Our 21026 current members (up 3215 members from January 2020) work at or have worked at 1250+ international schools.
How amazing is that?! In just over 10 years now, our “international school community” has grown into an excellent network of international school teachers. With so much experience and knowledge about life working at over 1250 international schools on our website, ISC members are able to stay updated and informed about the schools at which they are interested in working. Additionally, now it is even easier to find the right members to contact for networking purposes and for gathering more information about the specific questions you may have about working at a certain international school.
Which international schools on our website have the most members you ask? Here are our top 10 schools:
Want to see the rest of the top 40 list of schools with the most members? Check out this page which displays the names and avatar pictures of each member that either currently works at that school now or has worked there in the past.
And don’t forget to take a moment to browse our School list page as ISC members have worked at over 1250 international schools from all over the world. Maybe you will find that we have some members who know about the international school about which you are looking to gain more information!
Around the world, there are cities (like Abu Dhabi) that have more than one international school. Many times there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.
The big question always is…how do the comments about each school compare to each other?
This blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same country.
Abu Dhabi
Currently, we have 21 schools listed in Abu Dhabi on International School Community.
11 of these schools have had comments submitted on them. Here are some that have the most submitted comments:
Some teachers are putting aside at least 10000 AED a month. Saving potential is big here, but if you travel a lot and go out drinking a lot, then you won’t save as much…” – GEMS American Academy (Abu Dhabi)
“A family of 4 will not be pleasantly sustainable with one income. You will receive a deposit very close to $3400/month. Utilities are covered at 50%, so you may pay up to $300 for water and electric (have heard of some teachers having $700 bill). Internet is expensive, $100 will get you medium speed internet, but the best package is obviously higher. Basic but adequate groceries (avoiding western products and cheapest produce) is $400/month. This does not include “junk food” or carryout or dine-in eating…” – American International School (Abu Dhabi)
School Campus
“Way too crowded. Campus is in villa area in city center. Old dated classrooms…” – Raha International School
“There are four campuses for the school. One in Abu Dhabi and three in the western region. I work at a school in the western region however, all of the campuses are very nice and well-manicured…” – Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi
“The campus is new, modern and mostly fully equipped. Good sport installations. The kindergarten wing is very inviting, with lots of color and open space and childrens’ work on the walls everywhere…” – GEMS American Academy (Abu Dhabi)
Housing Information
“If the First Party does not provide accommodation, a monthly accommodation allowance shall be paid to the Second Party, amounting to AED 2,500. In case a married couple employed by the First Party, a family furnished accommodation or a monthly accommodation allowance shall be granted only to one of the married couple…” – Emirates National School (Abu Dhabi)
“Housing allowance is grossly inadequate for any single person to get even a studio on their own without tossing in around aed10-20K…” – American International School (Abu Dhabi)
“Housing allowance is 2000 aed a month so you MUST take the school accommodation with is not great but is in the city center. Emsons building and Tourist club are the two main locations but if you are a couple or a family you will get a 2 bed apt near Wahada Mall. Must pay for own utilities 150 aed month. Not great housing but not horrible either. Housing is furnished and has lots and pans, etc. low-end furniture but acceptable…” – Abu Dhabi International Private School
Benefits for Teachers with Children
“35%tuition discount for 1st child, 30% second child. Double tuition discount for teaching couples. Insurance provided for kids but NOT visas or flights…” – Abu Dhabi International Private School
“If you are a teaching couple you can get up to two children to attend for free. You also get a flight for your child, one flight per teacher…” – GEMS American Academy (Abu Dhabi)
“There are ECA for elementary. High workload. Many teachers are teaching between 24 to 30 periods per week. They also have assigned duties…” – Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi
“Teachers have to do an hour a week of after-school activities for 2/3 of the school year. Some staff are giving leadership positions with a paid stipend…” – GEMS American Academy (Abu Dhabi)
(These are just 5 of the 66 different comments topics that are on each school profile page on our website.)
If you work at an international school in Abu Dhabi, share what you know. Consider becoming a Mayor for unlimited free premium membership!
It is on all international school teachers’ minds. How am I helping to contribute to my future now (for when I retire/stop working) as a current teacher in the international school community?
Not that everything is all worry-free if you just stayed teaching and earning money in your home country, but living and teaching abroad can sound pretty risky to some people (maybe even many people).
If you are working at an international school that has an amazingly high salary with equally amazing benefits, then that is one story. Even if this type of school doesn’t actually offer a nice retirement plan benefit, you still have the opportunity to save a lot of money.
But if you are working at an international school and receiving a salary that helps you ‘just get by’ along with very average benefits (for example, there is not a retirement plan benefit that is on offer to you), then international school educators need to consider if the experience working at this type of international school is a good fit for their future plans.
Does an international school that doesn’t offer a retirement or pension plan benefit immediately equate to being a bad decision for your future? Not necessarily. If you are only planning on staying there for one to two years, then it shouldn’t make that big of a difference. If you receiving a high salary along with paid housing, not having an established pension plan benefit shouldn’t make that big of a difference because your savings potential is high. Hopefully, you have a laser-focused investment plan for all of that money saved.
But for those of us that are not so smart with money and don’t have the expertise to manage our own savings/retirement plan, it can definitely not bit a good fit to accept a teaching job at a school that doesn’t offer retirement plan benefits.
We did a keyword search on our Comment Search feature and found a number of comments related to international schools that don’t offer a retirement or pension plan benefit.
We found 26 comments when we searched the short phrase: “No retirement” Here are a few of those comments:
We also searched the short phrase “No pension” and found 85 comments. Here are a few of those comments:
Zhuhai International School (121) Total comments “There are no pension plans from the school (included in the contract) although if you wished to establish one the office staff would be able to assist you in establishing one.”
Stamford American International School(307) Total comments “There is no pension, but this means you can invest your money as you see fit. There is a 15% allowance that is paid monthly with your salary. This is “in lieu of CPF” which is paid for Singaporeans and PR.”
On the more positive side, we had a quick search for this key phrase “matching” (30 comments) hoping to find comments related to international schools that match the pension plan contribution of the teachers. Here are a few of those comments:
American International School Vienna (81) Total comments “Under the newest contract, teachers now have 10% matching for retirement fund commencing at first year. Certainly better if you’re there short-term, though perhaps not if you’d plan to stay 30 years.”
Hong Kong International School (151) Total comments “I spend a lot of money here because I love to do eat out a lot, travel, and there are many things to do in the city. With that being said, I save about 1,300 USD a month, not counting the school severance/matching scheme which is another 1,300 USD.”
Cairo American College (196) Total comments “The pay continues to be good. There is now a higher matching for retirement. The cost of living is still very inexpensive in Egypt.”
