French component, I kid you not. So to be an English teacher you have to speak and more importantly write French to a high level in the format taught by French schools (thèse, antithèse, synthèse) - weighing up the pros and cons as we'd call it.
I was just now looking at what 2005/36/CE had to say about all this for non-French qualified teachers when I noticed your post. It seems even if you have PGCE and have been teaching for say 20 years in the UK you still have to sit the competition to get into the French state system or work for a government sponsored private school!
It makes BASI instructors sound like pussies really. |
There is a similar situation here in Germany, particularly here in Bavaria, where the highest paid/level of teachers are those in Gymnasium teaching Arbitur. As this is a predominantly written form (no oral component unless you are a borderline fail!  ), you need to not only understand the whole set up but also what the Bavarians feel is a good essay (albeit written in English). In other words you have to have a fairly high level of German as well as a good understanding of the cultural system underpinning the whole thing. The translation component, for example is from English into German, so for a native-speaker pretty well impossible as the standard of written German required is extremely high.
I had over 20 years of experience when I started teaching in a Gymnasium just north of Munich. An inspector came from the Ministry of Education and shadowed me for a day, then returned on a regular, unannounced basis until I was given unconditional "Anerkennung" (recognition). I had 2 degrees and a PGCE, but in the end it was my teaching experience that actually swung it for me I believe. I was taken on initially as an emergency replacement (3 days notice) - sort of supply teacher, but that was when there was an acute shortage of teachers. As soon as the school were able to recruit from locally trained and qualified, that door shut. Currently there is no shortage of well qualified Germans who can teach English to Arbitur, so other than working as a language assistant there is not much chance of getting into the public system. Private schools are not so common here, but they have different rules anyway. Sometimes they apply the same ones as the state schools, sometimes they don't.
Getting a foot in the door of an International School is not easy. Normally you have to attend the one of the recruitment fairs in London to begin to be taken seriously and the popular cities/areas are usually well over-subscribed. So unless you have a good combination of shortage subjects (Maths and Physics are classic examples), your chances are fairly slim to be frank. Funnily enough though Girls PE is often a good one as well, as is Music. All the Humanities are over-subscribed and Language subjects are usually covered by native speakers. Once you are in the system though, it is relatively easy to move around it. Many of the International Schools are American or in American ownership, hence the short contracts and the uncertainty (lots of "hire & fire" policies according to student numbers). Another way of making yourself attractive to the International Schools is to be able to offer a good range of extra-curricula expertise in some kind of activity, not exactly the best idea if you have a young family to take care of.
Good towns with affordable accommodation along the Eastern Alps are around: in my area for example. Rosenheim is relatively cheap, as are Wasserburg, Traunstein, Kiefersfelden (right on the border with Tirol) Kufstein (just over the border in Tirol). On the west side of Munich, Landsberg am Lech, Memmingen and Kempten all support a good range of schools and activities, as well as having smaller, but less insular ex-Pat communities. Once you are down into the Baden-Württemberg area (around Bodensee, prices rise quite considerably as people can live here and work in Switzerland or are well-heeled retirees.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Powderpete, sure keep me posted and if I can help out in any way just let me know! I'm working all summer as I prefer to keep my holiday allowance for my winter slide-fests! That doesn't mean I can't use up some of my overtime as time off in lieu though. 
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Aberdeen sounds pretty good to me. Already very near the hills, access to 3 ski areas, November to May lift served skiing and large amounts of back country and cross country on your doorstep. Some of the wildest country in Europe and the UKs biggest national park close by. Access to flights everywhere and potential membership of Europe's newest country. Why move ? 
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| Powderpete wrote: |
| How about Switzerland - has anyone tried to move out there and go through the rigmarole of permits and naturalisation? |
Been here 14 years, and it would certainly tick your boxes. But it is expensive - when SamerbergSue quoted rental prices in Munich, it sounded a bargain. However Davidof's quotes also mainly apply to Zurich city centre - if you live 20 minutes out, you're looking at around 30% less. The scarcity - and hence high price - of land impacts on all prices, but the quality of life is such that I'd still rather live on the breadline in Switzerland than in great comfort in the UK.
If you're considering Switzerland, you could try looking at English Forum. It comes with a health warning - there are people there who hate the place and can't wait for the end of their contracts, as well as people who are happily settled, and they're a little impatient with newbies, but with those caveats it's got a lot of info.
www.englishforum.ch
There are also quite a lot of international schools in the area - ZIS, ICS, ISZL to name but 3. They are often recruiting but I don't keep an eye on it I'm afraid
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| Quote: |
Been here 14 years, and it would certainly tick your boxes. But it is expensive - when SamerbergSue quoted rental prices in Munich, it sounded a bargain. However Davidof's quotes also mainly apply to Zurich city centre - if you live 20 minutes out, you're looking at around 30% less. The scarcity - and hence high price - of land impacts on all prices, but the quality of life is such that I'd still rather live on the breadline in Switzerland than in great comfort in the UK.
If you're considering Switzerland, you could try looking at English Forum. It comes with a health warning - there are people there who hate the place and can't wait for the end of their contracts, as well as people who are happily settled, and they're a little impatient with newbies, but with those caveats it's got a lot of info.
www.englishforum.ch
There are also quite a lot of international schools in the area - ZIS, ICS, ISZL to name but 3. They are often recruiting but I don't keep an eye on it I'm afraid
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Many thanks eng ch - I've only just seen your reply now. It's good to know that people have made similar decisions to what we aspire to and made a go of it!
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