In my experience having both worked in Asia (Japan, Thailand and China) and Europe (Italy and Denmark), europe tends to be less stress and less intense on workload and hours. Then again asia usually beats most european countries when it comes to academic scores.

As anyone whos been on this board will attest too, i take a personal interest in every post on this board, some more then others. Nothing i said in my post is an attack on you (more like aggressivly defending the alternative point of view).

Contracts are never written for the benefit of the teacher, they are there to protect the school. Im sorry if you took offense, I really, really am, its just that most of your post addresses minor, political and organizational issues, that to a seasoned international teacher are just par for the course, and read like one of those bad chinese day time soap operas. It kinda has you sounding like theres a conspiracy, when in reality thats just how things are done over a large part of asia and china. Basically, and again not trying to offend you but you just didnt know how to read between the lines. I am sorry, and I agree that a lot of the problems at this school are a result of the school, but theres nothing thats not "normal" about the school given its status and resources.

Ok now this is the personal ad hominem attack.

You are not the "messenger" or the "beacon of warning" you are a *venter*, your frustrated, upset and angry, and your taking out those frustrations by masking as a crusader against an "unjust" school. Thats not a messenger thats a whiner. Life isnt fair, your a westerner, who lives a pretty nice life, and pretty high on the old global resource pyramid. At that school you were making WAY more then one of the locals was, and enjoyed a certain amount of "slack" and freedom that a local wouldnt have gotten because of your "foreigner" status. In all honesty, you better hope teaching life doesnt get "more fair" because youd find yourself in a lot deeper and uglier position then the one you were in. We thank you for your post and your review, but posting in every venue (especially on the same site) is just the act and mentality of someone looking for retribution.

Ok a few things. First, schools dont count experience prior to certification (so you have one year experience). What was your teaching subject? If it was ESL, its not likely to count either (which means you have no experience).

Where should you apply? Anywhere that will take you...

Your basically a humanities/social studies teacher. Your not likely to be considered for a primary (PYP) position as you have no experience, and no background. ESL is a maybe, but none of your certification fields are in high demand. Based on your criteria of wanting an IB school and saving potential Id recommend somewhere in Asia (not in JP, HK, or SG). Your not competitive for Europe or an elite school anywhere, and since you wouldnt land at an elite school youd be lucky to break even. Non-profits can be anywhere, though they are usually the better schools, and somewhere like China may be willing to take you. Reasonable workload is too subjective. Ichiro works a lot harder and longer then i do (or could), but he seems to handle it pretty well. General Quality of Life is more up to you and the region/city your in then any individual school. Its also subjective. Generally larger metropolitan cities offer more extracurricular opportunities outside of school, but you may be the type of person that values a more rural environment.

When you say "teaching english at local elementary schools" in SK, what do you mean by that? Im going to assume you teach ESL, at a non international school...

Your right ESL experience (unless at an international school, where you need to hold a government credential to teach) doesnt count (or counts very little).

It would be hard to say if your expectations are too high, since I dont know what your expectations are. You should be aiming for a tier two school somewhere in Asia (not Japan/Singapore/Hong Kong) would be my reflex answer. Your a teaching couple, but in the same field so your basically competing against one another, unless a school has 2 vacant primary school positions open (which hiring you would be a nice benefit for a school). You could also apply independently and one of you become a trailing spouse, hoping something opens up (or a position is "created" for the trailing spouse).

Ok sorry, I understand you had a bad experience, and I really am sorry, but a lot of your clarifications are really just picking nits.

First, the term "international" as used in the name of a school doesnt have any legal meaning or definition in any (based on my search) country. Its marketing, and it doesnt matter what a school calls itself. Everyone familiar with international eduation who looks at their school profile knows that its a national school based on the student population demographics.

Second, who cares is so and so principal is listed or not as to who really runs the school, it happens all the time. Crummy schools often have crummy leadership. regardless of whos actually in charge and what there intentions are.

Third, business is business. The more dependent a school is on tuition the lower their admission standards. Happens all the time. even at good schools if theres a seat available and theirs enough money involved a student can get into just about any private/international school.

