But if the tuition is taxed, and the teacher has to pay it, it isn't really free, is it?

That actually poses a problem for schools who advertise on some sites, such as TES - UK advertising rules would not allow TES to advertise something as "free" if it incurs a cost. They can't even be described as 'subsidised' because the tax is due on the full amount, regardless of subsidy. So advertising will be difficult.

It also reflects reality. Most teachers simply aren't going to absorb that level of tax easily. So from a Head's point of view, it's much better simply to advertise for single applicants / teaching couples with no dependants rather than attempt to find a place for a family. Also, given the current visa restrictions on dependants in China and with no indication of when that will change, schools would be daft just now to appoint staff with dependants.

I think the OP is talking about a 1st degree, so Batchelors maybe?

Typical Oxbridge elitism though. Only consider people with 1sts or 2:1s, despite grade inflation. There are actually better schools of education in the UK than Oxford, TBH, and setting aside the 'snob' value of Oxford I'd look at others ahead of them.

Heliotrope wrote:
> PsyGuy wrote:
> > Because those waivers will be taxable as compensation AND ISs will not be
> > able to discount the value of those waivers based on incremental cost or
> > some other formula to get around it. Chinese ISs even lower tier ones
> > charge really high fees/tuition making the applicable tax unattractive and
> > prohibitive. Some ISs (mainly first/elite tier)will continue to absorb the
> > tax as part of the ITs compensation, but then that increases the ITs
> > taxable compensation as well (now the tax benefit on those fee/tuition
> > waivers is taxable in of itself), and its kind of a vicious cycle. Its just
> > going to make China unattractive to ITs with school age dependents.
>
> Yes, that makes it unattractive for teachers, but what I was asking was why it would
> change that schools offer a certain number of spots to teacher's children, since the
> tax burden is for the teacher to pay and not for the school.
> The second part of your first sentence is a bit unclear, so perhaps that is where you
> tried to explain it.

Because the tax burden is so high - it effectively adds another £30,000 - £40,000 to your income to be taxed - that the likelihood is most teachers with kids simply won't be able to afford it. This produces an additional tax levy for the teacher of around £6000 - £7000 per child, per year, without a corresponding increase in their take-home salary. So for three kids, that could mean finding up to £21,000 per year from your income - that's around 1/3 to 1/2 a teacher's income, ruling out China as a realistic option for single parent teachers and making it incredibly difficult for teaching couples.

As a result, schools simply won't offer this if they know it could result in people withdrawing from jobs once they realise the total cost. It's just easier to not have this than try to explain or mitigate it fairly, taking into account those teachers who don't have kids.

The problem I'm finding is that being in China, I'm bombarded with "recruitment agents" offering roles at schools which I wouldn't consider in a month of COVID-infected Sundays. That said, there are some schools and organisations on there who are more reputable and while I wouldn't necessarily make contact with them on the site, there could be some useful information (likely to be more up to date than their website) which I could use in an application or interview if it got to that.

The Boots school will take up to three, while the Boring Witch and the Hilltop school will take two.

Of course, that will change because of the tax rules from next year.

I think it depends (like much in China) on where you are and who you know in power. I know of a couple of schools which are making specific preparations for a switch to a more Chinese-based curriculum, and equally other (T1) schools who are fairly confident they're not covered.

The thing is that the parents at the private schools - and particularly the so-called 'rent a name' schools - believe that they are paying for the education that the mother school provides, including things like IGCSE. If these schools can't provide it, they are not going to be happy - the parents who can will send their kids off to the UK/US boarding schools earlier, and those who can't will either just perservere or remove the kids to the state system (after all, if the kids are using the same textbooks, being taught the same lessons, and sitting the same exams, where's the sense - other than pride - in paying £30,000 per year for it if you can get it for nothing?)

It's going to depend on (a) the school, and (b) which part of it you're in (primary or secondary).

If it's secondary, and by the looks of your post it is, then it's not so much of a problem if the school does IBDP. Your experience in IBDP is directly transferable to IGCSE - and if the school's any good they will have looked at the IGCSE content and exams and worked out how they link from IGCSE to DP. I don't agree with @finedude - ultimately, the school is interested in your IBDP ability, and if you can teach that then it's a fair assumption that you can teach IGCSE and KS3 too. If the school does A Level, then it is more difficult but not impossible.

If it's primary, then you will have a lot more difficulty with this. I've seen American teachers hired into English curriculum schools and really struggled with it, particularly on the assessment side and also if the school is particularly rigid with the curriculum. Equally, English trained teachers find the less structured American curriculum difficult to deal with and understand.

One other thing to bear in mind is your age. Certainly in China, and also possibly the ME too, a lot of countries won't let you stay beyond 60 (or at least not without a lot of hassle.) If you're looking at covering your kids through university, then that is something to bear in mind.

Nationality can both be a positive and a negative. It can be useful as it shows that you won't have a problem getting a visa to work in the country - some have weird restrictions, like China's one on requiring language teachers to have a passport from a country which speaks that language, causing problems occasionally for South Africans teaching English. On the other hand, it can allow latent prejudice to appear.

