The International Schools Review Forum

I am a teacher with 20 years teaching experience yet I am new to the International School scene.

I have just come back from a job fair and have been offered a teaching position in the Middle East for $30,000 no taxes, plus free housing. free school transport. Is this a good salary? I have no idea. Should I be grateful or should I throw the contract back at the Director?

I need to make a decision soon.

$30,000 with no tax, no housing expenses, and no transport to worry about, sounds fair. You would get a better salary in Saudi Arabia or in some of the SE Asian schools, but it does not mean that you will have a better teaching experience. Money doesn't really mean much if you are miserable at the school, but on balance I would say that $30k with fringe benefits is okay.

Don't forget to ask for the health insurance and the yearly flights home?

The 30.000 dollar salary could not be enough if the school is in Dubai, as the cost of living has risen something like 140% over the past 5 years. I had an offer there, but turned them down once I figured I wouln't be saving much due to the costs.

[quote="solarhamster"].....as the cost of living has risen something like 140% over the past 5 years. I had an offer there, but turned them down once I figured I wouln't be saving much due to the costs.[/quote]

The cost of living can have a big influence. My wife and I lived in Singapore and while housing was provided, that was counted as a benefit towards our US taxes. We ended up no having to owe any US taxes as we paid Singapore taxes.

A couple of good resources for cost of living are at:

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/steccpi.html#compint

I'm sure there are other/better resources as well.

[quote="Laptop"]I am a teacher with 20 years teaching experience yet I am new to the International School scene.

I have just come back from a job fair and have been offered a teaching position in the Middle East for $30,000 no taxes, plus free housing. free school transport. Is this a good salary? I have no idea. Should I be grateful or should I throw the contract back at the Director?

I need to make a decision soon.[/quote]

I'm sorry if my opinion is too late. I want to teach overseas too. I am also a newbie. I have been doing as much research as I possibly can.
If you have 20 years of teaching experience, why are they only paying you $30,000? I know that you are a newbie, but from what I've heard, if you have a lot of experience/education/certification, that automatically raises your salary.
What about health insurance? Do you get free health care? They should offer you that as well.

[quote="neveah"]I know that you are a newbie, but from what I've heard, if you have a lot of experience/education/certification, that automatically raises your salary.[/quote]

Schools can pay what they want to. Here is salary info from International School Ho Chi Minh City taken off TIE:

"Salary:

$24,490 - $38,265. Salary is based on a 13 point scale with placement on step 1 after 2 years experience and initial contract placement no higher than step 10 i.e. $34,667. "

Even if you have 20 years experience, they'll only give you step 10 (or whatever). Some schools have a 'ceiling' at what they'll bring you in as. Changing jobs in the international circuit entails taking a serious pay cut in many cases.

It is all about the savings, not the salary.

Are you paid in $$'s or Euro's. What are the costs of living? What about taxes?? Will you be a local or foriegn hire? Transport? Lifestyle?

Lets hope with all these new schools salaries and benifits go up in the next few years.

A late response but- Kuwait teachers range from ( + free accom + flight, tax free ) $27,000 per year starting with low qualifications to $ 37,000 at a good point in the scale.

At 20 years experience you should be at the top of the scale. I would be asking for about $33,000 if I was you.

Frankly the question you need to ask yourself is how much you can put in the bank and whether you are prepared to work for that amount. I also have about the same amount of experience and have accepted a position for less than that for the joy of going to my next school/country. Yet, In my last position, I was putting more money in the bank than the salary you've been offered.

I would be a lot more interested in finding out about the working conditions and the reputation of the school , the students and the colleagues you'll have and what it's like living in the country you chose than the $ because that's what will make the difference between being happy or miserable.

GHK=

You could not have said that better !!
My husband and I used to just look at the money and benefits when deciding where to work BUT with experience and age (the say age makes one wiser ??? LOL ) we have decided that even if we get paid a bit less, we prefer to work
in a healthy environment , in a country we will truly enjoy
VERSUS a toxic environment !!!

"Sometimes money really ain't what it's all about !!!"