What You Should Know About International Schools

Choosing the right international school for you is a very important decision. The school you choose can make all the difference as to whether you have a fantastic experience or a mediocre or even poor experience. If you are about to choose your international school, there are some important things you should find out about the school and teaching package before you sign your contract.

Probably the most important factor of your contract is knowing whether or not the salary that the school is offering you can be lived on comfortably. When you are offered a salary, you need to consider and research the cost of living in the host country. Some countries have a very low cost of living, allowing you to save money and live quite well. So if once you convert the salary amount into US dollars it sounds like a very small amount, it could still stretch quite far in the host country. Alte
atively some countries cost of living is quite high. Many European countries, for instance, will barely pay enough for you to support yourself but it still may sound like a good dollar amount.

You will also want to consider the length of the contract you’ve been offered. Most contracts are for 2 years, but some schools will offer a 12 month contract. The length of your contract is an important consideration because there is usually little room to negotiate. Once you complete your initial contract, schools will usually offer you a further contract which is the stage where you would be able to negotiate. So if you sign for a two year contract, you need to make sure that you are totally comfortable with the contract because you will be living with it for the whole two years.

It is also important to know who your student body are and how large your classroom sizes are. When dealing with international schools, it is important to know whether the school is servicing an international clientele, or is catering to wealthy local families. The implications of this are that you may end up with a group of lazy and demanding students from privileged backgrounds instead of a multicultural mixture of students from different environments. As far as class size, you will want to know how many students you will be responsible for and need to plan lessons for. Most schools will have caps on their class sizes, but they may use them more as guidelines than as strict limits.

It is a very good idea to have some correspondence with either the teacher you are going to replace or your future line manager before you accept the position. Doing this should help you make an informed decision. It will give you a chance to go over some of these questions about class size, student body, and living expenses to get a better idea of what you will be facing. And you can also count that the information you receive from this person will be accurate. The hiring committee you deal with are mostly interesting in filling the position, and so therefore will be invested in painting the school in a positive light.

If you follow the above advice, you will be able to make a more informed decision and, consequently, feel more comfortable about signing on the dotted line. Teaching abroad can be a wonderful experience, but always make sure to do your homework first to avoid having a less than desirable time.