Pros and cons of teaching overseas

Teaching overseas could be a great opportunity for some people who like to explore different places and get accustomed to the culture, but it does have some drawbacks.

Before getting into the benefits and drawbacks, let’s take a look at why some may want to teach overseas. According to TIC Recruitment “Teachers choose to work internationally for a number of reasons. The main motivations are travel and cultural exploration (72%) and enjoyment and challenge (62%). Other contributing factors include salary (49%), career growth (47%) and dissatisfaction with the home education system (42%).”

Some benefits of teaching abroad include cultural awareness, adaptability, and gaining more experience in traveling and teaching. CIEE states that “Teaching abroad is an opportunity to experience another culture and see the world in a way no tourist can.”

Even though people may be unfamiliar with the place at first, once they settle down, it’ll feel like being right at home. That ties into another benefit, adaptability.

When moving to new places, a person may feel a bit out of place or even a bit homesick, but those are normal feelings. Moving and getting a job at a foreign place teaches individuals how to adapt to the new environment and helps with similar situations.

The most rewarding benefit, however, is being able to gain more experience in traveling and teaching. When teaching abroad, people learn how different the curriculum is in other countries, and this can broaden their skill set when deciding to teach in different countries.

There are, of course, some drawbacks to teaching abroad, including feeling homesick, culture shock, and not fitting in entirely. While being homesick is a normal emotion we all feel when traveling, it may be 10x worse when a person realizes that returning home may not be an option until there is an extended break.

Culture shock is definitely another one drawback, although it can be very exciting to see how different the new culture is from home. Sometimes it may be a bit shocking seeing or doing things that are unfamiliar.

Not fitting in entirely is a big drawback, too. When one goes to teach in another country, that person is usually still considered a foreigner, but the pressure is short-lived. Teachers from the United States may get treated differently by co-workers or people just because of that fact that they are not from the country they are in, but this can also be a way of connecting those teachers to others.

Sometimes fear discourages people from trying new things, but an opportunity to teach far from home can be an eye-opening experience and can be something to talk about for a lifetime, even if one chooses not to pursue teaching.