It's been quiet of late. And not heard much chatter about teachers saying how bleak, or not bleak, things are at schools in our new economic reality. From what I've read, fewer teachers were hired, and those that snagged new jobs (for the first time or merely moving between schools) secured positions earlier than normal; and i read there were more applicants for these few jobs, which is not surprising...but...
Now that the hiring season is well over (for the most part) i'm curious to hear the status of schools.
1. Did more teachers than normal stay put this year, not wanting to risk moving during this period of uncertainty?
2. Are schools seeing no/few/heaps of students moving back home as expat parents are sent home because the company can no longer afford to keep them overseas?
3. Are people holding their breath for next year, thinking the worst is yet to come as far as teacher cuts?
I'd love to hear some real world reports.
What's going on out there? Reality check
My school (in China) hired fewer teachers this year. Due to lower numbers, a couple of positions were eliminated. Because most of our staff are going into the 2nd year of their 2 year contracts, there wasn't the need to hire as many this year either.
I agree with seinfeld, this forum does seem quite disappointing at times.
oh, well...c'est la vie!
:)
I agree with seinfeld, this forum does seem quite disappointing at times.
oh, well...c'est la vie!
:)
My school in E. Europe is replacing teachers that are retiring and going ahead with the plan to split a class even though it is rumored that one of our biggest companies is sending people home or to a different international location. We are projecting that the numbers will go back to where they were 2 years ago and that number will remain stable. The last 2 years had unprecidented growth and those possitions seemed to have shrunk back to a more sustainable level. I will let you know if I get laid off after all. Our director assures us that we are ok.
The economy
I'm not seeing many reductions. However, I am not seeing a lot of new hiring either. This makes me believe that more people are going back to the USA/Canada, or they are staying where they are. The job market didn't look good this year. Maybe next year will be better.
Slow Forum
Yes, we have noticed the forum is a bit slow and attribute it to the end of the school year.
slow forum/economy
There I was, about to blast the postings concerning the boring, slow forum, thinking that I might draw interesting comments by accusing the posters themselves of being boring. Unfortunately for my purposes, I've read all the "seinfeld" comments and they are pretty informative.
I do disagree with the most commonly-held view that schools are losing students. My own impression--and the impression of others whom I press until they give it thoughtful consideration--is that the current enrollment in my school and many others is going to remain stable. The companies here had already sent home the families that they did not want to keep and were already down to the bare bones on staffing BEFORE the job fairs this year. I could be wrong, but I suspect that several schools are going to be making a bit on overcrowded classrooms this fall.
I do disagree with the most commonly-held view that schools are losing students. My own impression--and the impression of others whom I press until they give it thoughtful consideration--is that the current enrollment in my school and many others is going to remain stable. The companies here had already sent home the families that they did not want to keep and were already down to the bare bones on staffing BEFORE the job fairs this year. I could be wrong, but I suspect that several schools are going to be making a bit on overcrowded classrooms this fall.
My colleagues' current theory is that we won't see a big drop until next year at semester break when the schools in Korea start up again. I don't know if I agree with them or not. Our enrollment is steady but nowhere near the explosive growth that it was for the past 5 years, though I believe some of our steadiness is costing other schools in the city as students transfer over.
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Traveller1
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:18 pm
I'm interested to see that it's been noted that things are a little slow at the forum:) of late. There appear to be far fewer critical voices.
It could be that recently the dodgy international schools have suddenly taken note of all the past criticism, or suddenly things don't seem so bad at the 'bad' schools, or that people are concerned about posting negative comments in case they jeoparise their position in an uncertain teaching environment.
None of the above apply in my case. I've stopped posting because a group of posters suffer from the '3 Monkey' syndrome. Hear no evil, see no evil and heaven forbid, speak no evil. I suppose you could equate them to the ISR PC Posting Police. Criticism of schools or administrators draws accusations about one's own competence, the need to move on and forget all that's gone on before, and never, never 'slander' a dishonest, manipulative etc. etc. administrator.
So, I'm a regular reader, but have little to say. I've moved on, I've been on the circuit for 15 years and taught for 23, so I don't have newby questions, I haven't been burn't by ISS, I have a friend who was offered a rather good position by a school who contacted her through Search, so I have no criticisms of Search, and I'm in the second year of a two year contract.
There are dodgy schools out there, there are poor administrators, but we don't talk about them.
The folk suffering from '3 Monkey' syndrome have got what they wanted, a nice quite bulletin board with the odd question about a school that nobody as heard about and nobody bothers to reply.
By the way, for the non-conformists and IB unbelievers, you might be entertained by some of the comments from members of the following groups on Facebook:
Victims of the International Baccalaureate
IB Survivors (15,134 members)
You might also be interested in:
ibscrewed.net
It could be that recently the dodgy international schools have suddenly taken note of all the past criticism, or suddenly things don't seem so bad at the 'bad' schools, or that people are concerned about posting negative comments in case they jeoparise their position in an uncertain teaching environment.
None of the above apply in my case. I've stopped posting because a group of posters suffer from the '3 Monkey' syndrome. Hear no evil, see no evil and heaven forbid, speak no evil. I suppose you could equate them to the ISR PC Posting Police. Criticism of schools or administrators draws accusations about one's own competence, the need to move on and forget all that's gone on before, and never, never 'slander' a dishonest, manipulative etc. etc. administrator.
So, I'm a regular reader, but have little to say. I've moved on, I've been on the circuit for 15 years and taught for 23, so I don't have newby questions, I haven't been burn't by ISS, I have a friend who was offered a rather good position by a school who contacted her through Search, so I have no criticisms of Search, and I'm in the second year of a two year contract.
There are dodgy schools out there, there are poor administrators, but we don't talk about them.
The folk suffering from '3 Monkey' syndrome have got what they wanted, a nice quite bulletin board with the odd question about a school that nobody as heard about and nobody bothers to reply.
By the way, for the non-conformists and IB unbelievers, you might be entertained by some of the comments from members of the following groups on Facebook:
Victims of the International Baccalaureate
IB Survivors (15,134 members)
You might also be interested in:
ibscrewed.net
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old grey wolf
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 5:47 am
contract renewal fun
I work in an oil school - and despite BP making $85 billion dollars profit in its third quarter last year, the school is making large financial cut backs. Many expats are leaving, and the school population is shrinking. The school is only now (end of May) negociating contracts for returning staff. :( These new contracts contain cuts to benefits that were quite unexpected, and it may be conveniently too late for staff to look elsewhere. The new economic reality is making life a little tricky out here!
Wow
We are just finishing up our first year of teaching Oveseas after 16 years in the states. What a year of ups and downs!! So happy to be going home for the summer and then back in a couple of months. Still not sure if we will return home or make a go of this but one thing is for sure it is an adventure.
Wow.
So funny looking back at us doing this and this board really was such a great resource for us deciding to go Overseas. So while some days I wanted to post you all and ask what in the heck have I got us into there were a lot of great days along the way.
Thanks for all of your help.
Hope you are well and have a great summer!
:)
Wow.
So funny looking back at us doing this and this board really was such a great resource for us deciding to go Overseas. So while some days I wanted to post you all and ask what in the heck have I got us into there were a lot of great days along the way.
Thanks for all of your help.
Hope you are well and have a great summer!
:)