A new survey has arrived!
Topic: What type of housing do you currently live in?
The home should be the treasure chest of living.
What a great quote! Indeed your home is super important, especially when living abroad.
Your house is some many things. It is a place where you can relax and recollect yourself each day. It is also a place where you can hang up your favorite pictures and memories. Additionally, it is a place where you can spend time with your loved ones and friends. And the list goes on…
Because you most likely spend half your day in your own home, it is important to find the right place that fits your needs and requirements. But it isn’t all that cut and dry as an international school teacher of course…
Working at international schools around the globe, your housing can indeed be quite varied. Sometimes the type of home you end up living in is almost completely out of your control. For example, some schools mandate that you live in staff housing (e.g. a compound, school apartments, etc.). Maybe even because of the political situation or government rules for foreigners, you need to live in specific housing areas.
Other schools provide a housing allowance which allows you to find an apartment or a house to rent somewhere in the city. Hopefully, your housing allowance provides you enough money to rent a place that meets your needs and requirements.
There are though many international school teachers that own the place that they call home (a place in their host country). These teachers most likely have lived there awhile or plan on living there awhile.
All international schools handle their housing benefits differently, so let’s share about the international schools we know about. It is interesting seeing how other international school teachers are living and what they call home in their host country.
Go to the homepage of International School Community and submit your vote today on What type of housing do you currently live in?
You can check out the latest voting results here.
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We actually have a comment topic related this to this issue. It is called: Details about the staff housing or the housing allowance. If there is no housing allowance, how much are rent costs and utilities?
Right now there are over 748 individual comments (about 100s of different international schools) in this comment topic on our website. Here are a few of them:
“Some people have nicer housing than others. If you’ve been there awhile you can get a nice place. Teachers live in school apartments. Things don’t work every once and awhile. There are three housing blocks, most of the apartment are very spacious. There are bigger ones for families, but there are only 4 of those. They are definitely adequate.” – Kampala International School (Kampala, Uganda) – 27 Comments
“Some places in the Twiga apartments are very nice. 2-3 bedroom apartments, very spacious. With the right decoration, living there is quite cozy. The furnishings and appliances are of a nice standard. You need to get a water cooler here as you can drink the tap water.” – International School of Tanganyika (Dar es salaam, Tanzania) – 60 Comments
“Housing is provided in an apartment complex. Utilities within reason included. Apartments have basic furnishings and wifi. There is a cable TV package or something similar, but few channels in English.” – American School of Marrakesh (Marrakesh, Morocco) – 29 Comments
When you have three or more bank accounts in three or more different countries, you know you are an international school teacher.
If your home bank account isn’t in EUR, then that could be a problem. The problem is that each month you will potentially be receiving a different amount each time your salary is transferred. If the school doesn’t lock in an exchange rate for a year (meaning you get the same amount each month) and if the exchange right in question starts to change in an unfavorable direction, then you will find yourself getting less and less money each month. Of course it could fluctuate in a positive way as well, which will definitely make you smile and rejoice, but the risk is maybe not what most are willing to take.
Even when you initiating your own international bank transfers, you need smart about when you do them because of fluctuating exchange rates and all the fees involved. You will most likely need to pay a transfer fee at your host country bank as well as a receiving fee in your home country bank. You also don’t want to be transferring many times throughout the year, sending only little amounts. Your best bet is to transfer the maximum amount each time your do a transfer (hopefully when the exchange rate is favorable for you!), so that you can minimize the bank transfer fees.
Comments about Hiring Policies #9: Int’l High School of San Fran, The American School of Kinshasa & British Early Years Centre
Comments and information about hiring policies on International School Community:
Sometimes it is hard to keep track of which international schools go to which recruitment fairs and which interview style and tactic each international school employs. At International School Community, we want to make the search for information about hiring policies easier for international school teachers. In the school section of each international school profile page on our website, there is a section topic specific to the school’s hiring policies. The topic is: “Describe their hiring policies. Which recruiting fairs do they go to? How do they typically hire (e.g. face-to-face interview, Skype, etc.)? Are there any hiring restrictions mandated by the country?”
Here are three out of the numerous submitted comments, related to the school’s hiring policies, that have been posted on our website:
International High School of San Francisco (San Francisco, United States) – 15 Total Comments
Comment about their hiring policies: “Since it is French/American, basically they hire via Search Associates and CIS for international staff. For French staff you need to be a certified teacher from France. You can apply via the school\’s website. To be hired here, you don\’t need to be able to speak French FYI.”
The American School of Kinshasa (Kinshasa, Congo (DRC)) – 11 Total Comments
Comment about their hiring policies: “They will go to some fairs in the US or Johannesburg. They will hire through both, face-to-face and Skype. There are no age restrictions and they will usually prefer couples but will accept single parents very easily.”
British Early Years Centre (Bangkok, Thailand) – 10 Total Comments
Comment about their hiring policies: “The British Early Years Centre generally employs teachers from the UK, however we do interview anyone with relevant experience who has a strong passion for what we do. Interviews are preferably done face to face and we like to see sample lessons, however given that we are in an international community and we employ from the UK, this isn’t always possible, so Skype interviews are the minimal requirement.”
Check out the more than 822 comments and information that have been submitted about the hiring policies on numerous international school profiles at www.internationalschoolcommunity.com.