Job Discussion Forums

[laingh]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in finding a teaching job in Szczecin and was wondering if anyone knows of some good employers there? Also, if anyone has taught there or been there before, I'd be interested to know what you think of it as a place.

Thanks for your help

[itslatedoors]

jdj have a school there....they're not the greatest of employers but it sounds like you are going there for other reasons.It's not the prettiest place in the world either.

[scot47]

jdj ? Who is that ? The area around Szczecin is nice. Not sure about the city itself. Pretty run down. Berlin is an easy trip by train. Could be cool.

A good place to learn Polish consonantal clusters !

[itslatedoors]

jdj own 27 schools across Poland and one of the biggest overseas students travel agent's in Europe,that's who they are .

[sjansen]

I lived/taught in Szczecin about 3-4 years ago, so it may have changed since then but I really doubt it. It is not the prettiest town I've seen but there are some nice green areas. There was also dog poop everywhere. Everyone owned a dog and never picked up after it. Keep your eyes on the sidewalk Winter there also leaves something to be desired, think England. Winter in Sz. is rain/drizzle from Dec to April, just a little depressing. The architecture is good old communist style, and mostly grey from the coal/soot. The train to Berlin can take 2-3 hours and it's about the same to the coast (Swinoujscie usually 2hrs). A Geant opened up and it made shopping a bit easier. I worked at Bell on Wolska Polskiego and at the time we were treated pretty decent if not excellent and also a good salary. I couldn't tell you if it's different now. If you want to know more just drop me a line.

[cheeseandegg]

I'll update this topic as it's more than a year out of date now. I've worked in Szczecin for more than a year for the same school as sjansen. The salary at Bell is no longer as good as it used to be and for the forthcoming year this means pay cuts. The school have also clamped down on staff who have tried to 'organise' themselves and form a protest - several members of staff have not had contracts renewed.

As for the city. The architecture is extremely interesting actually. There are a fair share of socialist architecture but also a lot of pre-war German and Parisian buildings (because parets of the city were designed by the same architect as Paris). It's easy to travel elsewhere. The nearest cities are Berlin (1.5-2 hours), Poznan (2.5-3 hours), Bydgosz (3 hours), Gdansk (5 hours). For Berlin it's possible to book a taxi direct from your flat to the city centre from only 50zl each way which is a bargain and much much cheaper than any train (as the trains are German run). For these taxis ask in the travel agency a few doors from the train station.

The city is full of supermarkets (Tesco, Carrefour x 2, Geant x2), markets and some nice bars and restaurants. The surrounding forests are very big and very nice with many lakes. The towns just across the border in Germany (10 mins) are picturesque and sometimes cheaper than Szczecin. The seaside is only an hour or two away and is worth seeing too. It may take a long time to visit other parts of Poland from Szczecin - Warsaw 7 hours, Krakow 10-14 hours - but you'll be near the sea, Germany and in quite a multicultural city.

[Alex Shulgin]