international school contracts
                   
         
   

The World-Wide Economy May Actually Be Helping the Future of International Schools and Teachers
 
Certainly a number of schools need to clean up their acts and treat teachers more fairly in order to attract candidates. But, the current situation goes beyond ethical treatment. For the moment, let's assume all schools treat teachers according to The Bill of Rights for International Educators. From this perspective, we asked our readers to share with us their take on the current problems facing International Schools and Teachers in relation to the world economic situation. Here's the top three responses from educators around the world.
 
...The global economic slowdown will certainly affect the market for international teachers, but maybe not in the way the author above fears. Much as there was a housing bubble in the United States, I would suggest there has been a bubble of international schools in developing countries over the last decade, most notably in Asia. The growing middle and upper middle classes in places like Thailand, India, China, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in Asia have created huge demand for international educations among foreign born nationals and host country citizens alike.

The booming market for international education has caused two things to happen: 1) hundreds of new schools have opened creating thousands of new jobs for international educators, putting upward pressure on wages and benefits among the established, reputable schools, and 2) the chance of an unsuspecting teacher ending up at a less than reputable, for-profit school that is going to take advantage of him/her in some way has skyrocketed.

Effects of the current economic downturn in the US and Europe are beginning to be felt in emerging markets as well. With the slowdown going global, the demand for positions in international schools will fall, for two reasons: 1) Western multi-nationals, in an effort to cut costs and remain competitive, will be less likely to send their nationals and their entire families to far off cities and pay tuition at schools charging up to $30,000 per student, and 2) slowing income growth among the middle and upper classes in the emerging market countries will reduce upward pressure on demand for new spots in international schools.

I see this affecting both the well established, reputable schools of Asia AND the "proprietary", tier 2 and 3 schools, many of which have opened in just the last decade. But I think it will affect the best schools very differently from the not-so-good schools.

Here's the upside of the story. In many places, such as East Asia and even here in Switzerland, where I teach, there are currently waiting lists for student positions at the top schools in the region. Just as in any market, as demand for international school spots falls, it will be the newest, least established, and often times most uncompetitive international schools that will be affected most. The schools that have established reputations and histories of academic excellence may in fact see demand for enrollment increase as the amount of competition among newer, less reputable schools declines, as those schools with the worst reputations (or no reputation at all) will be the first to shut their doors.

Conclusions? It's STILL a great time to be an international school teacher, particularly for those of us lucky to be at a "tier one" school, defined loosely as one that has been established for some time both professionally and academically, likely a "not for profit" institution run by a board of directors rather than a CEO, offering attractive salary and benefit packages to teachers and diverse curricula to students, such as AP and IB.

As always, ISR will remain a priceless resource for teachers deciding whether a prospective school is one where their job will be secure and benefits sound, or one where the global economic slowdown may jeopardize the school's continued survival and the professional experience of its educators.

Jason Welker - ZIS, Switzerland
...It is true that there are a number of unethical schools in the international scene but there remains a number of schools that recognize good talent. This being the case they understand what they have to do to retain and maintain happiness. As a result, these schools continue to strive and make progress whereas the less legitimate schools are forced to offer contracts that are not any more worthy than the paper they are written on. The demand will always remain as the world becomes more globalized despite the current economic downturn. The end result may be fewer schools but more quality.
...Although this may be wishful thinking, the economic picture may be what we need to help force schools that violate teachers' rights out of business. Schools that refuse to pay salaries commensurate with the financial responsibilities of the teachers they seek to hire will be forced to either shut their doors or drop the "American School" title and hire locals only. The top schools will do what is needed to stay in the running and attract top teaching talent. The economic downturn, although it affects all of us, affects the rich to a far lesser degree. Parents who send their children to the top schools will be able to afford the tuition as will the companies that send their employees overseas to work. It may be that the economic picture helps international teaching return to what it was before the scads of for-profit schools opened their doors. I have found ISR an invaluable tool for sorting through schools. Could it be that ISR may not be needed in the near future?