The International Schools Review Forum

Hi all. I'm curious, how many schools out there will hire you with 3-4 children? Two teaching parents. What are these schools?

ISBeijing does and I'm sure HKIS does. We had friends at UWC in Singapore with 3 kids, too.
QSI schools take families with 3-4 kids and schools in Saudi will, too--we knew a family who did QSI and then Saudi and had 4 kids.

The general rule is that an IS will tolerate a 1:2 travel ratio (1 employee to 2 travelers) it still reduces your marketability and attractiveness, it also greatly reduces your options, as without an appointment for both of you it will be a non-starter for 1 IT with 3-4 kids AND a trailing spouse.
The best options are chain ISs such as QSI and UWC, etc. as well as elite tier ISs where costs are less a recruiters priority.

I am at an IS in North Africa that has a couple with four children. If one of you is science/math that is a bonus. They came from an IS in Eastern Europe, I think.

depends if you're at a small school/organization. i agree that it probably does make you less "attractive" in terms of money, but it has been done before. obviously, as PG says, if you both are teaching and both can fill vacancies then it lessens the "burden" on the school.

i've heard the same things about QSI schools not worrying so much about multiple children. but if it's a good school and if you really "wow" them, they'll make it work.

good luck!

v.

@earlychildhood

Very little surprises me anymore in IE, and I rarely use absolute terms, because there is always an exception, but if you approach your IE career around being an exception you are going to very likely be disappointed and frustrated. The logistical issues are not insurmountable, but they are very real challenges, a few problems you will face include:

1) The global average for IT salaries is about USD$30K/year. The average value of a tuition/fee waiver or place is $10K/each/year. With 3 or more children you are effectively asking an IS to double your salary. There has been an increase in recent years regarding eligibility for places and waivers, more and more ISs are capping those benefits at 1 per employee or 2 per family, with a reduction of around 50% for additional placements or full fees. This means you are much more likely to be facing opportunities that are significantly going to cut into your salary.
In addition, in regions such as the WE and EU fee waivers are a taxable benefit and with high taxes at around 30% or higher each one of those waivers costs you about a months salary in taxes.

2) Waivers have real value, its less an ask at an IS that is below capacity but once you reach capacity and waiting lists those are real losses for the IS, your childs place/waiver is taking away a seat from a full fee paying student. Capacity is also fluid, an IS may be below capacity but a certain grade/year may be full and adding 4 children to an ISs division may complicate organization. Will an IS do it if they have to, sure, but rarely does an IS have to, there is always another applicant, even if they are less qualified, experienced or capable.

3) Housing is going to be a logistical problem in a number of areas. A 4-5 LDK flat/apartment is either not available or prohibitively expensive, requiring a house, and many ISs will not increase the housing allowance beyond the benefit in the policy, meaning you would have to supplement your housing costs out of your own coin. Many of those ISs that provide housing directly just wont be able to accommodate you meaning once they discover your family logistics you just wont be appointable.

4) There are real expenses the larger the travel ., flying and insuring 6 travelers is going to meet some resistance, there will be ISs that are going to require you to absorb some of those costs or relocation, further cutting into your salary.

It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia has introduced a 'tax' on dependants/family members of foreign (non-Saudi) workers (this includes maids and drivers). Starting at SR 100 ($27) per dependant per month, the fees will double year on year to SR400 in 2020. This is being done to raise state revenues against falling oil prices, but the conflict with Yemen probably is a factor too.