British teacher needs help!
 

I am a qualified teacher living in Miami for 4 months with my family. I recently recived my green card and now I am able to work. The thing is unlike the UK there are No publications for example the TES (Times Educational Supplement)or agencies that I can find that deal with Teaching recruitment. I am hoping that former British teachers are able to tell me what to do as this is a mind field. I have contacted the department of education and alas they were not very helpful. any tips? :fingerscrossed:

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

Have you looked at your local teaching district? I live in Illinois, and every district up here posts jobs on their district website.

Also, have you had your qualifications checked to make sure they are equivalent to American teaching qualifications in your district:confused: Many districts and states have different requirements.

Good luck!

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

A few friends I had signed up to various school districts substitute lists when they couldn't get a job. You may work, you may not, you may get day placements, you may get a long term sub, just depends but it's a good way to network and get experience to put on your resume. Try looking to see if there is anything like that for the districts around you.

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

That's good advice. Where I am teachers are being layed off left and right. Very hard for teachers who are looking for a permanent position. Don't know what it's like where the OP is, but substitute teaching can get your foot in the door;)

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

When you say you're qualified... in the UK or in the USA? If you're talking about UK qualifications, have you looked into what is required by your state board of education?

This is unfortunately a bad time to be looking for a job as a new teacher. It took my nephew over a year to find a job, and he was searching throughout the whole state of Michigan. A friend of ours was just laid off from a music teaching job. Despite being a talented, award-winning musician and gifted teacher (mom is a teacher, dad is a principal) he had the least seniority at his school so he was out the door when they cut the budget. Good luck.

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

Imo, things are much tougher for teachers in the US than the UK, largely due to the fact that school districts are separate entities. That means that recruitment is a disparate mess, and teachers often are in a position of not wanting to move to a better job in another district because they are scared of losing seniority and/or pension benefits. Some of the blame for this can be put at the feet of teacher's unions, who have pushed such things as seniority being used to dictate layoffs etc. As the previous post indicates, excellent teachers with less seniority are often being let go in this economic climate - crazy.

Another issue is the often haphazard funding of school districts. This differs from state to state, but in many local property taxes are a primary source of funds. Hence there can be large discrepancies in funding between even adjacent school districts. And finally, as others have mentioned, the current economic climate - and an unwillingness to raise taxes - means teachers are on the chopping block for budget cuts. All in all, not a good space for teachers in many parts of the country.

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

I have to wholeheartedly agree with you. As a teacher in the state of Illinois I find myself lucky to have a job right now. This is the worst year for cutting of teachers that I have experienced (all down to budget cuts).

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

You've been there for four months, or you're only staying there for four months?

Big difference, teaching job-wise.

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

Depends on where and what you're teaching. We can't find a physics teacher at our school; one of ours was recruited by a really nice charter school in FL where he wants to retire. There are plenty of jobs still available (with the right certification) at many of the area schools (mostly middle and high school).

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

Re: British teacher needs help!
 

On the plus side, requirements to teach in Florida are so low a cabbage could pass those Praxis Exams.

Check out the state requirements and have a look at http://www.ets.org/praxis for an idea about the Praxis exams. Some states say you've got to have them before teaching, some waive them for a few years, some allow you to study and take them by the end of the first year if you are qualified in another state or have a masters in that subject etc. All very different.

Also, as for checking out local district school board websites, you've got to network. Out where MIL teaches, the jobs have already been known about and offered by the time they get advertised, they just go through the motions of advertising and interviewing for legal reasons.

Subbing is a great way to get contacts, but how easy that is depends on the state, up in Maine, they do a background check on you and that's about it. Down here in MA, you've got to go through so much rubbish to even get on the list and then it's those who have been waiting longest ahead of you that'll get a call out.