This is everything you need to know to be a teacher abroad
A little over a year ago, Feliciano Bethencourt began his career as a visiting professor of Social Sciences in a bilingual elementary program in Framingham, Massachusetts (USA). An adventure that was about to not start due to the pandemic, and that led him successively to apply for a center in Canada, at the end of 2019, meet with a school in Iowa, lose his job at a charter school in Tenerife and contact with a Texas district, before finally being selected by his current school. He was one of the only 100 Spanish teachers who last year, with a pandemic and still without vaccines, kept the visiting professors program running that the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) has organized since 1986 with the United States and other countries. Today there are less than 900, but when the new teachers join, the figure will exceed 1,400.
For the vast majority, the experience is, although intense and sometimes hard, clearly positive, either alone or accompanied by their families: “It is good for the schools, because they know that it is a highly qualified teaching staff that responds very well to their needs; And it's good for teachers, for whom having an international experience and working in a different education system brings many benefits, as well as many training opportunities in well-resourced districts. And all of this then reverts to the Spanish educational system”, says Rosa María Prieto, advisory member of the Foreign Educational Action unit of the MEFP.
“It was the best thing that has happened to me in 20 years that I have been teaching, and something wonderful on a personal level,” Ana Aguilar, visiting professor at Rockford Public Schools (Illinois, USA) from 2015 to 2018, tells by email. where she went with her husband, also a teacher, and their 20-month-old son. "I have learned at all levels, because as a secondary school teacher I ended up working in primary school, and that has made me a better teacher." And she adds: “My son went to day care there for the first time, a day care with eight other children; and now that he is seven, he speaks perfect English.”
Multiple options to teach abroad
More informationGet ready to study or work in the UK after BrexitSubscribe to the Training newsletterAlthough visiting professors is, without a doubt, one of the most popular educational programs, it is not the only one in the hands of the Ministry of Education: every year, hundreds of professors join as language assistants or teachers in initiatives such as the Bilingual Sections , the European Schools, the Spanish Sections, the Spanish-owned centers or the Alce classrooms. “The first thing you can be when you finish university here is a language assistant abroad, for those who come to leave around 800 places a year in Primary or Secondary education spread over some 20 countries. Normally they are students who have finished a degree in Philology, Teaching or Translation and Interpretation, and who want to perfect their languages abroad”, explains Prieto. During their one-year stay, the host country pays them an aid and, sometimes, accommodation, something that depends on each destination but is always enough to live in a shared apartment.
“Another option is the Bilingual Sections program, which emerged in the late 1980s, when the [Berlin] wall was still in place and there was a lot of interest in learning Spanish,” she adds. Some 130 vacancies are offered each year and it is present in prestigious centers in eight countries (Romania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia and China), where secondary school teachers (civil servants or not) can work for a maximum of six years in conditions analogous to those of the local teaching staff, teaching Castilian and other subjects also in Spanish.
Civil servant or interim professors can also access, for their part, other European teaching programs such as the Spanish-owned Centers abroad; the European Schools, which depend on the Council of Europe; the Spanish Sections (a very widespread initiative in France) and the Spanish Language and Culture Associations (ALCE), created at the end of the 1960s to support the children of Spanish emigrants, and which are maintained today to give Spanish as an extracurricular subject to children who are children or grandchildren of Spaniards (in the event that the grandparents do have a Spanish passport, but the parents do not, they only need to obtain it to enroll their children).
What does it take to be a visiting professor?
In general, to obtain the J-1 visa in the United States, which is the one that corresponds to visiting professors, it is essential to have at least two years of previous experience and to have worked as a professor during the year prior to the call, or carried out a postgraduate training related to education. In addition, teachers must commit to developing an intercultural experience between a Spanish center and another North American one, have a driver's license, accredit a level of English that ranges between B1 and B2 and a degree (depending on the case) in English Philology or Hispanic, Translation and Interpretation or Education, although other profiles are sometimes accepted.
It is worth remembering that the specific requirements can change from state to state, so once the call is published, it should be carefully examined: “It is important to explore the calls well...Sometimes, everyone wants to go to Florida or California, and really the requirements there are stricter and there are few places. Therefore, you have to be well informed about the conditions. Also, some northern states near the Great Lakes (such as Wisconsin or Minnesota) are less well known, but have very good educational systems. And in others, like Utah, teachers are given a lot of support,” advises Prieto. Salaries depend on educational background and years of experience, but can exceed $50,000 or $60,000 a year.
