Expat Teacher Transferring - Good Package?

[k1w1]

Justin Br, is your salary openly available to anyone who wants to see it? Are all your benefits easily viewed on your company website? I'm not sure why you think a teacher's full salary/benefits package should be.

I work at an International School. The teaching circuit here is very small, so international school teachers will often meet at conferences, meetings and collaboration groups.

Lower paying schools will offer a teaching couple $2500 a month, but higher end payers provide couples/families with up to $3800 a month. Single teachers get less, but the lowest I have heard of is $1700 a month.

Salary scales will start (and this is for an inexperienced teacher) at around $45-65,000 - depending on the school. They go up, and vary significantly, from there. Many schools pay a gratuity or completion bonus of around 10-20% of salary. No, I don't have "evidence" of what I'm saying. Sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I was recently at a party with a range of people from a variety of industries. When I divulged my salary (which is actually very good compared with what a teacher would earn at a local school, or would earn at home) I was met with total shock and concern about how on earth I afford to eat, pay rent and raise children... Most expats (and yes, I'm talking about the professional ones) here are not earning under $100k a year. Why is it so outrageous for teachers to be earning a semi-decent pay packet? My non-teaching expat friends earn probably double what I make, and they are about the same age as me...

(And the comment about universities: yes, it is widely known that universities here are terrible payers. This is why you'll find most lecturers are either local, short-term/visiting expat lecturers OR have been here for donkey's years and are earning heaps because those were the benefits in their original contract.)

[Justin_Br]

While my specific job may not be available there are jobs that are in the range which have a posted salary. Hence, when I found the SAS's website that is where I got a rough idea. The initial amount of approx $200,000 sounded high to me as it did to MANY others.

I am not saying that teachers are not worth $200,000 I am simply saying that this amount would be for very few teachers.

Thus, from what I had read I figured that $60,000 was quite low given a rental allowance. Thus, as you have seen I was just looking for some confirmation on my guesses and by no means ment any disrespect.

However, I am sure that you could confirm that few teachers earn $200,000/year.

[qguan]

one question: is the salary here before or after tax for the teachers?

[wigwamforagoosesgander]

I teach here at a large International School. My salary is over 10K a month, plus medical, flights, 20% gratuity and free schooling for up to 3 children.

I could provide my justifcations for receiving this salary but I'm not gonna.

[Justin_Br]

I think then it would be perfect for all to clear any misconceptions if you could please provide "rough" guidelines for all for international and local school pay. There any many people who try to glean information out of this forum and for someone to provide accurate information, such as yourself, it would be very helpful for those trying to get an accurate picture of how "competitive" their package is.

[k1w1]

See my earlier post for a "rough guideline" on pay. Schools will all have their own ceilings and many have allowances for extra things like HOD positions or perhaps a 'years of service' stipend.

Local teachers pay can be found on the MOE website - it used to be, anyway. Expat teachers are paid additional benefits when they work for the MOE, such as housing and schooling allowances but they are minimal compared with International Schools.

As another rough guideline, these schools are often the best payers:

Singapore American School
Tanglin Trust
UWC
German European School

Next in line:

Overseas Family School
Australian Int School

Worst payers:

ISS
Chatsworth
Canadian Int School
Eton House

[wigwamforagoosesgander]

At the schools listed as having better salary packages (UWC, SAS, Tanglin...) the figures quoted above are far from accurate in my experience. Basic salary, before accomodation allowances, gratuity, return flights and responsibility allowances (for Head of Dep etc) would start at 6-7K per month. Lower paying schools would drop down to 5K but I've never heard of any reputable International School offering lower than that.

[AusEz]

My husband and I are both Australian teachers in our first year of teaching. We are thinking of applying to work at the Australian International School beginning in 2011, by which time we will each have 2 years experience.

I have a couple of questions:
Does anyone know whether AISS takes teachers with this little experience?
Any salary estimates? What I really want to know is overall will we be better off financially than at home?
Are there any other schools that run to the calendar year rather than mid-year to mid-year? It is difficult trying to work overseas when the Australian school year doesn't run the same as most other countries.

Thanks.

[laksa2]

This is a very useful thread, though the information is now a few years old - any updates?

I'm mostly wondering what the overall range in private school salaries is, bottom to top, to see how things compare.

Thanks in advance.

[Saylesie]

I'm male primary teacher with 3 years experience. Has anyone made this move and what kind of benefits/ package can I expect? Does anyone know what the salary should roughly be???

[LukeyBoy]

All schools will have a salary scale depending on experience.
They won't make these available for general knowledge but they should all offer;
Medical cover/ Accomodation allowance $2300 + upwards / 5-7+ K per month / End of year re-patriation flight / End of year bonus 10-20% Free/discounted Education for children.

All this should come as standard.