Job Discussion Forums

[vikeologist]

I thought that it may be interesting and helpful to ascertain what percentage of foreign teacher jobs in Universities and Public schools are potentially available next term.

I don't mean how many will be available this time round. Obviously most of us won't know who plans to stay or go. I just mean how many contracts start in February, rather than September.

Not just you; all the teachers at your school / Uni.

For instance, at my Uni we have 5 foreign teachers, and 40% (2) of the contracts started at the start of the spring term. That doesn't mean that 2 of them are leaving.

I know that some yearly contracts won't be quite a year, so may start or end in January / March / July etc. Just pretend that contract start / end dates and lengths are that neat.

If your schools constantly recruits (e.g. language mills), sorry, this poll isn't for you.

Please just choose the closest percentage. For instance, if a third of contracts end this term, choose 30%.

There's a limit on poll options, but I'm making the assumption that in most cases the figure will be under 50%

[johntpartee]

My last contract ended last February, but I renewed until next July. So at this school (for me), 50%. It happened another time in Henan in 2009. So that's twice out of bunches of contracts. The percentage would be infinitesimal. Don't know if you can change the poll options, but a "spread" would probably be better, e.g., 0-10%, 10-20%.......

[vikeologist]

I don't think there's any really good way of doing this poll. Just enter a figure for the teachers at your school currently, not all the contracts of all the teachers in the past.

I thought about ranges, but in the end I thought just choosing the nearest one was better. If there's 30 teachers at a school and only 1 of them has their contract ending this semester, choosing 0% is fine. I'd guess it's going to be 0% for most schools. In fact I probably should have just done a yes . no poll to find out how many schools could potentially have vacancies for February, but I think it might be interesting to have a rough idea how many jobs in total start 'mid-year'

So, I can't change the question, but it should be what percentage of contracts potentially end this semester

[Non Sequitur]

Great idea!
I've been blithely PMing a number of folk about Feb starts on the assumption that while it's not Sept there are a worthwhile number of slots.
Good to have some numbers to go with that assumption.

[BlueBlood]

Great poll question, Vike. I'm looking forward to reading the replies bc that's exactly where I am now: Looking for uni/college job, but needing to start in Jan/Feb.

So far, I've yet to find an online listing for a uni job starting next year. The sites I track still show postings for September, but not one for Jan/Feb (yet, I hope).

Meanwhile, right here on Dave's and elsewhere, the language mills and kiddie schools (nothing wrong with either, just not what I want to do right now) seem to be in constant hiring mode.

[vikeologist]

Blueblood - ignore the fact that the adverts say September. I don't think schools constantly update their adverts. I managed to get people to update our ad last Spring, but you should just regard all University as having vacancies, even though as I believe this poll will show, that's not the case.

However, one of the reasons I like starting these polls is because I'm usually surprised by the results, and they show up how little I know.

It was particularly interesting when I started a poll to discover how many provinces were going to follow Beijing's lead on requiring criminal checks, and it highlighted the fact that in the end Beijing didn't actually do what it said it would, which is a bit of a bummer for all those teachers stuck in provinces that think they're copying Beijing.

[Javelin of Radiance]

[teenoso]

Can't vote because I don't know most of the other (15 +) FTs' contract situation, but one or two are due to renew/leave in February.

[Toast]

My school hired a couple of foreign teachers back in February, and needed 10 new teachers in September. So in my personal case it's 20%. Interesting to note the teachers who arrived in Feb. were put initially on 6 month contracts, while those who started in Sept. were put on full-year contracts to get everyone on a similar cycle. In theory if nothing changed they wouldn't need *anyone* for February 2014, although current FT job satisfaction at this place doesn't seem to be at an all time high, so I'm sure there'll be a runner or two at the end of this semester.

[vikeologist]

[vikeologist]

[Non Sequitur]

[BlueBlood]

[Bud Powell]

February-January contracts are common in public universities. This stone cold fact and is not debatable.

Discuss.

No. Wait. Don't discuss. A debate might break out.