Be careful about creating a temporary email address, especially if you are in a place like Thailand or China where the authorities will collaborate help track you down.<\/p>\n

Funny, I was just reading some reviews last night and thinking the same thing. Sometimes you can just tell that the reviewer was shocked being out here in the “third world” or, should I say, in a LEDC? “The cows keep staring at me!” Many seem to think that they have a right to involve themselves in the political machinations of the “business” in which the wealthy person of the country is trying to make a profit. I’m sure many complaints are valid and obviously some people get into horrible situations. I would still not accept a job in Kuwait no matter what I was promised. I was just wishing more people who are satisfied and maybe even pleased with their school and the country they have chosen to live in would write reviews. I can’t. After three years here in Ethiopia and a 14% reduction in my living expenses with rising prices in everything, I’m looking for a new home because none has much hope for a raise in the salary. I’ve been away from my birth country for 27! years now and couldn’t imagine wanting to live in Canada again.<\/p>\n

We do need a web site as ISR. Before taking my current position, I read positive articles about my school and I feel happy working here. Other colleagues of my previous job refused to read about the school they chose for 2 years and they regret because they feel that those articles reflected exactly how bad that school is.<\/p>\n

I am lucky because my recruiter takes care of the teachers registered with him and he suggests teachers what is the best option for them. However, it does not happen too often and ISR does help to make decisions.<\/p>\n

To write articles in a web site against another one does not help anybody. Therefore, if you are not happy with ISR or any other one, do not read them, or if you do, also add positive suggestions to improve.<\/p>\n

Teachers that are happy and not disgruntled are just as free to write unsolicited, unforced opinions and reviews as those deemed disgruntled. American and teachers of other nationalities are equally abused and in positions of unbalanced power. Often, they are up against unseen power structures who deceive them and take advantage of their vulnerability. These power bases also have enjoyed destroying the careers of those teachers who dare speak out against their personal ill treatment. Teachers, in so many places are treated with such low regard and disrespect, often receiving the hostility of those who hate our respective countries, and have a chance to harm us, because it evens out the power imbalance the Western countries have over them.
\nI dare say most teachers who write in are not disgruntled, but are merely expressing some of the most abominable and dangerous circumstances that one may face in the teaching profession and in various parts of the world.<\/p>\n

The threats of being sued are merely a means to force silence and submission, because the very worse schools can no longer recruit unsuspecting dupes and they are frustrated. If a forum such as this can be intimidated, threatened, and forced into silence, just imagine what they attempt to do and often do to coerce silence and force conformity among teachers, who are primarily female.<\/p>\n

Considering what has happened recently to teachers in Kuwait and Mexico, I dare say, let this forum continue and anonymity be a right. Teachers seldom lie about their conditions.<\/p>\n

This is implied terrorism against teachers and ISR and should not be allowed to continue. For the moment, until the U.S. government and other governments gets involved to protect its citizens abroad, and stop foreign nationals from forcing their children via American schools into western countries, this is the only legitimate forum available for us to warn and protect each other.<\/p>\n

Please don’t be intimidated and keep up the good work. Obviously, someone is quite distressed at having lights shone upon their despicable behaviors which ultimately undervalues the education students receive in these many of these fake foreign educational institutions that cater primarily to the rich elite who want to transplant their children in western societies via force and intimidation.<\/p>\n

As a reader of both the reviews and forum sponsored by ISR, it seems to me that most schools covered come under one of two categories. There are the truly egregiously offensive schools and administrators which continually employ deceptive practices to recruit and care nothing about the children in their respective schools beyond whether or not their parents’ tuition checks can be cashed. These schools are not the norm, but they are real, and ISR performs an invaluable service trying to expose these institutions and prevent teachers from making huge mistakes by signing with them. The second type of schools are the majority; the schools which do their best to achieve what they profess and are working, in a variety of ways, to achieve their purposes – the complaints one sees about these schools are mostly procedural or personality issues. Still, it’s best to know if an administrator has a significantly different style of educating than one with which one would be comfortable – in the heady atmosphere of a recruitment fair, this might not come to light. People who’ve taught at the schools, lived in the countries, these people offer valid insights on ISR that would otherwise be unavailable. One cannot help but notice that there are a fair amount of schools not covered at all, and those that only have positive reviews. One suspects that what sets these schools apart is that they routinely practice open communication and truly have transparency without fear of reprisal, so that teachers at those schools can offer their input directly without having to refer to an anonymous site such as ISR.<\/p>\n

