It's fair to say that the 2020/21 school year is probably the strangest any of us will experience in our lifetimes. Many people lost their jobs due to less students, many people could not get to their job, borders were closed etc.

What I'm interested in hearing about is how COVID has changed what you look for in a school for 2021/22. This might include how specific countries have handled covid or even how specific schools have or have not handled covid. As always - it's fine to mention specific countries but shy away from naming particular schools on the forum.

I'll add my thoughts after a couple of other people post (if people post - that is)

The comment on the 2021/22 job season being unconventional is correct. Due to COVID - there were MANY schools who cancelled contracts in May/June for both working staff and newly employed staff. This includes some of the most reported 'best schools out there".

Also having two teaching working in the same department can be seen as a problem from an employer perspective

Well it seems as though some more schools have signed up. 79 in total at the moment - but China is very strongly represented (32 including HK).

Hi All,

Today I received an email stating that most of the Search Fairs will be online this year (as expected). Has anyone experienced a fair online before? Most of my jobs came via Skype or during an actual fair.

I'm also guessing that jobs will be a bit less common in the earlier fairs just due to the uncertainty in the international markets and such.

Others might disagree - but I'm going to be as honest and direct as possible.

There is no chance that a family of 3 with one person working will be saving $40,000 USD a year with no international experience along with teaching Chinese/EAL.

Chinese might be an in demand language in Australia - but most of the jobs are in asia and are taught by people who live locally. It's way cheaper to hire them and the better schools look for people who have IB experience.

Over 50% of international schools probably pay less than or around 40k a year which puts your wishes into the top 0.1%. This means they attract the best and most experienced people - or they are in an oil rich location such as Nigeria which is not safe.

The Australian dollar has also been acting as a yoyo which significantly changes savings potential. I've seen my wages in the same country change by 40% more or less over a 3 year period due to currency fluctuations. Most countries pay in local currency which adds two layers of flux.

My suggestion - try and choose a solid school in the ME where you might be able to save $20,000 a year and move up from there. It will give you a chance to get IB or AP experience as well. China is often seen as a cash cow for some - but what you teach would make it difficult plus never underestimate political problems between countries.

The highest pay does not always mean best savings potential.

It also highly depends on what you teach. If you an elementary, humanities or English teacher trying to get a job at Kaust or Aramco (you don't have the correct passport if your speaking in AUD) then you have almost no chance. Having one child and potentially no international experience without IB/AP/A-Level experience makes it difficult. This is because if your child or you gets sick - who looks after your child?

Another thing to consider is your childs education. If your child is a daughter - it might make it difficult in a middle eastern country. The same is also true for children in asia where the majority of students are locals. For example - China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand etc where your child has a high chance of being shunned for not speaking the same language. I've seen this countless times and unfortunately it's now the local international schools which have the jobs and can often pay the most.

HINT - many schools who pay the most do so for a reason. It's either a hardship post or difficult teaching situation. Others in the forum will know more

I'm not working internationally this year and don't see it as a blight on my employment. The amount of people who have lost their job due to falling numbers, cant get into a specific country due to restrictions and so many other reasons will make this a "oh yeah - next question" type of thing.

Note that the following comments are just observations - it does not make them correct or even that I agree with them all.

International teaching is a different beast than what we see in our home countries if we come from the west. We talk about representation - but our parents and boards at many schools have a very different view of this.

In SE Asia being Filipino, from the sub-continent or holding an African visa (irrelevant to skin color) can have major problems. I've personally seen Filipino's employed by western admin and then have the board try and remove that staff member because people from this country should only be housekeepers or wait staff.

I've seen fantastic African American staff leave good schools because of how they are treated by parents and the local community. I'm ashamed to say that I even known of some parents who have removed students from schools because of the color of a person's skin.

What I do find perplexing is how in my experience many people from the US in international schooling try and force their world view onto their new environments. To me - this is arrogance in the extreme and through my experiences it's mainly perpetuated from a vocal highly educated white liberal families who have held some wealth from birth.

I'm the first in my extended family to ever complete university, live overseas or hold a government job and complete this all through public schooling. Then I teach students who might go away for a long weekend to ski in Japan, Canada or Europe from a SE Asia location.

To put it simple - our perceived hell-holes of home countries might actually be doing better than other places in the world. Yes there could be more diversity but it comes in many more forms than just skin color. Country or residence, gender and I think the biggest of all is generational financial status plays a bigger role but it's quite difficult to achieve this through Skype interviews.

