Irish teachers seek better paid jobs in Middle East and Asia

Rising numbers of Irish teachers seeking better pay and conditions are choosing to move abroad for work, with hundreds set to travel to the Middle East and Asia this autumn.

More than 200 teachers, at both primary and secondary level, are set to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this September after finding work abroad through overseas recruitment company Teach & Explore.

Garrett O'Dowd, co-founder of the company, says applications for positions in schools in places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, China and South Korea are "through the roof".

Mr O’Dowd, who set up the recruitment company while teaching in Abu Dhabi in 2013, says increasing numbers of people in their late 20s and early 30s are choosing to work abroad so they can save for a mortgage on a home.

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“The word has gotten out about the tax-free salaries in the Middle East. It’s a good opportunity to sharpen your skills and meet teachers from other countries. We have applications from people mainly in their late 20s/early 30s, like couples who are saving for a house,” he said.

Primary school teacher Rebecca McLaughlin (24) from Stillorgan in Dublin is moving to Dubai in August where she will earn an additional €1,000 per month in her new job in an English-speaking British curriculum school.

Ms McLaughlin has been working at a school in Dublin since graduating in 2015 and plans to travel over with two friends.

"Typically their salary scale kind of starts, it would be about €200 more a month, but then you can earn up to a lot more," she told The Irish Times. "We've been offered €1,000 more a month than what I'm getting here."

She said: “Most of the schools require around two years’ experience. If you go over straight out of college, you might be earning around the same but bear in mind it’s tax free and you’re not paying rent so technically it is more.”

Ms McLaughlin said accommodation is paid for her by the school, while health insurance and annual flights home are also looked after.

“There’s such an atmosphere of tension in the teaching community here because newly qualified teachers are doing the same work and sometimes more than other teachers and they have the newest methods of teaching and they would be really enthusiastic,” she said.

“There’s a lack of jobs and career progression, some schools are giving teachers temporary contracts. Whereas in the UAE everyone’s paid equally and there’s a scale and there’s a better quality of life.”

House deposit

John O'Heney (27) from west Tipperary is also moving to the Middle East where he hopes to save for a deposit on a house in Ireland.

“It’s just the wages we’re on are not great. I suppose every teacher that came out after 2011 and 2012, they’ve had to take a massive pay cut in comparison to the older teachers. From working for two years I don’t have enough saved to get a deposit for a house,” he said.

“I just feel I’d probably save more over there in two years than I would in ten years here. It’s not that I want to go, I’ve got very good roots in the community, I’m involved in local committees and I played a lot of sports over the years.

“It’s not ideal for me to go but I just feel if I went for a year or two, I could come back and I’d be in a better position financially to maybe get a deposit for a house or maybe get a site for a house.

“They’ve offered us flights over, a tax-free wage and accommodation, free rent and health insurance - so you’re given the complete package really. If you can last two years over there, you can come back with close to €20,000, if you’re lucky, in savings,” he said.

“Trying to put away €20,000 on the current wages for young teachers here is next to impossible. You have to look at the future and say ‘well do I want to live at home with the parents for the next ten years or do you want to be financially independent?’”

Primary school teacher Eoin Reilly (27) has decided to take a career break from his permanent teaching role at a south Dublin school and is moving to Abu Dhabi in August.

“I’m taking a career break and going over for the experience,” he said. “If I could go back I’d do it about three or four years earlier but I was playing a lot of sport and that so I decided I’d head over this year.”

Mr Reilly hopes to save money while in Abu Dhabi as his accommodation and health insurance will be paid for by the school.

"The price of living in Dublin is just crazy at the moment. I'm living in Kimmage and I'm just getting by. I'm not actually saving anything at all."

Mr Reilly, who graduated from college in 2011, said many of his classmates have been living in Abu Dhabi for the last two years.

He said: “I’m looking forward it, especially the warmer climate. I hate the cold so I’m looking forward not to being freezing the whole time.”

“I signed a contract for two years but after one year I can break it and come home if I want or I can stay out there longer depending on how I like it.”