Honk Kong International School
Honk Kong International School
Just looking for some current info on this school. Reviews are mixed, and there doesn't seem to be much current on the forum. Anybody have any recent experience here? How does this school compare to others in HK as far as reputation, compensation, etc.?
-
antitravolta
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:35 am
- Location: United States
It's the sister school of Concordia in Shanghai. There was a recent major debate about them here: http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... =concordia. It's a Christian school and is going to favor Christian teachers. The package is quite good and seems to be among the best in Hong Kong.
It's a Lutheran school to be exact.
It's....weird. We interviewed with them, my wife was asked about her church going schedule.
I get the feeling there are a big group of teachers there who haven't left in years and feel very comfortable there. A friend of mine who taught Chinese got a job there and she felt very uncomfortable for the first while, nobody was polite to her.
Anyway, I wouldn't interview again with them as they just don't sit right with me. Not bitter or anything!! Kinda glad I didn't get a job there!
It's....weird. We interviewed with them, my wife was asked about her church going schedule.
I get the feeling there are a big group of teachers there who haven't left in years and feel very comfortable there. A friend of mine who taught Chinese got a job there and she felt very uncomfortable for the first while, nobody was polite to her.
Anyway, I wouldn't interview again with them as they just don't sit right with me. Not bitter or anything!! Kinda glad I didn't get a job there!
I considered putting in an application last year when they had openings that worked for me. I stopped when I got to the part in the application that asked about my Christian faith. While I’ve heard that the Christian aspect of it isn’t overwhelming, I just didn’t want to a) lie and say that I’m religious or b) admit to not being religious and not be considered as a result. I guess I’ll never know what would have happened. I do know a couple of people that work there that are friends of friends and they’ve never mentioned the Christian aspect of things at the school.
Another reason I stopped was the location of the school. The school is on the south side of Hong Kong Island. I’ve heard it is incredibly expensive (maybe impossible for teachers; hopefully someone else can confirm this) to live anywhere close to the school and commuting from even Central or other parts of the north side of the Island can take a while. If you lived anywhere off of HK Island, the commute could be really long. The metro lines don’t run anywhere close so most likely you’d be looking at combinations of metro and buses, which could complicate matters. I think commute times tend to be an issue for many of the schools in HK. I think HK is an amazing city (one of my favorites) and I would love to live there but I simply can’t stand to live in cramped spaces and/or commute (anything more than 10 minutes is too much for me). I just don’t think HKIS is for me. I like living close to it and going there occasionally but I enjoy my huge apartment (would be astronomically expensive in HK), green spaces and 2 minute walk to school too much to give it up for cramped apartments and long commutes.
I understand it to have a pretty good reputation. I’d describe it as Tier 1 academically, but Tier 2 for teachers as the package is slipping a bit compared to a few other schools. That is completely my opinion and I have no real hard facts to back it up. It is based on what I’ve heard about the school from colleagues and the general opinions of the school. I know that isn’t that specific and I hope some other people that work there can weigh in on the specifics. I work very close to the school in China and so hear a lot about it.
Another reason I stopped was the location of the school. The school is on the south side of Hong Kong Island. I’ve heard it is incredibly expensive (maybe impossible for teachers; hopefully someone else can confirm this) to live anywhere close to the school and commuting from even Central or other parts of the north side of the Island can take a while. If you lived anywhere off of HK Island, the commute could be really long. The metro lines don’t run anywhere close so most likely you’d be looking at combinations of metro and buses, which could complicate matters. I think commute times tend to be an issue for many of the schools in HK. I think HK is an amazing city (one of my favorites) and I would love to live there but I simply can’t stand to live in cramped spaces and/or commute (anything more than 10 minutes is too much for me). I just don’t think HKIS is for me. I like living close to it and going there occasionally but I enjoy my huge apartment (would be astronomically expensive in HK), green spaces and 2 minute walk to school too much to give it up for cramped apartments and long commutes.
I understand it to have a pretty good reputation. I’d describe it as Tier 1 academically, but Tier 2 for teachers as the package is slipping a bit compared to a few other schools. That is completely my opinion and I have no real hard facts to back it up. It is based on what I’ve heard about the school from colleagues and the general opinions of the school. I know that isn’t that specific and I hope some other people that work there can weigh in on the specifics. I work very close to the school in China and so hear a lot about it.