| Police clearance certificates are as important to | | | | the police in the country you’ve been teaching in. |
| international teachers as their passports. Why? | | | | This is important! When you’re teaching abroad |
| Without a police clearance certificate many countries | | | | it’s important you maintain an unbroken chain of |
| will not allow teachers to work with children. | | | | police clearance certificates or the equivalent. |
| The clearance certificate goes by many different | | | | Should you eventually desire to return home and pick |
| names; what you’re looking for is an official | | | | up your teaching career there, you’ll need to supply |
| document that records any convictions on your criminal | | | | the clearance certificates you’ve collected whilst |
| record. Regardless of whether you have any | | | | working abroad. A consequence of not being able to |
| convictions or not, you will be required to produce | | | | produce a record of your conviction history could be |
| official evidence that your record is clear. | | | | that you’re unable to continue working in the |
| If you record is not clear you may still be able to teach | | | | education industry as a teacher when you return |
| abroad, but you will need to find out which countries will | | | | home. |
| grant you a work permit with the convictions you have. | | | | Information for NZ, Australia, the UK and the USA |
| More rigorous background checks for foreign teachers | | | | In NZ you can get a copy of your Criminal Record |
| applying to work in Thailand have been put in place | | | | from the Ministry of Justice by contacting the Privacy |
| because of a recent high profile arrest of an American | | | | Unit of the Ministry of Justice in Wellington. |
| teacher by American immigration officers in August | | | | In the USA you can get a ‘Criminal Record |
| 2006. The teacher was taken back to the States for | | | | Check’ from the local police. This will only cover the |
| questioning in a murder investigation. | | | | state in which you live, so if you’ve lived in a |
| Once you’ve obtained your police clearance | | | | number of different states in recent time, then you |
| certificate, take it with you when you move overseas. | | | | should apply to the local police in those states as well. |
| It’s one of those important documents you should | | | | In the UK you can apply for a ‘Subject Access |
| always be able to lay your hands on. A clearance | | | | – Conviction History,” which is a record of any |
| certificate is one of my top 10 things to take when | | | | convictions you have, from your local police station. |
| moving abroad. You’ll need to have the original with | | | | This is the document that you can obtain yourself |
| you; it’s not one of the documents you can carry in | | | | under the privacy laws. Your other option, if you are |
| digital format. | | | | currently employed, is to ask your employer to request |
| When you are nearing the end of you first overseas | | | | a Criminal Records Bureau check, which involves a |
| teaching contract start making enquiries about what | | | | more rigorous search of your record. |
| you need to do to obtain a clearance certificate from | | | | |