Job Discussion Forums

anninhk · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 284

Not necessarily!
If you are employed by a school and they are happy for you to continue, and a doctor says you are medically fit, you can get an extension on your contract for a year. A lot of 'older' NETs are on their second, third or more extension.
If you get an extension on your contract you are not entitled to a flight home until the end of your service, but you get your gratuity every year.

Horizontal Hero · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 5:31 am Post subject:

hkteach · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 202 Location: Hong Kong

"I suspect that figure is more like 60 000, if you have been here for fours years-plus, and get the full retention incentive. I'm including the living allowance here. I'm only at the mid-levels of the pay scale, and PNETs can get to higher levels than what I'm on now (I'm a SNET).

There's no way any PNET earns 60000 a month.
I've been here more than 4 years, so I receive the 10% retentiion incentive bonus and I'm also at the highest point of the Master Pay Scale applicable to PNETs, therefore I'm on the maximum salary for a PNET. I get paid 55042 a month.

Based on this, you can see that no PNET would be on 60000. SNETs at top of scale and with maximum R.I. have packages of several thousand more than 60000.

This is why some PNETs choose to work as SNETs.

This is in accordance with the HK education system - secondary teachers get paid more than primary teachers. One of the teachers at my school left at the end of last year and is now working in a secondary school where he gets paid much more.

"It pays to remember many PNETS have really easy jobs, and not many secondary NETs do."
Some do, some don't. I don't want to get into some Pythonesque debate about who works harder. As we all know, it varies according to the school you end up in.
As far as I'm concerned, every NET earns their money.

Serious_Fun · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 1171 Location: terra incognita

The OP will not be anywhere near that level of income if she/he chooses to work here.

My advice still stands: It is not easy to find a good income as a new teacher in Hong Kong.

Greatly increasing the competition for new teachers at language schools/tutorial centres, as well as private tutoring opportunities, will be the foreign students at universities here in HK. They will soon be allowed to work while they are here on student visas, without any additional paperwork needed - just as if they were permanent residents!

Mapleblondie · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 93 Location: Canada

Hi guys, I am a newly certified Canadian high school English and Japanese teacher. I am just looking at the options that are open for teaching in Hong Kong, and I am glad to see that my certification counts for something there.

What exactly is PNET and SNET? And can someone roughly tell me how much 30,000 in Hong Kong would be in American or Canadian dollars? That will give me a basic understanding of how to calculate how much I should look for and ignore if I consider Hong Kong in the coming months or years. Thanks so much!!!

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Live rates at 2008.06.12 06:39:13 UTC
30,000.00 HKD = 3,843.36 USD
Hong Kong Dollars United States Dollars
1 HKD = 0.128112 USD 1 USD = 7.80567 HKD

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

PNET = Primary Native English Teachers programme
SNET = Secondary...

They are HK government teaching programmes, recruiting qualified English teachers from English-speaking countries to teach in HK public sector schools.

There's loads of discussion about both progs lower down this page...or Google for the HK govt site...

Serious_Fun · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 1171 Location: terra incognita

Mapleblondie · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 93 Location: Canada

Thanks for the reply about the currency and the meaning of those acronyms. I am certified to teach high school but I haven;t really looked into HK before as a serious option. Now, though, my BF is going to head there for a uni exchange, so it might be worth planning our schedules so they work together if possible. Are the conditions fairly good? I know that living costs are higher, but I have no idea HOW high really. I went there on vacation, but that doesn't really give a sense of LIVING there.

Hehe. And no, not looking for blonde jokes. A mapleblondie is a dessert...it's like a caramel brownie sort of. And yes, I AM blonde, but the maple is to show I'm Canadian, and I love sweets. Hehe...No blonde jokes necessary, as my Dad has that covered all on his own! LOL.

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Btw, I don't think you can work for the NET progs without a year or two of postgrad teaching experience. One of the resident NETs on the forum could probably elaborate.

Mapleblondie · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 93 Location: Canada

Oh, okie dokie. Thanks...good to know.