Concerns about this site...

[lostboy]

Sorry, folks this site (sight) is a long time coming. I am envious of you who have had great times in great places. Me too, but not always in the work place. It's sad, and the system needs some policing, so why not, done by teachers. If a director is named, so be it. They have minds too, and if foul is called, let them defend themselves. Like us, we have to defend ourselves when we are judged. My favorite line is, criticism can help improve you as a teacher. Then it's placed in your file. Well, wake up, shotty directors, it's to help you improve yourself as a director, then its placed in your file, right here. So, defend it, clean it up or move on. Truth hurts.

[Peter]

This sums it up pretty good

Teaching Overseas forum says:
"Users of this forum please note: we cannot allow any references to individual schools, colleges or agencies - or their staff - whether named or identifiable through a pseudonym or other means, as we have no way of verifying the information. Any such postings will be deleted. If you have a story to tell, contact the TES at internet_editor@tes.co.uk"

[Guest]

Well Peter, I noticed that you didn't leave your name and email address here. I assume your comment has no validity.

It sounds like the TES forum isn't going to fill us in on what's really happening. ISR will be a success because it does.

[guest]

I visit both ISR and TES regularly. Both have their merits. I don't think their objective is to be in competition with each other, but rather to keep teachers informed via other teachers. Yes, it is true, TES will not allow you to use names, but it's free and people do get around this... ISR tells you straight out, but they collect a fee to cover the legal costs of this. Why not visit both sites. Best wishes.

[about to register]

As I have the unfortunate experience of knowing the person who started this thread, and the school that he works for (which, incidently has been bankrupt at least twice), I would take his comments with a pinch of salt.

I am an administrator in an International School, and I thoroughly support this site.

[SurfBoy]

This site is long overdue. Administrators need to suck it up and be accountable. I am an international school teacher, a professional and a hard worker. I am judged everyday I walk into my classroom.

That bloke is accusing us teachers of being unprofessional because we identify the heads of schools - here's a news flash - do a quick search and the heads name is always on the school website.

Keep the opinions flowing.

[Eric]

When reviewing any situation you have to be objective and in the case of these international school reviews they will only become statistically significant when this site is full of reviews for each school. One bad review alone does not alter my perception of a school although I admit it makes me do my homework.

International school organizations and recruitment firms are not objective: due to financial and reputation incentives they regularly support school directors in favour of seeking the truth. This saddens me: it is hypocracy in the world of international education which claims to be moulding model internationally minded global citizens.

[Luann Fragale]

I appreciate what Mark wrote. I have felt uncomfortable with some of the reviews I've read including one of my current school which I disagree with. Some of the comments made in some of the reviews could potentialy put the authors at risk for law suits, and I think that should be made clear.

I have not given my own reivew because I am still new in my current placement, and it is my opinion that no one other than the individual who went through a difficult experience truly knows what happened. I would not presume to negate their feelings.

However, I agree with the position UNI Fair takes in its forum. They discourage some of this type of discussion because one person's bummer experience could be another person's jewel. Face it, peronalities of people, the culture of the country, and the culture of the school all play a role in how one views a school and its administration.

Having seen this first hand recently, I would caution people to take what they read with a grain of salt. Among other things, I read that my current school has weak academic standards. Nothing could be further from what currently exists. It is possible that people who have not fit into an environment see other aspects of the school in a skewed fashion as well. I am glad I did not listen when the reviewer said no one should go and work at this school. I think the school is actually pretty amazing. But again, that's my opinion, and I wouldn't expect someone to mistake that for the gospel truth.

I don't beleive that my opinion is more right or the other person's opinion wrong. We might just need to make room for differences of goals, work styles, personality, and temperaments when considering what is written and what we write.

I think we can present facts however. If a school is requiring drug tests of its staff...I'd like to know that and avoid a school that violates people's privacy and personal rights. However, if it is normal differences between people, I'd like to see everyone take personal responsibility to temper their reviews with a good dose of looking at it from another person's perspective before sitting down to vent.

[jhgiles]

I am a newcomer interested in any open forum on education and in appropriate use of technology in teaching. I think phbbb (i.e., the bulletin board) is an extremely useful tool used synchronously or asynchronously and with learners in the same classroom or in different countries. I am a particular fan of phbbb.

As an open forum on educational issues, the bulletin board can really be effective. It can be focused and timely. Unfortunately, like any bulletin board, it can be misused as a place to blow off steam or post a gripe, valid or invalid. I suggest using this bulletin board to discuss educational issues, methods, and the particular challenges of teaching in international schools. And all postings should be signed. Perhaps the administrator/moderator should come up with some ground rules.