I think marital status could be included, because of the visa impact and whether or not they want to foot the bill for a dependant - same thing as for kids, schools need to know if you're going to cost them in terms of a place so want to take that into account.

FWIW, Search aren't now asking for photos on their redesigned website, but still recommend it for the CV anyway.

If the school has influence, they could use it to open the visa office. I know of one school which had a number of staff in one particular location, all of whom had their PU letters but because of lockdown the local visa office was closed and they also couldn't travel to the one in the capital, which was open. So the school pulled some strings and kicked some butts - I think using parental influence, though nobody's quite sure - and the local office was reopened for one day only to process the visas.

Might be worth finding out if there's more than one new member of staff coming from that country.

OK - a couple of extra points following on from your previous post.....

> Just to clarify - yes, my husband will be joining me, however he won’t be
> relying on my income. He can do his current job online, or (depending on
> our location) could possibly find his own employment. He works in finance.

However, he'll still need a visa to enter a country as a spouse and then work there. He would need to ask his employer to check out the visa position if he works online - some will require a visa for him to continue working, even online, others might not (France, for example, does require this). The school might help, but it would depend.

> Our plan was always to look into moving overseas once our kids all finished
> school (3 kids) but, much to our surprise, our youngest has expressed an
> interest in joining us. This would turn our 4.5 - 5 year plan into a 2.5
> year plan. He would be in his second last year of school when we move, and
> he wants to gain entry into university after high school (so assuming he
> does join us, a good school for him is important).
> Asia would suit us due to ease of travel to Aus to visit family, but
> included flights in employment package is by no means a deal breaker.

So you do have to be aware of the effect of moving at this point on a teenager. Academically, he'll go into Y12 / IBDP year 1, which isn't a problem. However, you need to think about what's available for them to do - from experience, the last thing you want internationally is a bored teenager! Look carefully at the cities you are applying to as well.

> I’ll have about 7-8 years teaching experience by the time we move. Not a
> lot, but more than a little I suppose. I also have an environmental science
> degree, however no real experience in that field of work.

Depending on your teaching qualification, that might help. It could mean you're qualified to teach some science (biology, maybe?) or Environmental Systems and Societies at IB, possibly also Geography. That depends on your own confidence too.

So a couple of things first....

You have a teenage son, so you need to think about the timing of doing this. You say in a couple of years - what stage will he be at? Will he be entering at, say, IGCSE (so about 14 or 15) or IBDP (16 or 17)? Like any parent, you want a good education for your son, so I'm assuming this is a priority for you. This does have a bit of a limiting effect, in that the schools you are likely to prefer for him will normally be fairly competitive to get into.

Also, do you have a partner coming with you? Are they a teacher, or a trailing spouse? The reason I ask is if they are the latter, then you will be considered an 'expensive' hire for many schools and some simply won't look at you, experience or not.

In terms of countries, you want it to be somewhere warm - so you're looking at SE Asia or the Middle East. Most of the countries in those areas usually have a good demand for native English speaking teachers. Also much of SE Asia is on the same/close time zone to WA so easy to keep in touch with relatives and friends at home!

You are more likely to want to be in an international / private school, as much for your son's sake as anything else.

The standard benefits you should look for would include a school place, accommodation or accommodation allowance, health insurance for you and your family, and at least one return flight per year for all of you (this is what I mean by being an expensive hire - the more people the school has to cover who are not employed by them, the higher the cost to the school with not much benefit.) Personally, I wouldn't consider a school that didn't offer at least health insurance. They don't vary much - but in China, some of these which have previously been tax free will now be taxed and it's not clear yet how this is going to be implemented.

You don't need to be familiar with either the British / American / IB system, though it will help you if you have an understanding of it. In primary, this is less of a concern than at IGCSE/IBDP level, TBH. You could look at doing the IB PYP Category 1 course - not essential though, as most schools will look at getting you through it anyway. In terms of additional qualifications, as you're in Australia I would look into the TESMC qualification for EAL teaching - it seems to be the 'buzz' qualification just now so if it's available to you in your current role, I'd take it.

Finally, the COVID warning - even though you are looking a couple of years in advance, just be aware of the restrictions in place at present. Hopefully they won't be around - but there's no guarantee of it. Make sure you are all vaccinated and get any boosters which might be needed.

I'm kind of at Heliotrope's point. I know that staying here would be easy, that I know the kids well, I'm pretty trusted, and I can see some great things coming up. But on the other hand, I've been here a few years now, family requirements have changed and we're more able to move, and frankly it just feels like time. I can answer all of sciteach's questions are yes, but it just still feels like the right thing for me to do. TBH, this is the longest I've been in one place of employment in all my working life, including before becoming a teacher, so maybe I just get itchy feet every few years!

I know a few people either doing or who have done this, as well as the Senior Leaders one (NPQSL). It seems to be welcomed a bit more for English NC schools, including one which do IBDP after IGCSE, but US and IB World schools tend to look more for a Masters (either MA or MEd). I think to offer the programme too, the universities have to be certified by the DfE in England (though I'm not 100% sure).