Many of us are back teaching on our school campus after many, many months (years?) of teaching remotely.
For many of us, we are quite happy to be back on campus. Most students are also very happy that they can see their friends again and their teachers. Let’s not forget the parents as well, as it was a big challenge to work at home and also help their kids do their lessons.
Our school buildings play a very important part of the whole school community. It brings us all together to learn under one building/campus.
It is also very interesting to check out the different kinds of international school buildings around the world. Some of very modern and new and others might be housed in old buildings that have been repurposed.
At ISC, we are really curious to see where our members are working (and what their buildings look like) as we move back to teaching on campus. The next time you go to work this coming week, take a picture with your smartphone of you in front of your school building. We’ll have a vote and then chose the top 3 photos that are the most interesting to win the photo contest prizes!
So, what is your best of you in front of your school building/campus? Submit your photo to us and enter our photo contest! All participants receive free premium membership to our website!
Photo contest topic: Best Photo of You in Front of your School Campus
The PRIZES: 1st prize: 2 YEARS FREE of premium membership 2nd prize: 1 YEAR FREE of premium membership 3rd prize: 6 MONTHS FREE of premium membership
(Those submissions that are not in the top three will receive 1 free week of premium membership just for participating.)
Send your photo to editor @ internationalschoolcommunity.com. Please remember to:
• Write your name and email address • Attach your picture and write a short description about it • Enter these words in your subject: International School Community Photo Contest Entry: Best Photo of You in Front of your School Campus
or Tweet the photo and mention our profile @IS_Community to make sure we will see it. If you are on Instagram, tag us when you post the photo and/or use the official hashtag #iscommunityphoto
(Deadline to submit your photo: Saturday, 24 April, 2021. Maximum one photo entry per contestant.) Winners will be connected/announced by 1 May, 2021 and that is also when all participants will receive their free premium membership prizes.
Here is a bit of history about how many comments that we have had on our website since it started back in January 2011:
0 Comments – January 2011 71 Comments – May 2011 939 Comments – September 2011
2147 Comments – January 2012 4578 Comments – May 2012 5965 Comments – September 2012
6767 Comments – January 2013 8004 Comments – May 2013 9109 Comments – September 2013
10018 Comments – January 2014 10689 Comments – May 2014 11455 Comments – Sept 2014
12981 Comments – Feb 2015 15023 Comments – Nov 2015 16017 Comments – Feb 2016
18000 Comments – Sept 2016 19000 Comments – Dec 2016 20200 Comments – March 2017
22010 Comments – August 2017 23000 Comments – November 2017 24000 Comments – January 2018
27000 Comments – May 2018 30000 Comments – January 2019 33000 Comments – Sept 2019
36000 Comments – March 2020 40000 Comments – March 2021
We would like to formally thank our community of members (now at over 21000!) for submitting all of the comments on our website.
Are you an International School Community member that wants to submit some comments but currently doesn’t have premium membership?
48 hours of Premium Membership Promotion: Right now EVERY member on our website has premium membership access for 48 hours. Just log on and enjoy free, full access to our website. * This 48 hours free promotion will expire on 4 April, 2021 (11:59pm PST)
Don’t forget to submit comments during this time (which are done so anonymously, by the way) because during the next 48 hours you can get EXTRA premium membership added your account.
We want members who participate and share what they know to have free premium access to our website. For it is them that keep our website up to date and full of useful comments!
After you submit some comments, check out the other things you can do with premium membership access: 1. Check out our the latest posted job vacancies. 2. Take a look at our compare school salaries page. (783 schools with 1438 comments about salaries are listed on this page) 3. Make a search on our Comments Search page. Find the specific comments you’d like to read about, faster! 4. Do unlimited school profile page searches and check out our easier-to-use/updated school results page. 5. Contact one of our 21200+ members and use our Member Search feature to find someone to network or ask a question to. 6. Go to our School Comparison page and compare 109 schools using eight different comment topics. Who will win?
It could very well be that you are going to an LGBTQ+ Friendly International School, but your host country culture is not.
The state of the matter is that LGBTQ+ teachers need to consider additional things when they decide they would like to teach abroad at an international school.
Sometimes both the school and the host country are not LGBTQ+ friendly. Many LGBTQ+ Friendly international school teachers would not choose to work in either of these situations for moral or safety reasons, while other might. Even when the laws of the host countries include the death penalty, there are some LGBTQ+ international school teachers who have lived and worked there for many years with very little to no problems.
