Teaching special education abroad

Take a look at the Office of Overseas Schools for the US Department of State and the DoD overseas schools. These schools are often looking to expand their special needs programs. By special needs do you mean learning disabled, physically handicapped, autism spectrum or what?

If you have two years teaching experience, why wait? Now is probably the time to start looking. Try sites that specialize in Teaching in International Schools. School fairs should be now for next fall.

Also in Asia, the Australian schools tend to be more inclusive accepting many more disabled students into their programs. Try the Australian school in Jakarta for example.

Ruth

Ruth

YOu also might check out www.ibo.org and tes.co.uk
Here's a list of intl school job fairs
http://www.tefltips.blogspot.com/2008/11/​international-schools.html

Edited by: naturegirlskc

Edited by: naturegirlskc

Thank you very much for your replies, this gives me a good place to start. As far as job fairs go, am I correct in thinking you need to be registered with an agency to attend?
The students I teach are very low cognitively and have physical disabilities. I'm not sure if this would be a disadvantage for me; the teaching I do with these kids is VERY different than what happens in most classrooms (we focus more on life skills, hygiene, learning independence, etc.) Hopefully the fact that I'm certified in other areas would help. I LOVE working with special needs kids but would teach just about anything for the experience of doing it abroad:)

Yes you'll need to register to go to a job fair.

As long as you'll be qualified to teach other areas you'll be in with a chance - try and present yourself in such a way that emphasis they experience you'll have that is directly relevant to what happens in most classrooms. And look into those American avenues mentioned by Ruth in the first post.

I feel it's worth mentioning an NGO in New York City that works with the DD population called Sprout. I volunteered with them some years ago and basically I escorted adults with DD on their vacations. That may be an interesting way to calm your travel bug before you teach abroad. It was a good cheap way to see the East Coast while helping others and meeting other volunteers. You should check them out. www.gosprout.org

Hi,

I used to work at an international school in Addis Ababa which has a big-ish special needs department, if you're interested? there's about 20 kids with special needs, and they all need helpers for various amounts of time per day. It's a nice school with a nice atmosphere, and if you're a native speaker the pay's pretty decent...

send me a message if you're interested and I can give you contact details etc..

Best,

sophie

Thank you Elsewhere, that program sounds like something worth looking into!

Hey, I am living and teaching special education in Abu Dhabi-United Arab Emirates. The UAE is taking Western expat teachers all over-they want to improve their education system so this is an initiative of theirs. Special Education in the private and government schools doesn't really exist. I am at a private school that is trying to get an inclusion program up and running, but it is really difficult due to cultural and gov't limitations. There are many centers and specialized schools looking for certified sped teachers though. Something to look in to.

Good Luck!

I am actually also very interested in this. My area of specialization happens to be Autism spectrum disorders and I have worked in inclusion for the past 7 years. I have taught in several different inner city school districts and also have my MA. I am hoping this gives me an upper hand but I too was not sure how much special education goes on abroad.

Has anyone had any experience or known anyone who has applied for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange or worked at a military base school abroad? I am looking for a change to keep things interesting but not sure where to begin, especially with special education.

Thanks for the info above and if anyone has any more info it would be appreciated. I am definitely looking for a teaching position and NOT volunteering or random ESL assignments.

Thanks,
Jen