Paid Master's Abroad as a Teacher

This is similar to my other post in that I wanted to share a cool opportunity I had and imagine others would enjoy. I'm not a rep for the program, and while I'm not teaching at the moment this post isn't about leaving teaching.

I'll share a short outline of my experience, and folks are welcome to ask questions in the comments if I can help.

I completed a fully funded MPhil in Education at the University of Cambridge, with a year off from teaching.

I applied to the program and for funding at the same time. The bulk of my funding came from the Rotary International Global Grant Scholarship. While it isn't just for teaching, three of the six of us at Cambridge were teachers. GGS requires an application through a local Rotary club. You will have to fill out an application with several essays, present your request for funding to your local club, and if accepted, go through a multi stage interview process. The GGS funds international studies only (but in most any country), not local, and there must be a humanitarian purpose-- for instance, I wanted to learn to create multicultural reading programs.

I received funding from the college at Cambridge as well, but I did also end up adding about 10k of my own funds for the year of school, because Cambridge is expensive! The college helped me find housing, set up medical system access, find a doctor/ dentist etc for the year, and set up lots of amazing socials (there is a ton of info available on Cambridge colleges, so I won't go into it here).

During the year, the coursework was intensive- usually 8-10 books a week of reading, plus research training and school observations, and a few classes. Access to several dozen libraries open 24/7 definitely eased the pain though! I also designed and carried out my own research project, and submitted two large essays and a dissertation to complete the course.

The education department at Cambridge assigns you a supervisor, like with US programs, and mine was wonderful and very supportive. There are also lots of things to do outside the degree program that I would say were at least as valuable as the program itself, like speakers, panels, events to meet other international teachers, school visits, model lessons, and so on. I was challenged and in great company the whole time.

I didn't bother with a car while abroad, and the visa rules for US citizens made it easy for family and friends to visit while I was away.

I negotiated a one year sabbatical with my district that did not require a binding contract to return, btw.

Overall, this was a difficult but great experience. It radically changed the way I understood teaching in the US and in general, and changed my approach to my classroom practices.