After teaching at two overseas schools and posting reviews on those school (both fairly positive), I believe a forum for opinions and facts on schools overseas is very important. There are definitely more negative reviews that positive which is human nature, people are more likely to write a review when the feel strongly about something than when is seems just fine. For those schools where they have been able to take advantage of staff living away from home, they need to be held accountable. I think people sharing their experiences is necessary to shed light on what goes on. However, I do wish more people with positive experiences teaching overseas would write as well. There are several well regarded schools which have never received a posting on ISR,and it would be great to see them up on this site.<\/p>\n

As for the comment as to how unfair some of the postings may be, teachers should be given credit for being critical readers by leery administrations. When I look at postings, I look at what and why something is being said. I take what I read with a grain of salt. However, when you have several postings by different people that say exactly the same thing, maybe there is a problem. Identifying issues and dealing with them will only make for better overseas schools and teaching environments, and this should not be something we as community fear. Picking an overseas school to work at is about fit. We all need to take several things into account when accepting a position. At the UNI FAIR which I recently attended, we were all encouraged to research our schools of interest before we arrived. I called people at one of the schools I wanted to interview with and got a first hand account of the school. The person I spoke with gave me the pros and cons and I made my own decision based on, “Is this a fit for me.”<\/p>\n

Those of us who have done this before realize, a specific school or situation which is ideal for one person is not for another. When reading the postings people should not just look at the numbers but what the person wrote regarding the country, living situation, etc. I worked in Hong Kong recently and love almost everything about that country, several of my fellow teachers disliked the big city, the weather, the lifestyle etc. To each his or her own. If we use these reviews in this manner, I don’t see that there could really be any valid complaints about it.<\/p>\n

We as teachers do need to do our research on this end, ISR is a valuable tool for knowing what to ask at times. I would not rule out a school because of one bad review on ISR, but I would as questions in advance before accepting a position. I think most administrators would find that a fair and valid use of this web site as a tool, but not as a definitive authority on all schools.<\/p>\n

There is an easy way for schools and directors to stop getting negative reviews: Don’t paint your school as a place without issues. I believe that many teachers would be happy to take on challenges and problems if they were made aware of their existence before they made the decision to take the job. What people find objectionable in business transactions are unpleasant surprises, misrepresentation of situations, or failure to own up to problems.<\/p>\n

Schools and directors will find that when they are willing to tell plain truths about their schools at the interview stage, they will preempt the unhappiness that results when teachers feel duped or undervalued. For example, one of the complaints I’ve been reading about repeatedly is that some schools will take teachers’ passports and keep them. Now, to me, having a school keep my passport is unthinkable until someone explains that in some countries there are legal ramifications to having all your various IDs in your possession. Then this act on the part of the school becomes, not a sinister development, but simply one of the many challenges of living abroad. Poor housing, shared transportation, local taxes, overly-involved school boards, all these are surmountable problems if you are given the chance to anticipate them. After all, most international teachers are spirited, adventurous people who are in the field because they are risk takers.<\/p>\n

ISR is a place I go to to look at prospective schools. We have all worked with people that just want to complain about anything and everything, and then their legitimate problems at schools. I think as professionals most of us can read a review and figure out from the tone of the which one it is. I am thrilled there is a web site like ISR.<\/p>\n

I had my name removed from another web-site as the web-site was threatened with libel action. At first the site (TES) were interested in what I had to say as it involved a teacher making a child in his care hit another child around the side of the face. When they realized the incident happened out-side the UK they weren’t interested. When the school subsequently made this teacher the head of the school I then raised the issue again on the TES forum. My access was removed from the forum…..did TES investigate my claim……NO……was I disgruntled……too right I was…….both with the school……but more with TES……it is a UK based company which should hold true to UK (and other countries) values<\/p>\n

