QSI School are small and it is a matter of pure luck who you end up with as a director. A few are really good and a lot are really bad. Read reviews on ISR of any school you are considering. They will be recruiting for the Stans - an experience that most teachers stick for a couple of years. I had a really unpleasant experience with a religious clique of teachers when I worked at QSI. Good luck.

Don't waste your time with ISS. Several teachers I know of in their fifties signed on with ISS and got nothing and decided it was age discrimination.

There are also quite a few 'Canadian International' schools in China including in HK that you might want to check out. ME or Egypt are good options. Good luck.

I teach at an IB school that does not have any American accreditation but are looking at accreditation agencies. We have no problem getting students into top colleges overseas. I have friends working in schools that are WASC accredited and they tell stories of reports produced by principals that are complete works of fiction and how one school with a high teacher, principal and student turnover still got accredited just for shmoozing up to the right people by chasing them to conferences and wining and dining them. Others have mentioned how visits do not include talking to teachers alone but only those who are 'hand-picked' by admin. and how the team just believes everything they are given, are buddies with admin suck up the p.r. rhetoric and rubber stamp automatically.

Many teachers think WASC is just another business. What do other teachers think about how much value WASC accreditation has got seriously? How many schools - if any - ever actually lose their accreditation? Insights?

PsyGuy wrote:
> Poo is poo and bottom third tier schools still have a lot of work to get to
> the top of third tier, it still makes them third tier.
Yeah and there seem to be a lot of them in China!

This probably has something to do with the government rules on international schools not be allowed to enrol Chinese students unless they have a foreign passport. Becoming a Chinese school will mean they can enrol all the Chinese students they like. After all, it is about making money.

Agree with most of the points about China. A word of warning when it comes to schools. Choose your school carefully and look at the management structure, principal and teacher turnover and benefits packages. One school I recently looked at had a teaching turnover of 90% and a new principal every year. Some schools only offer medical insurance that covers you in less expensive facilities in China only and teaching days can vary between schools i.e. 180 - 195 days. Some schools are more like language schools than 'international in flavor and students move on fast as soon as their English has improved. Shanghai and Beijing are amazing places to live and work but some of the small provincial cities have little to offer apart from bad pollution and few social outlets. Yes, China is exciting but choose your school with care.