I have been tutoring privately in London part time for the past three academic years. I have taken a couple of residential jobs, but find it much easier to take shorter positions (both face to face and on Skype) rather than committing to a long contract where you live with the family. Agree with PsyGuy that while the pay is often amazing (as demonstrated on websites like https://www.tutors-international.com/ab ... vacancies/), there can be issues with the balance of power relying on your employer for accommodation etc. and I would not want to enter into an industrial dispute as a private contractor abroad!

It's true that some parents and tutoring agencies will value high-status degrees over teacher qualifications and relevant experience. To a certain extent you can overcome this with a good portfolio of client testimonials, but not entirely. The main attractions of going down the tutoring route for me were:

1) Total flexibility with my time - Once registered with an agency, you have no obligation to take on work. Also, if you get registered with agencies in multiple time zones (I am in London, but there is an incredible quantity of work available in Hong Kong / China) then you can sell almost every hour of your day if willing. Some days I am on Skype at 6am and my work day is done by 10am.

2) Total flexibility with rate - As a private contractor, you can set your own hourly rate. A bit of research online should show you what people are willing to pay for a tutor with your experience / CV. There are unqualified undergraduate students here in London charging GBP40 per hour without any problems. Rates can go up into the hundreds of pounds per hour for the more specialist jobs (in particular, people will pay a lot for assistance with Oxbridge entry or 16-18 exam help for lesser covered subjects). If you are charging a lot, parents are going to expect a decent service and results though. You cannot just turn up with a few PDF printouts and recycle an old lesson.

Some good tutoring agencies:

Keystone Tutors: Insist on an interview before they'll put you on the books (at their office in London),

ARCH Education: Great agency in Hong Kong, partnered with Keystone. ARCH pay slightly less than Keystone, but the convenience of Skype and not having to waste time on travel is definitely worth this reduction.

Elite IB: Great company specialising in IB. I think this is the only one in London like this. Also offer revision courses throughout the year which you can sign up for if you want more intensive work.

TutorFair: A great startup that takes tutors for all subjects and all ages. You can just upload your profile and start taking jobs immediately. No interview required, but it's good to show them your police check and qualification certificates, as well as going to one of their registration events in London, so then they list you as a "verified" tutor and you show up higher in the search rankings.

Bonas MacFarlane: Seem to have lots of work, insist on interview somewhere near Battersea.

Bruton Lloyd: Boutique agency catering to rich Russian and Central Asian clients. Have some good jobs come up, including short term placements all over the world. Interview required in Mayfair somewhere.

Tutors International: This is the super fancy agency that only does placements, for like GBP100,000 per year, on yachts and in mansions etc. You need to register on their site then the owner, Adam Caller, keeps you posted on availability. I have a friend who did a few long term placements with them and has only positive things to say.

Bright Young Things: Loads of jobs on this notice board. They asked me to come for an interview in London but ended up just rubber stamping my application after about 3 mins of talk, so you might want to try getting registered without the faff of having to go see them!

MyTutorClub: Good agency, found me through LinkedIn. Offered me a few revision course tuition days of 5 hours of work each.

There's not much to argue with joe30's objective statement on the HIV infection rates and slow internet. Easily verifiable. As MamfeMan says, flight costs are a little different for a hub like Addis compared to Cameroon, but yea, Cameroon's an expensive place to fly out of. Also agree that crime rates are high by West European standards in both locations (another measurable criteria). I guess where we disagree is when you state that "it's obvious both countries absolutely suck, and taking a job there is for the insane only." I necessarily don't see any of the above stated issues as impediments to me enjoying working in Ethiopia or Cameroon. As MamfeMan said, "If you want good Internet, cheap cereal, steady power supplies, and water you can drink straight from the tap, you might want to consider Colorado."

Based on discussion so far, looks as though joe30 would be willing to work with these stated hardships for a significantly higher base salary. Psyguy would be willing to work with them based on some vague ranking of quality of life which seems to put a high value on the ability to go on safari (and which sees Cape Town and Joburg come out on top - "safety aside"). I guess you'd have to place safety aside given that crime rates in both these cities are much higher than in Cameroon or Ethiopia.

