The International Schools Review Forum

I am a teacher first and foremost. I have used this site and have posted nice and less than kind, but I hope an honest review of my former school. I will be going to a newer school, where I will be taking up a position of a senior teacher/department head, with responsibilities to coordinate curriculum across the subject area lines. I guess I should not have gotten a Masters in that Unh.... Be that as it may, I can be as negative or as positive as the next guy. Lets face it the staff room always has a lot of whining about something, and yes sometimes I am the one crying in his coffee.

Suggestions for screening and letting my teachers know what the expectations are? I think my boss and I have a good plan to let everyone know what is what. We think we are vetting our candidates well. But some are going to come to us though TIE and ISS, and who knows all the places my boss, who is traveling now to conferences will have to pay to get to meet good people.

I have been at good international schools and have sent people there to get good jobs and they still talk to me, after I got them a job there. And I have been at a school, that has been mixed. The change in management and the non-english speaking owner have been of mixed quality. I am glad I did it, but under the current set up would not recommend that anyone go there.

We have a handbook, a written contract that is explicit, and China regardless of reputation is a nation of laws and they are extensive on education. And I have seen teachers successfully go after a school that screwed them here. Fill out the form and wait. You do not have to be present to win. It will be 6 months to a year if you are not around, but it beats never getting your money. If you are still around it is a 30 to 60 day wait. The difference is the other side can ask for continuousness since you are not there to say foul.

I have an apartment for the people, an inventory of what you have to leave behind in reasonable conditions and a salary that the take home is higher than in the US.

Working on Books, need to talk to teachers before I order too many, and computers etc.



Suggestions for getting good people, and for letting them know what is expected? My experience is if you know what you are in for and everyone is honest it should be okay. What am I missing?

Thanks

For starters learn how to put together a properly constructed sentence.

I would reply to the original post, but I have no clue what you are talking about. What are you trying to find out?

Deleted

I think in his roundabout way, the OP was simply asking for our:

"Suggestions for screening and letting my teachers know what the expectations are?"

My recommendations include:

1. Be open and honest. One thing that any teacher hates is being told one thing and then finding out first-hand that what they were told was a lie.

2. In terms of screening, I suggest looking into joining the American Association of School Administrators (www.aasa.org), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (www.nassp.org), or the National Association of Elementary School Principals (www.naesp.org), and utilizing resources they provide in screening/interviewing applicants. Another idea would be to Google searches such as effective interview questions or similar ideas.

3. Another thing to do would be to have current teachers provide a list of things they wish they had known about the school prior to the first day, or using exit interviews with teachers leaving the school to gain information that could be passed on to prospective hires.

I'm sure there are lots of other ideas, and I hope my colleagues out their feel up to sharing...

Best wishes.

HUH?

Is it possible that this person wrote this message in another language and put it through a online translator? No idea!

To those who understand that English is not the language of my native land, thank you.

For the information to try to make my teachers know we are want them to know that they are treated with honesty and respect, thank you.

To those whose view is narrow, I cannot teach a cow about music, but thank you for the lesson that some look for a fight when there is not one.

I hope use of shorter sentences helped the computer do better and conveying meaning. My native english user assistant is on vacation, so I do what I can.

Good day best wishes.

First suggestion would be to not insult people who don't understand what you are asking/saying.

What language will the teachers be speaking? I ask because you are asking in an English language forum, but your English skills are minimal. I already see the issue of miscommunication as being a huge issue and one that can be very detrimental. I would have a problem working for you because of your attitude, and I am a positive person by nature. That's why I am asking about the communication. People can overlook a lot as long as there is a solid foundation of mutual trust and respect that exists and people can feel free to ask questions, or give ideas/suggestions when appropriate.

What are going to say when someone doesn't understand you at school? Are you going to say that you cannot teach a cow music? I can tell you that it will not go over very well, but hey, you are in charge. What school are you working for/own/run? Being called a cow is insulting just like being called a shoe or donkey in other cultures.

Some patience, and the ability to rephrase what you are saying would be very helpful. Even I have to rephrase something to my students because I said something that doesn't make sense, I don't insult my students, I try to rephrase what I said. Communication is a two-way street my friend! I will be happy to help, when I find out what you are asking.

Hello, clown! I am sorry you are not receiving very many helpful replies. Looks like several people are merely being obstinate. Make sure you don’t hire them!

It looks like you are really paying attention to what is important. As you yourself noted, be truthful. I suspect some of the earlier comments are from people who were burned, perhaps by miscommunication. One of the things I expect from a new school is the email addresses of the teachers—not a “selectâ€