Clearly pg is talking about the other international school of vilnius, where ever that may be. He has no idea about the one in Vilnius. Hey pg, what's this 'endowment' you're talking about?

What is interesting, given the low package, is that they don't appear to have a high staff turnover. They don't advertise on TIE or CIS, and I don't have access to the ISS job vacancies, but their website only ever seems to say that all their vacancies are filled.

Some thoughts for what they're worth:

While I was there the number of foreign kids was dropping, so they brought in a two tier school fee structure, with local families having to pay about a quarter of the foreign families. They changed the salary scale at the same time. However, even on the old scale you won't get rich there or be able to save bags of money.

I think we were saving about 1200 US a month on one salary (2 people), about 2200 to 2400 US a month. 2001 to 2005. Also, the dollar collapsed at that time and our salaries lost about 25% of their value.

I think you'll find it useful to compare their package to the salary at the Int'l School of Estonia. I think the AISV package is comparable to the packages of other international schools in the region. Schools in Scandinavia and Western Europe pay much more but I don't think a single person would be much better off in the end.

To give perspective here, around 2003, the Primary Principal salary at the International School of Havana was 2500 USD. I know it's a different part of the world but in my experience there seem to be many smaller international schools that pay between 2000 and 2400 USD. I would think AISV would fall into the same category.

Overseasvet I'd go with tdaley and say post a counter review. You'll bring balance to the discussion and give support to the person that's being reviewed.

The Calenos and Calena that I worked with felt the people from Bogota had a bit of stuck up attitude towards them. The folk in Cali are really very warm and friendly.

I'd have to go with Mathman and say that it's probably not quite as safe as some of the posters here make out. However I lived there for 2 years '99 to '01 (supposedly the bad years and I never once felt threatened) so maybe it's improved.

The kids at the school are wonderful (aren't they always) but the red tape at school can make life difficult at times. The sentiment amongst most of the foreigners was that the Colombian admin didn't understand the foreigners even after years of hiring them. The school has been around a long time but continue to make the same mistakes. If you're an 'amable' kind of person you should have few problems.

CCB offered the best salary in Cali but I don't think you're going save heaps anywhere in South America.

I have very fond memories of working there and I'm sometimes tempted to think about returning.

I used to teach there 2 Directors back and it was brilliant. It depends if you like small cities with lots of history. In my time there the heart of the city had been restored and there were some little cobbled streets, in summer there were pavement cafes and little restaurants. I believe it has become more expensive but it would still be cheaper than western Europe.

It's a good travel hub to Eastern or Western Europe. We loved to drive up to Talinn (about 500kms) for Fall or Spring Break.

I really enjoyed my time at AISV (4 years) under Bill Rose but I've heard that the current Director is a bit of a micro manager. However it's
probably still a more positive teaching environment than the US at the moment.

If you're young and single you may find it too limited for you.

A couple of things, the post about contract non-renewal seems to be a mix of things. Yew Chung offers only 2 year contracts although there is a 'get out' clause from the second contract on. So is the poster leaving after 3 years or staying for their 4th? The poster mentioned a health issue being at the heart of the contract non-renewal. It doesn't sound like a 'best or poor fit' situation, nor about rocking the boat or keeping your head down.

Hi Bobby

Philosophically the PYP is great and it sounds like you've had a positive introduction to it. This isn't the experience of a number of people and so unfortunately it also gets bashed a bit.

I had the unfortunate experience of starting at a PYP school the year that they were due to be re-assessed or what ever they call it. I forget. We also had an inexperienced Primary Principal who had his own unique take on what the PYP was and he was determined to make sure we got a glowing report. As a result, at the beginning of one staff meeting we were handed the Self Study, with all the boxes were checked. We were asked to confirm that the checks were in the correct boxes. We really did look like a shiny school.

The Principal's goal was to complete the Self Study in one staff meeting. Eventually he got it finished in two. We were also told that only parts of the Self Study concerned us, the teachers. The parts about looking at the whole school (I forget the specifics) were for other people to comment on. Best of all, when the school 'report' (again I forget what it was called) was sent back to us, none of the staff got to see it.

This great man went on to the International School of Helsinki, and you can read reviews about him there. He is now well ensconced in Geneva with the IB as one of their PYP managers.

Well Itchy my boy it sounds like you got in through the back door - such a touchy response.

Given that you've worked at a Tier 1 school in Japan and Bangkok I'm surprised at your poor reading skills. Whether you think my opinion is idiotic or not doesn't mean that I acknowledge having no idea of what I'm talking about. Good grief, how did you get a job at any of those schools?

Here's the basis for my assumptions - Android says on Page 2:

"2) It's highly competitive to get in : Most teachers in the staff are veterans in Japan ( have been here for over 10 years, married to Japanese citizens, have children here etc etc ). No one ever leaves as the situation is more often good than bad. The salary is too high to walk away from even after the high prices. Hiring is kept within the small circle of international schools or big competitive fairs, usually held in Cambridge, London or Bangkok."