Second, if you are new to phbbb, you should know it can be used VERY effectively in teaching. I have used it to organize interactive learning among student groups in the same and in different countries. Another successful project was to match up graduate school-level mentors (University of Chicago) with individual students (Northside College Prep) on a research project. And I have used it for student assessment. With appropriate moderator privileges provided by the administrator, you can, for example easily gauge the quality, quantity and timliness of student submissions on a project. And you can "listen in" and comment on ongoing discussions while ongoing or at your leisure. The first time you pop up in real time, of course, blows away a few students!

It can blow away teachers, too. My favorite story is about a group of teachers from Japan who came to see what I was up to. At the time, my students were in an extensive totally "cyber-based" project. They were forbidden to speak with one another directly. EVERYTHING (communication, research, presentations) had to be accomplished using the computer. They could work in the classroom or at home (if they had Internet access). I brought the visitors into the lab where the students were assembled. I said hello to the students, introduced the visitors, gave a one-minute "update," then let the students loose on their keyboards. After a minute or two or logging on, there was silence in the room except for the clacking of computer keys. One of the teachers turned to me and asked, "When do you do the teaching?" Having observed many Japanese secondary school classrooms, I knew where he was coming from. Well, I got off my best line ever: "There's too much learning going on now to teach."

[Mark N]

I am jumping into this discussion a bit late but felt I needed to cooment on Mark's perspective. While mweritless criticism is of no value knowing the personality and quirks of potential leaders/ administrators is of invaluable help making a decision to accept a job offer. While we as teachers provide extensive personal information about our selves we are usually privy to only what the schoolsd want us to know.

Teachers are for the most part receptive to growth and change, how these are accomplished determine wether or not buyin is achievable. By redefining job cuts as realignment, which has happened to my wife and I, does not change the fact that positions were being reduced because of financial necessity rather than some pedagogical reasoning.

By being informed we can then make informed decisions to become part of a team and look to ward growth and change as positive issues.

Just some thoughts!

[teacher]

I hope anyone who sees a review of a school that they worked in (as a teacher or administrator) with which they do not agree, offers their alternative perspective. Otherwise, this site will never be extremely helpful. A few personal details are useful too - it is good to know that what doesn't suit a young single female, was delightful for a older couple. Also relative experience is helpful - knowing someone has been in 5 schools and that one was significantly better or worse at least gives you some idea of a considered judgement. Please include some of this in your review!

I rarely decide whether or not to go to a movie based on one person's opinion, why would I base two years of my life on that same opinion? But it is helpful to collect as many opinions or viewpoints as possible, and then consider the balance of evidence. So teachers and administrators -- make your viewpoint known!!!

[G.L.]

Dear teachers and others reading this site,
I myself love the international teaching profession. After 14 years overseas, I feel that I've found that teaching in other cultures is probably the most rewarding way to spend one's life on earth.
As a former head, I know there are other educators out there, past employees, colleagues, and the like who think I'm the devil incarnate. And yes, I've made some mistakes, but it's not for lack of trying to do my best.
However there is one thing I truly believe, and that is that transparency in all facets of school management is a must. I could go to my grave tomorrow confident that St. Peter would not fault me for trying to give employees a balanced and honest view of working at my school, warts and all.
I also know Mark Hansen personally, and I know him to be an excellent adminstrator as evidenced by talking to third parties as well as Mark's employees from his days in Vilnius. If he makes a suggestion, ISR would do well to consider it.
I have a suggestion that I have mentioned to the good people of ISR: I think it would be a great idea for teachers to post their experience as an international teacher before deigning to gripe about a post, or a Director/Administrator. Just a thought.
I present myself as an example. After teaching for two well-organized and beautiful years in Denmark, my wife and I accepted positions in Rome. To my simple way of thinking, Rome and Copenhagen were the same. Was I ever wrong! Just because they were both in the EU doesn't mean that conditions were the same. At first, I hated every minute in Rome. Then one famous head advised me to try taking Rome by teaspoonsful rather than all at once. That, and a change of apartments made all the difference in the world. My wife and I go back to visit both of our schools, neighborhood, and our Italian friends, and thoroughly enjoy the city. What a change a little experience can make!

Please feel free to write me for another person's advice. I won't comment on any schools or heads, but I will help any other way I can.

Good luck and happy teaching!

George Lumm
christywillette@hotmail.com
PS: I am currently working on an article for ISR about re-entry shock, culture shock in reverse. You will all face it sometime, I guarantee! Stay tuned-in to ISR!

