# Employment: What salary scale should I aim for?



## Martyn1980 (Feb 1, 2016)

Hi everyone. First post here.

My wife and I are planning to move from the UK out to Dubai next Summer with our two young children. She is a Maths teacher, and I will be following dutifully behind in the hope of either securing employment upon arrival or prior to departure.

I have a degree in Special Needs Education but am not a qualified teacher. I have eight years experience in a high school as a head of house and another three years in a children' home. I have read plenty plenty of vacancies that I believe I can fill, but I am wondering what sort of salary range I should be looking to achieve with my level of experience/qualifications.

I am willing to work within any educational setting, as a TA, counsellor etc. Any advice would be very valuable to me. Many thanks.
Martyn


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Schools quite often recruit TAs or admin staff from amongst parents (often westerners are 'desirable', seems especially UK and US nationals for those schools respectively) - those roles often pay between 4-7k for work in school hours and term time only.

If I were you I'd be looking to earn anywhere from 8-15k in a non - teaching specialist role that uses your skills and experience - counsellor, student welfare, some schools may employ learning support or SEN coordinators without QTS. House masters positions at schools like Repton might be a possibility, and student counsellor or activity coordinator roles in higher ed colleges and universities usually pay support staff better than schools and might offer some benefits.

In a lot of cases you'll be looking at local hire jobs that most likely won't include housing or other allowances except visa and medical if needed, but hopefully your wife's job covers housing and any school places or discount.

There's very little in terms of social care or young people/community services here.

Good luck


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## Martyn1980 (Feb 1, 2016)

Racing_Goats said:


> Schools quite often recruit TAs or admin staff from amongst parents (often westerners are 'desirable', seems especially UK and US nationals for those schools respectively) - those roles often pay between 4-7k for work in school hours and term time only.
> 
> If I were you I'd be looking to earn anywhere from 8-15k in a non - teaching specialist role that uses your skills and experience - counsellor, student welfare, some schools may employ learning support or SEN coordinators without QTS. House masters positions at schools like Repton might be a possibility, and student counsellor or activity coordinator roles in higher ed colleges and universities usually pay support staff better than schools and might offer some benefits.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for taking the time to put that reply together, it's given me a lot to think about and all of the jobs you mention are high on my desirability list. You mention 'local hire jobs' - presumably this refers to positions that are not advertised internationally? If this is the case, could you maybe suggest local sites that would post such vacancies? Thanks again, Martyn.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

With your experience I'd think outside the box and look for a management position, perhaps heading up the Special needs division of Dubai's KHDA - or, if I were you I'd look at Abu Dhabi's too. You can then bring Western Standards of Education to a much maligned section of the education system here - yes you'd be working with Emirati Schools (not the private sector schools), but that would enable you to make a real difference here - and you will be well paid for it too - double what was mentioned above and Government benefits.

This is a big thing for Emiratis - special needs - as proportionally there are more of such kids in Emirati households than there are in Expats.

Just a thought.


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Martyn1980 said:


> Thank you so much for taking the time to put that reply together, it's given me a lot to think about and all of the jobs you mention are high on my desirability list. You mention 'local hire jobs' - presumably this refers to positions that are not advertised internationally? If this is the case, could you maybe suggest local sites that would post such vacancies? Thanks again, Martyn.


No worries: local hire usually refers to jobs looking for UAE residents and are paid as lump sum salary and without extra housing, flight or relocation allowances.

Websites - gulf talent used to be ok, the other website for lady expats.. has some of the education local hire jobs sometimes, edarabia is another decent website for education specific job listings, dubizzle for the agencies who don't want to pay bigger fees..

The school and university websites themselves will be useful - look at Taaleem, GEMS' schools, Repton and other boarding type schools, and the international recruitment agencies working with uae schools - teachaway, footprints, etc.

Special needs or ASN here is usually delivered within a relatively small number of govt funded institutions or private companies - most seem to use US methods and models and ABA experience appears to be the normal requirement - worth looking into but it sounds like that's not particularly your sector post study?

The job market here often presents opportunities for changing career and you can find a lot of smaller companies are keen to find and hire people that aren't numpties regardless of background.

The British Embassy website occasionally has openings for UK citizens to work in various departments on local hire basis, visa clearance or consular services mostly - not the best paid but a structured and quite social environment and working hours are good for those with kids in school: 730-230pm.

For all the above networking or direct contact via LinkedIn and similar sites is often more productive than adding your cv to the 100s that apply to anything advertised online - don't pay the extra fees on some sites to get to the front of the applocation queue..


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## Martyn1980 (Feb 1, 2016)

The Rascal said:


> With your experience I'd think outside the box and look for a management position, perhaps heading up the Special needs division of Dubai's KHDA - or, if I were you I'd look at Abu Dhabi's too. You can then bring Western Standards of Education to a much maligned section of the education system here - yes you'd be working with Emirati Schools (not the private sector schools), but that would enable you to make a real difference here - and you will be well paid for it too - double what was mentioned above and Government benefits.
> 
> This is a big thing for Emiratis - special needs - as proportionally there are more of such kids in Emirati households than there are in Expats.
> 
> Just a thought.


Thanks Rascal. As my wife will be seeking Maths teaching positions within an International School, this is the only avenue that I have considered for myself. Working with Emirati's really appeals to me however, and I have had a look at the Dubai KHDA website and will register my interest nearer the time.

Thanks again.


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## Martyn1980 (Feb 1, 2016)

Racing_Goats said:


> No worries: local hire usually refers to jobs looking for UAE residents and are paid as lump sum salary and without extra housing, flight or relocation allowances.
> 
> Websites - gulf talent used to be ok, the other website for lady expats.. has some of the education local hire jobs sometimes, edarabia is another decent website for education specific job listings, dubizzle for the agencies who don't want to pay bigger fees..
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your insights and advice, I am extremely grateful. It seems as though I was really only considering the International School route, and in the process potentially ruled myself out of many other employment sources. I will look at each of these avenues closely.

One thing that does concern me slightly is that until my wife secures employment, we will not know the location of our apartment. This may potentially prevent me from applying for positions until later. How easy is it to to live and work in different parts of the city? I have visited Dubai before, but obviously living there full time is a lot different. How is the bus system, Metro etc.? We will hopefully purchase a car, but should my wife require it for her commute, I need to think of public transport alternatives.

I know that is digressing from the original topic, but any further help would be gratefully received. Thanks again guys.


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## Emaroyds (Apr 18, 2011)

Hi Martyn 

Fingers crossed you make it to Dubai, it would be great add more experience to the SEN melting pot.
Speaking from experience, the KHDA require you to have a teaching qualification to hold a position as a learning support teacher - although some schools would work around it by changing the job title, so as to be able to employ someone with your obvious experience and skill set.
You could take a position as an LSA, but you may feel this falls short of what your capable of.
I'm not sure whether the KHDA would offer advisory positions as was suggested previously, without the QTS, but you can certainly reference their inspection reports to get a sense of which schools have effective SEN departments that might be of interest to you.
In recent years the UAE has really raised the profile of SEN and are pushing to ensure that schools are inclusive, with the appropriate systems in place to support students with SEN.
This still looks very different from school to school, but things are definitely heading in the right direction.
Best wishes in your search, from one SEN 'enthusiast' to another!!


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