Salaries and savings potential

[askwhat]

Hello ISR community,

Amongst about five other reasons, I started teaching abroad for money. A number of new teachers at my school seem to of had the same rationale. Sad, but true.

I am curious as why salary scales (widely published in the States) become a professional detail only shared immediately before signing contracts. Recruiting fairs give vague figures for salaries at best. Why don't schools publish this information annually and publicly?

More pertinent to the enterprising job seeker is savings potential. This area seems most problematic to share with potential teachers, since we have different needs and expectations - which I'll call standards - (as well as different salaries). As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I filled out annual or biannual "cost of living" surveys which determined my living stipend (which just barely crossed $100/mo. as I was leaving); the average reported need determined the standards of livings. What is a practical means of establishing these 'standards' or average costs of living, so that people could reasonably establish their savings potential?

As per myself, I spend around $500 on transportation, domestic help, food, housing, utilities, and a few incidentals a month. I save over $1,600 each month without external travel (which is obnoxiously expensive).

I'd like your view on the annual sharing of salary scales, and your thoughts on a reasonable way to establish savings potential. [Yes, I love my kids and colleagues - and I realize that there is much more to teaching than the money.]

[mgoblue424]

hi. im not teaching overseas (yet), but was curious as to where/what you are teaching. i am simmilarly looking into at least being able to save a bit of money by going overseas, as well as for the adventure of it all and getting out and seeing the world.

im a "career changer," meaning i never knew what i wanted to be when i grew up. ive always been involved in working with children, and this seemed the most logical extension of it along with doing something more meaningful with my life.

just curious, and if you have any advice on the issues, itd be much appreciated!


Steve

[Jan]

To Steve, Your Engilsh must improve. This would be my first suggestion.
Respectifully,

Jan

[mgoblue424]

To Steve, Your Engilsh must improve. This would be my first suggestion.
Respectifully,

Jan

My English is just fine, thank you very much. Most forums tend to informal, and given the fact you're not adding anything really to the main point of the thread, it would seem you enjoy needling people excessively merely to feel better about yourself.


Even more respectfully,



Steve

[philbert]

Deer Jan

Yur attitood must improov

Philbert Arachide, PhD

[mgoblue424]

Deer Jan

Yur attitood must improov

Philbert Arachide, PhD

Now thats what I'm talking about!


Me and Philbert, experts in the GNU English.

[6 of the best]

Come to my school. Teachers love bickering. My real advice; if you are young go anywhere and stop thinking about the money. That can wait.

[Guest]

Steve,

Have you considered DODD schools? I'm considering both. I tend to favor International Schools but DODD schools seemed to be more of a sure thing in regards to pay, housing and other expectations.

[Aribia Finesse]

Steven,

I think you have many good suggestions here. Ask what, saves almost 20 K a year and seems to have domestic help and travels inside the country...Nice !

The English suggestion , it was submitted respectfully, I choose to think it was a positive statement, and not to be considered only.

The good Doctor, I so help me cant figure out what the message is ¿

Now 6 of the best, this person is right on! "If you are young go anywhere" Yes, this person has it all together....the money will come later...Just go do it, now.

And DODD schools, the Government prints up everything, it is all open for all to see what you get and make..... again an excellent choice, many benifits.

All of us are different, we have different saving habits, hope this helps.

[Guest]

Its funny that they wrote you need to write better english when they can't even write respectfully right, lol

About the DODD, do you have to be American for those jobs? I would like to look into them but am not quite sure how. Any suggestions??

[guest5]

YES, you must by American to work for them.

[Guest12345252]

Hi there,

If you are attending an ECIS.. sorry COIS fair, when you register, you can go online and every school has an info sheet that tells you their pay scale for 2, 5, 7 and 10 years experience for teachers with and without a Master's degree. They also have a spot for "single teacher with 2 years experience should expect to be able to save: $________" so you can get an idea.

I have been to two of their fairs, and have been really happy in general... in discussions with others about Search, COIS and other fairs, it is like Ford or Chevy, you just like what you like (though many people I spoke to like the COIS fair, partly becuase it is free.).

Hope this helps.

D

[wenpow]

It has been quite a while, but I did once attempt to work for the DODD. The amount of paperwork was tremendous and the turnaround time is lengthy. If you attend a job fair, (either ISS, COIS (once ECIS), UNI (univ of Northern Iowa) etc, there is a fairly quick turnaround time for if you have been offered a contract or not. With DODD, you must begin the application process quite early (it is, afterall, a government branch).

The application process to finally landing a job probably would take between 6 months to a year for DODD from my previous experience.

My two posts overseas/out of country came about in a most happenstance manner. First job was for an American School in Monterrey, Mexico - answered an ad in the Miami Herald - interviewed once, got a call back, had several weeks to think about it and then accepted.

My second post overseas evolved from going to a job fair, being discussed and referred by someone else I must have interviewed with, and being phoned a month later by another administrator. He was in the states for a very short time and wanted to interview me at the Fort Lauderdale airport in between flights! I was offered a contract shortly afterwards and accepted to teach at Mont' Kiara International School and then new school in Kuala Lumpur.

These admins really do meet up for drinks and discuss viable candidates. The admin world is actually quite small for overseas American schools, and politics play an important role.

Hope this helps and good luck.

PS - for information sheets, the best I've seen are by UNI but you have to buy the booklet - well worth it.
Wendy Powell, Instructor in Computer Programming
ITT Technical Institute
Fort Laud, FL

[mbd26]

The original post on this thread brought up an important point about salary scales that all of us should keep in mind. Indeed coming from a public school system in the USA I was also used to a public/published salary scale, and a bit surprised at my first international job to find that info was individualized and secret.

Now moving to another job where I was given a published salary scale BEFORE I even interviewed I've discovered that that is a very good measure of a school's professionalism. Many so-called "international schools" are businesses, and like any business they are interested in earning a profit and keeping expenditures low. So they negotiate each teacher's salary individually. A "real school" (as I've begun calling established non-profit, board-run schools) will be very up-front wıth their salary scale and policies.

[John A]

Hi Friends:
I am just getting into the process of exploring oversea teaching assignments (for the 2008 school year) and came across the referrence to DODD. What does this stand for and where can I learn more about it?