[Arabia finesse]

Dear Mark:

Your position is well understood. The trend of these twenty some responses to your message should not go un noticed. A trend will develope here, treat your staff with fairness and respect and" you will be reading glowing" reports about You here ! The comments of Rageh and tutu are a fairly honest representation of the feeling of the rank and file of international teachers.
Respectifully,
Jan

[concerned teacher]

I think that everyone who uses this site is aware of the potential for biased reporting. We all read the entries, and think, "well, he/she could have been just mad, and wanting someone to pay for it." Until we read the third, the fourth, the fifth review--mixed in with some that could never have been written by teachers, since their self-serving nature is all to apparent! (Read the Angola reviews, for example!)

However, though new teachers to the international school scene are not yet aware of it, anyone who has taught overseas six months or more realizes that in no international school is one actually protected in the way one would be protected in most American and European schools from unethical, unfair, and unprofessional treatment. Even in schools where there is a structure in place to appeal what one might feel to be unfair treatment (and after ten years of teaching overseas in some of the best schools, I must say, I can't think of even one such school--though surely there must be one?<G>) the Good Old Boys/Girls club will get you in the end. As large as the world of international teaching is, those of us who have been here for awhile are WELL aware of how small the fishbowl is, and how doomed your chances are for getting the next good position if you express yourself honestly with an administrator about any issue you deem to be unprofessional, unethical, or illegal in most countries. Sure, the better administrators know who their loser colleagues are, and those administrators with integrity will take the punitive efforts of their sleazy colleagues with a grain of salt (as some have, thankfully, clearly done for me), but as the whole system is based on references, everyone knows only part-way into their first contract that wisdom dictates silence. And besides, once you're in the grips of a bad situation, the best thing you can do for yourself is to not make it any worse than it already is. Those of us who have taught successfully overseas for a number of years know the value of a positive attitude, and we have all learned strategies for taking care of it, and whingeing to a stone wall isn't one of them!

However, since sleazy administrators can make it difficult for you to get the next job by what can only be termed as black-balling, and since there is no other recourse or protection, then I say this site is the best thing to happen in a long time!

Mr. Hansen, with good intentions, misses the point a bit. What we ALL want to know is exactly WHO to not sign a contract with! Without names, we have nothing! We don't just want to know if the housing is good; we want to know if there is any chance that the guy in charge is going to make our life hell! Good administrators have nothing to fear! You won't find their names listed pejoratively here! I've checked! All my favorites are squeaky clean; people have written WONDERFUL things about them--and deservedly so!

Though I agree that changes that administrators need to make will always be met with some hesitation, surely those are not the issues teachers are looking at. Good teachers--the ones you want to hire--are clearly capable of reading through the sour grapes of someone who was simply resisting change. But if you, as an administrator, hire new faculty and then go home and fire the ones you already have--because you found someone you liked better, and because you COULD (true story)--we want to know that! And if you made promises you didn't keep (only too true too often), we want to know your name. And if you didn't pay what you said you would pay, or didn't cover the expenses you said you would cover, we want to make sure we don't ever work for you! And how can we avoid you if we don't know your name? Because even if one school runs you out, you'll show up in another, working your sleazy racket on the new bunch of wide-eyed innocents--who won't know to avoid you unless we tell them to! It's only because there are continually new teachers to the system that any of these people can get away with their unconscionable behavior. And we don't want to let them get away with it!

So, those of you new to the system, read well! Check out ISR BEFORE you sign! There are many WONDERFUL administrators in overseas schools; let them find you, instead!

[concerned teacher]

By the way, a couple of post-posting thoughts:

Perhaps it will give credence to my above statement to state that I have taught at five schools overseas--International School Manila, Jakarta International School, Fukuoka International School, Rabat American School, and Luanda International School--and have had outstanding experiences at 4 of the 5, with one being abominable. I have not yet written reviews of any of these schools, though I intend to do my part, and write the four positive reviews as well as the one negative one. What I am saying is that I am not driven by bitterness or revenge--just concern that there are a few charlatans out there who, like any good student, will learn how not to behave only by suffering the consequences of their bad behavior. Because of the lack of supportive laws in place, it is a seductive arena for a few twisted personalities on control binges, and just as you might check on tripadvisor.com in order to avoid a bad hotel (at which time you can decide how much noise/mold/small/unclean might be cause for concern), checking on this site will also help give you information upon which to base your decision. And, again, good administrators have nothing to fear. In fact, they should be delighted that something is being done to clean up the neighborhood!<G>