I've generally seen that most of the better schools try and get a good smattering of people from different countries and try to do something with the genders. For example - try and not have all of your English department only male or only female. Having experience in the curriculum is also up there as well. Working in departments which are mainly from the same country with no IB experience apart from that school with limited international experience can be hell. It can be the difference between a functional department and dysfunctional department.

secondplace wrote:
> Seriously though, in terms of impact on schools and teachers I would think
> that it will vary greatly depending on how many Chinese students are
> enrolled in the school.
>
> If none, then I think this could be a 'light touch' requirement. If, say
> 25% including Chinese on foreign passports, then it will be more stringent.
> If mostly Chinese students then it could be quite full on.

I think you are spot on the money here. Expat schools have been hollowed out (in number of students) but this happened all over the world.

Watching the closing of borders, multiple schools giving teachers significant paycuts and firings, the inability of new staff to replace departing staff (many of these are not just China centric) and the clamoring of schools with local students looking for international staff in country has been fascinating to watch. It's certainly not everyday we live through these times.

But it also gets back onto my main question - are the proposed changes just conjecture or the real thing?

Gotta love how politics always gets pulled into most threads these days.

It's pretty obvious that governments when under pressure become more desperate.

I'm also aware of the large want of international teachers where jobs often outmatch supply when it comes to quality teachers. There are just that many schools in China as China is just that large.

I've spoken to many admin at the more foreign expat schools in China before COVID-19 and they were having a lot of trouble getting quality staff along with new students. The hollowing out expat families and overseas companies slowly moving to cheaper countries of production forced this. COVID-19 will only speed up this progress. I'm expecting to see a hollowing out of the 2nd & 3rd Tier true international schools in China and the only medium term job safety will be in Chinese schools.

The real question to ask is how will international curriculum such as the IB - specifically looking at TOK. The changes of "not upsetting a government" is a tad bit orwellion and can potentially stop some DP classes from covering certain topics which will affect the IB's bottom line.

I've worked in democracies, dictatorships and some in between and what scares me the most is this belief in "purity" when it comes with these potential changes in China. You can only see and cover the Chinese mindset - which is Marxist/Leninist with Chinese characteristics. Reading Tombstone by Yang Jisheng gives a great outlook on this.

The comment of some people about anti-trumpers moving to China sadly is true. The US has major problems - but China has their own. It really gets back to purity. The anti-trumpers believe only their own world view and no other is allowed. It sounds a bit like how the more hard core "Trump fans" or "50 cent army" would think. Obey my dictates or else......

The main aim of this thread was to:

(1) See if it was true - there is a lot on conjecture on reporting at the moment.
(2) Look at the medium to long term impact (for qualified teachers) and the industry in general

On the comment about having the best pay in the world and best students. The answers is a hard no. Before COVID-19 a lot of the better international schools in China were significantly raising their wages as they were struggling to hire quality staff due to China starting to be seen as a hardship post. Chinese students can be good - but other students beat them hands down. Think Singaporean, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese. I guess let the flame wars begin.....

Hi All,

Just read the following article where it claims that there are major law changes coming into effect for teachers wishing to work in China.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/a ... -national/

Could this be the beginning of the end for international teachers as there will be legal ramifications for talking about whatever the Chinese government does not like that month....

Does anyone have any other info on this? Is it real?

As mentioned above - it's hard to tell. I can tell you that an EAL teacher with 3 dependants living comfortably in the countries you have mentioned will find it extremely difficult to find a position. All the countries you have mentioned are highly sought after countries and it will take some time for expat families to slowly make their way to asia after the hollowing out after COVID-19. I can tell you that Taipei, KL, Seoul and Tokyo are expensive. Secondary cities not so much - but the pay normally follows the level of cities. In general - these countries normally make you pay for and find your own apartments (but with help - depending on the school)

Finding a job in China or the ME with good pay and apartments might be a better bet

It's not a question of skin color - you WILL be hired as a local hire which will mean that you will not get a housing allowance which makes you significantly cheaper to hire. For the second tier schools - you will not be getting more money than you do at the moment and don't forget that international student numbers have tanked in Singapore.

For the comment on skin color - I personally know quite a few teachers at multiple schools in Singapore who are a traveling spouse (both male and female). They have a dependents pass as a result. As their spouse has a job, they ALL get hired on local contracts.

I'm also aware of multiple schools in Singapore who have offered breaking of contracts to staff who wish to return home along with reneged on contracts with people starting for the 2020/21 school year.

Hi All,

At the moment I've started to notice a rather interesting predicament for what is occurring in China. Some schools with a sizeable expat population have excess staff due to closed borders while schools with local students are really struggling to put qualified bums on seats from a teacher perspective.

Has anyone else noticed some pretty desperate schools at the moment - specifically since some borders are closed with a limited talent pool in some locations??