Moving your life abroad to teach in the international sector is not something to be undertaken lightly.

Yes, it is a wonderful experience, and almost all who take the plunge have vastly positive experiences, but there is no question that living and working abroad poses major challenges - some obvious, some less so.

We’ve already considered the importance of selecting the right school but there are other aspects worth taking into account if you are planning to move overseas.

Drawn from hard-earned experience and insights from those who have worked in international schools, here are some issues to be aware of.

Salary security

One of the big lures of international teaching is the promise of a larger salary than you’d command at home.

However, that’s only true if you’re actually being paid. This is not as far-fetched as it may sound: salary security is something that can either affect schools in the short-term, owing to cash-flow problems, or potentially be a much deeper problem, as a result of poor financial planning or corruption. This can mean a late payment or potentially no payment at all for the teachers who work there.

On a few occasions during my time abroad, I have been aware of schools that simply weren’t able to pay the people who worked there.

In the worst example, one school didn’t pay its staff for nine months. The teachers involved eventually lost patience and refused to continue. The school closed shortly after.

This is why the reputation of the school you are joining is so significant. Speaking to current or former teaching staff will help you to understand how financially secure the school is. Thankfully, this only affects a small number of schools but it’s important to make sure you don’t end up working in one.

Secret taxation

There are many places around the world that offer a “tax-free” salary. Having worked in a couple of these environments, I can vouch for how fantastic it is in terms of your bottom line.

However, to say these locations are tax-free isn’t exactly accurate. Often, there are stealth charges that may seem suspiciously like tax, and will reduce the take-home pay you had budgeted for.

An example would be the payment of “council tax” in the United Arab Emirates. While there is no council tax as such in the UAE, there is a surcharge on top of your rent. In short, the equivalent of five per cent of your rent must be paid to the government on top of your monthly rental payments.

It is a similar scenario when it comes to your car. You won’t pay road tax but there is a government fee when processing your car insurance that will be more or less exactly what you would pay for your road tax in the UK.

As long as you are aware that there are multiple examples of these types of charges, and you build this into your financial planning, then you won’t get a nasty surprise.

Cost of living vs savings potential

In light of all this, it’s worth understanding how far your salary will realistically go in a particular country after you’ve accounted for costs.

A position in a school in Japan, for example, might offer £70,000 or £80,000. However, when you factor in rent, food prices and basic living costs, there will be very little of that left. Other locations, such as Thailand, offer much lower salaries but your ability to save might actually be better because the cost of living is so much lower.

Qualifications

If you are part of a couple and one of you has secured employment, you may think that when you arrive, the jobless partner can begin to look for a position without any barriers. But this isn’t always the case.

In Vietnam, as in many other countries, there are restrictions on who can teach what. For example, if you are a primary teacher in the UK and your degree is in education, you may struggle to get accreditation from the governing body of Vietnam to teach, as this isn’t a foundation subject.

Also, if you don’t have three years’ experience in the classroom, regardless of your degree, then you won’t be considered qualified either. This can be a disaster for a teaching couple reliant on the second partner getting a job upon arrival.

Ironically, until recently in the UAE, it was the exact opposite. If you had a degree in one of the sciences or maths, you wouldn’t be able to teach primary, as your degree needed to be in education. Having a primary PGCE wasn’t considered sufficient (unless you already had a job there before the rules were introduced). 

The point is, each country determines what they feel is required to be considered a fully qualified teacher, so be sure to check with the HR department of your potential new school that you and your partner qualify to be able to work in that region. Alternatively, contact the embassy, which should be able to point you in the right direction.

Validating your documents

Attestation is the process of validating your official documents, such as qualifications and professional certificates.

It is a hugely expensive process and, depending on where you want to go in the world, it is either needed or not. Some countries even need your GCSE certificates attested.

It’s a costly process and a time-consuming one, as you are required to send your documents away to a company that will process them for you. It isn’t unusual to pay £100 for each of the documents that you need.

If you wait until you are in the country where you need them, this may cost significantly more owing to shipping and recorded mail delivery.

Temporary travel insurance

If you are moving overseas and taking a long-haul flight, whether it be South America, the Middle East or Asia, you’ll likely have insurance provided by the school.

However, this won’t be in place until your visa is applied for and stamped on your passport.

There is therefore a small window where, if you haven’t thought about this in advance, you could be vulnerable. Be sure to get yourself covered in the short term, for at least a few weeks, until the ink on your visa stamp is dry.

None of the above should put you off but hopefully it gives some insight into the sorts of issues that can occur in international teaching so that you’re fully prepared before you make your move.

Next time, we’ll consider how you can ensure your career pathway in international teaching follows the route you want it to rather than stagnating or taking you into areas that don’t suit your skill set.

Paul Gardner is vice-principal at Methodist College in Belfast and the author of So, You Want to Teach Abroad, available for pre-order in April. He has previously worked in international schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Russia and Spain