The selection process for the visiting professors program begins in the month of November, when the call for the following course comes out: “Until December, we collect applications. Then we begin to assess them, making sure that they meet the requirements by country and by state, and then the interviews are held in Madrid, by the delegates displaced from the US or from the rest of the countries”, explains Prieto. Once chosen, the teachers will be able to carry out the procedures aimed at obtaining the visa, and will receive orientation sessions both in Madrid (normally in the first week of July) and upon arrival in the country of destination. The program has a maximum duration of three years (extendable, depending on the state, to five).
Another possibility to access this type of position in the United States is to do it through private agencies such as Participate Learning (formerly VIF), Amity or EPI, although these only work in certain states. The process and conditions vary slightly, but include completing an online application, conducting virtual and face-to-face interviews, and even recording a presentation video for interested centers. The MEFP program does not cover travel or relocation expenses, while these agencies do, and they also usually offer an interest-free loan of just over $2,000 to help with start-up costs (in the case of EPI, you can requested at the beginning of each course and returned within the following 10 months).
One aspect that should be weighed is the fact that, with these agencies, the years we work abroad will not contribute to our retirement (something that, Prieto says, does happen with the Ministry's program), so it will be necessary to save the corresponding part or consider those years lost. In any case, a teacher who arrives alone should have a bag of between 6,000 and 7,000 euros, to be able to meet the initial expenses (car, rent and deposit, furniture...).
What is recommended to know?
Most of the essential aspects are usually covered in the different orientation sessions, as well as in the documentation sent to the selected teachers. “Regarding health insurance, it is convenient to choose it well, because once there you have access to different options, and the cheapest is not necessarily the best,” warns Prieto. “Above all, as a result of the pandemic, because some did not include all expenses... It is also advisable to take out international insurance that covers any eventuality during the trip and the first weeks of stay, as well as repatriation insurance, which is usually very cheap and that is not usually contemplated there”. Officials, for their part, have the insurance provided by MUFACE.
The Ministry of Education has produced a Guide for Visiting Professors in the United States with general information about the program, as well as a series of specific guides for each state, and new professors usually have the help of another established professor upon arrival who does a job as a mentor. Although the ministry has a network of educational advisers in the United States, sometimes the attention may not be as personalized as it would be desirable. Therefore, before and after arrival, it is important to have the help and advice of the community of visiting professors.
“My advice is to go with a very, very open mind. Be aware that in each country things are done in a different way, and that none is better than another... You don't have to spend all the time comparing it with Spain, but enjoy the experience and the change”, recommends Yurena Soriano , a teacher at an international school in the Cayman Islands. The cultural shock, the bureaucracy and the social and labor relations are often different, and it is advisable to always take it easy. “The work is the same, but the human relations are very different. The group of visiting professors was very important at first, to provide each other with company and support. Of course, I was shocked by the lack of spontaneity in social life, which in Spain is much more fluid”, says Paloma Autrán, a Spanish teacher in Connecticut.
The first months are always the most difficult, until one gets used to the environment and the new rhythm and style of work. A challenge that becomes greater if, as happened to the new teachers last year, you land in the middle of a health crisis and with remote teaching. “Arriving at one of the worst moments of the pandemic, I felt quite lost, although my co-workers and superiors helped me. And the community of visiting professors from Framingham helped us tremendously,” remembers Bethancourt from Massachusetts.
Then, there are aspects related to the work that should always be kept in mind, such as the methodology, the administrative procedures (such as sending your supervisor each week's didactic plan in advance, a common practice) and collaboration with the rest of the center's professionals, from roommates to administrators, guidance counselors, special education teachers, and even sports coaches (if there is a disciplinary problem, they can be very helpful). We must always be politically correct and implement any necessary adaptation so that no student is left behind, including study guides before exams to remind them of what they have to study: “In the United States, you have to be a good teacher, but you also have to know how to sell The subject. If the students don't know, it's not because they don't study, it's because you don't sell it well”, argues Autrán.
“You work a lot and very hard, but the work is organized and the expectations, both for the teachers and for the students, are very clear,” explains Karina Figueroa, an elementary school Spanish teacher in Washington, DC. "The work environment is professional and the community, in general, appreciates the presence of a foreign teacher, opening windows to other cultures for youth." For the Colombian teacher, it is necessary to be especially aware of the evaluation and feedback process, “which is very well established and must be taken very seriously. Communication with parents is very important and, to avoid problems, it is better not to become friends with students on social networks”. And, above all, a maxim that Rosa Subiñas, former visiting professor at Lafayette, Louisiana, remembers: “When you are not sure about something, always ask for help, and remember that your idea is not always the best. Be flexible and tolerant, and be patient with others and with yourself.”
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