It is still a difficult choice to make though, as there can be some potentially harmful, confusing, and even dangerous discrimination situations for LGBTQ+ international school educators in some countries around the world.
Therefore, it is very important to do your research and check out your prospective international school and see what they think (ask them these questions during your interview!). Take some time to examine the current laws related to LGBTQ+ people in the host country and the latest news articles about any possible recent events.
What do international teachers say about their LGBTQ+ Friendly International School
We scoured our database of international teacher written comments, and we found 12 that stood out to us as some of the most interesting and insightful, about whether or not each of these schools and/or countries are LGBTQ+ friendly.
1.
“There is a wide variety of teachers from different backgrounds. Age also varies widely. It is aLGBTQ+ friendly International School and accepts same-sex relationships. The turnover is normal for the size of the school. Many people stay longer than first intended…” – International School Manila (110 total comments)
2.
“Parents are notLGBT friendly – as a result, while the school does not have a particular bias, they cater to the parents…” – Peking University Experimental School (Jiaxing) (79 total comments)
3.
“Expats, with local Romanians as assistants and a few specialist positions. Turnover is low but should be lower for a great package in a great city. LGBT friendly school, there are some ‘rules’ to follow for Romania in general.” – American International School Bucharest (63 total comments)
4.
“A mix of local and expat teachers work here. Some teachers don’t speak any English but everyone is friendly. I don’t think it isLGBT friendly as an induction meeting for new teachers gives a friendly warning about keeping your sexuality to yourself…” – Colegio Interamericano de Guatemala (138 total comments)
5.
“Most of the staff if expat, including the non-teaching employees (bus drivers, kitchen staff etc.). On average I would say staff stay here for 3-5 years. The school isLGBT friendly as is Switzerland…” – Leysin American School (113 total comments)
6.
“Teachers are from various countries but mainly from UK, Ireland, US, Canada and Spain but we do have teachers hired from Hungary and Greece. Some teachers are local hires but the majority aren’t. Teaching Assistants are all local hires. There is no native English speaker requirement as far as I know. The countryis definitely notLGBT friendly as it is a strict Islamic country…” – SEK International School Qatar (37 total comments)
7.
“LGBT friendly school. A mixture of couples and singles. Local and expat teachers. There has been a turnover of teachers in the last few years with Burkina not being as stable as it was and unrest here and in neighbouring countries.” – International School of Ouagadougou (57 total comments)
8.
“With the exception of ATs, Bahasa and Mandarin teachers – ALL teachers are expats. Almost all are from the UK. There are also Canadian, American, Australian – but in small minority. There are a few non-native speakers also – from France, Spain for example… The staffroom is not that diverse though. The country itself is not that LGBT friendly. Many LGBT teachers have fared well, others have left describing the dating scene as poor…” – The British International School of Kuala Lumpur (29 total comments)
9.
“The majority of the teachers here are from the US, Aus/NZ and the UK. There are also a fair amount of ‘local’ teachers who, by and large, did their teacher training in the US. Teaching assistants are locally hired and the school runs an internship for locally trained teachers. The school and country isLGBT friendly. The staff turnover rate is fairly typical for an international school. The vast majority of staff hold Masters degrees (for which there is additional pay on the payscale) and the clear preference is for an education degree…” – American School Antananarivo (24 total comments)
10.
“Every class must have a native English speaker who works alongside with a local bilingual coeducator. The school is brand new so difficult to state staff turnover – those hired since the beginning still work there. A very inclusive and LGBT friendly school…” – GIS – The International School of Sao Paulo (22 total comments)
11.
“Almost all of the classroom teachers are foreigners from Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and England. The teaching assistants and most of the staff are Russian. Please note that there is almost zero diversity at this school. This is not a LGBT friendly country or school. Please do not disclose if you are LGBT for your own sake…” – International School of Kazan (86 total comments)
12.
“High turnover of local staff. Local pay is <10% of foreign teacher salary. Foreign teachers stay for 3 years typically. It is aLGBT friendly school, but the countryis still evolving, and most LGBT teachers are not open about being gay.” – Escuela Bella Vista Maracaibo (65 total comments)
Check out the rest of the “LGBT friendly” submitted comments on our website here.
If you have worked at an international school and know first-hand knowledge about whether the international school or the host country is LGBT-friendly, log in to International School Community and submit your comment. For every 10 submitted comments, you will get one month of free premium membership added to your account!
