Hello Everyone,
I am wondering if someone can give me an idea of a typical salary, teaching hours, holidays, and visa support for a K-12 school in Istanbul. Will they usually supply housing or is it just a stipend? Do they help with the visa or is that cost always on the employee? How many weeks of holidays are normal?
Thanks in advance!
What to expect in Istanbul
Response
::looking around::
How long is a piece of string?
There is a lot of variability in those characteristics from salary (every region has 3rd, 2nd, 1st, tier ISs and corresponding salary), teaching hours, etc. You will get the national holidays, but ISs have different localized holidays that will differ between ISs. The Visa process is standardized, the biggest issue is you can only be hired (on paper) to teach what your degree is in, but this is easily circumvented by hiring an IT to teach their degree field (on paper) and assign them to whatever courses you intended to appoint them to during recruiting. What ISs will do however still varies considerably. Some bottom tier ISs will require ITs to go on visa runs to renew tourist visas, some top tier ISs have systems process and relationships that practically guarantees a visa. Some ISs dont provide housing, some provide an allowance and some provide direct housing.
How long is a piece of string?
There is a lot of variability in those characteristics from salary (every region has 3rd, 2nd, 1st, tier ISs and corresponding salary), teaching hours, etc. You will get the national holidays, but ISs have different localized holidays that will differ between ISs. The Visa process is standardized, the biggest issue is you can only be hired (on paper) to teach what your degree is in, but this is easily circumvented by hiring an IT to teach their degree field (on paper) and assign them to whatever courses you intended to appoint them to during recruiting. What ISs will do however still varies considerably. Some bottom tier ISs will require ITs to go on visa runs to renew tourist visas, some top tier ISs have systems process and relationships that practically guarantees a visa. Some ISs dont provide housing, some provide an allowance and some provide direct housing.
Re: Response
"Some bottom tier ISs will require ITs to go on visa runs to renew tourist visas,"
Not anymore. Even most of the language schools that pay 40TL an hour help you get residency these days. They have to - the government is much stricter. The ISs all pay for the visa, as do most of the good Turkish Schools.
"Some ISs don't provide housing, some provide an allowance and some provide direct housing"
All the ISs in Istanbul provide either direct housing or an allowance. Most of the good Turkish National Schools will also provide an allowance or direct housing.
Vacation?
Turkish Schools have about 8 weeks in the summer, 2 weeks winter break end of Jan / start of Feb, and 2 x 1 week mid semester break. You might get a day off each for Xmas, and NY.
The ISs are each different, so you'd have to go on their websites and look at their calendars.
Also we do get snow days (or snowday this year!) too - usually in January.
Most schools start about 8am, the students leave at 3.30, and the teachers leave between 4 and 5. Obviously it does vary. One thing to watch for the the number of PD days, and required Saturday attendance. Starting 3 weeks before the students in the fall, finishing a week or so after they leave in summer, and having to do at least one Saturday per month where you have to sit in 3 hour long meetings in Turkish is a common complaint. The ISs don't do this as much / at all.
Salary?
It does vary wildly, but generally count between 2500 to 3000 usd per month for most of the mid-range Turkish Schools (that hire certified teachers.) Both the Turkish and International top payers do go higher - but to get a job there you'd be on SEARCH / ISS, and know that already.
Not anymore. Even most of the language schools that pay 40TL an hour help you get residency these days. They have to - the government is much stricter. The ISs all pay for the visa, as do most of the good Turkish Schools.
"Some ISs don't provide housing, some provide an allowance and some provide direct housing"
All the ISs in Istanbul provide either direct housing or an allowance. Most of the good Turkish National Schools will also provide an allowance or direct housing.
Vacation?
Turkish Schools have about 8 weeks in the summer, 2 weeks winter break end of Jan / start of Feb, and 2 x 1 week mid semester break. You might get a day off each for Xmas, and NY.
The ISs are each different, so you'd have to go on their websites and look at their calendars.
Also we do get snow days (or snowday this year!) too - usually in January.
Most schools start about 8am, the students leave at 3.30, and the teachers leave between 4 and 5. Obviously it does vary. One thing to watch for the the number of PD days, and required Saturday attendance. Starting 3 weeks before the students in the fall, finishing a week or so after they leave in summer, and having to do at least one Saturday per month where you have to sit in 3 hour long meetings in Turkish is a common complaint. The ISs don't do this as much / at all.
Salary?
It does vary wildly, but generally count between 2500 to 3000 usd per month for most of the mid-range Turkish Schools (that hire certified teachers.) Both the Turkish and International top payers do go higher - but to get a job there you'd be on SEARCH / ISS, and know that already.
Re: What to expect in Istanbul
Thank you for all of this valuable information! :)
Reply
@shadylane
We disagree, there are still lower tier ISs that cant/wont get visas and require staff to complete visa runs, they have gotten fewer in recent time, but they are still out there.
Its untrue that every IS in Istanbul provides housing or an allowance, there are bottom tier ISs that provide no housing benefit at all.
We disagree, there are still lower tier ISs that cant/wont get visas and require staff to complete visa runs, they have gotten fewer in recent time, but they are still out there.
Its untrue that every IS in Istanbul provides housing or an allowance, there are bottom tier ISs that provide no housing benefit at all.
Re: What to expect in Istanbul
@PsyGuy
I think what you call lower tier ISs, I would call Turkish National Schools. They hire foreign teachers, but teach the Turkish curriculum. It may be that some don't give a housing stipend, but those don't tend to hire certified teachers. I should add that the Turkish National Schools vary wildly in quality. The best ones are easily as good, or even better, than the ISs.
Also, the rules on visas have changed relatively recently. A 3 month tourist visa requires that you leave the country for 3 months before you can be issued another one. The visa run to Greece is no longer possible.
I think what you call lower tier ISs, I would call Turkish National Schools. They hire foreign teachers, but teach the Turkish curriculum. It may be that some don't give a housing stipend, but those don't tend to hire certified teachers. I should add that the Turkish National Schools vary wildly in quality. The best ones are easily as good, or even better, than the ISs.
Also, the rules on visas have changed relatively recently. A 3 month tourist visa requires that you leave the country for 3 months before you can be issued another one. The visa run to Greece is no longer possible.
Last edited by shadylane on Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reply
@shadylane
The third tier for any region is very large and includes municipal ISs.
That is an interesting update, some ISs will have to be constantly recruiting, as they will only be able to offer short term contracts and wont be able to renew.
The third tier for any region is very large and includes municipal ISs.
That is an interesting update, some ISs will have to be constantly recruiting, as they will only be able to offer short term contracts and wont be able to renew.