Heliotrope wrote:
> I made the list purely based on what I've seen mentioned as top schools.
> Personally, I think Vietnam might not have any tier 1 schools anymore, now
> that the one in the North seems to have a toxic work environment.

Toxic work environment = both subjective and utterly irrelevant to a tier 1 status. We're not here to guess at the day to day conditions, are we? I can name a solid Tier 1 school that NOBODY would suggest not being on this list as being a toxic environment. I worked there. It's still like that now. A pain in the ass. It's tier 1 all the way.

I suggest we try and take a longer term, less subjective approach if we want this list to have any meaning.

snowphantom wrote:
> Non tier 1 schools on your list: Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria,
> Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Israel, Malaysia (the other
> one), Myanamar (ha!), Italy, Pakistan (double ha!), Philippines (the other
> one), Senegal, Switzerland (only 2), Taiwan (other one), Venezuela, Vietnam
> (only 2).

What makes you the purveyor of all knowledge on this subject? You seem to have visited a heck of a lot of schools to check them all out. I'm impressed!

There are a lot of green parts within easy access in HK. Make those part of your routine and you'll be fine.

Seriously, you cannot compare HK to Beijing/Shanghai/random Chinese city. Not yet, at least.

PsyGuy's number one option/Heliotrope's post is the way to go.

Go as a married couple, break up in the first year and prove yourselves to your school(s). By year two, you'll be settled and able to work through it all.

Who wants to deal with this on their plate before you even arrive? Go as the happy couple/family and work your way from there.

If you're IB Physics/Math HL/HS Counselor...you might be able to ignore the above. If you're something like social sciences/elementary then forget about it and go with the combined approach option.

There are some countries where it is wise to keep your sexuality to yourself. Especially in those were non-heterosexual liaisons are illegal. That's true in over a third of the world's countries.

So, it might not be anything to do with the school being "internationally minded" or not. It depends where the school is and if it is best to keep your cards close to your chest or not. Not everywhere is like in the liberal parts of the west...

Heliotrope wrote:
> And I'm not talking about full IBWS (I prefer IGCSE to MYP), I'm talking
> about schools that offer IBDP instead of AP.
> Not sure which school you see as the third school in Japan – I've only seen
> two schools there consistently mentioned as top tier 1 schools, and 1 is
> the IBWS you mention, the other offering AP at SLL. So 50/50 split there.

He means the Brit School which has been said to be Tier 1 in terms of package, results and prestige from teachers I've spoken to (it's not IBDP so I've no interest in it or the AP school for that matter) but Brit schools tend to go under the radar on here as most Americans haven't even heard of them and this site leans more toward U.S. schools.

Surely the big, true international schools (international cohort and student body) are mostly IB these days, though? At least for the DP?

Go to a big enough school and the HOS won't really give a damn about things as unimportant as CPD. They tend to leave that to the curriculum director/IB coordinator/whoever in the relevant part of the school.

PsyGuy wrote:
> Sure arbitrary being arbitrary an average of 8 with a minimum of 5 reviews
> (statistics on cell sizes less than 5 are generally lack validity) is
> "ISR Certified Fresh with Salt", and yes, salt is very popular on
> ISR. Which means nothing because arbitrary is arbitrary.

I'm glad that we can agree on that without recourse to an arbitrator.

Goddess wrote:
> In particular, in schools that are highly sought after by
> parents (for them to enrol their students) or by teachers to work in (good
> location, good conditions, nice working environments, lots of resources,
> motivated staff)---school heads can, after some time, become so cocky that
> they believe they are so AMAZING that everyone is seeking them out that if
> anyone is critical of them in any way at all--'There is the door.' Because
> in many cases, there is a queue of eager teachers seeking work behind that
> person who justifiably has a valid critique of how things could be done to
> improve the education of the children at the school...so it's also the
> nature of being in a position where you are granting jobs to people and
> either renewing or not renewing their contracts.

