I’ve seen a lot of changes come and go during my teaching career in the past twenty years. Here in Sweden we got a bit of a shock when the last PISA-results were announced. Right now, we’re thinking long and hard about how to improve student performance in both reading and maths.

Teaching abroad for the first, second or even tenth time can be a scary prospect. Not only are you moving jobs – most likely to a significantly different school – but you are also moving country. With a proactive approach and the excellent support provided by most international schools, you will probably find settling in to be part of the experience and a rewarding one.

Without wishing to get too philosophical, what is life all about?

Tim Douglas, Head of Group Travel at GVI shares his experience of leading adventure trips for young people and demonstrates how enriching these experiences can be…

I heard a famous quote once that said, “each child is potentially the light of the world, and at the same time its darkness”. What determines whether a child will follow a path towards lightness and potential or a path towards darkness? I believe it is the role of parents and teachers to guide children towards the path of goodness. But what if that child has neither parents nor teachers? Who then will steer them in the right direction?

I was so excited to actually have a job offer for what on paper looked like my dream job that I accepted without thinking through all of the practicalities!

I was so desperate to leave my stressful job in an inner-city London Primary at the time, that I think I would have taken it anyway even if they had said they wouldn’t pay me, and I’d have to sleep in a cowshed!

“Entrepreneurship can and will be the liberating force for Africa’s economy”

“All our future leaders will need to take human-centred approaches to resolving the challenges we face”

“No, success does not knock on doors. Talks don’t lead to great achievement. Only actions count”

Where are these quotations taken from? Mandela’s autobiography? The Dalai Lama? The FT?

I spent a two year period abroad in Hong Kong teaching music in a semi subsidized international school (Lorway, 2010). The truly fascinating part is what happened to me as a teacher after I returned to my country of origin into my position at an IB International school on the east coast of Canada.

Edapt is a new, independent, apolitical social enterprise in the UK that supports, protects, informs and develops the teaching profession. It aims to provide teachers with an alternative to teaching unions. Here, edapt director of policy, Emma Whitehead, considers whether a similar model could be useful in other countries around the world.

Normally you would sit at interview, meet some of your future colleagues, read an inspection report and go on a school tour. So, with just an hour skype interview for international schools, how do you go about assessing whether this one is a great school?

How often have you walked into the staffroom on the day back and a colleague who thinks they are rather funny comments that there are only 49 days working days until the next holiday? Whilst there is much, much more to teaching, I have no doubt that holidays are probably are the biggest perk of the profession.