3 teachers who taught overseas (and what they got out of it)

Kate Willoughby: Hug an Australian Day

‘Hug an Australian Day’ is a thing in England. High school art and photography teacher Kate Willoughby found that out first hand while teaching there.

“One of the most memorable moments was organising an excursion to the Tate Modern [Art Gallery] in London with a bus load of my students and being inundated with hugs from them on ‘Hug an Australian Day’,” she says.

Kate had only taught for a couple of months in Australia before moving to the Midlands to teach there for almost three years until late 2007. None of this counted towards her years of service in Australia, though, where she’s back teaching casually at a regional high school.

The legacy of her overseas stint, she says, is much more than having a solid work ethic.

“It was a steep learning curve and very hard work. I’ve gained knowledge of other forms of teaching and learned from a different curriculum and syllabus than Australia. It was a valuable yardstick to compare how I saw things done in Australia. It helped me offer different ideas to the schools I’ve since taught in back here,” says Kate.

The UK syllabus’ focus on students mastering practical elements meant she learnt “so much more about photography and Photoshop in a short space of time”. And, what gives her an edge in job interviews is a student progress tracking system using Excel that she learnt from one of her peers in the UK.

Her advice to teachers pining for teaching overseas? Make sure your recruitment agency organises accommodation or you’ll have to find a place to rent very quickly after landing.

Ashleigh Smith: Waited on hand and foot

After joining an agency to help her find an overseas role, primary school teacher Ashleigh Smith was inundated with job offers.

“They seemed to be giving them away willy-nilly,” she said, before settling on an international school in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Ashleigh had been teaching in Australia for three years and the Dubai contract was for three, but she left after one year.

“I came back for love to marry my now-husband. I was financially penalised for doing so. That’s why teaching overseas wasn’t worth it financially for me,” she says. The Australian government taxed her earnings.

But, she did get loads of spare time as a Dubai teacher because her work hours were 7:30am to 2:30pm, she had a full-time assistant and her grade 2 class went off to several specialist lessons. The scorching heat meant they only played outside during winter, but she never had duties during their breaks.

“Our curriculum was a hodge-podge as we followed an international program and a US one for maths, the UK one for English as the English coordinator hailed from there. Us six teachers among the grade were from different countries and had a range of opinions about what we should be doing,” recalls Ashleigh.

“Most children weren’t ready to learn as they came from extremely privileged backgrounds. They had no idea about phonics, being able to read and didn’t have very good number sense.”

Back in Sydney, Ashleigh gravitated towards a school with many students whose first language wasn’t English, then she moved into leadership roles. She still uses the BigWrite writing program from the UK that she used in Dubai – that includes using special diffuser oils in her classroom to light their creative process.

“My Dubai experience gave me a good understanding of pedagogies from around the world so I would readily share ideas about what we could implement back here,” she says. “If you want to teach overseas, just give it a go. Bite the bullet.”

Margaret Paton: A country at war

This was my foray into teaching even before I had the degree to do so. I was in the country of my parents’ birth – Croatia – at age 29 and taught English in a middle school in the capital, Zagreb. It was 1995 and with cluster bombs dropping for a couple of days, the war was still on.

With no regular English teacher for five months before I started, the program and lesson plans were missing in action. The principal said, “just use the textbook”.

In my classes, the students, aged eight to 11, chatted or wandered around the class. I gave them a lot of dictation. Handing them back their marked work with fat red crosses neither delighted nor interested them. I had no idea what I was doing. I asked the only other English teacher one lunchtime but realised a quick chat wasn’t going to get me up to speed on education.

I left after three months, but it sparked my need to learn how to teach. Some 16 years later, back in Australia with my teaching degree in hand, I began my pedagogical journey in earnest.

In my casual and temp work since in country NSW schools, my motto is over-preparation. Lesson plans, print and electronic resources, curriculum documents, a computer with external speakers, a bundle of pens and stickers for students plus more are what I lug to each school and class. I also carry prompts to help me manage behaviours as well as circuit-breaker activities as I get to know the students. No more winging it.

So, how prepared are you to tackle rewarding career choices and overseas travel? If you’ve got the travel bug, check out Teachers Mutual Bank’s travel services for a handy checklist, and here’s a nifty guide to staying safe online while you’re overseas.

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and casual teacher based in Blayney, Central West NSW. She writes about education, business and transport technology. She has a Master of Teaching (Primary) and degrees in journalism and communication management. In her free time, she bushwalks and lets her chooks run wild in her permaculture garden.