A survey that we did some years ago made it clear which information international school teachers want to find out about when recruiting, and that is Salary Details!
What if you are only considering working in Shanghai? Or maybe you are only interested in working in Germany and are flexible about the city in which you would live. It would be invaluable if you could access details about the salaries of all the international schools in that area. Once you can look at the different salary details of several international schools, it could help you better decide whether to accept an offer or not or which school you should put most of your focus on.
Compare School Salaries page: A unique feature on International School Community
Currently, we have over 1812 individual comments about international school salaries that have been submitted on our website (May 2025). The specific comments and information about salaries have been submitted on 857 different international schools (May 2025).
The topic related to salaries (that members have left comments on) is on the Benefits tab which can be found on each school profile page. The comment topic is called “Average monthly salary after taxes and in what currency (explain taxation situation). How often do you get paid throughout the year?” Members are encouraged to leave informative details on a typical teacher’s monthly take-home salary at that school.
When you first visit the School Salaries page (premium membership access is needed), you will find that all the international schools (that have comments about salaries on their profile pages) are listed in alphabetical order. You can browse through all the schools there. But if you want to just view the schools from a specific region, country, or city in the world, then make sure to use the filter button on the right. The filter feature allows you to filter the schools listed here and narrow down the list. You can more quickly find the specific schools at which you are most interested in checking out.
For example, let’s say you are only interested in working at an international school in Central/Eastern Europe. Just click on the Select Region tab and select Central/Eastern Europe. After that, press the green Search button, and Voilà…only the schools matching your criteria show (currently 79 comments from 38 different international schools).
To see the exact salary comments, just click on the school. Here are some examples:
You could say that international schools like to keep their exact salary details secret. Rarely do you find specific information about take-home salary on their websites. Even on other websites where international schools display their vacancies, specific salary details are sometimes hard to find. In turn, our Compare School Salaries page is quite special, useful, and unique!
Many international school teachers don’t think enough about retirement. And that’s understandable. The whole concept can seem confusing. Andrew Hallam, however, says it isn’t. He says that those who fail to plan are planning to fail. That could mean eating dog food instead of gourmet during your golden years.
So, what are the top 10 tips for international school teachers to build a solid retirement?
Tip #1
Work at a school that allows you to save at least $18,000 USD as a single or at least $25,000 USD a year as a couple.
If you can’t save at least this amount, and you’re not just “experiencing” international teaching for a year or two, then go home or find another school. Otherwise, you might be eating dog food when you retire.
At private international schools abroad, you often won’t be contributing to Social Security (for Americans) or its foreign equivalents. Nor are you always contributing to a defined benefit pension plan, offering guaranteed income for life. Don’t glibly suggest that Social Security or your home country equivalent won’t be around when you retire. In one form or another, it will.
No, you don’t need to work at a top-tier school to save these amounts. Meet Andreas Clesle. He saves $20,000 a year teaching in Myanmar.
Tip #2
Work at a school that doesn’t FORCE YOU to invest in an offshore pension. How can you tell? Ask this one question: Can I pull my money out at any time, without penalty? If the answer is no, find another school. These are usually expensive, inflexible products. They cost so much in hidden fees that the only person they make rich is the joker who’s selling the product. Unfortunately, many international school administrators haven’t caught on to the racket. When their recruitment pools start drying up, perhaps they’ll start asking why.
Tip #3
Pay off your student loans, car loans, and credit card debts before investing. Then, invest at the beginning of every month. Those who invest while carrying credit card debt are categorically insane. They’re paying interest of 18 percent per year (or more) and expecting to make 9 percent per year in the stock market. Enough said.
Tip #4
Buy low-cost index funds. Avoid buying actively managed funds. Active funds are pricey.
The Alexander Beard Group is a favorite among financially illiterate administrators. The firm sells actively managed funds. But Jeri Hurd, at the Western Academy of Beijing, is one of the smart teachers who refused to invest. Including the company’s platform costs and actively managed fees, investors pay more than 3 percent per year. So if global stocks make 6 percent, investors will be giving away 50 percent of their profits to the firm. If global stocks average 3 percent in a given year, investors will give 100 percent of their profits to the firm. If you think bonuses, paid by your school, can offset this leakage, think again.
Tip #5
Don’t let anyone convince you to trade currencies. Trading currencies is not investing. It’s speculating. The only person who makes money, long-term, will be the broker or the bank. And they’ll be making their money from you, not for you. Here, I describe a woman at my former school. Her bank decided to trade currencies on her behalf. It’s a very foolish move indeed.
