Job Discussion Forums

americaninbeijing · Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 10 Location: beijing

Do you have any idea how much money international schools pay? I'm an American with a teaching credential and I'm intersted in teaching something other than ESL.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I suppose you can teach subjects other than English; I would refer you to American schools for your query. The Guangzhou American School advertised several vacancies some years ago and was at that time offering U.S. 2000 a month.

In European schools based in Hong Kong or the rest of China you would probably not qualify. THere are other international schools, though, such as Korean, Singaporean or Indian international schools. They pay quite well.

Another option might be the international section of a private K12 school which uses English as the medium of teaching. Such schools tend to pay handsomely too; to mention figures is not wise since salaries can fluctuate enormously depending on demand and supply of the required techers. But generally it is well above a good ESL teacher's pay.

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

The big pay jobs are usually awarded at teaching conventions where they have a job fair and hir out of country. Often when hiring in country they reduce the salaries.
If you have teachin cred. then there sould be information on the school fairs available....

go_ABs · Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 507

I've never looked for this kind of job, but do remember several jobs like this advertised when I was looking. So I'm not sure if they're only awarded at job fairs... (but then cj may know better than I.)

Jolly · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 202

wigan4 · Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 34

They're generally very selective--you can find them on the ISS or TIE websites--those are two of the biggies for the traditional international school scene. One thing that seems to be almost non-negotiable is a requirement for two year's experience.

I wrote to ISS saying that in a year I'd be certified in middle school math, science, and social studies, BA in accounting, MS in Business/Logistics, CPA, great references, etc, and they said it was very iffy whether they'd even take me on as a client.

I think it's possible to get a job w/o experience, but it'll probably have to be in Central or South America or you just have to get lucky--if you have the right credential and school gets stuck then something might work out.

(They're pretty specific, too, that ESL does not count as experience, unless you're looking for an ESL job, and they do have those, too, for schools that mostly cater to upperclass natives).

However, there is a range of schools and if you can drop down to the lower tiers that might be a way to get started, but you won't find those sorts of schools on ISS or TIE.