The International Schools Review Forum

So we have a bit of a dilemma. I hope the more experienced international teachers can help me and my husband sort this out. We've been offered two jobs...

JOB 1: Is a small IB school in China that wants to become something greater. There are a lot of opportunities for growth and development, and we'd both be teaching in our subject areas. However, the salary is very low and they offer local health benefits.

JOB 2: Is a QSI school in China. One of us would be teaching out of our subject areas. However, the pay is nearly double, the benefits look great, and the maternity leave policy is very generous. We look like to start trying to have a baby in the next year or so.

The IB school probably offers the better work experience, but the QSI school offers much better savings/family building potential. We're really stuck here.

Advice, please?

I do think it boils down to:

- [b]where do you see yourselves in the next two years?[/b] If it's career growth, then I'd stick it out with the smaller paying school that offers an opportunity to gain more IB experience (not unless you are experienced IB teachers already). If it's starting a family, then QSI.

- [b]which weighs more? [/b]career growth and gaining the experience so that you can both move on to another IB school in 2 years, or starting a family soon? could it wait? It's not that often that both of you can gain IB experience at the same time and be teaching the subject areas you are already in.

just my thoughts :) goodluck!

Get you IB experience now. Wait on a family, then make a move to better paying job with better benefits. Once you child arrives, having good insurance will be important. You'll also be more attractive to good schools without dependants.

How much do you really know about the smaller IB school (from non-biased sources)?

Even smaller, newer schools that are truly going places will generally be offering competitive packages to attract quality teachers. If the QSI offer is double the IB school then maybe they are not oferring a competitive package.

The other consideration is location. Depending on the city, there may or may not be what you would consider acceptable healthcare for delivering your first baby. Even here in Beijing there are only a few options that most Westerners would feel comfortable.

I would do more research and ask for some more feedback on both schools and locations.

When you say local health care do you really mean local healthcare or do you mean any health care provider in China but not in North America. I would be hesitant to rely on Chinese local health care for anything serious.

I think you need to have more information if you truly want to make an informed decision. We have taught at a QSI school and while it was certainly lacking, we also know that all schools have issues.

The cost of living is rising steadily in China as food prices go up and the dollar declines. Make sure you don't get yourself into a position where ends are hard to meet.

QSI does have IB in Shekou, China, so you could transfer after two years. Paychecks are always there and the medical benefits are good. Several teachers I know have had babies and QSI does seem to make it easy on them. Two have returned to half-time after a year off.

So your choices are:

1) An IB school in China that wants to be great. This basically means they are a shitty startup right now and hope that you will come along and make them better. You should be very weary of working at startups as they will expect you to do everything. That is what the admin mean when they say lots of room for growth. If they pay half of what QSI pays, which isn’t that much, you are going to be working for peanuts. China isn’t as cheap as you think it is. Lastly, if they are not giving you medical insurance you should WALK AWAY. I live in China and would not trust them to do anything here. We are lucky that we are close enough to Hong Kong and can go there for most of our medical needs. However, that is expensive and luckily we have QSI insurance which is great ($100 deductible, 90% after that, max out of pocket for a family is $800ish and then they cover 100%).

2) QSI school. Everyone at QSI teaches out of their subject area. Workload is generally easy. Very low expectations of students and staff for the most part. Pay is decent. Benefits are pretty damn good. The housing we get here is really good. The maternity policy is absolutely amazing with 1 year off and then another year at .5 time and they will still find a position for you when they come back. We utilized this policy to have a baby with QSI. We are looking to get out of QSI but may stay longer so that we can have another child because their maternity is so good.

In conclusion, I would take the QSI job. The other IB job sounds like a bunch of crap. Don’t get caught up in the IB hype. It is good in good schools but complete BS in crappy ones. Any school can do IB these days. If you are looking at 2 years to get IB experience before moving on you can do better than what this job is offering. If you aren’t happy with the QSI deal, I would recommend staying put and waiting until something better come up next year.

Just an honest opinion from someone that works at a QSI school in China.

Well, the Beijing school isn't really a start up. They've been around for 10 or so years, but they're expanding. But the pay isn't great and neither are the health benefits, as they're only local.

We'd like to take the QSI job. They seem to be worried about their ability to get us work permits though, which is making me sleepness with nerves. We've signed the contracts, but if they can't get us work permits, I suppose it doesn't matter. It's hard to plan for anything when we don't know if they'll be able to get the work permits or not.

Sevarem - Just out of curiosity... Why are they having difficulties obtaining your Visas?

I don't know if they are or not. They said they think that obtaining work permits will be difficult. I have no idea why, and it's very upsetting. We worked in China before as ESL teachers at a Chinese school and we had no problem getting work permits. If an ESL teacher can get a permit for some podunk job, why should this be a problem?

Really, it's keeping me up at nights, because I just don't know what's going on.

My husband and I accepted teaching positions with QSI in China. We have submitted all requested paperwork and are waiting on our visas, but haven't heard anything about a possible delay or problems.
I, like you, have read the comments about QSI, weighed my options and decided to go for it. This is our first international position so we are new to this, but we both have a significant amount of teaching experience and advanced degrees. However, with 3 children, options seemed limited. I do feel comfortable with QSI. They seem like a fair and honest organization and I feel the experience will be good. Our oldest will be off to college in a few years and I'm hoping we will have more options with some experience under our belts.

Sevarem: I know this is hard to hear but "Just Relax." I would ask some questions of the school. Are they having issues because of something specific to you? (convicted felon, too old, etc...; just kidding about the felon part) Maybe everyone else there is having issues too or is working on tourist visas? I would just follow whatever directives they give you and go on whatever visa they tell you to. They may ask you to go on a tourist visa and then get a work visa later. I know that some QSI schools are moving campuses or working on getting registered and are dealing with the bureaucracy.

If they ask you to come on a tourist visa and you're not comfortable doing that, you might want to start looking for other jobs.

@Martijem: There are lots of people in QSI in your situation. They are highly qualified but have more than 2 kids. I've seen lots of people in QSI with Ph.Ds in chemistry, math, physics, literature and could take their pick of top schools but have more than 2 kids and so are stuck with QSI. You are right though that QSI is a fair and honest organization.

Danda - Thank you for the reassurance. We need it right now! As we begin packing, many fears have begun to settle in. I was beginning to have second thoughts about our choice, especially after reading many of the comments. I hope we have made the correct decision.

If the IB school is offering training and your subject areas, take it. I have worked for QSI and their 'mastery learning' system and academics are a joke. IB experience is becoming more valuable. The salaries are not that great at QSI but low to mid range compared to ISS schools. Good luck!