Is there any demand for School Counselors at International schools?

[Christapho]

Hello everyone,

After teaching in Thailand for a year with a Bachelor's and a TEFL certificate, I decided to come back to the States and get my Master's in Education so I could come back and make better money at an International school.

Given that I have a BA in Psychology, I'm interested in a Masters in Education with a concentration in School Counseling.

I am wondering if the International schools have any demand for School Counselors or would I just be teaching wherever they needed me or worst case, not even be qualified to teach there?

Thanks

Edited July 15, 2013 by Christapho

[Phatcharanan]

Counseling generally or specific to Special Educational Needs such as ADHD, Asperger's etc?

[zeichen]

get certified in a subject that you enjoy teaching would be best. Little to no work for special needs or psychologist/counselors. To get a good job you will also need 3-5 years experience in your own country teaching.

Make sure that your master's program leads to certification many do not.

[Somtamnication]

For the intl. schools in Thailand, that is more of a sales position than what you are used to in your country.

[Christapho]

Thanks for your responses,

@ Phatcharanan - general school counseling

[naboo]

Part time, yes, but hours are very variable and so it becomes to hard to employ one over a period of time, so teachers fill in.

Get qualified in a subject you want to teach and use your expertise in the area to enhance job prospects.

[Phatcharanan]

General counseling involves managing student behavior usually. (Not specifically SEN)

Problem you will face is that the overwhelming majority of the kids willl be local to the country you're teaching in. So now you're gonna be expected to understand the cultural values and ethos of that country.

In all my years of international schools, I have only ever come across two vacancies for expat counseling positions. (I think....maybe three)

Councelors are usually local.

[DaBloodyMess]

Here in Chiang Mai at least I know at least 3 of the 6 international schools have expat school counselors on staff in a full time capacity. CM is very provincial, so I would really be surprised if it wasn't a more common occurrence in Bangkok.

Phatcharanan, I would disagree that an international school is overwhelmingly Thai in Thailand. I would say we have as many Korean students as we do full Thai. Of course there is always a number of half Thai students as well, but most of them take more from Western culture than Thai in my experience. I think the biggest challenge for any counselor in an international school is catering to the diverse range of cultures.

Why would an international school limit themselves to a local counselor when that person also may not understand the culture of the British/American/Australian/German/French/Russian/Korean/Chinese/Japanese/Burmese/Cambodian/Nepalese students at the school?

[asiaexpat]

My grandkids attend an international school and they have a counselor on staff. This school follows US methods and the counselor seems to do the same types of activities as in USA. However, this is a recent added position.

[Scott]

Is he an expat counselor or is he a Thai national?

[Phatcharanan]

Here in Chiang Mai at least I know at least 3 of the 6 international schools have expat school counselors on staff in a full time capacity. CM is very provincial, so I would really be surprised if it wasn't a more common occurrence in Bangkok.

Phatcharanan, I would disagree that an international school is overwhelmingly Thai in Thailand. I would say we have as many Korean students as we do full Thai. Of course there is always a number of half Thai students as well, but most of them take more from Western culture than Thai in my experience. I think the biggest challenge for any counselor in an international school is catering to the diverse range of cultures.

Why would an international school limit themselves to a local counselor when that person also may not understand the culture of the British/American/Australian/German/French/Russian/Korean/Chinese/Japanese/Burmese/Cambodian/Nepalese students at the school

You are probably referring to a couple of schools based on your employment or local knowledge.

The fact is that generally the vast majority of students attending international schools are local to that host country. There will always be the odd exception of course.

Most international schools are not going to hire a councelor from the UK, USA, Burma, Korea etc just to deal with that mix of student population within the same school. The financial costs alone inhibit such practices.

I would be grateful if you will PM to me the names of those schools in Chiang Mai that have qualified ex-pat councelors.

This information is always useful to know. Thanks.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Phatcharanan

[zeichen]

"students attending international schools are local to that host country"

Though I don't agree with dabloodymess. You are not correct either.

Thailand is relatively unique in the fact that the majority of students at international schools are Thais. Very few places have even an equal number of expat students. Most places even those in CM are 80% Thai students. And for argument sake I consider multi ethnic children still Thai.

China, Korea and Japan all require their international school students to have foreign passports. China makes a few exceptions but overall 90% are foreign students.

Some international schools here have a very high standard of English but many do not. So as others have stated, it would be difficult to deal with serious issues and testing in a foreign language.

Part of me wonders if those claiming that there are a lot of counselors, if they are confusing academic counselors for behavioral.

