Why Hire an Intern
Hire an intern. Shape a career. Strengthen your school.
Hiring an intern is an investment in the future of international education, and in the future of your own school.
Intern hires are early in their careers, but the value they bring to your classrooms and your community is real. Schools that build interns into their recruiting see the returns clearly: fresh energy in the classroom, a potential pipeline of future teachers who already know your school, and the chance to help shape the next generation of international educators from the very beginning of their careers.
WHAT TO EXPECT
What an Internship Position Looks Like
Every school designs its own program, but most share a common shape. Each internship is a one year paid position at an international school in our network.
All internships include a salary, housing, and airfare, with additional benefits that vary by school and region. Salaries are set at a level appropriate to an early career educator and are lower than a standard teacher salary.
Interns are placed in a classroom role and supported by experienced colleagues. Beyond their primary classroom responsibilities, they often step in wherever a school needs them across the year: coaching, substitute teaching, supervising school projects, helping with extracurricular programs, and contributing to the wider life of the community.
That adaptability is part of what makes an internship position work for schools of different sizes and at different stages of their own development.
Who Our Intern Candidates Are
Our intern pool comes in many different forms, and that range is part of what makes it strong.
Some candidates are recent undergraduates with a bachelor’s degree in hand and no formal teaching certification yet. Some have completed a master’s in education and are ready to step into the classroom. Others have a current or pending teaching license and are using the internship year to begin their international careers.
What they share matters more than what sets them apart. Every intern candidate in our network is screened by our team through the same process we use for every educator seeking membership. They are motivated, adaptable, and driven by a genuine love of working with children and a real desire to teach abroad. They are ready to contribute from day one.
What Hiring an Intern Can Mean for Your School
A Potential Pipeline for Your Teaching Team
Some of the strongest hires your school will ever make are people who have already worked inside it. When an intern thrives and an opening becomes available, bringing them on as a full teacher can be a natural next step. It is not guaranteed. It is not expected. But when it happens, it often works. Schools gain a hire with a year of institutional knowledge, established relationships, and a proven fit that no interview process can fully replicate. For schools thinking ahead about their teaching talent, an intern is a meaningful way to build toward the future.
Fresh Energy and New Ideas in the Classroom
Interns bring something that is difficult to quantify but easy to feel: current training, genuine enthusiasm, and the kind of energy that reshapes a classroom. Many arrive with recent exposure to new pedagogies, emerging research, and fresh approaches to inclusion and student wellbeing. They ask questions that challenge assumptions and offer a viewpoint that can sharpen the practice of even the most experienced teams.
A Meaningful Contribution to the Profession
Hiring an intern is a way of giving back to international education. Every experienced international educator started somewhere, and most can point to a school or a mentor who took a chance on them early on. By opening the door to a new educator, your school becomes part of that same tradition. You are not just filling a role. You are helping shape the next generation of teachers and leaders who will serve international school communities for decades to come.
Adaptable Support Across Your School
An intern is not a substitute for a qualified teacher, and the role is not designed that way. What an intern hire can do is add capacity and real flexibility to your team at a cost that makes sense for the stage of the educator you are bringing on. Interns fill gaps, take on coaching and extracurricular responsibilities, and step in where support is needed most. For schools that have wanted to expand co teaching models, offer additional small group support, or build more flexibility across a grade level, an intern can be a practical way forward.
What Schools Are Expected to Provide
Every school designs its own internship program, but our member schools share a common commitment to making the year meaningful, safe, and well supported from start to finish.
When you hire an intern through our network, you commit to the following:
- A salaried position for the full one year contract.
- Housing and airfare, consistent with standard practice in international internship positions.
- Mentorship from an experienced educator or team, with regular check ins across the year.
- A clearly defined role with real responsibilities.
- The same standards of child protection and safer recruitment that apply to every hire at your school.
Beyond these core commitments, schools are encouraged to design their programs in ways that reflect their own culture and needs. Our Intern Coordinator is available to talk through what that can look like at your school.
WE'RE HERE TO HELP
Our network includes aspiring educators from across the world, screened, prepared, and ready to contribute. Whether you are hiring your first intern or exploring the idea, we are here.
Interested in Learning More About Our Internship Program?
Brian Lettinga, our Intern Coordinator, is here to help.