The International Schools Review Forum

https://www.disdubai.ae/index.cfm

anyone know of this school? sorry for the repost.
mixed isr reviews. schools in dubai..its called the deira international school. thanas for any help!

Jess school? Dubai..anyone any thoughts?

Redvaldo,

never heard of it. The big Dubai schools are well-known. It is take your chances with the unknown ones...

If you have a strong teaching area, my advice is go to the London Fair. It is like the Bangkok Fair, but perhaps a bit less focused on SE Asia/Asia.

You should already be targeting your schools and customizing your CV to match their openings. You want them to want you!

Don't just accept anything in Dubai to be in Dubai - there are a lot nicer places in the world...not that it isn't nice. But there are a ton of crap schools there, sad to say.

It doesn't have a "crap" reputation or a great reputation, it has an okay reputation. Like majority of schools in Dubai, it's British. It's for profit, but not hugely corporate - ESOL are the owners and they have only 11, I think, schools in the Middle East - they have come a long way from when they first started out. Some teachers stay quite a while there so they obviously are satisfied or they really like living in Dubai, others are on the revolving door plan. If you're trying to break into international teaching, this would be a totally fine place to start - established school, growing student body but not too large, nice part of Dubai with many opportunities for affordable housing not too far away should you decide after the first year to take your allowance and not actual housing - if you're a couple, many make additional money doing this.

My understanding of this place from 3 years ago is that you can do better but you can a lot worse too. Certainly not a bad place to start your international school teaching career. The good thing in the UAE is that although the standards may not always be really high, they are also not allowed to be really low. There are standards, and you do have some rights in the UAE. Deira is a decent part of Dubai to be in. It's busy with plenty to do nearby. However, when I last looked at the school the salary was quite low. Anything less that 12,000 AED and you've got to think about it hard in my opinion. It's doable and you can live happily with a bit of saving, but if moving to the Middle East and saving loads of cash is your goal then less than 12,000 isn't really going to give you that unless you're really making an effort. That's my opinion anyway. If they've improved their package and are now paying more than that then it'd be worth a shot for sure.

[quote="inman"]My understanding of this place from 3 years ago is that you can do better but you can a lot worse too. Certainly not a bad place to start your international school teaching career. The good thing in the UAE is that although the standards may not always be really high, they are also not allowed to be really low. There are standards, and you do have some rights in the UAE. Deira is a decent part of Dubai to be in. It's busy with plenty to do nearby. However, when I last looked at the school the salary was quite low. Anything less that 12,000 AED and you've got to think about it hard in my opinion. It's doable and you can live happily with a bit of saving, but if moving to the Middle East and saving loads of cash is your goal then less than 12,000 isn't really going to give you that unless you're really making an effort. That's my opinion anyway. If they've improved their package and are now paying more than that then it'd be worth a shot for sure.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We're looking to earn over 30,000 aed per month..... If we were offered a package..could I tell them that I was hoping for a more competitive package? Ask for more? opinions

To make that kind of money you'll either be VERY experienced and start high up on the scale, work for a VERY good school, or work for ADEC.

As for salary negotiation, I've only worked for places that have shown me clearly where I am on their scale, and had it explained to me why. Perhaps other members can offer more advice about that.