Lastly, I'm sorry your experience was bad, but your ideals are just that ideals. Most (if not all) entry level teachers do make sacrifices at some point and to some degree. If the potential risks (because of your dependents, or whatever reason) are too much for you, then stay home.

Honestly, I dont see anything in your post that would indicate how it would be a hardship for your dependents? Most of your complaints are really just cultural differences (and business differences at that). I hate to say it, but China is run differently then the USA (or whatever western european country) you hail from. You just seem like a pretty non-adaptable/rigid person. From a teachers contract standpoint: school name, principal identity, and admission policies are not really fair concerns to a teacher (OK if your contract specified a specific principal you would be working under, maybe).

The application is the easiest one. If a school has an application online to fill out, they intend all applicants even if they have an active Search/ISS profile to complete the schools application.

You should request your own copy of any letters of reference. Really its smart to do, you might not be an applicant down the road with search, and as such a potential employer wont be able to access those confidential letters. If your reference moves or becomes unavailable you wont have any way of getting them in the future. If a school asks for a letter of reference in their application materials then send one. The rule here is:

Always do what the instructions for the school say.

Dont assume that they will "look you up", schools get hundreds too thousands of applications, and they arent going to go and look anyone up until they have narrowed down the candidates to the finalists (it takes up too much time, you have to do a search on Search's website for each candidate, and its a lot of data entry and work). Depending on whos job it is to search and sort those applications, they may be instructed to discard any applicants whos application isnt "complete" (meaning no letters and your in the delete/trash pile).

In reality schools dont use the Search function very much, they post a vacancy, and then proceed to identify a candidate through applications. while some schools may or do it in particular limited situations, it is not the preferred or common means of hiring a teacher. It might be a bit bruising to ones ego, but any one individual teachers value to a school isnt as great as they often think it is. The expectation is that teachers look and persue schools, not the other way around.

OK that was a little tongue in cheek, so being serious now I have to really disagree with Ichiro on this, for some of the following main reasons.

1) While not the most common, a fair number of schools (a number being in the middle east) only issue 1 year contracts. There is no disgrace to COMPLETING a contract of any length with a good reference that is NOT going to look bad. Thats just how some schools work.

2) Even at schools where its not common, schools that typically offer initial 2 year contracts offer, for various reasons (mainly maternity leave replacements) 1 year "temporary" contracts.

3) The international school arena is a small one, and heads know that no one wants to stay in the third tier schools, or bad schools, and many people who break contract at these types of schools, usually find employment at other schools with little if any marks against them.

I get the sense your at one of these types of schools, and since your leaving at the end of your contract, no ones going to fault you for that.

Another option (again serious face) if your issue is more about getting out of the school and environment your in, then moving to a better school (or if your not likely to get a good reference), is to leave the year at this school off your resume/CV. You got your current job and position without much experience, its very reasonable you could get another tier 2 position for next year with the same previous experience you had before.

Sure, Inflate your resume (its not the noblest answer). Schools usually only check and verify the last school/place of employment. They will get glowing review from that school, and not bother going deeper down the list. Just put a couple years before that at a school that shut down or closed.

I only write that because you already deferred all the normal, acceptable responses. Really, there isnt a lot of rocket science to an international teachers career. It really involves doing those things you already stated. You put in your time (two years) at the bottom or middle and work your way up.

Either that or you get lucky... In that no amount of advice can really help you, except if you want more luck take more risks (though in this case luck means both the "good" kind and the "bad" kind).

Yeah Ditto, the ISR reviews for China (and asia) are full of them.

Honestly, though for this type of school, the person was either naive, or desperate. Schools (even the bad ones) need teachers, and like everyone they want to maximize the return on their investment. Im sure they would like to be a better school, and have better students, and have more money, and bigger budgets, more prestige, and reputation but not everyone can be WAB or BIS. They are just making due with the resources they have. What youve described is pretty typical of "public" schools just about everywhere, they are there to educate the masses. This is just one of the schools new teachers have to suffer through before they move on to something better, and if it wasnt for the legions of schools like this, there wouldnt be a better school for comparison.

