Hello Teacher Horizons community! My name is Nick Shearman, a high school teacher originally from New Zealand who has spent most of my teaching career in Indonesia.
Recently I took myself and my family to Timor Leste’s capital city Dili and taught at the International School there for a year. My two sons were enrolled in the school and really thrived socially and educationally in the supportive environment. As a member of the faculty, I was really satisfied and challenged to be part of a very professional and motivated team. We will all miss Dili International School and the friends we made in and out of the school community. The following blog is intended to give an overview to prospective teachers.
If you are looking for adventure and challenges at a well-managed and truly internationally flavored school then Dili International School (DIS) is worth looking at. Dili is a small city nestled between a beautiful coast and mountainous ranges. The expat community is extensive and diverse with a mix of diplomats, NGO and business people all committed to developing the new and vibrant nation of Timor Leste.
DIS is an IB world school committed to creating global citizens that celebrate diversity. New teachers to DIS soon realize the multinational and multicultural student body makes this a realistic vision for the school.
As well as being a proud and dedicated promoter of Timorese culture DIS has a delightful distinctly Australian feel to it as the management and the majority of the teachers are Australian. This is further supported by the provision of the Victorian Certificate of Education in Grades 11 and 12 which is supported through Haileybury School in Melbourne via teacher mentoring, administration support, and annual school trips both to and from Melbourne.
Learn more about teaching in Indonesia and find any Indonesian teaching positions here.
The DIS campus is small but very well-shaded, clean, and safe. Although facilities are limited for students and faculty, they are well maintained and opportunities are maximized with well-organized scheduling ensuring students get optimum use of recreational, artistic, and academic facilities. Despite Dili’s remoteness providing challenges in resourcing a school, the DIS management does a fine job of stocking the school with resources for all curricular and extracurricular programs.
All teachers are encouraged to support the diverse extra-curricular program, which runs after school every day. Leadership asks teachers to propose the program they would like to offer and this system provides the student body with varied choices and allows teachers to follow an activity related to a passion. An afterschool homework club is also on offer and is well attended by students, many of whom face home environments that may not be conducive to academic study.
Read about how other international teachers have developed their way of thinking and teaching in this blog
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The culturally diverse and inclusive student body of DIS is one of the school strengths as the early childhood, primary and middle school programs are truly multicultural and multilingual learning environments. This diversity is easy to see at school festivals and walking around the campus listening to students and faculty speaking in Tetun, Portuguese, English or Bahasa. This multilingual flavour to the school is further visible via the displaying of the IB learner profiles in Tetun, Portuguese and English around the school campus.
DIS offers the IB for the Primary and Middle School Years program and the strong leadership ensures that the IB global perspective and learner profiles are promoted and developed via each Unit of Inquiry. Although teachers with IB experience are preferred DIS provides ample opportunities for teachers to develop their IB unit planning and assessment design abilities as well fully supporting attendance at regional IB workshops.
The secondary program offers the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) as a qualification for tertiary applications. The VCE is an internationally recognised, secondary academic qualification sat by over 50,000 students annually in the state of Victoria, and an increasing number of centres around the world. DIS has been offering the VCE since 2012 and applying secondary teachers to DIS should be encouraged by the fact that the experienced leadership in combination with the support offered by Haileybury College in Australia ensures administrational support and curricular guidance is excellent.
Like the sound of the international teacher lifestyle? Read more about it first hand from teachers such as
Life off campus provides teachers with plenty of scope for adventure and challenge. The physical environment in Dili and surrounds is dusty and hot however there is solace to be found at dawn and dusk with temperatures that are perfect for being out and about. In the mornings you will find a great number of locals and expats exercising on the expansive city water front which extends 15 km east to the iconic Chriso Rei statue. There are beautiful beaches west and east of the city which are easily accessible after school hours. There are also excellent options for weekend excursions along the coast, to nearby islands or into the mountains. Scuba diving and mountain biking are the two main activities of the expat population and the later part of the year features the ‘Tour de Timor’ a gruelling five day mountain bike race with an international field.
Has Nick answered some of your questions about what it is like to teach abroad in Timor Leste? If you still have more questions, have a look at our FAQ by Teachers blog. To get adventurous like Nick, just create a profile here.
