I met a bunch of CISB teachers my first time around in Beijing and they told me they do have a few non Canadians, but that the school primarily focuses on hiring Canadian teachers (most of them were from a certain region too). So my blanket statement might have gone too far, but for the most part I still stand behind what I said. I very much stand behind the pay staement. BIBS,BWYA,BIBA etc are 1.5x's that salary. BCIS,BNDS,WAB are all over 2x that salary and ISB may even be 2.5x that salary. It is in a great location 1/2 way between Lido and Sanlitun, so a great night life can be had, but that salary will be restrictive to anyone wanting to save, or who has a mortgage or other payments.

Most schools want you to move on after a period of time. Some countries make it easy (tax breaks ending after 5 years etc.). The truth of the matter is that teaching Internationally has a different "idea" of loyalty and effectiveness as is seen in the US. Think about your life in 5-10 year incriments and you might be happier.

That being said, I have seen people with 10-15 years experience in Singapore and Hong Kong as well as a smattering accross most of Asia. Also remember that some countries have age limitations for visas that must be taken into account.

Good luck in your search.

Almost all schools would want to know you have an offer on the table. That does speed up their process! Mtell the other school about the offer and tell them your time frame for decision, and see what they say.

Good luck!

Beijing is not that bad. Even the lower schools pay much more than that. It is a very nice school, but if you are not a young Canadian teacher forget about the pay, you won't be hired anyway.

Tons of schools in Beijing!!

This was quite possibly the most dysfunctional place I have EVER been! I have heard from friends who are still in those trenches that McBryde is doing good things. Remember above Everything, Kathy still runs the show! To me that means this school will always be deeply fundamentally flawed. If you are a real secondary teacher do not even think about it! The primary has finally gone down the PYP path and some younger teachers are enjoying their experience. Again if you are in the secondary, read the reviews, there is nothing one man can do to unsink a sunk ship in a year! The leadership must all be new (no admin in the ms/hs survived a contract while I was there. I have no idea how they can change the student population though. Students go to 6th grade and then transfer to a different school. They were going to move the 6th grade to the ms/hs campus and there was such an uprise from the parents that the idea was immediately scraped.

In a sentence: elementary, take a chance if you're young and need pyp. Ms/hs stay as far away as possible and see if McBryde accomplished anything in a few years.

There is no set way of doing this! I have asked right at the beginning of the first interview. It had nothing to do with the amount of money, it had to do with how European schools are different from those in Asia. The pay is structured differently because the packages are different. An administrator would be hard pressed to fault someone for wanting to make sure the package fit, you do not need exact numbers for that. Typically Search will give it to you, but the schools I am talking about are topping out at 70+, but with huge taxes. If you end up with 22k (or live in a country where you cannot support yourself, or wife and 3 kids etc), shouldn't you know that before you pour your soul out for the interview. Too many people forget that an interview is a 2 way street, you are interviewing them also! Don't come off like a money grubbing moron and asking about money is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask.

What city?

Beijing, tax is still up in the air I was told so most have not started paying it... Headed to Beijing, and it has not been discussed

Calm


Then write the principal. Check your spam mail too.

Schools at these fairs are there to hire you. If you are headed to China, they are on New Years break...

Sure it will work out

Top students in HL courses are often able to skip prerequisite courses or introductory courses thus saving time and money. Of course IB schools tend to cost a lot. I have also witnessed students coming from IB backgrounds seeming to be more prepared to deal with the rigors of university better than someone coming from a good public school (US).

As an international teacher you have to deal with the perceptions of parents. Currently they see it as better able to help their students get into university, so in essence it has become the preeminent choice. There are still plenty of A-level and AP schools out there. There are definite and distinct advantages to those also!

Some schools might only look at your resume and dismiss, however an excellent personal statement should overcome initial difficulties. Just be prepared. Good luck

Start with #edchat. Then start trolling as I call it. Pick a person who tweets cool stuff, look who they follow, or who follows them and start adding. Hopefully you pick people in your field, or admin ( they like it when you bring up in an interview stuff they have tweeted). When you go to someones page and they have a blog, look at it! If it adds value to your life, then save it and follow it. If you use an iPad (or other handheld device) I suggest hootsuite as it can organize all of your social media and is great for backchanneling. You can post to facebook, twitter, linkedin, foursquare all at the same time. Really, in a month of dedicated following you should be right in the thick of it. Then it is just personality I guess. Make some comments, ask some questions etc. next thing you know x person is leaving y school and they ask for your resume, and bam you have a new job... Not an immediate scenario, but networking does lead to those outcomes...

Morty, again, this is my take on the situation, but an online course does not make an IB teacher. In my 4th year in IB, I still learn a ton of things. Your worry stems from the fact you are not yet in the game, but a school is highly unlikely to pick you over a person with even 6 months in the trenches just because you spend 600 bucks on an online course. For me, I absolutely hated my first school, but I made it through 2 long years and landed a job I really liked. IB jobs without experience are out there! Maybe not at The schools everyone drools over, but they are definitely out there.

Here are my suggestions.

1. Get on Twitter!!! Meet some people! Get yourself knowledgable. Create your PLN, it doesn't take long, and believe me there are sooooo many people who want to talk about what they do... Feedback, feedback, feedback

2. Read blogs (you will find plenty through twitter)

3. Inthinking.com. Worth 250 USD, you get a lot more out of it than 1 online course for 600 USD

4.patience, you will need it to put up with possible rejections you might recieve on your way to your own professional education. (I have lots of bruises and scars!!!)

5. Remember the world is large! There are lots of things going on we never even find out about.

Good luck!

Training is training, and the online courses count.

That being said training is just training and experience in the classroom is worth a thousand times more than a course.

While a course might make you slightly more marketable, and give a slight edge over someone else with no IB experience, I have never thought it worth the personal expense. Much better to get an IB job and have them send you to training. Make sure it is in the contract!! The benefit of a course without experience is just not enough for me personally.

I think it most definitely does matter. Some schools will not look at you if you do not have the right background, and that also means where you have taught. However, this is lenient if you get IB training. If you are American, the AP options are out there, and British still have A levels. Unless you get into the opposite programs from across the pond there is usually little interest so again where you have been matters. Elementary is a whole different bag of fun tricks. As a teacher of the little ones you have major competition, so many more reasons to cross you off a list, thus where you have been matters.

If you want to get into a tier 1 and have no experience, I suggest waiting for the job that will get you IB training and 3-5 years ( 2 contracts minimum). You might make it in 2nd time through if you have an excellent track record and great recs, more likely you will need a 2nd stint at a better school than your first. Then the world might open up to you. That being said someone out of university within 6-10 years could possibly be whereever they wish. Or you get lucky and land your dream job...

Good luck.

Most schools should have been in contact by now. Even schools in China would have sent something before their CNY holiday. I once thought my new school wasn't contacting me after the fair. It turns out they were frantically trying to reach me, everything was going into my spam mailbox. They even called my head of school to see if something had happened to me... Comedy. Check there, then email right away. Getting started on visa processing is very important and a good contact reason.