The International Schools Review Forum

I second newchapter...could anyone post a list of reputable, well established schools in South America?

Anyone?

Any luck, Teachermom? I know some that I think are top tier but they're only my guess.

[quote="Teachermom"]I second newchapter...could anyone post a list of reputable, well established schools in South America?[/quote]

Here's a quick list:

Escuela Campo Alegre
Graded
Nido Aguilas-Chile
Lincoln School
CFDR (Lima)
Colegio Nueva Granada

Those would be my top list. Might be 1 or 2 I am missing.

Thanks! Appreciate it!

Graded School in Sao Paulo is amazing and I would definitely consider it a first tier school. The quality of the staff and the facility is incredible. The package teachers receive is probably the best in South America.

Both the Anglo Colombiano and The English School Bogota pay significantly more than Nueva Granada. CNG´s big perk is that they are located in quite a nice area of town. The former two are in a rather unpleasant part of the city.

I don't know how long since you've worked in Colombia, Calciodirigore, but your information is not accurate (or at least outdated). CNG has significantly improved their benefits package over the past 3-4 years and they are now far ahead of any school in Bogota (and of course, any other school in Colombia).

I know teachers and administrators in several top tier Bogota schools and provided you are an overseas hire, CNG is #1 in terms of salary and benefits. It wasn't always that way, but Dr. Habegger and the current board has made a commitment to offering a better package to attract and keep better educators. That said, CNG does need to improve their professional development options for teachers, their medical insurance, and reform the Learning Center.

Overall, CNG is #3 in Latin America in total package, when you factor in cost of living, inflation and local taxes. Not surprising, Graded and Nido are #1 and #2 (but not by much since things like taxes and cost of living in Brazil and Chile really bring down savings potential). The Venezuelan schools (in particular, ECA and CIPLC) were for many years among the best (if not the best) in Latin America but all the problems in Venezuela have severely impacted cost of living and quality of life.

@Bule...can you tell me the differences between Colegio Los Nogales and Colegio Nueva Granada? ...types of schools...location...pay...any info you have...thanks!

I'm in Colombia now, and before accepting the position at my current school I was offered a position at CNG and another school in the city. I didn't take the latter two positions because the package was considerably lower than the one from the school I accepted.

ECA's package continues to be the best - specifically because of the financial situation in Venezuela.

Interesting comments, Calciodirigore. I know people currently at all the schools mentioned in Bogota and we compare the packages all of the time. I'll leave it at that since it's difficult to prove anything on an internet message board. The bottom line for others to know is that you can make pretty decent money, for Latin America, at several international schools in Bogota; certainly more than the "average $20,000 a year" that Psyguy likes to say.

In terms of ECA, yes, it might still, overall, be the best when you look at the hard numbers. However, Venezuela is hardly an attractive country to live and work with all the craziness and running around exchanging money on the black market, massive petty crime, running out of toilet paper and other staples, etc. etc. It's a shame because both ECA and CIPLC were awesome places to live and work 10-15 years ago.

I'm pretty sure that the average in Lima, Peru and Santiago, Chile is at the very, very least double the $20k mentioned.

Any opinions on Santa Cruz Cooperative School in Bolivia?

I would also like to know about Santa Cruz Cooperative...

Santa Cruz Cooperative School? Don't do it!!! I currently work there and it is a mess due to unacknowledged outlandish behavior from the students and parents who insist that their child be able to behave in such a manner...also there have been huge budget cuts which have cut veteran teacher pay as well as non-renewal of contracts (which was made known to the fired staff via a very impersonal email). It is like teaching in a public school classroom without a strong admin in Southern California minus the professional respect...if you want to know more PM me.