First, I've had reasonably accurate information that teachers have had contracts for around 12K (I suppose 15K is around 12K) but my experience is that schools when they advertise a position tend to oversell the salary. I dont doubt that there are people getting 15K or even 18K, though the issue is whether your one of them. Final note, the apartments are not the nicest, or newest, they have the typical chinese "utility" look, feel, and amenities.

Second, yes Qingdao is a rural area, when you compare it to places like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou as urban areas. It is not a not village of rice paddies and bamboo huts but it is not a cosmopolitan place to be. Its small town, not big city. (I think I really need to start saying this explicitly because a lot of people have this idea that rural means farming village).

What makes an international school (IS) an IS has been debated on this board a several times.To start the name "International School" is not protected like the words "Bank" or "University" are. Basically any school can call its self an international school. Any school for that matter can call themselves an "american" or "european" school as well. Names are just marketing.

Next, we look at school population, most international teachers (IT) consider a school international when the student body is comprised of a significant number of students outside the local population (what constitutes significant is what we disagree over). Its not uncommon (and true in this schools case) for an international school to predominately serve the local population. In this case the school is more a private/independent school.

Past that, an international school typically has an accredited international curriculum these include the IB and IGCSE and western national curriculums (USA, UK, European, Canadian, Australian) curriculum with the predominate ones being USA (AP) and UK (GCSE). Curriculums. The more international the curriculum the more international the school. Some schools will follow a local curriculum for the first 10 years and then just do IBD (Diploma) for the last two years. Some schools will combine the local curriculum and a "borrowed" concept, idea, design of a national curriculum (as is the case in your school). Lastly accreditation plays a significant role. There is nothing stoping an international school/private school from following the local curriculum (to make be legal) and just introducing one of the international "styles". There are a number of third tier schools that believe hiring westerners and letting them do their thing is all you need to have an "international program"

Lastly, and I dislike bringing it up, and i do so only because of the correlation between these two, but teachers expect international schools to "recruit, and compensate" like international schools. So what does that mean, well reduced to a formula real international schools can charge a lot more in tuition, and therefor can afford to compensate their staff more. Local schools tend to attract the middle class in a region who want out of the municipal/public school system but cant afford the tuition at the "real" international school. As a result they dont pay (and that means total compensation) as much as the real international schools. The schools are also managed more like local schools and have less resources typically then the real international schools.

You should have all those things (except the application) already scanned. That said a lot of low tier schools like to pretend or act like they are better then they really are. Most of the real international schools dont need sister schools or affiliations with other private schools. Their view is that moving elsewhere is a step down for a student. Top tier ISs care about relationships with colleges and universities.

Your right your qualifications are worth something. This school would probably hire you too, but at the end of a couple years with them you wont have anything to really transition to another school. You already have "american" classroom experience, and chinese classroom experience isnt how international schools are run really (even in china). You also dont need "AP" experience since it isnt your grade level. You would make enough at this school to be OK, but you wouldnt really be able to save anything.

What you need to do though is get with an agency, get your application materials ready and be very open minded about where to go. I hate to say this but I'd consider a few schools in the ME over this school.

Yes IB schools participate (though not all do). You can ead the summary here:

http://www.ibo.org/announcements/2012/s ... esults.cfm

If you have OCC access a more detailed report is available.

You can make the point even more fundamental, the IB only cared to survey admins.

Sure its worth applying, whats the time and cost of emailing a resume really? A few seconds and free.

The issue is it worth taking a position if offered. They are not a great school (Tier 3). The school is mostly locals, so not really an international school. They arent reped by Search or ISS. They arent an IB school (so no IB experience). They arent accredited by any of the american regional accrediting associations. Basically, they are a private school in a rural region of China (they offer AP, because they are a test center). Their compensation isnt that great at all. Its around 12K RMB which is around the top end of an ESL school. They provide housing in apartments, you get local medical, airfare and a tiny relocation allowance (a couple hundred USD). They give a one month bonus at the end of contract.If you had nothing else it would be a paycheck, but as far as growth goes without IB PYP experience it would do nothing for you.

Saving potential in Thailand and Malaysia can be very high. Especially when you consider that housing is included in your compensation package. It really all depends where you are though. A school like ISB, Patanya, Harrow would make that an easy answer. The lessor tier 2 schools might allow you to live well, but youll whatever you save will be little more then vacation money once you leave (if you leave). Its not uncommon for people on pensions and retirement to retire in Thailand. if you have the time and years to dedicate you could eventually work your way up to an elite school in Thailand.

There are basically only a couple things a trailing spouse can do (that they would want to do).

1) ESL teaching.
2) Clerical staff position at the school you work at (happens all the time).
3) Start own business.

There are some other options but without Thai language proficiency they are pretty much low wage jobs. I know one woman that was a nanny and even though she got paid more then a thai, it was pitiful wages.

