Stuck it out for many years, but I won't talk up the ME.
There are many advantages to living there, not least the money. However, the biggest kicker for me is this: If my kids ever adopted the attitude of many of the kids I teach, they'd be ruined for life.

It's a primo school. Darn good package, great admin. The tax situation in the first year gets a little complex, but other than that, it's probably one of the few places where accepting the offer of a job would be a total no-brainer. Got lots of mates there and they love it.
Having worked in 5 international schools, I will add a caveat that like anywhere, you need to consider your "fit." Ask to talk to teachers there who correspond to the job you have been offered/ or hope to be offered and ask the questions that are close to your heart.
Malaysia is pretty cool. Don't forget it is a muslim country, although this is not as obvious upon first perusal, so you must respect that. Prices are going up, particularly for housing. However it's a fabulous jumping off spot for travel.
Good luck!
Cheery

Hi Durian
At least it's wrong in the right direction if the salaries are actually more! :-)
Maybe they average regional differences? If you take into account London Vs say Wales there might be a big variation. In Australia, I believe there are larger salaries for more remote locations, too.
I hope the OP managed to find some more details about their particular circumstances. The devil's in the details as they say. In the past, we did perfectly well financially in Scandinavia where most people would imagine us to be straitened.
Cheery XX

Further to my previous petulant outburst, you may want to have a look at this.

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/ ... l-table-en

It is 3 years out of date but it gives you a handle on things.

That is woeful, truly woeful. You need to very quickly get some hard information. Are you sharing a accommodation? Is there some subsidised arrangement? What other benefits are there?
20,000 Euro is not even 27,000USD. Imagine trying to live in NY on that!
In my less than humble opinion, they're taking the piss. You'd be better off going to a school where you can save, then having 8 weeks summer holiday seeing Europe.

Well, usually 5 classes, 4 preps is considered pretty standard. in my current job, that would mean approximately 105-110 students.
Whenever I feel I have too much of a teaching burden I think back to my last year in the UK. I was HOD, teaching 21 out of 25, with 7 classes, 6 preps and a registration group, and an assembly to give every two weeks! Everything is relative........

As I understand it, tuition counts as taxable income in Germany, and it can also count as a taxable benefit for your US taxes. My spouse is American and this has been the case, especially since in our current school, we pay the fees then they are reimbursed and show up on the payslip. You REALLY need to talk specifics with the school about every aspect of pay and tuition or you may be in for a few financial shocks. A good school should be very forthcoming about this as the relatively high taxes and low disposable income are a well known feature of working in Europe.

Hear hear. The review I treasure the most is one for Jakarta International School. A breathtakingly disloyal person posted (in full) an internal memo by the admin which outlined necessary changes to the school's health coverage. I read the memo, thinking what a satisfactory process had been undertaken, and what clear explanations had been given. It made me consider the good reputation of the school to be well-founded, rather than the opposite. The poster ended up looking like a spoilt, back-stabbing brat!

I agree.
I find the forum is a little more balanced, but the paid side is definitely what I would term "tabloid."
Anonymity can be a double edged sword.

I was a parent there, and obviously, I am also a teacher (though not at that school!)
I think they are a fair ways out - maybe 30 minutes but I don't know for sure, but I do know most staff are happy with their houses, if not the location.
Just wanted to add that I thought it a very good school indeed. I can only speak to the Prep school, didn't know so much about senior.
Qatar can be quite a tough place to work, but I saw them doing an admirable job of holding the line to their standards and expectations. We are very, very pleased indeed with the education they provided for our kids.
If you are going to work in Qatar, feel free to PM me.
Cheery

My Dear AuntieSocial
You are my new paragon of eloquence! I could not agree more.
I actually found my UK experience to be very hands on, and very enquiry based. I AM English, and I sometimes encounter the expectation that I am a modern day Mr Gradgrind.
We have few zealots at this school, excepting the new MYP co-ordinator.
I did an MYP Level 3 science course a few years ago in Germany. There were 24 science teachers from 22 schools and everyone said the same thing: It was an over-complex course with a huge burden of assessment, and both these characteristics ended up passed on to the students. The MYP staff at the IB are quick to tell you when they think you are wrong, but will never have the cojones to tell you how to do it right.
Thanks once again for totally nailing down how I feel about it!

Personally, I found the transition relatively easy because as a science teacher I had been conducting criterion based assessment for many years in the UK. The principles of MYP are easy enough to grasp, the content tends to be less. At DP you won't find too many differences. Science in the UK is very practical so enquiry based courses aren't too stretching.
All in all, not to difficult.

The things that were difficult were
1. total lack of well-thought-out training from my school
2. the fact that MYP requires a high degree of executive function from the students, so the immature, the disorganised and the disaffected find it harder than a traditional content based structure. This makes it (in my less than humble opinion) utterly unsuitable for our students. As a result I have developed a passionate loathing for it, and I am extremely glad I shall never, ever be teaching it again.
PLEASE don't go off on one at me, this is from the perspective of one school. In all honesty, this was one of the schools that wanted to flaunt the "IB World" label more than it wanted to choose a suitable programme for it's kids. I am sure MYP is all sweetness and light where YOU are........

Hooray! Hooray! I am really pleased for you! Congratulations! XXXX

Kind of a "second tier but getting better: school. Know some parents who are very happy with it, and some parents who are not. Patchy rep. I think it's a for profit. Ask who owns the school. If they are Arabic, just forget it because you'll be treated badly. You could probably put up with it if the money is good. You should not even consider it if it is less than 15,000 QAR salary (NOT including transport and housing.) Ask what proportions of various nationalities as well...more than about 30% locals and it'll get problematic with regards to behavior. Sorry to sound so bigoted, but this is learnt through experience.

Yeah, we leave our house year round too. Sister in Law checks it out for us, and her son in law changes the sprinkler system when necessary. We're thinking of getting a system we can control electronically - camera to look at the lawns and remote sprinkler thing. We have automatic lights etc. No problems in 6 years.