You may have already picked up on this, as I alluded to it in a previous post and wrote about it on Twitter as well. The latest update on my life is that after this school year is over, I will not be working anymore at my current job. On Wednesday I was told that I will be let go due to insufficient budget to give me a permanent contract. This means that I am looking for a new job starting in August/ September as of right now. In other words: it’s back to the drawing board for me and I have already started looking for new employers.
Source: weheartit.com
As a matter of fact, I already went to two job interviews in the past week. The news of being without a job in a few months didn’t hit me unexpected. I knew since the start of the school year that I could be told that I would be let go some time this year. I also knew that I wasn’t going to sit around and wait with applying to jobs until my management team gave me a definitive answer. That is why I’ve been scouring application websites for months now and finally interesting jobs have started to pop up. I have already been getting back into the swing of writing letters and applying to jobs and slowly but surely this has started to pay off. Apart from the two places I visited in the past week, I also sent out a letter to another one and I’m really hoping that either one of these will work out.
I am not all that worried that I won’t be able to find anything. There is a shortage of teachers in the Netherlands to begin with and there’s a few subjects where the need for teachers is the biggest. With English being one of those subjects I know that I could have a different job tomorrow if necessary. Of course I would like to try to find a job that is at least similar or a step up from what I’m doing right now. As I still have a few months left I am focusing on finding that first and if all else fails I already have a few ideas on how I may even be able to work as a freelance teacher or go back to teaching secondary school. I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time before I find a cool new job. My contract expires in August, so I hope to find something before the summer vacation in July.
Teaching jobs are my main focus during my search. Jobs in different fields are not applicable because I am restricted by a grant which I receive for doing my Master’s. There is a special grant for teachers who would like to go back to school and one condition I have to fulfill in order to keep on receiving the grant is to work in education for at least one year after graduation. Since I hope to graduate some time next year, I would need another teaching job for at least another 2 years. Of course, if I find something I really like and where I can stay on, I may want to do it for longer than that.
Again, I’m not torn because of this. The only thing that ‘bothers’ me is the fact that I really feel like the school where I work right now is perfect for me. We have a lot of freedom to think about teaching and what it is we would like to do and I know for a fact that is something that isn’t always the case. I like the job. I like my colleagues. The cooperation within my team is good. The students are great and I feel that this year I have really found my niche within the organization. It would take time to find that again in a new job, not to mention the fact that I will leave a considerable gap where I work now. I was appointed team leader a few months ago and now they will have to find someone else again.
One thing I know for sure is that I will miss the place. I really enjoy teaching there and I would have liked staying on for a few more years to gain some more experience in team leadership. However, it obviously wasn’t meant to be. The news is slowly making its way to my colleagues and most of them really feel for me. I just hope that I will be able to find something in the next few weeks. Most teaching jobs are put on the market in April/ May and that is when most people start looking for teaching jobs. I hope to find something before everyone else starts looking and I hope to find something fun and challenging too.
So, if you are in The Netherlands and know of any places where they need teachers of English, communication skills, communication theory or anything else that seems interesting: then please keep me in the back of your head.
6 responses to “Back to the drawing board…”
I hope you find something soon hun, it’s tough out there!
Yup. Recession has hit here too. But I have good hopes. And if all else fails I could always go into unemployment while still looking for the perfect job.
Do you get support/money whilst your unemployed there?
Yep, but only when I can’t find anything else. And only when my contract expires, which isn’t until late August. So I have plenty of time to find something else.
Don’t worry! You teach and right now the new applications arrive at the schools, so every headmaster is looking around for new teachers. And they need loads of them! Almost every subject shows a shortage on teachers, except my own… history 🙁
Modern languages (German, English and French, in that order) have almost no teachers left, nor have the classics, even Dutch is getting rather difficult. Worse, no one seems interested and to top it all, Leiden University closes its specialties in French, Italian en Portugese (or Spanish), so that’s one way to make sure there will never be enough teachers anymore.
Economics, physics and chemistry has been a problem for ages. Most of the teacher don’t even have a teaching degree (you’re lucky they read the subject they teach at all!).
Well… enough complaints, those will not make it any better. I hope my school gets enough new students because over 200 are leaving this year after their final exams and the Dutch population is shrinking faster than ever.
I know! That’s why I’m not too worried about it.