Job Discussion Forums

[Voyeur]

I teach at the international program of an elite high school in a Tier 2 city (Fuzhou). The program is administered by a group in Beijing, and the working conditions on all contracts are standardized. However, the local manager has some freedom with working hours. The contract stipulates a maximum of 18 actual hours a week (or 27 of our 40-minute periods). The manager and I agree that if teachers worked the full load, this would not be an attractive job. Consequently, we are trying to decide what class load would make this a good job that would entice quality teachers, and make them want to stay.

The problem is that finding any idea of what the 'market rate' is in China is pretty tough. It is all pretty murky. The manager can't afford to make this a dream job--just an enticing one. Here are the details:

Salary: 7,000 RMB / mo. with 2,000 RMB monthly housing (enough to pay for a decent apartment near the school incl. utilities)
Vacations: National Holidays plus winter and summer breaks. August is unpaid, and the salary is only 6500 for February and July.
Other Benefits: 8,000 RMB yearly travel allowance, 2,000 RMB Summer bonus, 1,000 RMB re-signing bonus. Z Visa and Health Insurance.
School Hours: 7:35 to 5:45 pm Mon-Fri as well as 7:35 to 11: 30 on Saturday mornings. Classes can be at any time during these hours, and you should expect Saturday classes during your first term (but not the second).

Requirements: Standard Z Visa requirements as well as a Bachelor's

Teachers will be teaching a mix of general English and TOEFL to high school students. Classes are 40 minutes with a 10-15 minute break between them. Classes are scheduled as best they can be, but not always perfectly. No TOEFL experience is required, but teachers need to be bright and able to read up on it before arriving. Students generally take supplementary test-prep classes, and the focus of the school's TOEFL classes could best be called TOEFL-based English--there is no need to know every test prep trick, or everything about the test.

Last year I taught 16 periods a week for the 7,000 RMB plus 2,000 housing. Total prep was about 2-3 hours a week (but I'm experienced and pretty fast). Including downtime between classes, and times when I needed to stay at school because going home wasn't worth it (or just to have lunch), I would say that in total the job took me about 20-22 hours a week including travel time and prep (which was all done at school).

What number of 40-min classes would make this a 'standard' job offer? What number would make this quite attractive? We need good, smart teachers, but they don't need to be exceptionally qualified or experienced. We know we have to compete not just with China, but also with the rest of Asia.

Your help is appreciated.

V.

p.s. One thing to consider is that the actual contracted maximum of 18-hours hangs over one's head. If a teacher quits or there is some problem, or Beijing suddenly gets uppity, one could suddenly be forced to work up to 27 classes a week at no extra pay (overtime won't set in until then). It is unlikely Beijing will get involved, but this year, for example, one of our new teachers did not show up and I was forced to work an additional 10 classes a week at no extra pay until we get a replacement. Of course a teacher can always quit if this happens--it's not indentured servitude.

p.p.s. This is my second year. I am now teaching all SAT and TOEFL classes to the best students. I received stellar reviews last year, and got a raise to 9,000 plus 2,000 housing. I've been promised no more than 16 classes a week (same as last year). I have a lot of experience (10 years), but no special qualifications. I get the feeling that my manager is suspicious that I may have negotiated too well, and that I am being too highly paid. But I don't feel that is the case given my options in China and other countries such as Japan and Korea. But I really don't know...I don't have a Masters or Teacher Certification other than a standard TEFL. Am I getting too much for too little?

[Guerciotti]

Are teachers required to be at school from 7:35 am to 5:45 pm M-F, and come in on Saturday? I believe this is an important aspect of the job.
And, if your school is considering raising their offer or improving requirements, then your boss is pressuring you for no reason based on your increased salary.

[kungfuman]

If this helps.

At my school the average salary for non-certified foreign teachers is about 15-18k a month.

Workloads range about 12-14 hours a week made up of mostly periods that are 40 minute classes. One program the classes are one hour a period.

The turnover was really high from last year to this new year.

About 50% of the teachers left.

The reason isn't the students or the workload. It was dissatisfaction with the administration AND the pollution level.

Of the remaining teachers for this year the moral is really low. many are thinking of quitting and leaving.

And we have to keep no office hours and have a M-F schedule. In fact in my opinion the school treats us pretty well. paid for the summer and all holidays. Own cubicles and laptops. health insurance. TAs.

So what's the answer here? I doubt a 10k a month raise would improve moral.

[Voyeur]

[Voyeur]

[buravirgil]

[Voyeur]

I'm definitely not on anyone's side here. I'm just trying to get a good idea of what the 'going rate' is, which seems very hard to do in China. I'd like to be able to answer, with some certainty, whether a job is well-paid or underpaid. I'm finding this very hard to do in China. I'd like to know even for myself. Everything seems so murky here.

Are some cities, perhaps, much less lucrative than others, even factoring in lower costs? Fuzhou seems to have low salaries, from what I can see. Again, it's really frustrating trying to get any sense of the market rate for the city, the country, and Asia in general. Mostly, I want to know for my own benefit, when I decide to renegotiate.

[buravirgil]

[Voyeur]

I probably misread you bura-sorry for that. I definitely don't anything as scientific as a full database. I was just trying to get a better general sense of what was average to inform my own negotiations, as well as any suggestions I might have vis a vis salaries for starting teachers. When I worked in Korea, for example, it was much easier to know if a job was a good one, salary-wise, than it is here: if someone at a bar described their job and salary for about 3 minutes, you generally knew where it ranked, salary-wise. Not so much here.

But I guess that makes sense, for a lot of reasons. China is a big place, where people often hold their cards somewhat tightly to the vest.

[buravirgil]

[kungfuman]

[Voyeur]

[Voyeur]