Since I have not had much luck this hiring season, I can't help but ruminate on the reasons why: in my case, too much experience, advanced degrees, too expensive (I suspect). Also, I have been working at a Catholic school for the past five years. I have not given it much thought, since I keep my certification current and my public school teaching years outnumber my catholic school experience. But I wonder - is parochial school experience frowned upon when applying to public schools? Am I "tainted?"
I don't think so. Our district (public) just hired someone with 5 years experience at a Catholic school. As long as you do your homework in researching challenges/issues currently facing public schools before your interviews, you should be fine.
I don't think so. As the previous poster mentioned, just make sure that you are up-to-date on the current issues and trends in education.
I don't think so, either. My husband's school hired a teacher who had taught for a few years at a Catholic school. She was hands-down the top candidate. Good teaching is good teaching.
I don't think that public schools would look down on private school experience. It might be true, however, that public schools prefer public experience, particularly since testing and accountability are so important these days. Private school experience probably doesn't take away anything from a resume, but it might not add to a resume in the same way that public school experience would, either.
Most of my experience has been in a public school setting, and I am sure to point that out during interviews and in cover letters. I do keep abreast of public Ed issues, and consider myself more informed than average. I applied for six or seven positions and had three interviews, one of which went to round two and a demo. I guess that's not bad, but things seem a lot harder than my last time out on the job hunt. There are usually very few applicants for the positions I apply to. Unfortunately, I have run out of openings to apply for...
So your parochial experience isn't holding you back from interviews...maybe you need to polish your 'sales pitch'.
I think I interview pretty well, I am just not what they want at the moment. The positions I have missed out on have gone to beginners. I am suspecting a money thing. ...of course, it's also possible that I suck.