Well depends on the school and the location. It happens on occasion but unless you have key stage or GCSE/IGCSE experience I doubt youd be taken seriously. Its kind of like not having IB experience, except their arent a lot of tier 2 British schools that will train someone. Again though the cost of applying (emailing a resume, etc) is really zero, just dont get frustrated if nothing happens. British teachers that would like to teach in an "American" school have the same issue.

Your best chance is to find a British school that offers IB as well (and hope they are desperate, because the UK has a lot of unemployed teachers as well), and after a couple years there pick up enough experience, you could leverage that at a full British school.

I like the idea of looking at the staff profile pages as well, sadly most schools dont put up much even if they do have teacher profiles. Usually you get a photo, name, and what subject grade they teach, and brits look a lot like americans (or I just cant tell the difference).

I'd send it to the Head... HR, doesnt hire people, and id hate all that effort and expense not to get into the bosses hands.

Cant say I'd ever do it, but cant say i wouldn't see it being effective either. I guess its brilliant if it works, and if it didnt and i kept it to only a couple of schools i wouldn't feel like Id be out a LOT of money or anything. We got a couple hand delivered application, and although they didnt come fedex/dhl, i remember thinking "great now I have to type the email address into the computer by hand" though I will say their applications did "stand out" a little more in a stack of cheap white paper print outs. None of them got into the final interview pile though (style doesnt compensate for a lack of experience). I do remember the VP for Learning Support asking about where they might have gotten the paper (it was printed on a milky vellum).

First, IB training isnt the same as IB experience, one doesnt equal the other, and schools are really looking for IB experience. Second, the "training" workshops/seminars even at the level 2 (assessment) and level 3 (leadership) levels really arent all that helpful or even in depth. I cant see a school giving an admin who only had IB training serious credit for it.

To answer your question, while IB schools reallyw ant a principal who has IB experience (because your the one that usually does the training, mentoring and IB paperwork) there are 2nd and 3rd tier schools in China that will probably take you and give you a shot. You spend 2-3 years doing that, and then youd be ready for a tier 1 school. They wont be the better schools though, and will most likely be "for profit" which might sour you on the whole experience.

Since this is an anonymous forum, how does anyone know what anyone else says is true...

My last 2 positions (both in Italy, and now in Denmark) i got on my own, applying directly. The big schools like to hire as quickly as they can. The fairs can be so exhausting and everyone wants an interview with them, so the fewer vacancies they have to fill the better. the only downside for me at least is filling out those online applications. its so repetitive.

Honestly though I dont think it matters. The cost of emailing your materials is zero.

They were brand new when I was back in China (and the secondary program, is REALLY new). Tom Kline is one of those admins that supports the school and board first and teachers second (thats not all bad though, an admin who doesnt do what their boss (the board) wants finds they arent an admin anymore). The school is really more focused on primary and only a small secondary program, as that was what their first focus was, and while they are an IB world school, the secondary school hasnt really caught on (mainly because there are already several very good secondary schools in Shanghai). The package is good, though not the best or the elite in Shanghai (the provided housing is actually very nice), it puts them solidly in the tier 1 schools. Shanghai is expensive and only gets more and more expensive, living in Shanghai is more like living in Hong Kong then the rest of China. You can very quickly and easily spend a lot of money in Shanghai. The students are what youd expect from a private school in Shanghai. They arent the top but theyre also not the worst (the parents pretty much bought them into the school).

Now the bad news. My biggest peeve is how they are trying to ride on WAB's (Western Academy of Beijing) name. The two are different, WAB is run very much like a non profit, and WISS is run more as a for profit. Some of their policies are restrictive. For instance most schools in China pay a yearly bonus, WISS doesnt pay the bonus until your third year (given you get all three years), that has to be a concern. I think if you had 2 or fewer years IB experience, and wanted to live in "the city", and werent looking to change the world (because my sense was there was a business culture, that didnt alwasy see the students and education as the bottom line) WISS could be a good post, until you hit the 4-5 year mark and would be competitive for the elite schools.