Most schools that I know of here stay far away from behavioral diagnosis. They don't even advise parents to get their children tested. Some parents would pull their kids out of the school just for being suggested to test their child.

[aidenai]

Most schools that I know of here stay far away from behavioral diagnosis. They don't even advise parents to get their children tested. Some parents would pull their kids out of the school just for being suggested to test their child.

Concur. My previous school had a nice strategy. They let me as foreigner talk to the parents as I can speak fairly Thai.

Discussing students' behavioural issues is taboo for Thai teachers and most Thai parents.

[Christapho]

Didn't expect this much feedback, thanks everyone. I should have clarified better as I think we might be lost in translation a little. In America, we have School Counselors and School Psychologists. I am interested in the former which I guess is called an Academic Counselor overseas. From my research so far, there are quite a few schools with Academic Counselors as well as jobs on the ISS site which is encouraging

[Phatcharanan]

"students attending international schools are local to that host country"

Though I don't agree with dabloodymess. You are not correct either.

Thailand is relatively unique in the fact that the majority of students at international schools are Thais. Very few places have even an equal number of expat students. Most places even those in CM are 80% Thai students. And for argument sake I consider multi ethnic children still Thai.

China, Korea and Japan all require their international school students to have foreign passports. China makes a few exceptions but overall 90% are foreign students.

Beg to diifer but my quote was 'vast majority of students.........' Your statements about Japan and Korea are incorrect. I suspect you must be an ESL teacher.

The British School of Tokyo has Japanese students. The Tianjin and Shanghai Rego schools have Chinese students. The Seoul Foreign School has Korean students where both parents hold Korean citizenship

Thailand is by far not 'relatively unique'. Have a look at the international schools in Dubai, Qatar, Saudi, Philippines, Cambodia, Nigeria and South Africa (actually most schools in Africa) etc.......... majority are local students. Even the Brit school of NY has American students and Australian students attend IB schools in Perth.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Phatcharanan

[zeichen]

"I suspect you must be an ESL teacher."

I love the arrogance of this line alone.

End of conversation. Cannot discuss things with someone who only wants to argue and be confrontational. Besides your personal experience limits your perspective and has concreted your opinion and even if I showed you the government websites that list these restrictions you would dismiss it.

[kaspercat]

Didn't expect this much feedback, thanks everyone. I should have clarified better as I think we might be lost in translation a little. In America, we have School Counselors and School Psychologists. I am interested in the former which I guess is called an Academic Counselor overseas. From my research so far, there are quite a few schools with Academic Counselors as well as jobs on the ISS site which is encouraging

If you want to be an Academic Counselor, you will mainly be dealing with how to get the kids ready to to go good universities. How are your connections with admission officers? Now the demand is not only US, but also in AUS, China and UK.

Have you consider which educational school system you will target? Many international schools here have different systems from US, UK and IB.

[Phatcharanan]

"I suspect you must be an ESL teacher."

I love the arrogance of this line alone.

End of conversation. Cannot discuss things with someone who only wants to argue and be confrontational. Besides your personal experience limits your perspective and has concreted your opinion and even if I showed you the government websites that list these restrictions you would dismiss it.

I mention the fact that you must be an ESL teacher because if you actually worked at a 'home country' international school (as an accredited teacher) then you would know that there are local students within internationals in China, Japan and Korea.

I have worked in all of those places that I mention in my previous post. On the contrary, I think it is your incorrect statements that show your limited experience.

I have sent you a PM with a link to the application page of an international school in Seoul. You should read it and then re-read those government websites.

Try to be factual please.

[Christapho]

Didn't expect this much feedback, thanks everyone. I should have clarified better as I think we might be lost in translation a little. In America, we have School Counselors and School Psychologists. I am interested in the former which I guess is called an Academic Counselor overseas. From my research so far, there are quite a few schools with Academic Counselors as well as jobs on the ISS site which is encouraging

If you want to be an Academic Counselor, you will mainly be dealing with how to get the kids ready to to go good universities. How are your connections with admission officers? Now the demand is not only US, but also in AUS, China and UK.

Have you consider which educational school system you will target? Many international schools here have different systems from US, UK and IB.

That's a great point that I need to consider and research more. I'm clueless now but would think that you'd need to be somewhat familiar with the most popular systems to become more marketable as international students (with more financial options) would probably have more diverse educational goals (ex. some might want to attend higher education in Thailand, some might want to go to school in Europe, USA etc, etc).

[Johnniey]

Yes. I know 2 American guys who have been counselers at int. Schools for about 10 years