If You Want to Teach in Italy

I knew before I came to live permanently in Trieste that there would always be work for me because I was a teacher.

What I was not prepared for was what being a teacher here would really mean. You see, in the States I had a full-time job teaching Middle School and High School French in an independent school. I had a good salary and high prestige in the community (maybe I am not supposed to admit that this is important to me, but it is).

When I decided to move here, I consciously kissed my career goodbye and told myself I would get a job doing whatever I could and look for other ways to lead a satisfying life.

It's not such a sad story. I had my dream job TWICE before I left the states and I was 30 when I moved here. Who was I to expect that could happen again? I focused instead on identifying my portable skills, learning a new language, and fitting in to my new country.

I had three months. Then I would have to work again.

When school started, I began teaching again. I have been doing it ever since. After almost 13 years here I have learned a few things that have helped (and hindered) me, and others. Hopefully others contemplating teaching in Italy will benefit.

1. Don't limit yourself.

I changed my teaching language, worked for companies, volunteered. I branched out, met lots of people and learned new skills.  This helped me diversify, which is nice in the summer when there are less teaching jobs. I supplement my income with translating, revision, and business consulting for internationalization.

2. Show your value added in the classroom. 

It is always good to negotiate your pay, of course. Know what others are making and try to get a little more if there is wiggle room and you know you are worth it.

Then be a kick-ass teacher who gets students coming back year after year. Show your value in this way and it will pay off 100 gazillion times over.

3. You will make less money than you did in America.

On the positive side, life is cheaper here, and you will have health insurance.

Making less money than your potential salary in America is a fact of life. Be ready to take jobs that pay less in the beginning if they can bring you increasing returns later, especially as you establish your reputation. Other points of value can be working for well-regarded schools with growth opportunities, access to master teachers you can learn from, and a professional environment.

4. University degrees from other countries are not recognized by Italian Institutions.

This means that you are not eligible to teach in any type of government structure, including Public Schools, unless you go through a long and expensive process of having your degrees officially “recognized” by the Italian University system. This usually means a lot of bureaucracy and having to take more classes to meet Italian requirements. The good news is that, strangely, the University does recognize foreign degrees in certain cases, so I have taught at the University, but could never get a job at a public school of any level below that.

5. If you are a native speaker you can teach. To survive, you have to teach well and be a good colleague. 

Outside of public competitions for small teaching contracts (teaching a class at the university, doing a few hours of conversation in the public schools, that type of thing), as long as you are a native speaker, no one cares what you studied or how much teaching experience you have. This can be good news for people wanting to break into the teaching business.

Be warned, however, that the volume of work you get will directly correlate to how well you get along with the people giving you the work and the students you teach. Both relationships are important. I have found that you must think long-term. By the way, a huge source of work is other teachers. Be good to them. 

6. The skinny on getting hired. 

Permanent contracts in private or international schools have their pros and cons. Some international schools pay relatively well but the contract will have a limited duration of 2 years, after which your status changes from “researcher” to permanent employee and costs more fiscally, so it is cheaper to bring in someone new. Teachers who take these jobs tend to have student loans to pay back home, so continuing just isn’t feasible anyway, so this is not always a bad thing. Other schools here hire teachers as locals and the pay is about half of what you can make if you are freelance. Again, for some people, security is the key factor.

7. To teach legally you have to be legal.

Assuming you are allowed to work in Italy because you have all of your documents in order, you have three choices. Get a contract with a school, work as an occasional worker (max 5,000 gross per year, all clients considered, no more than 30 days in one place), or open a VAT number and operate like a one-person business.

Here is what is not legal: working and getting paid in cash. Many people do this and get away with it, but as a teacher in general, you are in a position of trust and accordingly held to a higher standard. If you work in cash you are opening yourself up to being treated like the hired help. You are not considered a professional. Prestige-wise it is about as low on the ladder as you can get.   

8. Opening a VAT number means taking responsibility and has the biggest pay-off

Prestige-wise, opening a VAT is the way to go, but it is not for everyone. Taxes are high, and so are your expenses with a local accountant. That being said, there are VAT “regimes” to benefit young people, and/or people who make less than 30.000 euros in a year, so there are ways to get the most out of it. This was the route I chose and I have never regretted it. The important thing is to always overestimate how much you have to pay in taxes. I tell myself I will have to pay 50% in taxes (even though I pay a bit less) so that I always have enough set aside to cover my taxes. 

9. Teaching in a foreign country is cool, but get the info first.

Teaching English in a foreign country can open up new worlds for you. The important thing is to make sure you know what you are getting into. Keep your expectations low so you don't get disappointed and live a simple life and you can't go wrong.

My working life is rich, varied and satisfying. My two worlds have finally come together to create something better than the sum of their parts. It took a hell of a long time, though, and I had to take some risks. Some worked out, others didn't but overall I am happy.

10. If this is the way you want to go, be patient and pick up a few hobbies to keep you sane.