Job Discussion Forums

[bish]

I'm looking to come to China from September. I'm not particularly keen on working in a Private School so am choosing between International Schools or University.

I would probably prefer to work at a University but the pay is not so good. I'm CELTA qualified and believe I'm pretty personable, I am wondering how easy is it to get Privates to supplement income in China? How about in places like Wenzhou or Nanjing as opposed to Shanghai or Beijing?

Or should I just go for a high paying international school job?

[Anda]

You haven't told us what qualifications you have.

Picking up good privates is harder outside of places like Shanghai and keeping them is also another matter.

Getting a good job without being on the ground is somewhat luck. Honesty here isn�t one of the strong points here. Private, government is much the same.

Obtaining all your salary at one place is the better way to go as many places won�t allow you to work elsewhere. Good company jobs pay the best outside of the better international schools. China is about money so everything is done for money.

[bish]

My qualifications are a BA in English, a CELTA and two years experience with kids and sdults...

[eslstudies]

You'll need a teaching certificate and some experience in your home country teaching in the education system to have any chance of landing a job in a genuine international school. These positions are competitive. A CELTA is totally irrelevant to these places. There may be some Chinese owned "international" schools not so fussy, but the pay will be low.

[Fike2308]

I'd say go for a University job.

The pay may not be great but it should be adequate and you can stretch it out if you are strategic.

Plus, Universities tend to provide decent accomodation on campus and the hours are usually 12 - 18 so you have a lot of free time to plan lessons, mark papers, study mandarin, watch bootleg DVDs, etc.