Several months ago, I posted THREE reviews of my experiences with an international school and its administration. I posted THREE reviews because I wanted to be FAIR and BALANCED in my reporting of my experiences. The reviews of TWO administrators were extremely positive and supportive of the professionalism, honesty and clear communication of those TWO administrators. The THIRD administrator did not share those characteristics, and my review reflected his lack. TWO ‘positive’ reviews and ONE ‘negative’ review does not equal ‘disgruntled employee.’ If the anonymous author would spend time reading through the ISR web site s\/he would find other positive reviews. ISR, you provide us with a priceless service and a communicative open forum for sharing information from around the big lovely planet. Thank you.<\/p>\n

This is an incredibly thoughtful response to the TIE article. Every Administrator I have talked to about ISR seem to be threatened by your web site for some strange reason. And the ironic thing is that the Admin. I have worked with are largely excellent and fair! I explain it as an “exchange of information” and simply suggest that they submit their own feedback should they feel the information isn’t accurate.<\/p>\n

I certainly hope that you send this letter to TIE to se if they have the guts and sense of fairness to publish it. I would guess that they won’t since they won’t want to give ISR more exposure. I hope I’m wrong, though!<\/p>\n

If only I had forked over the subscription fee a year ago, things would be much different today. The reviews of one particular school on ISR would have kept me from signing their contract last year. Negative or positive, the feedback is essential to making an informed decision that will affect not only the next two years of a teacher’s career, but their reputation for years to come.<\/p>\n

The one problem with ISR is the same problem you’ll find with similar feedback forums: people are more likely to post bad news than good news. A quick scan of the reviews on ISR will reveal few glowing reviews (save for those that read with the voice of a school administrator). So how to balance this formula?<\/p>\n

I would suggest that every time a forum is opened on a school, send out a solicitation for teachers at that school to post their own review. I understand you need to make your subscription dollars, so they would need to pay that if they want to read all the feedback. But make it free to post a review. This would provide subscribers with a much more informed picture of that school.<\/p>\n

