Career Spotlight: Advisory Teaching

Influence the world in a whole new way

You've spent years training as a teacher and many more honing your craft in the classroom and finally you have reached the point where you ask yourself, "What's next for me?" A growing number of teachers and school leaders are asking themselves this question and many have found the answer in a new, emerging career as an advisory teacher abroad.

Advisory teachers are experienced teachers and school leaders with over 4 years of solid classroom experience who are deployed to foreign state schools to work alongside local teachers for a period of time, usually between 1 and 3 years, to help them improve the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. Advisory teachers are usually assigned to a single school to mentor and develop local staff, working alongside them in a cooperative and sensitive way, but are supported themselves by a sponsoring education trust or private company. Whether advisory teachers are team teaching, giving demonstration lessons, evaluating performance or co-developing lesson plans, they can be sure that their skills as a teacher will be tested in new and exciting ways.

"Advisory teaching is an excellent way to combine career advancement with the knowledge that you are making a real difference, and the rewards are many. Not only are you enhancing your CV, you are helping local teachers learn from your experience, and you usually make good money while you are at it. These jobs often provide better employment packages than nearby international schools", said Diane Jacoutot, general manager of Teachanywhere.com, an agency specialising in the placement of advisory teachers in countries as diverse as Singapore, Qatar and the UAE.

Some of the projects are quite focussed, such as in Singapore, to enhance its already world-class education system by improving the use of drama, speaking and debating within the English curriculum. In other countries you might be working with teachers and school leaders who have very little formal teacher training, and implementing a new curriculum for the first time, such as an ongoing project in Abu Dhabi. Other projects focus on e-learning, management development or teaching English as a foreign language.

But as exciting as it sounds, advisory teaching is not for everyone. "Our clients always point out that while candidates must certainly be well-trained and confident professionally, they must also possess great personal flexibility, resiliency and top-notch communication skills because they will need to influence and guide local teachers working across cultural boundaries in a foreign system", said Diane, "What they do not want are Prima Donnas who cannot adapt personally and professionally to the new landscape or who give up at the first obstacle. The amount of flexibility one needs cannot be underestimated. Additionally, candidates must be fully qualified, experienced primary and secondary teachers with excellent references and complete fluency in English. For management advisory posts, where the project involves mentoring school leaders in effective leadership techniques, candidates must have at least 2 years' experience as a senior manager.

Teachanywhere.com is currently recruiting for advisory teacher posts starting in August 2010. Opportunities include English language/literature teachers in Singapore, primary and secondary English, maths, science, Arabic and TEFL advisors in Abu Dhabi, management advisors in Abu Dhabi and IT advisors in Qatar. If you are interested, email your CV to advisory@teachanywhere.com