True, on the other hand these "valid" teachers with their "justifiably" certified reasons are often few and far between. More likely is that they have been in the job a few months and want to tell all the school what they are doing wrong/how it was better in their previous school. Whiners that tend to be on their way after one contract. Perhaps they blame the director because they don't like their gender/fit/nationality/age and so on.

In most cases, those that identify areas in need of improvement and attempt to provide solutions which can do so tend to do well. One is whiner, one is an improver. It can be a difficult balance between the two but those that keep plugging away tend to be accepted and make a difference in their own way.

I'm not disagreeing with you per se, just providing a counterbalance. I'm not admin, nor never want to be, but just want to provide a bit of balance.

There would have to be enough reviews on the school to make sure that a single overly positive/negative review did not skew things too much.

So, at least five reviews with an average of 7 = worth a look. At least that number and an 8 or above = the ISR equivalent of "Certified Fresh with a pinch of salt". Salt is very popular on ISR, of course.

Those are arbitrary requirements, of course, but then it's an arbitrary question.

It's all about getting your foot in the door and getting those years of IB or AP experience or whatever. I got my first job through an ad on TIEOnline as I hadn't heard of ISS/Search then. It was not only in a country that I hadn't considered initially, but even in a continent I hadn't considered!

Keep your horizons broad and wait until offers come your way before deciding whether or not they work for you.

Well, that's one opinion.

We can agree to disagree. I think there are more genuine reviews than you do but I have no more than anecdotal evidence and you have "What I see".

I have to say that so many schools are doing a bad job of promoting their schools if ISR reviews are a valuable marketing tool. They should be posting many more positive reviews.

To be fair (for once) to admin, I've found the number one determinant of how they behave is how they themselves are treated in the school. If the owners are money grabbing control freaks, then they will either toe the . line or end up leaving within three or so years. They might even try battling against the system for a while before realizing that it's hopeless and therefore pick their battles. Some will try and shield their faculty as best they can but most soon understand their role. It takes a very strong leader to change such a dynamic and it takes time. I'd say most attempts result in the admin being sacked.

It's a rule of thumb, but seems to have some merit.

If the school allows them to be supportive and, above all, leaders then you can see the real capabilities of admin, for good or bad. Very often though (and especially in for profit schools), they know the job they were hired for. They aren't always the real boss, nor the power behind the throne...

Psyguy, there's definitely a lot of true reviews on here and not just bad ones. I have posted a number myself and I know of five or six other teachers that have reviewed schools honestly. This was after they left the school. I also wrote a stinging review on a school that was poor. I doubt these are the only people to have written honest reviews as they saw them and that I know them all.

So, while it's true that there must be plenty of fake positive reviews on here, there must also be a lot of true positive reviews. In fact, your stance doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, does it? I'd say that the unproven premise, "The reality is that ITs just dont fill out evaluations when the experience has been positive" doesn't seem to cohere with other experiences of human behaviour on the net. Some people like to leave reviews for others and in turn read reviews. Are all the positive reviews on GoodReads by the publishers? Are readers only motivated to read a review after they've read a tedious book? Do tourists only leave genuine negative reviews on Trip Advisor? Therefore the positive reviews must be by travel agents or by those tourists "motivated by" hoteliers?

Of course, the reviews should all be taken with a pinch of salt. There's plenty of honest reviews on ISR though, whether negative, positive or meh.

I spoke to a colleague of mine today and was surprised to hear that he feels the same. He's a very funny, witty character who is loved by the high school students. He's early 40s, but he said that he feels he is often left off the invitation lists for get togethers and social events. Not only that, but he feels isolated somewhat as other teachers rarely check in on him. I was shocked as he is such an integral part of the school. He's even considering moving on, as he's not sure if the school is the right fit for him after trying for these two contracts.

If he's struggling, then there must be others in the same position. I like the idea of trying to start get togethers and see if I can entice others that way. I'm happy to branch out outside the school, but I also feel the lack of a support system made up of my colleagues. I think I need to work at this and give it a try!

Thanks for all the tips. Any more tips will be appreciated!