The International Schools Review Forum

Hi partners,

I've got an offer to work in Kazahstan International School, do you know anything about this school? And about Almaty???


Thank you!!!

There is only 1 review (a negative one) on ISR, and it is from 2009-10.

I hope you can get some first hand feedback on this forum.

All I can suggest is you ask some specific questions (about the school and the city) and also ask to speak to some of your future colleagues before signing up - if it is an elementary job, maybe people from your grade level or the PYP coordinator.

I hope it goes well:)

I've no firsthand experience in either school nor city, but one of the teaching couples at my school worked in Almaty for the past three years and they seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Enough so that they both say they'd be willing to go back if the opportunity were right.

They have said that the winters are pretty harsh in Almaty, though not as brutal as Astana, the other major city, which is on the other side of the country. They've gone at length about the blue skies and cleaner air (compared to where we are now) and the opportunities to go into the mountains and do outdoorsy stuff. They say owning a car is a must.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you a lot for your answers.

Almaty is nothing to be afraid of. It is best suited to big city with Winters people and not smalltown warm area folks. We have enjoyed Almaty and find the city to be more and more European all the time. I have limited experience with KIS. I have worked with a couple of their kids and met a few of the their parents. So I can't recommend the school or not recommend it. Housing is a must and enough to afford a car would be helpful. Biggest expense with living in Almaty is going somewhere else on break.

I’d only go if the package is really good. I met a woman that worked at KIS when I was living in Kazakhstan and she didn’t seem to mind it but did mention that the money was terrible. Her husband was working for some other company and she was just working there for the hell of it.

I didn’t particularly like Almaty. It is horribly polluted in the winter, the mountains are gorgeous but hard to access and are strewn with garbage, the people are flat out awful on the surface but pretty nice once you get to know them. It is incredibly expensive. Food isn’t too bad but everything else is really expensive (i.e. shoes, clothes, home appliances, etc…). Cars are also very expensive (2-3x what they would cost in the states). A 94 Subaru Legacy will set you back $5-7k.

Make sure the school gives you great medical with evacuations covered. I’ve had two friends that were evacuated for medical issues to Germany. You don’t want to pay for that out of pocket.

Think long and hard about whether you want to go. I look back on my time in Kazakhstan as a waste of two years of my life that I could have been living somewhere else. I was desperate to get into int’l teaching and so took the job. It seems like it was worth now that I am in a way nicer country and love where I live.

I avoid countries that end in "stan".

[quote="PsyGuy"]I avoid countries that end in "stan".[/quote]

The more I think about it, the more I think that is not a bad philosophy. Maybe I'd change "avoid" to "am very suspicious of, and would carry out a lot of due diligence, before taking a job in"

Actually I'm working in Russia, so I think that the place can't be very different.

I have had an interview with the director and he seems a good person.

I suppose if we got more "personal" wed find out all kinds of things about each other.

Kazahkstan .... best country in the world
all other countries are run by little girls!!!! :wink: