An interesting thing will be to see how schools in other countries in Asia respond to this. There is the potential that they might end up being able to lure the best teachers away from China, so schools in China have to increase salaries to attract staff (and, consequently, increase fees.) With these communication is important so it would be good to see schools explaining why they have had to increase fees!

Yes, we got that announcement too.

One way around the housing allowance is for the school to actually own the apartments. Then it's not a taxable benefit (at least, this was the case when the plans were announced a couple of years ago) because there's no cash being paid. I know some schools were looking into whether this would be a possibility.

With health insurance - health insurance in China is actually relatively pricey (I'm around 2000RMB per month.) So the tax impact of this could be quite significant.


I can't see that there'd be a way around fees - at least, until the influential parents realise that their kids' favourite teachers are leaving because they can't afford the tax on the school fees, and kick up with the authorities. Also, there is already a discrepancy between staff who have kids and those who don't - this will make it worse, because if the school has to work out how to increase salaries to cover this they will have to think about the effect it will have on others.


One other thought - staff kids are notionally charged fees because they take up a place which could otherwise be given to a fee paying student. What if the school then groups staff kids as 'supernumary' and doesn't count them in the official numbers? So, for example, if there were 100 students in Y7, and two staff arrived making 102 students, could the official number still be 100?

You might have some success - look at some of the 'bilingual' schools who might take on a newly qualified maths teacher, with yourself as a primary teacher.

China did talk about doing this a couple of years ago, but were talked out of it by businesses (it would apply to all businesses paying fees to any school, and some - I think even Alibaba - use this as a perk.)

Still pondering things. Generally happy in my school, wife less so in hers, and we'd originally planned to move on at the end of the 21/22 session. But at the same time, neither of our jobs is likely to disappear, and part of me thinks it might just make sense to sit in the educational version of the Winchester with a nice cool pint and wait until this all blows over (probably by the end of 2022.)

Fortunately job is signed and sealed for next year, so no problems on that front!

I'm doing exactly that, also in Beijing, and have done for a number of years. Both schools are aware, and there's no problem with dual benefits because my wife and child are covered by their school and I'm covered by mine. Similarly, I also get housing allowance - and the combined total of our allowances is greater than we would get being at the same school. So financially, it definitely works out. It also helped having both schools supporting all of us during quarantine!

Where it's not ideal is holidays - the main ones (summer and Christmas) are generally the same, but the others differ sometimes by quite a lot, so the only overlap is usually a week in October, a week at CNY and a week in the Spring.

For us it's worked out well, as it has for my child, but I can see instances where it wouldn't be so good.

I had my iPad propped up on a music stand, with all my notes stuck on the wall behind it. Shirt & tie, with jeans on the bottom half (wouldn't risk the PJs!)

Only once did I feel the urge - when the interviewer made a comment about my experience that was at best uninformed and at worst downright rude. There were other reasons I carried on, though. Didn't get the job, and having spoken to the person who did, turns out my suspicions of the HoD were correct and I'd dodged a bullet....

If you're in the UK, Search is completely free (because of the UK law on recruitment agencies not being able to charge candidates.) So for British based teachers, this probably means they should register with Search anyway on the basis that there's nothing to lose for doing so.

First school offered to book, second school didn't. Personally I prefer to book myself and then get a refund - I get to choose the routing and if I want to upgrade it's easier, the school then refunds the economy class fare they would have paid (or whatever the deal is.)


My first school, when I left, offered a flight to the UK which involved going east first, then west with a total flying time of about 10 hours. I booked and took another flight, cutting it by half.

My previous school gave a car to the principal - got a lift in it once and let's just say he'd adapted his driving to match the locals! Current school offers a driver to the principal instead.

I'm going to add another thing which will make things difficult for you - if you're going to do this on your Chinese passport, you will find that the best international schools won't hire you. First, it will make their life too difficult, and secondly, the local parents will react badly to their kids being taught by a Chinese teacher for something other than Mandarin (sorry, but it's true.)

Personally, if I were you, I'd go for the interview if you're new to this. First, the process can be different from a face-to-face interview, if it's done over Skype - if nothing else, it feels different - so it might be worth it for that experience alone. Second, interview experience is interview experience!

I think - though I accept I may be wrong - that the account is only deactivated for job search purposes. So if you reactivate after your first year of a two year contract in order to look for a new job, then your membership would simply carry over.

I remember reading this somewhere on the site but since (a) I'm from the UK and (b) I've stayed longer than two years, I didn't really pay attention to it.

Chances are, you won't hear unless they offer you an interview. Most international schools are really bad at communicating how long to expect.