{"id":2205,"date":"2014-07-07T00:27:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T23:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2023-05-09T14:29:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T13:29:37","slug":"visiting-international-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/visiting-international-schools","title":{"rendered":"Visiting international schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visiting potential partner schools and meeting with Heads face-to-face is a crucial element of how Teacher Horizons operates.<\/h4>\n

Planning these visits tends to go something along the lines of \u201c\u2026where should we go next? Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Cape Town, Hanoi, Sri Lanka, Madrid, Amsterdam?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhich of these would you like to take Alex, Alexis, Eldon?\u201d (Teacher Horizons\u2019 Recruitment Advisers)\"John<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can cover all of these locations\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow John, where can you go? Iraq, Russia, Azerbaijan perhaps?\u201d<\/p>\n

John Regan is a former International School Head and CEO of Teacher Horizons.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wait a minute, I think to myself \u2013 surely these are areas with current political problems? \u2013 would it not be dangerous to visit! I suppose I was the natural choice given that my last posting was in Cairo during the Revolution of 2011!<\/p>\n

And so it was decided \u2013 John can handle it. But, just to even things out, we\u2019ll also task him with visiting schools in Portugal, Germany and Romania!<\/p>\n

All of these trips were wonderful \u2013 bar none. Let\u2019s look at three of these. I visited Erbil (Iraq) and Baku (Azerbaijan) in December 2013. The Heads were welcoming and I was most impressed by their schools. Erbil was fascinating and there was no hint of tension. The school and the package were excellent, and the teachers\u2019 accommodation most impressive. At the time of writing this, however, the situation in the region is somewhat worrying.<\/p>\n\"Baku\n

I was pleasantly surprised by Baku. I found a rapidly developing city by the Caspian Sea. In spite of political tensions in the west of the country, Baku was not affected at all. I also visited Moscow in May 2014 amid the political upheaval in Ukraine. For the third time, my children pleaded with me not to go ahead with the visit because of the perceived danger. Yet again, there was no problem. Yet again, I met some great Heads and visited some excellent schools.<\/p>\n

What did I learn from these visits?<\/h4>\n