When Ben Drury was teaching at a New Zealand primary school, he was stressed, working at the weekends and “chasing his tail” in the evenings.
After more than a decade in the classroom, friends started heading overseas to teach – and Drury followed suit, first to Singapore and then to Korea.
Six years into teaching abroad, he has no plans to move back.
With accommodation, annual flights home and private school tuition for his kids covered, it was a “pretty good gig”, he said.
On top of that, his salary was enough for his wife to be a stay-at-home mum.
“There’s no way we could have done that in New Zealand,” he said.
While the lifestyle perks are attractive, it’s the shift in workload that has proved the real point of difference.
In Korea, Drury gets about six hours of time away from his class every week.
Back home in New Zealand, he got two days a term – or the equivalent of one hour a week.
“Do I feel less stressed where I am now? Yes, for sure.”