‘Am I an international teaching mercenary?
To care or not to care, that is the question..................thanks GC for another good read!
Last July (2017) I wrote a blog titled ‘When is it the right time to move on?’ where I gave several reasons for moving to another school. At that point, I was considering moving schools, but for (mainly) financial reasons, it seemed prudent to stay. The benefits did not out-weigh the costs.
One year later and I have decided to stay for another year. The three reasons I mentioned last year are all still valid, particularly the international management reason.
The current International management will be leaving my school this year (and it was not their choice). Now, you might think that the school culture might improve, knowing that any potential new management might make a difference. However, this has not been the case, and due to a managerial vacuum, the school culture, discipline, moral and academic focus, in my opinion, has declined further. Previous internal promotions and a lack of transparency in the interview process, has left remaining teachers with a sense of foreboding. Staff turnover and absenteeism speak for themselves.
So, why am I staying in what appears to be in a ‘sinking ship’?
(NB: Sinking ships do not always sink. Either they continue to float or they are scuttled).
Well, I am definitely leaving next year (honestly!), but there are three reasons why I am staying.
Two reasons do not make me particularly happy, but the third one does.
Firstly, money cannot be ignored as a key factor why we are teaching internationally. It is a fact-of-life and I am being honest about it. I do not like to admit it, but it is true.
Secondly, why move when other similar schools have the same issues. I am beginning to believe that wherever I teach (in this country) I will encounter the same management issues. Where it appears that accountability, transparency and professional standards and ethics appear not to be high on the agenda.
I am not naïve, I am fully aware that I am working in a different culture, but it appears this ‘type’ of international school may have a different mission, or they are extremely short-sighted and deal with issues when they arise rather than resolving them before they occur. My limited personal experience does not make this belief a fact, but I have heard significant anecdotal evidence to support it.
The final reason why I am staying is the reason why I became a teacher in the first place – I can actually deliver a lesson to attentive and (mostly) hard working students. This is fulfilling and certainly makes up for the chaos that occurs outside of my classroom. However, the chaos results in minimal bureaucracy, and for a well-organised teacher, the chaos can be managed quite easily.
An experienced international teacher said to me recently that, to survive in these ‘types’ of international schools, you need to develop an ‘I don’t care’ attitude. However, I am observing the ‘I don’t care’ attitude encroaching into classroom teaching, as a percentage of teachers are aware that there will be little or no consequence for low performance, due to the lack of accountability and systems.
So why I am definitely leaving next year? Being a teaching mercenary is not why I left my country to teach abroad. I am hopeful that other schools are not all the same. Staying in my current school, in the medium-term, would mean that I am accepting financial rewards over personal integrity and development. I do care and I would like to think I have tried to make a difference. However, when the writing is on the wall, international teachers do have to make the decision whether they ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ care.
Teaching in this part of the world might be financially rewarding but it might not provide the intrinsic motivation, you need. This is not going to satisfy you in the long-term or benefit your students. This is why I will be definitely leaving next year.
GC