Tip #6
Diversify your assets. This means buying a variety of low-cost funds (preferably indexes), allowing exposure to a multitude of different markets: your home country stock market, international stocks, and a bond market product for added stability.
Tip #7
Don’t base investment decisions on economic outlooks or predictions. Most of them prove to be wrong. The average person listens to forecasts. Often, it’s their broker’s. But consider this. U.S. stocks averaged more than 9 percent per year from 1994-2014. According to Dalbar, the average investor in U.S. stocks made about 5 percent a year during the same time period. Why? The biggest culprit is behavior. They listened to their gut and investment speculators. Remember what Warren Buffett says: “Stock market forecasters exist to make fortune tellers look good.”
Tip #8
Share your annual savings goal with your friends. Studies show that if you want to succeed, write down your goals and track your progress. If you don’t want to save enough for retirement, keep it all to yourself and ignore your expenses.
Tip #9
Write down what you spend each month. By writing down your spending, you’ll simply spend less.
Tip #10
Remember that you aren’t on a holiday. You’re working overseas. And your future is in your hands.
Check out the pension plan details of 100s of international schools on the ISC website. Currently, we have 836 comments that have been submitted on the comment topic “Pension plan details” on our school profile pages. Here are just a few of them:
“There are 2 things: 1. Mexico has a “social security” plan, and you pay into that so you pay in for your years, leave, and you can come back when you are 65 to collect. 2. The school has a 13% matching program that you can collect 1 or 2 times a year, based on your choice. This is the retirement plan, but it is up to you to move the money somewhere.” – American School Foundation of Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico) – 195 Comments
“For certain nationalities, the required contributions for staff members and schools into the Employee Provident fund are locked in until the age of 60, so people leave without this money and have no hope for ever retrieving it.” –Kodaikanal International School (Kodaikanal, India) – 53 Comments
“The school provides no pension, but 9% is deducted from the monthly paycheck to pay into IPS, which is sort of like Social Security. If a teacher retires in Paraguay, he or she will receive money through IPS. So for the most part, saving for retirement is in the hands of the foreign hires; they must have the discipline to do it themselves.” – American School of Asuncion (Asuncion, Paraguay) – 149 Comments
“The school has to do a pension plan because of being in Korea. They take money out every month for the pension. I do not know if the school matches it, but that’s what I heard. You also get a severance, which is one month’s salary for every year you worked at the school. They also started a 401k plan with a company, but the school does not match anything you put in.” St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju (SJAJ) (Jeju-do, South Korea) – 47 Comments
“The end of service bonus will be paid at the end, but it is better to ask to have it out and put it into the Eon master funds, in Australian dollars. When taken out, after you have left, you will have to pay tax, but the rate varies a lot depending on your age (more than 55) and how long the account with Eon has been open. Advice: open your account as soon as you arrive.” – Port Moresby International School (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) – 96 Comments
There are now 1277+ international schools that have had comments/reviews submitted on them on our website (up almost 40 schools from one year ago)!
Once schools have over 70 submitted comments, then it is very likely that you will be able to see how a specific comment topic has changed (or not changed) over time, with all the comments being date-stamped.
(Shanghai, China) – 186 Comments “The ‘common language spoken in the hallways’ depends on the grade level. Students who are only 3 or 4 might not have a lot of English. As the students get older, they are quite skilled in English…”
(Kinshasa, Congo (DRC)) – 188 Comments “The school now gives Orange as the phone SIM cards. Ensure that you set up an Orange Money account and leave money in this account to top up your phone, internet, or transfer money as payment to others. This will ensure you don’t always have to find a person to top up your da…”
(Panama City, Panama) – 188 Comments “The promised behavior program has been in place since January 2025 but there are zero consequences. Students are allowed to abuse others without any repercussions except a reflection and a phone call to parents…”
(Changchun, China) – 190 Comments “The contract states 5 sick days and 2 personal days. However, teachers are told how to use the personal days. If it does not fall under the ‘appropriate’ reason, it will not be approved. Sick days and personal days are not allowed to be tacked onto holiday, which…”
(Dakar, Senegal) – 193 Comments “Very low turnover this year, but we had a large turnover the previous year. Teachers tend to stay 3-4 years, but some have stayed much longer…”
(Monterrey, Mexico) – 195 Comments “I like how modern it is. Monterrey is beautiful, and there is plenty to do. The school community is very social as well…”
