Job Discussion Forums

[kev7161]

I can't vote in the poll as I've only worked private schools. The first one I hated. It was poorly organized, in a horrible location far outside of Hangzhou and I lived in a 6th floor apartment with no elevator. The apartments were new when I moved in, but with obvious shoddy construction values. I was always afraid my balcony was going to break off the building and I was going to plummet to my death. Teaching there was horrible with only a handful of students that seemed to want to learn. I was told a lot of the students were miscreants and cast offs from other schools.

My current job is . . . fine. Lots of good benefits and I'm always paid on time (and, after 8 years fairly well-paid) and the workload is not god-awful. However, as someone else posted above, it is a business first, school second. Lots and lots of spoiled rich kids roam the halls. No discipline to speak of (don't want to piss off the rich parents you know) and (at least in my classes) several students who fail in both English courses and Chinese, but get passed on to the next grade level every year regardless. I've gotten to the point of not caring as much as I used to. If the school and the students don't care one way or the other, why should I? Don't get me wrong, I still put together good, solid lessons and check their homework and all the other "stuff" teachers should be doing. But after I've gotten my nth "F" paper from the same students week after week, I simply don't get as frustrated as I used to (and for all you naysayers out there - - I get just as many A+ papers and tests as well - - so something is working).

There are several hard-working teachers in our department, but every year we always seem to get a handful of teachers who call in sick all the time or leave immediately after their last class or are barely teaching the kids. Maybe they are frustrated too, but these are first year teachers at this school who just started, like, 3-4 months earlier. We get these kinds of teachers every year but the school won't replace them because it's a lot of work to hire new teachers, especially mid-year - - or something. Sure, they won't renew their contracts (but sometimes they do!), but it's a wasted year for the students . . . the ones who care, that is.

So, to sum it all up. I like my private school job, I really do. The good outweighs the bad by far. But I'm not going to be sad when the time comes to say good-bye to it!

[krichlin]

I'm about to take my first job, and it's almost certain to be a Private school. I just see so many benefits - small class sizes, TA's in classes with younger kids. I like the hours better, working afternoons evenings and weekends suits me just fine. They're offering better pay, on average, and it looks like they pay more attention to things like accommodations. And the state of the art classrooms and equipment isn't bad either. That rigid lesson plan structure you describe sounds like great teacher support for someone like myself, who is on their first teaching position. There's a risk that I might be in a stifling environment, but weighing that with all the other risks that are common topics here, I think it's a reasonable one.

I think that there is a huge quality control problem with many of the private schools out there. That particular risk can be mitigated by staying with a big, well-known, reputable group. I've been told good things about the big chains - WEB, EF, Wall Street, Shane, Meten are all on my list.

[D-M]

^^^ Agree.



Private schools with support and some type of quality control is certainly the way to go I think, especially for newer teachers.

[thechangling]

[twilothunder]

Since when was EF a 'private school'? It's a language mill.

If the choice is between public schools and private schools I would say private schools anyday.

If the choice is between public schools and language mills, I would say public schools.

[Non Sequitur]

[revilo]

[D-M]