The International Schools Review Forum

recently i was offered a few different jobs. i was down to two choices. one school offered a fairly good package with great resources and boasted of their kids entering into top universities. the other school the package was not as good (although it is very fair package) and academic standards were not as high and their resources and facilities were not as good as the other school. but this school had happy teachers, the staff did not suffer from a huge turnover and had a very family feel to the staff (as i've heard from friends of teachers who work there)...the other school on the other hand had teachers coming and going quite frequently (although i know this isn't uncommon in international schools..)
which would you choose? my decision is already made but i wanted to know what others would do.

What about the locations, this should help your decision.

I've been in this boat before and found that a better package, facilities, and professionalism of the school outweighs the family feeling. One mistake I see is many expats don't try to reach out into the culture and make friends with locals. Part of the adventure is to explore and many international teachers just stick with their teacher pack.

Im going to assume they are in the same location, since you didnt say otherwise. Everything else being equal, I'd go with the school the school that has the better package, and more professional atmosphere. One problem with schools that have a really tight family atmosphere, is that you dont know if your going to become part of their family or inner circle. They may already be pretty tight together and not look to favorably on new people or outsiders. Its going to depend in part on who your replacing and why.

Lastly, ask yourself which school REALLY wants you, thats going to be the school thats going to go out of its way to help you.