Job Discussion Forums

[SandyG20]

What items should be specified in a contract?

Age level of students? (I applied for Uni - however the Uni has other grade levels on campus - definitely don't want preschoolers at the level of pay offered)

Hours worked?

Overtime?

Housing?

Airfare?

Pay level?

Utilities included?

Anything else?

[cormac]

Health cover... also what happens when you're sick & not in class.

Holidays... both the dates, and whether your winter holidays are paid (full. 2/3, 1/2 etc)

Travel allowance..

I also tend to make sure the contract has some guidelines as to when you're going to be paid, and what happens when your payday is during a holiday period.

Lastly, not sure if its needed, but i tend to see some reference to extra activities.. like English corners, festivals etc. the last few contracts I've been looking at set a maximum within a month rather than leaving it vague. Also worth checking if these Uni activities can interrupt your holidays...

[Miles Smiles]

You might want to ask if the English corners are extracurricular. The turkey FAO in the school where I worked last year wouldn't pay me for EC because my contract specified eighteen hours of class time but I worked only sixteen.

Make the school specify that English Corners are extracurricular.

[randyj]

You've covered the important points. The thing about contracts, in China or anywhere, is the difficulty in nailing down every little eventuality. (Oh! The contract specifies only fourteen periods, but guess what? One period is teaching writing to a class of 281!) In my opinion, a genuine spirit of cooperation is the most important thing. Many will disagree with me, but I believe this is especially important in China. This doesn't mean a person should be na�ve or avoid doing their homework in researching a school. There's a balance. At the same time, it's entirely possible a school might consider a prospect too nitpicking if contract negotiations drag on over a lot of minute details. A school will not want to hire a troublemaker, some kind of jailhouse lawyer.

[SandyG20]

Great information!

I am supposed to get the contract in the next couple of days.

So now I will know what to look for.

Thank you.