Well your different, I know a fair number of teachers that really only hang out with each other and other expats. Fewer socialization opportunities for woman is one reason, language is another. Safety concerns a third.

I "know of" some "actual DoDDS teachers" who say the same thing. I also have a friend who is "know, know" who says the majority of CONUS hires are in their 30's to mid 40's. The issue they report has to do with the minimum number of years of service for retirement/pension, and DODEA caps service credit at 10 years.

Your instincts are on target Id say. I'm comfortable with it as an admin (for the record im involved in the hiring process, but i dont actually have hiring authority). Many heads I think do get the impression that you sound lazy if you ask about workload during the interview, and id avoid it.

Really though this question doesnt belong in the interview, it belongs in the contract discussion when youve been offered a contract, and any decent school will have a part of the contract that describes or details the teaching or contact hours. Its just like the interview isnt the time to ask about salary, but if you can talk about how much money they are offering they have to be prepared and SHOULD be comfortable with talking about how much work they are expecting for that money.

I've found that while money/salary is very negotiable, teaching hours are usually not. The school has a good idea how many students and classes they need, and they arent going to bend so much knowing they are going to need you to teach 22 hours a week to meet their enrollment expectations. They are HIGHLY unlikly to break the position up and hire another person to make up the difference. Most schools also pad their teaching hours in a contract. For instance right now the position is only 18 teaching hours, but enrollment might change so they put 22 or 25 int he contract, so that they can have you work more, even if you actually never teach that many.

Problems for teachers are when schools make your salary contingent on a minimum number of teaching hours or when their expectation is they own you and feel they can heap any amount of work on you. That said some schools (AS London, comes to mind) pay very well, but you will earn every penny of it. As an admin I look at it this way. If we have to open another class and your our teacher for that subject either you have to teach the class, or we have to basically put a substitute in that classroom (who may not be qualified, and may not be informed on our program). I would rather negotiate an extra duty stipend or compensation with that teacher for the over hours. The other option is I simply add more students to your current classrooms and pay you nothing extra. So my advice is that if your offered extra for another class that you take it.

Its a small private school. They are still working on accreditation. Basically students follow the UK curriculum until 6th form then switch too IBD. They are a nice little program and school. Teachers work hard, and its expected youll "do what it takes". I wouldnt say the workload is hard or extensive though. They certainly have a very "british" feel and environment (and they should).

Greece and Athens is a very hard place to be right now. Athens is usually a very nice and beautiful city to be in, its kind of like living in Rome. The salary is typical for european compensation packages, but housing and what you pay in rents could change overnight with new taxes etc. The school doesnt have any financial problems exactly so you wouldnt have a problem with your pay, but how far that goes is dependent on the local economy, which is extremely unstable. They usually dont have to do much recruiting every year so there is an unusual number of vacancies they are recruiting for. That said you really cant save any money, so unless your looking to retire your career out there, youd leave with pretty close to nothing. Its just very expensive and taxes are normally high (your tax rate would average out to about 33%, maybe 35%) assuming no surprises. They dont provide a housing allowance. You get salary, relocation allowance, and insurance.

Well then for preservation sake. I'll make it brief, I wouldnt work there.

If the package is only "OK" can i assume your thinking its late in the hiring season, and you dont have any other options?

How can you tell its a dynamic expat community? That could just as easily mean "all the expats stick together because there isnt any other option"? Is your intention to go all the way to Eqypt and just hang out with other westerners?

Not officially, DODEA is prohibited to discriminate based on age. Unofficially you dont see many CONUS hires in their 50's

Many schools both the very good and the very bad have intern program. Though most of them are actually paid internships. At the good schools interns either do non classroom clerical work or specialized tasks like marketing, fund raising or web/IT things. Classroom interns are basically teacher aids. At the bad schools interns work as teachers, and the school just couldnt get anyone qualified or they pay really low.

If your looking for unpaid volunteer positions your best bet is to go though a university study abroad or overseas office. The problem with volunteer (unpaid_ interns is that it still costs the school to bring them over, and many of the places have to guarantee you can support yourself. Lastly, volunteers tend to ahve stability issues. Teachers do what they do because they love it, but they dont do it for free, and ive seen a number of interns that left early. In italy a number of paid interns just grossly underestimated the costs of living in Rome, and the workload while normal was still a job. It didnt leave a lot of time (or money) to actually see or do anything. A number of them left over the mid term break/winter holiday.

It all depends on location really. Living int he USA isnt just "rent" though its utilities (cable, internet, phone, mobile), a car (insurance, registration, gas). A whole bunch of other stuff. But even if you take your $50K US salary after taxes its $44K then a $1K just in rent over 12 months ($12K) is done to $32K.

Nope i couldn't access it on the AISH site either, BUT you can download it here:

http://www.4shared.com/office/Wz8EMk4v/ ... sting.html