The International Schools Review Forum

I am trying to understand the relationship between QSI schools and the US State Department. I thought QSI schools had a religious affiliation. Am I incorrect in my understanding?

QSI schools are not affiliated with any religious organization. Some of the QSI schools are in locations where the US embassy asks them to open a school. Some of the schools are affiliated with the Office of Overseas Schools through the State Dept. They are not DOD schools, and do not serve the military community (usually). QSI uses an American curriculum and American textbooks. Religion is not part of the curriculum.

Religion may not be part of the curriculum, but when I interviewed with QSI I was asked several "lifestyle questions". Do I smoke? Do I drink? Do I attend church regularly? etc. If you are planning to interview with QSI, be prepared to answer such questions.

Thanks for the response. I know that they say they are not religious schools but when I looked at some of the school websites and their site combined with a couple comments I read on the forum it sounded like they may not be teaching religion but that religion definitely was part of the school culture.

They seem to have a misguided view of " morals ". The hirers are still probably equating morality with religion ( i.e. one must be a moral person if they are religious ). They are very anti-smoking as well. If you are a smoker, you could get rejected based on that. In other words, they are looking for the traditional, goody-good two shoes, by-the-rule book type of employee.

I don't think that QSI has any sort of official religious official, however, when I interviewed with them, I was explicitly told that the school would not be a good place to work at if I was an atheist.

At my previous school, we had many children who had transfer from the QSI school because parents were not happy about religion creeping into the classroom. That may have just been as a result of the teachers teaching at that particular school though.

I've been in two QSI schools -- I'm an atheist -- and the religious atmosphere depends on the school. QSI bigwigs are very religious and if you smoke or are gay or are living with someone and unmarried they won't hire you. My first school had a very religious and evangelical director, and it could be uncomfortable sometimes. There was praying at school, special prayer meetings, a couple who actively tried to save souls for Jesus on weekends, etc. At my next QSI school the director has never mentioned religion and it's a non-issue. Over all it's an ok organization to work for, especially if you're trying to gain international experience or have more than two kids, but you're happiness is going to depend on the school as they are very different depending on the director.