Going on another ILP semester as a Head Teacher means you get that experience all over again, with some big perks (like having your ILP program fee waived!). If you're wondering how that works as a married couple (with you both as Head Teachers or just one of you), you're in the right place.
We get a lot of questions about wanting to Head Teach while you're married, and for good reason! Once you volunteer with ILP once, we would love for you to come back for another semester as a Head Teacher. You can read a bit more about what a Head Teacher does here, but one of the biggest perks is the price: Head Teachers get their program fee waived, plus get a stipend to use for their semester. That essentially means that ILP is paying for your international flight and your housing (plus more) for 3-4 months.
Pretty huge right? After volunteering with ILP and loving it, I ended up doing 3 more trips with ILP to 3 more countries I had never been to, but this time as a Head Teacher. That meant I could do so much more traveling and it was so affordable because I had my program fee waived (plus got a stipend while I was abroad).
Not sure what an ILP Head Teacher does exactly?
Learn more here
If you are wanting to do the Head Teacher thing and are also married now, we have the info you're looking for. There are a few scenarios for how it could work out, so let's see which path works best for you!
In this case, you'll need to teach at a school where ILP has two Head Teachers in one group. This is a bit trickier because we usually only have a couple of locations where we assign more than one Head Teacher.
Essentially how it works is that one Head Teacher can typically handle the workload of overseeing a group of up to around 15ish volunteers, so we usually only assign two Head Teachers to one location when we have larger groups (that are around 20-30 or so volunteers).
We usually do have at least one group per semester with more than one Head Teacher, but Head Teacher spots are a bit limited already, and needing to go to a spot with two Head Teachers limits your options even more.
Where Can We Go?
The Dominican Republic is a good option! Our program here is growing and we typically have a large volunteer group that requires more than one Head Teacher. Sometimes we have a large group headed to Uganda as well, so that could be a location that has two Head Teachers, but not always.
At the end of the day, just talk to us during your Head Teacher interview (during the application process) and we can let you know what options you have for your particular semester because it does change from semester to semester.
Head Teachers have their program fee waived and also receive a stipend which really helps with in-country spending. So if you are both assigned to a Head Teacher position, that would be the case for both of you!
To be a Head Teacher, we give preference to applicants who have previous experience as an ILP volunteer, but it's not a requirement.
We often have married couples who are in a situation where one person has volunteered with ILP before and now wants to take their spouse with them to have the experience together. We love that! If we don't have an open position for you to both be a Head Teacher, we recommend applying so that one of you is a Head Teacher and the other is a volunteer (more on that below).
This is a much more common situation, simply because we have more locations where we only have one Head Teacher spot for the group.
If you're a married couple, going this route gives you many more location options. Certain schools aren't going to be an option just because we may not have housing that is set up to accommodate a couple — you can read more about which spots are a good setup for married couples, but you have your pick of countries across the world!
Just like we mentioned before, Head Teachers get their program fee waived and receive a personal spending stipend.
For their spouse who is assigned to a volunteer position, it depends on the program (or country) you're going to!
For Exchange programs — your spouse will have their program fee waived, but will not receive the Head Teacher spending stipend.
For Humanitarian programs — your spouse will have the same program fee that a volunteer is typically responsible for. The program fee is a bit different depending on the country you go to. See more here, but most Humanitarian program fees are around $4,000. And again, the spouse does not receive a spending stipend (that's just a Head Teacher position's perk).
If you're familiar with the ILP Program, you know volunteers need to be in groups of two in their city, and groups of three when on vacation. Married couples are the exception to that rule on vacation — you guys are okay to travel just the two of you.
Early! Head Teacher spots are pretty competitive and limited, especially for married couples who have their eye on specific locations. We currently are accepting applications 1.5 years in advance, and it's recommended you get a start on things early to help your chances.
Start your Head Teacher application here.
Send an email to headteachers@ilp.org. You can get help with your application, deciding your location, and get any additional questions answered that this blog post didn't cover.
Not sure which country is right for you?
We have locations where you can volunteer all over the world — while all locations offer the basics of a classic ILP experience, each location is a bit unique as well. Take this fun little quiz to find out which country is recommended for the experience you're looking for.