The International Schools Review Forum

Hello all,

I'm new here and wondered if anyone could offer me some help/information.

I’m thinking of returning to Hong Kong, I was there for 3 years and worked in a language centre before getting a job at an international school as an EFL Teacher. At the time, my qualifications were a CELTA and a few years EFL teaching in the UK and Japan. I was accepted into the NET scheme pool but this didn’t result in finding a NET job.


I returned to the UK (where I am from) and completed a PGCE Primary qualification. I enjoyed my EFL teaching so much I decided I wanted to take the ‘next career step’ to become a qualified primary school teacher. Now I work at a UK primary school teaching 5-6 year olds all subjects. As much as I love this job the workload is crazy and I’m working at least 10 hours weekdays in school followed by 1-2 hours at home. On weekends I work around 5-6 hours at home on a Sunday.


I am thinking of completing this year academic year in my current job and then looking for work back in HK. Does anyone know what the workload and salary are like in international schools in HK as a primary teacher? Also what would my chances be with only 1 year of experience as a primary school teacher?


Thank you

HK is known as one of the highest paid cities in the world. Needless to say, I am sure you would be able to save more in HK than in the UK. You would just need to double check whether the school provides housing or a housing allowance and cross reference that with apartment costs in the city.

As for getting a job there. Seems to me targeting only one city puts you at a disadvantage out the gate. Not to mention you not having much experience.

Is it possible for you to get a job in HK? Sure

Will you get a job in HK? I wouldnt bank on it.

If I where you, I would cast my net a bit wider. At the very least you need to be open to other schools in China and the surrounding region. Will increase your chances of landing a job and getting out of the UK.

I haven't lived/taught in HK but we have friends there (who we also taught with in mainland China). They say it is very much like what we experienced in China. It's a very good lifestyle. Exactly how good is somewhat dependent on the school you are at.

The larger/better the school, the higher standard of living you are likely to enjoy. The flip side is that the larger/better schools are also likely to demand more from you and your time.

That being said, there is no OFSTED and there would likely not be nearly as much of the pointless box ticking that probably consumes so many of your hours. You would be expected to work hard and be fully prepared to teach but beyond that, you are generally left to teach (with some meetings and after school activities thrown in here and there) in most schools.

With your ESL experience and having lived in HK before I would certainly think you have a better than decent chance to find a position in a good school there (and they have a high concentration of decent to great schools). I would definitely give ESF a go. They run 20+ schools throughout HK, recruit mainly via Skype interviews and offer good schools/good package. I have interviewed with them several times and was offered a job once. They run the PYP but were NC based in the past and are still very UK centric. Sign up now as they recruit in December-February if I recall correctly.

Good luck!

One thing to consider as a single female primary teacher is that if they can slot the spouse of another teacher in there, they will. It saves a lot of expenses by doing so, plus it means they get the science/math/technology/art/etc teacher they want by providing a job for the spouse.

There are also some not very nice schools in HK. Do your homework. My advice would be to go out internationally, spread your net wide, go where the wind blows you, get some IT experience, THEN target HK. Also, teaching CELTA/EFL isn't going to count for much, so having the other international experience to riff on will get you further, IMHO.

That said, exceptions do happen, so apply to HK schools (but not the rubbish ones) AND spread your net to SE Asia, Africa, the ME and SA.

I disagree with some of the fellow contributors. I have never agreed with the advice that you should expand your search or employment expectations to locations you simply are not interested in. If you want to work in X location, and thats your primary factor, why bother applying and expending resources on vacancies in Y locations. If that strategy is attractive to you, than a specific location, by definition, is not your top priority.
HK is one of the little tigers that has a high degree of location desirability, however getting "in" is the hard part once your "in" even at a lower tier (bottom tier) IS it is much easier to move around and up to better ISs(the SA HK fair exists essentially for this purpose). HK is also very expensive, there are a significant number of ISs (lower tier) that provide little more than a LH package even for a OSH. This can make life very frustrating. It is a very cosmopolitan, fast paced lifestyle, which is very attractive to singles across a wide age range.