Again I think it can be said that there are positive and non positive experiences. When we wanted to travel to New York I checked hotels on a travel advisory web site. Sorry you Americans out there but most of the negative comments I read about some of the hotels were made by Americans. It was the Aussies who made the most positive comments about the same hotels. We chose one and we had a great time based on what we read. I certainly think it is a seller’s market out there for international teachers and recruiters may sometimes be under the pump to secure someone with whatever means they can muster. One can almost understand why recruiters try to seal deals especially when a teacher has been unprofessional enough and has done a ‘runner’. I remember reading on ISR where NO sympathy was extended to those teachers who unethically break contracts and leave schools “in the lurch” and I think administrators need to acknowledge this and other positive things said about directors which I have certainly read on this site. A message for the directors out there who get exposed on ISR. Firstly, you should feel privileged that you can actually read what teachers say about you positive or not. We certainly don’t know what you are telling recruitment agencies and other directors if it is not positive. A privilege of the position doesn’t cut it. I am a teacher in an International School and as just one example, I firmly believe that teachers who break contract by doing ‘runners’ and leave your schools, (therefore kids) in the lurch deserve to be blacked listed and exposed. This has been mentioned on ISR before and I feel sad that I have colleagues like this. But don’t black list or make life difficult for teachers who decide to leave before their time and openly wish to discuss it with you. Be a good employer and help them if you can. The emphasis is on “if you can”. Give them the support you promised at recruitment. So what, maybe you’ll have to recruit at short notice or have a parent fill in. You’ve done it before and we all know that there are loads of teachers out there available at short notice. I didn’t say they would match what you want perfectly though. Maybe those wishing to break contract don’t get their flight and shipping. Maybe you don’t like or agree with their reason and sure, they will have to bear all the huge costs but believe me, they’ve already accepted they may have to do that. Embrace them for coming to see you about it instead of them just leaving in the dead of night. Support their life decision and they’ll sing your praises to others. I encourage all teachers who have had positive experiences with their directors to post them on ISR. But directors, if your staff member feels “shafted” they are going to post it on ISR anyway and spread the word about you and your school at recruitment and you know they will and already do. If it is fair enough that recruitment agencies are quickly informed about teachers who do unethical things and other directors are told about it at recruitment time, then it is equally fair for teachers to be informed of directors and schools that do unethical things and ISR is a way for teachers to be informed as recruitment agencies are certainly not going to tell us.\u00a0Negativity sticks and ISR certainly can not be targeted by directors as positive reviews ARE made.<\/strong>\u00a0I know a director who I will not name, whom I respect as a person, I think he is a good bloke and even a fair drinking buddy. But as a director, I think he should pack it in for a while and reflect. He was rather positive to us throughout our time at his school. He drove a bit of a hard bargain at recruitment which is fine with us but also gave us loads of time to decide and did not change any conditions of contract upon arrival. Like so many out there he opens doors to international careers and again, our experience at his school was, in the bigger picture, generally positive. However when renewal time, for example, looms he starts pushing staff to quite unacceptable and stressful limits to decide whether to renew before they are contractually obligated to, suggesting others need opportunity to apply for our jobs internally before the holidays (which is fine for promotional positions) and by not letting him know early means we are disadvantaging the school and our colleagues and the kids. What this is also saying is that we should be putting the school’s needs before our own. It is unreasonable to ask a teacher to put a school’s needs before their own or their family’s especially when it is in regards to life changing decisions. Sure if a decision is reached early then great but if people need the time allocated to them, leave them alone or remind them politely that they have a couple of days left before the christmas holidays to please decide or the school will go recruiting to replace them. Don’t flood their emails or interrupt their lunches. Whether it is intended or not, if a teacher feels pushed or too pressured, they’ll leave. And it happens in his school every year. Better still, meet with them and ask them their plans and perhaps persuade them to stay by outlining all the positive reasons for doing so. Just like you did when you hired them. Changing policies and contracts and bringing back dates earlier and earlier is not a solution to easier recruiting. Directors would have to meet with replacements anyway. It does not include extreme circumstances. But this is an example that was one of the smaller factors in our decision to leave even though we liked our director and still do. We were professional at times when he made life hard for us but he played the game and so did we. He was not perfect, he made a lot of knee jerk reactive calls and unpopular decisions and has used parent concern or heresy as an excuse for many of these, he has used students’ tuition fees to purchase unnecessary “toys” for himself, changed policies to the detriment of some of the teachers’ positive experiences, convinced the school board on a massive massive pay increase for himself and has really lost touch with his school and staff. The most important thing here is that I have not named him or the school because it actually is a nice kind of school. If he reads this, he might know it is about him, maybe not. Readers might think, how can one respect a director who does some of these things. Well, I actually think they all do in some way or another. Administrators don’t get to where they are without stepping on some toes or kissing some backsides. The point is, they play the game and so do I. It’s business and they take care of business for themselves first of all and then their schools and I take care of business for myself and my family first and foremost. I keep my nose clean, ear to the ground and enough money on my credit card for a short-notice flight home which I hope I never have to use. Lets face it, concealing your identity is just a means of avoiding retribution, being fired, targeted and certainly a way of preventing teachers avoid your school…whatever. Remember the positive as well as the negative reviews when checking out a school. I’m quite sure ISR would be great for directors wishing to change schools and can find out plenty of stuff. We did and we are very happy where we are. If our school just so happened to change it’s tune dramatically between interview and day 1 like some of the examples I have read and if a positive mutually agreed resolution, negotiation or compromise was not reached in the time we decide, then we would use that emergency fund. Without a shadow of a doubt. My well being and that of my family is infinitely more important than that of any school. I thrive on positive working relationships but it has to be said and I quote: “It’s late and a Saturday. Go home to your wife. You and your family come first. I told you that at recruitment. Don’t let me catch you back here next weekend and that’s an order from me as your director.”<\/p>\n