Job Discussion Forums

[roamermark]

As someone who has done both ESL/EFL and international schools let me put in my two cents. Back the OP's original point of salary - I think one can say in a very general sense that conditions and salary are more favourable..but in a very general sense only.
So called international schools come in a variety of different guises the most common being the host national school which usually demand (but often forgo in a pinch - like in May or June) North American or equivalent teacher certification. Problems with these schools generally are that they are run as a business requiring the tuition of the wealthiest families in the country to survive - as a result parents and kids rule the day.
True international schools generally only allow a token number of host country kids into the school (based on merit) and serve the expat community exclusively. Teaching conditions are more favourable and more demanding. Experience is demanded and usually there is little flexibility on certification and experience.
As far as salaries go....they are better in Asia and there are some schools that offer excellent packages. But these vary wildly and average teachers probably clear high 20K to mid 30K. Those Western Europe packages you see with 50K 60K plus packages (American School in London for example) are worthless in the real world when taxes and housing, cost of living are taken into account.