sdakota,

Your lack of experience is not a deal breaker, but schools will be more interested in candidates with experience, particularly overseas experience. Also, some schools cannot hire you due to visa regulations of the host countries. I would encourage you to stay patient and emphasize your flexibility You may need to wait until later in February before you start getting interviews. I would caution you against going with a school that offers her a position and tells you that they will/may find a position for you later. You could have visa issues because you are not married or wind up being a substitute teacher.

Good luck.

Just to give a school's perspective. I work at a relatively small school and have received almost two hundred applications/letters of interest in about a week. I simply do not have the time, at this point, to respond. I have prioritized my hard to fill positions and couples and are communicating with those.

In my time recruiting, there has been as increase in candidates and some schools do not have the HR resources to communicate will applicants, and do all the other things you have to do to run a school.

I would only reference it in a cover letter if you left after a year. If you stayed two or more, then just be prepared in case they ask during the interviews.

If you left after a year, you may want to mention it, then highlight how long you have stayed at other positions.

Never worked there, but did review teacher contract at the request of a teacher who was offered a position there. Lived in Shanghai and visited their campus often for events.

It is a for profit school. The compensation package is fine, but not great. You can save something depending upon how you live. Housing in that part of the city is expensive, so you may have a bit of a commute. Aside from the large fields, the facilities are pretty basic and not to the caliber of some of the other schools in the city.

Having said that, Shanghai is a great city and the school is in a cool part. The pollution is real and you have decide how much you want to tolerate.

Good luck with your decision.

The statement below is not correct.

>Two: I think that whether these schools call themselves "for profit" or "not for profit," virtually all of them are actually for >profit >institutions and run themselves accordingly. Very few would compare favorably to your average, reasonably well->funded >suburban American public high school


A large number of schools are for-profit, but no where near "virtually all of them are actually for profit." According to International School Research the number of international schools have doubled in the past ten year and almost all of the new schools are for-proift. However, before this point the majority were "parent-owned" schools that were started by the US State Department. You can see a list of many of these schools here http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/c1684.htm

As a teacher candidate, you certainly need to know what you are getting yourself into, but to declare virtually all school for-profit is not accurate. There are many, many high quality international schools that are equal to or better than your average, reasonable well-funded suburban public high schools.

It is not that schools do not want teachers to have a family, many do because they tend to stay longer. The issue is economics.

High quality schools have many applicants. A teacher with a non-teaching spouse and two children can wind up costing the school $15,000 to $20,000 more than a single teacher due to more expensive health care (most schools pay 100% of the premiums, larger housing, and annual flights home.

If a school hires a teaching couple with two children, then they get two teachers for the cost of one teacher with non-teaching spouse and two children.

If the school is at capacity, your children's tuition could cost the school $40,000 to $60,000.

As others have said, he can happen at a top school, but it will not happen until the end of the recruiting season. Another thought is to broaden your search looking for some hidden gems that can accommodate a family.

I have worked in five international schools and been offered positions in five or six more. None of the directors had any ability to offer higher salaries or benefits. The best I have ever heard of is a director granting a full year of experience for a half year of maternity leave.

There are not secrets in international schools. The veteran teachers on staff would be very upset to hear a new hire received a salary than they should have.

The ISS and Search fairs in Bangkok. They are in the beginning of January.

Solid reputation in a interesting part of the city. There is housing on campus and it is easy to get around Japan. The enrollment dropped a while back, but I heard it was holding. The facility is getting on in years.

I would also be careful about painting all of West Africa with the same brush like many in the US media have done. The tragedy of Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea has more to do with the poor medical infrastructure and the inability of the government than the disease. Nigeria and Senegal showed that it is possible to contain the spread of the . and limit the damage. In many West African countries, life goes on as normal and the international school enrollment is actually increasing in a number of areas.

Do your research about perspective schools and, if the conversations with the West African schools reach a serious level, do not be hesitant to ask about the medical infrastructure of the country and the school’s contingency plans.

There are so many quality (non-profit) international schools. It is hard to give you a top ten list for the world. Largely, because it depends upon what criteria you would use to determine a great school, student exam scores, most innovative, best technology. If you narrow the geography a bit, I could give some names.

One way to narrow your search for non-profit schools would be to check out the list of schools that are sponsored by the State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools. http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/c1684.htm

While I cannot guarantee they are all non-profit, in my experience, the vast majority of them are.

Do an internet search for Mercer cost of living. The company annually ranks major cities. Their rankings do factor in housing, which may not be an issue if the school provides it. You can also get a cost of living report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. They do not factor in housing.

Hope this helps.

If there are members of WASC taking bribes, as you suggest, it would indeed be a serious offence. Can you provide us with proof?

>Thats an easy one: WASC is in it for the money and the handful of WASC officials who get to take 1st class trips around the >world are only in it for the money and for whatever swag they get out of the owners.

>WASC could care less about teachers or education - they are a sham organization.

Gladly Teach,

Your lack of understanding of the role of an accrediting body and the limited power they have is clearly showing. No one takes first class flights and all members of an accrediting team volunteer their time.

Your last response shows how much you have a wrongly placed vendetta against WASC when they would not do anything to help you when you lost your position at your last school (See WASC Attack).

I would encourage new members of the forum to read Gladly Teach's past postings, which you can do by clicking on the username, before giving his words too much weight

Your resume needs to show at least two years experience after you graduated. They do not count experience before granting of the degree. When dealing with schools in China, it is important to remember that each city may implement the rules differently or simply have different rules. It also depends upon which government agency the school has to work through to get the visa.

The government agency in Shanghai may require two years experience, while the one in Xian may not. This also applies to "retirement age". Most schools in Shanghai cannot get a work visa for someone who is 65 or older, while the schools in Beijing can.