There are many reasons to live and work in Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial compensation and going on safari are certainly two, but that's not an exhaustive list. Good to see some positive comments on here from ISR members with actual experience of living and working in Africa.

ISR should keep a scoreboard for how quickly it takes a thread about African schools to degenerate into a discussion about the availability of AK-47s. Amusing reading as always.

I have friends who have lived and worked in Ethiopia and Cameroon, both as teachers and in other roles. DM me on Twitter if you want to be put in touch with them to ask some questions via email: https://twitter.com/kayakthekwanza

Here here @pairadocs!

@PsyGuy, you are doing little to persuade people here on the ISR forums by simply repeating your mantra of "Switzerland is better than Angola / Angola is not a desirable package" without providing some specific, objective (and factually accurate) evidence. Also interesting to note that you feel "Name calling and social labeling is not data and doesnt make it any less valid", yet "Admin cheerleader" is a label you are very keen to throw around as your main justification for dismissing anything people write about Angola that you disagree with.

As it stands, your argument for rejecting comments about LIS Angola being a desirable place to work, with good savings potential, is based on:

1) Your factually inaccurate assertion that Angola is a warzone
2) Your factually inaccurate (and likely plagiarised) cost of living statistics
3) Your subjective view that I am an "Admin cheerleader", which invalidates my Luanda International School review
4) Your subjective view that any review supporting my review is also written by an "Admin cheerleader" (or by me using another account!)

I have to echo @pairadocs to finish. If you value objectivity and authenticity of data, then please stop posting about Luanda International School and Angola, a subject you have clearly demonstrated you know nothing about, and please post something useful about working in Switzerland. Some ideas might include: specifics on tax levels / cost of living / school packages & benefits / statistics for overall savings potential in each school there. That way at least you will have provided some useful contributions to the discussion, that future ISR readers might find helpful!

@PsyGuy

"Those simplified divisions are accurate and relevant" This defence of your overtly racist statement about Africa tells me everything I need to know about the validity of your opinions in this discussion.

To anyone who is considering Luanda International School, my review can be found in the "Read Reviews" section. It is 1455 words long, scores categories as low as 3 and as high as 9 out of 10, gives the school an average of 6.5 and was described by the latest evaluation (34) as: "a very balanced view of the situation of living and working in Angola." Not sure how taking the time to produce something like this makes me an "admin cheerleader"!

To get back to the specifics of the discussion, my salary at LIS as a fifth year teacher with a number of positions of responsibility and a Masters degree was just under USD100,000. I had around 185 student contact days. I spent about USD10,000 of my pay in-country on food and entertainment (I did not waste money on loads of expensive imported goods). Given that I paid no rent, tax or utilities, the rest of my pay was mine to spend as I pleased - on travel outside the country, further qualifications, savings etc. In this respect, I think the savings potential at LIS is almost up there with the Saudi ARAMCO schools if you intend to stay for a few years and work your way up the pay scale. There are many other factors to consider other than the financial, but here's a starting point for you.

P.S. PsyGuy, in the unlikely event that you ever choose to visit Luanda International School, you will be pleased to discover that there is a safari park (complete with zebras, elephants and hippos) only 45 minutes drive to the south! http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g29 ... .Park.html

Maybe there isn't one, I hadn't looked! Also, you've not set up any contact details that I can see on your public profile. I'm not keen to post my email in this forum, so please message me through here: https://www.facebook.com/equatorialguineaguide and we can exchange emails that way. Cheers!

Are you already a fully qualified teacher in your home country? If so, then this route sounds like a waste of money, especially as you already have a Masters. Many schools will recognise that previous Masters and increase your salary accordingly. Paying for a second seems a little redundant. I would imagine an additional year of experience in the classroom might be a better investment of time and effort.

