Help with schools in China...PLEASE

rfried3 · Post by **rfried3** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:13 am

Hi Everyone

I am doing my Masters in Education at UBC now in Vancouver. When I am done I would love to work in China. I have worked in Germany and Uganda before this.

I a friend I've met here is taking me to China in April for a month and I would like to use the opportunity to visit some of the schools. However, the reviews are very mixed.

I am a Math/Science teacher with IGCSE and IB experience. Can people please tell me more about the schools or recommend ones I should look at? We are also going to Hong Kong.

Thanks a lot everyone!!

longshikong · Post by **longshikong** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:07 am

At Queen's U last month, I met recruiters from Atlantic Ed. Int'l. Given their origin as part of the N.B. Dept of Ed. in '97, they seem reputable. I'd highly recommend looking into the Canadian Int'l School of Beijing which is a Sino-Cdn joint venture. They've got 50 Cdn. teachers in that school alone and I know they place for an In'tl school in HK. I didn't find that school's review on this site but perhaps that's a good sign because the int'l school in China I was interested in (Yucheng) had 30 reviews, almost all negative. Good thing I subscribed!!!
[url]http://www.aei-inc.ca[/url]

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As an aside, you may be interested in this:

Having taught ESL in China 8 yrs, I've become intrigued by the differences between their ed system and ours. Perhaps as part of China's recently implemented ambitious 12 yr educational reform, the University of Bristol's Grad. School of Ed recently completed a 2 yr study to 'investigate the nature and extent of school effectiveness in China'.
[url]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/rese ... tes/ieeqc/[/url]

Lately, I've been reading how Confucian philosophy, essentially a moral code of conduct, [i]evolved from[/i], and then back into religious ritual---quite the opposite of Buddhism, Taoism and even western monotheistic faiths that evolved from philosophies into religions. You'll recall Moses' iconoclastic episode and the highly politicized early Christian history.

psychbio · Post by **psychbio** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:24 pm

Beijing City International School is only about 6 years old, with a great package. We met the upper and middle school principals in Cambridge, and they were both really great guys. I'd take a look at this one.

wrldtrvlr123 · Post by **wrldtrvlr123** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:54 am

In Beijing, the biggies are WAB and ISB. BCIS, BSB, DCD, Harrow and Yew Chung are also solid schools with their good and bad points (but will not put you at risk of getting ripped off or put into a chaotic environment).

The Canadian school is also supposed to be fine but pays around 10K less a year then the other 2nd tier schools.

djc51 · Post by **djc51** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:09 am

Whatever you do, do not choose Yew Chung. It's run by a group whose main focus in on making money. They treat their staff very unprofessionally, so I do not recommend them at all. I am currently at one of their schools and all the western staff have left since I arrived three years ago. I am joining them in June.

longshikong · Post by **longshikong** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:03 am

[quote="djc51"]...[b]do not choose Yew Chung[/b]. [/quote]

I actually subscribed specifically to read their reviews since I wanted to work in Qingdao. They sponsor the printing of Queen's University's (Kingston, Canada) B.Ed's [i]Job Search Guide for Teachers[/i] so I thought they were reputable until I checked. It was $30 well spent!!!

stockingblue · Post by **stockingblue** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:39 am

[quote="djc51"]Whatever you do, do not choose Yew Chung. It's run by a group whose main focus in on making money. They treat their staff very unprofessionally, so I do not recommend them at all. I am currently at one of their schools and all the western staff have left since I arrived three years ago. I am joining them in June.[/quote]

At which campus are you working? Is it specific to one campus or is it all YCIS schools?

Also, what is the Moral Education department?

longshikong · Post by **longshikong** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:25 pm

[quote="stockingblue"]Also, what is the Moral Education department?[/quote]
Find their website which'll mostly be in Chinese. Copy a text string and paste between " quote marks in Google Search. Then click on 'Translate'.

stockingblue · Post by **stockingblue** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:20 am

[quote="longshikong"]Find their website which'll mostly be in Chinese. Copy a text string and paste between " quote marks in Google Search. Then click on 'Translate'.[/quote]

Not sure what you mean. Their website is all in English.

djc51 · Post by **djc51** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:44 am

At which campus are you working? Is it specific to one campus or is it all YCIS schools?

[/quote]

I am at the Qingdao campus. I am leaving in June along with 5 others. The Chinese PE teacher quit 2 weeks ago and others will join her at the end of the year I believe, although they have not yet officially resigned. Just shows you how well run this school is. It's not the western co-principal's fault though. It's the Chinese who run the show here and they do it very badly!

Not sure about other campuses, but given YCEF Hong Kong's attitude towards its staff, I wouldn't work for any of them.

Traveller1 · Post by **Traveller1** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:05 pm

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.