by Kelly Blackwell

Currently there is a shortage of experienced teachers to fill key jobs in the United Kingdom. This could be your opportunity to springboard your teaching career into the international school sector.

If you are looking at getting yourself a teaching job abroad at an international school but have not yet been able to land a contract, you could sneak your way in through the back door.

In nearly every country in the world you can find an international school that offers the British National Curriculum. All of these schools are looking for teachers with recent experience teaching in the UK.

With recent experience teaching the British examination courses for GCSE (Grade 9) and A-Levels (Grade 12), you will have a resume that recruiters for British schools will be very interested in and they will be lining up to interview you. The same follows for elementary school teachers who are familiar with the key stages set out in the UK National Curriculum.

Search Associates, one of the largest recruitment organisations dealing with international schools even has a separate branch that specialises in placing teachers with UK experience in British International schools.

I recently interviewed an American teacher who launched her career in international schools after a year spent teaching the British National Curriculum at a grammar school just west of London. Since then she has gone on to teach in 3 international schools in 2 countries that offered the UK curriculum. She has now spent more time teaching the British curriculum than the American one she originally trained for!

Teaching in the UK has many benefits, it can be a clever way to ease yourself into living and working overseas. Even though it is a country that may seem quite similar to your own and they may speak the same language as you, you will experience culture shock, and hopefully enjoy learning its eccentricities.

Additionally, while you are in the UK acquiring the experience to launch yourself into international school teaching, you can take advantage of the UK's proximity to Europe and the plethora of low-cost airlines that have sprung up in recent years.

When you are ready to apply for your first international school teaching position you will be able to attend one or more of the job fairs run by Search Associates and ECIS and held in London each year. Many international schools interested in employing educators with UK experience attend these job fairs in London.

When I attended a job fair in London, after teaching in the UK for three years, I had 13 schools wanting to interview me. I could have got a teaching job in the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Qatar, France, the Netherlands, China, Hong Kong or Thailand. I chose Thailand and I've been here for 3 years now.

You can check out what vacancies there are in British schools right now by searching for jobs in your specialism on the TES Jobs website. This is the one stop shop for all vacancies in England. You can also find a definitive list of jobs in international schools in their database as well!

For visa requirements, check out the website for the British Embassy in your country. If you are a young teacher, make sure you look to see if the UK offers working holiday visas to people in your country, you can apply for one of those without having to get a job first. If you already have a visa you are going to be even more attractive to school principals!

Whether you're looking for a teaching job in the UK or in an international school, The Complete Guide to Securing a Job in an International School is full of insider secrets to ensure your success! Get your FREE copy of Escape the Rat Race - Teach Overseas today,available exclusively from TeachOverseas.info.