Staff are currently having issues being paid on time, due to changes in Angolan government regulations making it very difficult to get US Dollars out of the country. Works visas, as always, continue to be a pain, However, they seem to have recently found a solution to the financial transfer problems, and the Dollar crisis does have a positive side for those being paid in foreign currency: local products are now much cheaper! I think I've talked in detail about the financial side of things in another post (thread: Best salary/package in the world?)

If you have a specific question, some of the staff are open to receiving emails about life in Luanda: http://www.lisluanda.com/jobs/ask-our-staff-a-question/ (I used to be on the list while I was there).

Alternatively, I'd be happy to talk in more detail about my time there via PM / WhatsApp / Skype / email etc. if you message me. I'm probably heading back there to travel in July 2016, so am watching developments closely.

PsyGuy wrote:
> But its Africa, whereas Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich, Bern) has 3 of the top
> 10 spots. Did I mention that its Africa, and not the Safari, look at the
> lions and zebras, part of Africa, but the, an AK-47 is only 19£ part of
> Africa.
>
> Why do admins and admin cheerleaders have to pitch their IS, you dont see
> ASIJ, TASIS, ISBm shilling their ISs.

Not sure where to begin with this response PsyGuy! I'd start by asking you not to engage in the casual racism of dividing Africa (a continent of at least 54 distinct countries) into two oversimplified camps - the safari destination and the warzone. I am not an "admin" or "admin cheerleader", as evidenced by my balanced review of LIS in the School Reviews section. Having lived in Angola for five years, worked at LIS and written a guidebook to the country (http://www.bradtguides.com/shop/angola.html) I am saddened by this dismissive attitude. You might think that Switzerland is better, but let's try and keep things objective.

The OP (Redvaldo) made specific reference to Luanda International School at the beginning of this thread, so I felt it was appropriate to comment given my experience there. marieh, to answer your question, you could save much more than $40,000 a year at LIS as a single hire without being too careful. Main thing would be to avoid spending loads on travel during the holidays or imported food / restaurant trips while in-country.

Kevin, getting into a good school with one year post-PGCE experience will be difficult, but certainly not impossible. Working in your favour is the fact that you have an internationally respected qualification, and there is a serious lack of qualified teachers on the international circuit, due to all the new school construction in Asia pushing up demand. I would suggest you direct these questions to the Principals or Directors of the schools you are interested in working at. The worst they can do is ignore your email, and you might find (as I did) that they give you some good advice. Getting some International Baccalaureate experience under your belt, even if it is in the form of classroom observations, would be useful. Also, it might be worth casting your net more widely to begin with in terms of target schools.

Luanda International School has very high savings potential, despite all the news articles out there about Luanda being the most expensive city in the world for expatriates, especially now that the oil crisis has dropped the exchange rate so much. Note that the majority of these surveys, such as Mercer's Cost of Living Index, include rental costs (which you will not be paying) so they are not an accurate way to judge the savings potential of Angola as an expatriate teacher.

Your net salary in your first year, assuming you have a Masters degree and no additional positions of responsibility (such as HoD) is USD 82,243. Note that all tax liabilities in Angola are taken care of by the school. As well as this, the package includes:

A baggage allowance of 150kgs (you can use shipping, excess baggage or DHL)
Economy class return airfare to Home Country once per year for Employee and Accompanying Dependents
Worldwide health insurance
Lunch at school Monday to Friday
Free housing (this is the biggest cost for most expatriates in-country)
You also get free access to a fleet of shared school vehicles and drivers for use 24/7, so it's not necessary to buy a car, although some people still choose to

Street exchange rate when I left (June 2014) was 105 Kwanzas to 1 US Dollar. It is now 220 Kwanzas to 1 US Dollar, which basically halves your in-country expenses such as groceries. Your only expenses in-country are feeding yourself and entertainment, which can be as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be (as a single hire, I spent USD800 on this per month normally, with over half of that going towards entertainment!) I had a very active social life and travelled like a maniac during the holidays, visiting 25 new countries between 2009 and 2014, and was still able to save a lot of money.

Full details of the package, including pay scales, can be found here: http://www.lisluanda.com/jobs/the-package/