Was it the Japanese wives that you objected to or the small circle of international schools (the backdoor)?

There is no refutation from you top tier posters that this is a load of horse manure. My observation is spot on and you're the one being idiotic. Stop being coy here, there's nothing in that post that comes as a surprise to either of us. The network exists and I know of several people who got their jobs though connections, often management positions.

As much as you can't or won't skip over PsyGuy's posts, if I'm following a discussion I'm not going to skip over yours. Besides much of what you say is good advice. It's just the constant PsyGuy bashing that goes on that I object to. Well mostly.

Ichiro, often when I read your comments you remind me of a friend who could also be pissy.

Seriously, why do you and your merry troupe get so worked up about Psy Guy?

It's starting to sound like the only people who are allowed to comment on Japanese schools are people who've worked in 'Tier 1' schools there (whatever that means).

Recently I read a post about getting into a 'Tier 1' international school in Japan. It seems it's really difficult, almost impossible, unless the applicant has a Japanese wife and/or a connection to get them in through the back door. Well that seemed to be gist of the post anyway. So I must conclude that you are either somewhat gifted, exhibiting teaching skills on a different, higher level, of brilliance to the average international school teacher, or you have a Japanese wife, or you have a friend who got you in through the back door?

Care to share? :)

Ichiro - why do you and your merry troupe give Psyguy such a hard time?

Much of what he says is helpful and he doesn't come across as arrogant, as you do sometimes. Like "I'm in a top tier school and I've been there, done it all and you don't know what you're talking about."

Maybe some of his posts are a bit long winded and maybe not all his facts are 100% percent correct but at least he's willing to comment and offer advice. I'd rather read what he has to say instead of your pissy little attacks.

Although Yew Chung has come in for lots of criticism over the years, and some of it deservedly so, the Foundation is a big organisation and has about 12 YCIS schools (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Chongqing, and Silicon Valley in the US) not to mention the Yeh Wah schools.

Consequently it does take time to address issues, and the HR Head Office is based in Hong Kong and therefore doesn't always understand the issues on individual campuses.

I don't know what the issues are at the Qingdao Campus, although my feedback indicates that the problems aren't all caused by Hong Kong.

Its not realistic to think that Hong Kong and the Directorate have a death wish and deliberately make it difficult for the staff in their schools. Ditto for the Co-Principals and other management.

Although their package isn't the best in China it certainly is better than many schools in China and way better that many other international schools in many, many other places. Africa and South America don't even come close.

I've read several criticisms about the Foundation's attitude to money - if they're only interested in making money they'd have closed the Qingdao and Chongqing campuses long ago. They both run at a loss. I haven't taught at an international school where the budget isn't tightly controlled.

I teach at one of the Yew Chung campuses and have been with them for a couple of years. It hasn't always been a smooth ride but I don't have any plans on leaving just yet. However I moved to Yew Chung from an IB World School feeling burned and extremely disillusioned. I feel valued and appreciated as a professional in my classroom at Yew Chung. Did I mention that moving to Yew Chung I earned over a 1000 USD a month more than the IB World School I was at, not to mention a nice little gratuity at the end of my contract. After several years I am way better off in many ways, not just financially.

They have schools in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Qingdao and Chongqing.

The first 3 are big schools the latter two are very small. Beijing has a strong EAL/ ESL make up, Shanghai probably too. Don't know about Hong Kong. Qingdao has two campuses across a bay. Which city would you prefer to live in?

Pets:

Had a friend who brought at least 3 dogs and a husband with her. I don't know if it was a struggle to get an apartment though.

Kids. This is a hard one because I don't know where you're from and how you feel about uneven pavements. :) An American friend once called it a pre-litigious society.

There are lots of parks and snow in winter, but it's not Disneyworld. The families I know who had kids seemed to like the place. The climate does limit outdoor activities in winter but the parents used to organise soccer for the kids on Saturday mornings in the right seasons. There was one really large mall with an indoor skating rink, at least one other rink, at least one indoor pool, ten pin bowling I think. That was a couple of years ago so there's bound to be more now.

Lots of forests to go walking in, and rivers to canoe in.

If either of your children have a disability or learning deficit you might find that the support options are too limited.

Finding homehelp usen't to be a problem.

Great pizza options.

Kepta duona su suriu. Fried brown garlic bread strips with cheese drizzled over the top.

Fried pancakes with sour cream.

Talking about all of this makes me really nostalgic! :)) I do miss it.

If you go I think you'll really like it. What will your partner do?

I was in Primary and a new curriculum was in the process of being written. US Curriculum.

Vilnius and Lithuania are wonderful, and access to Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, the Baltics and Scandinavia, is so easy.

My contacts aren't as positive about the Director. Everyone is different so you may like working for him.

Secondary or Primary?