The International Schools Review Forum

I know package is important as opposed to just salary. I heard that a school in Angola has an excellent package, accomodation, flights, 70k US per year. Not the safest place though. I think it is he best I have heard this year.

It's all relative to the local cost of living and current inflation. Luanda has consistently topped the list of expensive cities in the world. According to Mercer, the prices are 13% more than London. They import almost everything, thanks to years of civil war.

The questions one need to ask are:
Where can I save at least 50% of my salary and still enjoy the local culture?
Where can I breathe fairly clean air, have good access to travel, and excellent healthcare?
Which country provides a safe environment for my children to grow up?

Not every school / city might provide answers to all those questions, but here are some:
ASIJ in Tokyo
YIS, Japan
IS BKK
NIST, BKK
AS Warsaw
Zurich IS

Having said that, you also need to have the best credentials and work experience to break into these schools.

Traffic and pollution in Bkk are terrible !

@Anabel
"Not every school / city might provide answers to all those questions" - this is what I meant.
BKK air quality is not as bad as shanghai, beijing, or hong kong.

I'm not sure ASIJ has a great salary anymore. i believe they have restructured their salary schedule. I do know when I was speaking with them they told me that everyone who would be hired this year would get the same starting salary, regardless of years of experience or education level (just bachelor's degree vs. PhD) Seemed kind of strange to me.

@ indogal

A first year teacher would make at least a net salary of 5500- USD (including housing) at ASIJ. They do have 21 steps. I know the pay took a hit post-2009 recession, but it's still a pretty good deal.

http://community.asij.ac.jp/salary

Anyone with a reasonable lifestyle should be able to save at least 30K a year.

ARAMCO Schools in Saudi (near Damman) have always had a very high salary and there's really low turnover. I believe some teachers can make close to six figures and their flight allowance can be over $5000 (so I've heard). Their salary schedule is kind of a company secret. Downside to that is that you are confined to compound life and the living in the bubble effect is magnified there.

ARAMCO schools also hire teaching couples over singles and prefer masters degrees, although not always.

Everything is relative. Check how many days a year you are expected to work for Aramco and see, pro rated, how good the salary is.
I am making a very hefty salary, probably amongst the highest in the world. However, when we move, in terms of disposable income and our savings schedule, not much will change. On paper we'll be taking a $3,500 pay cut between us.
This is because of the cost of living here, transport and sports lesson costs for our kids (not many after school activities), huge cost of flights out of here, etc etc.
Personally, I cannot wait to leave, money or no money! Actually, liking where you live an teach is worth a bundle, too!

Cheery, where are you at now?

Sorry for the aside, but I've read that Aramco only hires Americans. Just wanted to confirm if that is true.

Americans, Brits, Canadians.

I was actively pursued at the Bangkok Fair by one of the Saudi Aramco schools. I am a single female, so married couples with families are not the only candidates they are looking for. The money sounded amazing!! But, Saudi is just not on my radar at this time.

jessiejames: Yes and no. Aramco itself hires a huge variety of nationalities and the communities are diverse. I do not know if the school system has a hard and fast rule on teacher nationality per se, but they do usually require North American certification. Previously that meant that most teachers were American or Canadian. Unfortunately, there has been an issue with visas for Canadians being problematic the past few years. As a result, at least some of the Aramco principals are avoiding hiring any Canadians, at least until the visa situation improves.

zanyplum: You are correct. Historically Aramco tried to hire couples. Currently, there are plenty of single teachers in the schools and being hired for next year.

Is the Angola school $70k after tax?

Before tax means nothing...there are so many countries with differing income tax rates.