(Jeju-do, South Korea) – 209 Comments “While housing is provided for “free” for teachers, I was surprised that each month I have to pay a “management fee” of about $150 USD plus electricity, internet, and gas…”
(Shanghai, China) – 198 Comments “There’s a new teacher coordinator who has been a great point of contact for new hires. Induction otherwise is done by partner teachers and departments. China has a lot of stuff to figure out once you get here, and there’s not enough time to help everyone with everything…”
(Beijing, China) – 216 Comments “It is very different from a Canadian public school in terms of facilities, the time allotted to single subjects (PA, PE, Visual Arts). In ES, the students have 40 minutes per day for Languages (Chinese or English for EAL students)…”
(Bogota, Colombia) – 221 Comments “The school helps teachers set up a BanCololmbia account, which is the biggest bank in the country. It is pretty straightforward to receive international transfers. Changing cash dollars is easy with colleagues or exchange shops…”
(Lisbon, Portugal) – 224 Comments “Back in the re-accreditation mode again with the self-study this year. The visit will be a joint visit next year with IB, ECIS, and NEASC…”
(Cairo, Egypt) – 228 Comments “The subway costs 2 Egyptian pounds per ride. Taxis vary since you might have to haggle. Many people at the school use a regular driver. The one I use charges less than 200 Egyptian pounds for a trip to the airport, which is about an hour away…”
(Khartoum, Sudan) – 230 Comments “Teachers stay because they feel appreciated, their voices are heard, and they get to make a difference. Teachers leave because it’s not…”
(Dubai, UAE) – 249 Comments “Lately, several teachers are heading to places like Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. They report great experiences! Oman remains the number one travel option, however, as it is right next door (door to door to Muscat is around the five-hour mark) and has lots of great outdoor…”
(Beijing, China) – 252 Comments “Very near school is Pinnacle Plaza with Jenny Wang grocery. This is also good for eating out. Newer and busier is Shine Hills. Everything is here, including a good cinema. Just open behind the school is a new plaza with a cinema and Sam’s Club, and a food street, Starbucks, etc…”
(Seoul, South Korea) – 270 Comments “Tutoring through the school is available if it is not your student. The school takes a portion, leaving you with about $20 for 30 minutes of tutoring. Coaching stipends from $350-900 and lifeguarding at the school pool can bring in 25-45 dollars an hour.”
(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) – 273 Comments “The airport can be very busy. The staff don’t always speak English, and facilities are a bit limited for a major international airport, to be honest. Best to get there early if you are departing…”
(Mersin, Turkey) – 283 Comments “Down to two weeks of holiday in January. No other breaks and we’ve been told that in addition to losing our fall and spring breaks for intensive staff development, other PD will be held on weekends…”
(Bangkok, Thailand) – 332 Comments “With the start of construction on the street the school is located on, the entire schedule has shifted to a later start. Elementary students begin at 8:00 and secondary students at 8:30. So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive…”
(Singapore, Singapore) – 335 Comments “The school is in the northeast corner of Singapore with easy access to the city center. Staff can choose their accommodation location based on their financial and lifestyle preferences. Most teachers live 2-3 MRT (underground) stations away. Public transport is excellent…”
(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) – 350 Comments “Housing has been at $800 for eight years. Other schools in the city have increased it. Rents in some apartments have jumped by as much as 18%, i.e. 20 million to 23.5 million VND…”
(Singapore) – 408 Comments “Transport options are good. The taxi queue right outside of arrivals can be long at times, but the system works well to get people moving as fast as possible…”
(Ooty, India) – 410 Comments “Presently, they are having their Trinity College London Music Examinations. This is an option, but they try to maintain high grades, although most students only take Initial to Grade 1 due to restrictions of the admin to practice music…”
(Copenhagen, Denmark) – 447 Comments “You can get travelers and accident insurance from your bank here, like at Nordea. It is really cheap and it gives you health insurance coverage anywhere in the world! It is important to know about this option because now the Danish CPR health social health care card doesn’t…”
(Bangkok, Thailand) – 529 Comments “Using a mobile is now so cheap that many teachers do not have a landline. The Satellite TV provider is dreadful; neither their offerings nor their boxes have changed in 20 years. If you want to watch sport, most teachers just go to the pub…”
(Shanghai, China) – 566 Comments “The airport is okay. It’s clean and easy to navigate. Immigration can take a long time to get through at peak times during the year, but it’s okay. They have water fountains, which, as a frequent traveler, I appreciate…”
You can see the rest of the Top 40 school profile pages with the most comments here on our website.
Keep the schools that you work at now (or have worked at in the past) updated with new comments. Want to share what you know and get unlimited free premium access to our website? Become a Mayor today!
