What Is A Good Salary?

[Laptop]

I am a teacher with 20 years teaching experience yet I am new to the International School scene.

I have just come back from a job fair and have been offered a teaching position in the Middle East for $30,000 no taxes, plus free housing. free school transport. Is this a good salary? I have no idea. Should I be grateful or should I throw the contract back at the Director?

I need to make a decision soon.

[Ottoman]

$30,000 with no tax, no housing expenses, and no transport to worry about, sounds fair. You would get a better salary in Saudi Arabia or in some of the SE Asian schools, but it does not mean that you will have a better teaching experience. Money doesn't really mean much if you are miserable at the school, but on balance I would say that $30k with fringe benefits is okay.

Don't forget to ask for the health insurance and the yearly flights home?

[solarhamster]

The 30.000 dollar salary could not be enough if the school is in Dubai, as the cost of living has risen something like 140% over the past 5 years. I had an offer there, but turned them down once I figured I wouln't be saving much due to the costs.

[JISAlum]

[quote="solarhamster"].....as the cost of living has risen something like 140% over the past 5 years. I had an offer there, but turned them down once I figured I wouln't be saving much due to the costs.[/quote]

The cost of living can have a big influence. My wife and I lived in Singapore and while housing was provided, that was counted as a benefit towards our US taxes. We ended up no having to owe any US taxes as we paid Singapore taxes.

A couple of good resources for cost of living are at:

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/steccpi.html#compint

I'm sure there are other/better resources as well.

[neveah]

[quote="Laptop"]I am a teacher with 20 years teaching experience yet I am new to the International School scene.

I have just come back from a job fair and have been offered a teaching position in the Middle East for $30,000 no taxes, plus free housing. free school transport. Is this a good salary? I have no idea. Should I be grateful or should I throw the contract back at the Director?

I need to make a decision soon.[/quote]

I'm sorry if my opinion is too late. I want to teach overseas too. I am also a newbie. I have been doing as much research as I possibly can.
If you have 20 years of teaching experience, why are they only paying you $30,000? I know that you are a newbie, but from what I've heard, if you have a lot of experience/education/certification, that automatically raises your salary.
What about health insurance? Do you get free health care? They should offer you that as well.

[JISAlum]

[quote="neveah"]I know that you are a newbie, but from what I've heard, if you have a lot of experience/education/certification, that automatically raises your salary.[/quote]

Schools can pay what they want to. Here is salary info from International School Ho Chi Minh City taken off TIE:

"Salary:

$24,490 - $38,265. Salary is based on a 13 point scale with placement on step 1 after 2 years experience and initial contract placement no higher than step 10 i.e. $34,667. "

Even if you have 20 years experience, they'll only give you step 10 (or whatever). Some schools have a 'ceiling' at what they'll bring you in as. Changing jobs in the international circuit entails taking a serious pay cut in many cases.

[Mike]

It is all about the savings, not the salary.

Are you paid in $$'s or Euro's. What are the costs of living? What about taxes?? Will you be a local or foriegn hire? Transport? Lifestyle?

Lets hope with all these new schools salaries and benifits go up in the next few years.

[miski]

A late response but- Kuwait teachers range from ( + free accom + flight, tax free ) $27,000 per year starting with low qualifications to $ 37,000 at a good point in the scale.

At 20 years experience you should be at the top of the scale. I would be asking for about $33,000 if I was you.

[GHK]

Frankly the question you need to ask yourself is how much you can put in the bank and whether you are prepared to work for that amount. I also have about the same amount of experience and have accepted a position for less than that for the joy of going to my next school/country. Yet, In my last position, I was putting more money in the bank than the salary you've been offered.

I would be a lot more interested in finding out about the working conditions and the reputation of the school , the students and the colleagues you'll have and what it's like living in the country you chose than the $ because that's what will make the difference between being happy or miserable.

[missy]

GHK=

You could not have said that better !!
My husband and I used to just look at the money and benefits when deciding where to work BUT with experience and age (the say age makes one wiser ??? LOL ) we have decided that even if we get paid a bit less, we prefer to work
in a healthy environment , in a country we will truly enjoy
VERSUS a toxic environment !!!

"Sometimes money really ain't what it's all about !!!"