How competitive is Quality Schools International?

[lloydkirk]

QSI seems to have bad publicity around here but given eastern Europe is my preferred destination, they could be a good way to go for me. Do they hire newly qualified teachers?

[sevarem]

They frequently hire new teachers, but not for Eastern Europe. Everyone wants to go there. Teachers who have been with QSI for some time are offered Eastern Europe. Incoming teachers are mainly offered Kazakhstan and sometimes China. This is not necessarily a bad thing and if you stick around, you could perhaps transfer to Eastern Europe.

I was with QSI for a few years. It wasn't a bad experience. The money, once you add in all bonuses, is not bad and is tax free. Health insurance is excellent. And so on. All schools have their issues, of course, but QSI is hardly the nightmare some make it out to be.

[lloydkirk]

Thats good to hear, I wouldn't mind Kazakhstan. But would a newbie have a shot at their Kyiv campus?

[Overhere]

I wouldn't write Eastern Europe off completely, when we were hired there were 10 new teachers to QSI at our Eastern European school and the second year there was newly certified teacher hired.

[National]

It is possible to be hired directly for Kyiv. One year saw thirty new teachers and only four were transfers. It depends on the year, but there are always new hires at Kyiv. The smaller Eastern European schools like Sarajevo and Bratislava rarely see anything but transfers. They will try to push Kazakhstan, but will give you Kyiv if it is available.

As for quality, I would say it is low. Previous posters are right that the salary isn't too bad when you factor in bonuses, but I think the quality of the education is quite poor. They hire non-certified teachers with no experience and sometimes even hire people without bachelors degrees. Their educational philosophy is outdated and very poorly and inconsistently applied. We left because there was no way I would allow my children to be educated in that system.

That being said, if you are looking for a first international position, you could do a lot worse. If you don't have middle or high school aged kids, it might be ok for them.

[Micky]

Lloydkirk

There are positions open in QSI's website for the Kiev School at this moment.

http://www.qsi.org/employment/

[lloydkirk]

Micky wrote:
> Lloydkirk
>
> There are positions open in QSI's website for the Kiev School at this
> moment.
>
> http://www.qsi.org/employment/

I saw that. Unfortunately, I don't have my certification yet so I'm just thinking ahead for next year. However its good to see that a lot of positions remain unfilled relatively late in the hiring season.