International schools - lowest salary

[DavisH]

Lots of nonsense here.

Certified and qualified teachers will get up to 150k.

26 periods is a professional workload. Lazy teachers who manipulate themselves into doing less should both be ashamed that they get highly paid and look at their definition of 'professional'.

If you think 26 periods a week is 'heavy', choose a different type of work.

26 periods? It sounds like a British curriculum school, as they offer IGCSE. These could be 40-45 minute periods, and not 50 min - 1 hour. Some schools only give one free period a day for prep. Some teachers may teach 30 periods a week. The number of periods will depend on the school and it's system. Too many periods leads to teachers 'teaching from the book' as they do not have time to prepare high quality lessons. I teach 21 50 min periods a week, but I'm not in an International school. Beyond 25 a week I'm feeling busy. 21 is nice as I have time to think about my teaching and assessment + marking and that takes up the remainder of the 8-9 hours a day I'm at school. My teaching load, in minutes,roughly equates with the maximum load in an Australian school. So I think that is enough.

26 x 40 minute periods is OK in my opinion, but a little on the high side if it's 26 x 50 minute periods.

[charliebadenhop]

The salaries stated blow my mind.

Some people teaching in Thailand can make more than if they teach in the US or the UK!

Wow!

What a great way to make and save money!

I might just "un-retire"!

:-)

[zeichen]

Charlie, yes top salaries at the most prestigious international schools rival public school jobs in the US. However well funded school districts in the US pay very well. Those few international schools that pay 150k baht a month is still under 60k USD for a year which is about mid range for teachers in the US. These international school positions paying that are not for new teachers. They usually have 3-5 years experience advanced degrees or special certs. There might be 10 openings a year so they are competitive. Average still is around 100k a year for moderately experienced teachers which is pretty much starting salary in the US for teachers. The standards at most of these top schools is a lot higher than your average public school in the US. You are teaching the elite and powerful and often diplomats children so you don't get second chances if you screw up.

Starting teachers salary in the US is around 35k USD average some states a lot more poor states like Kentucky, WV and Maine a little less. I saw one job ad starting salary was 25k, ouch. Here in Thailand a lot of teachers that are relatively new but fully qualified and licensed are on around 60-80k rarely do they get the 100k+ jobs. If you add pension, social security into the mix US jobs are still better in the long run if you could handle teaching there.

With my qualifications and experience in the NY school district I would be earning around 90k USD+ a year. I can't even come close to that in Thailand. In CM the best salary I ever got was 60k a month.

[Blindside]

Hi folks,

Am I not somehow misunderstanding what is being said??

150K a month is close to US$5,000.

Some folks teaching in International schools are making $60,000 a year here?!

WOW, IF that is the case!

There are some senior teachers with an admin load earning 200 000 K in Bangkok these days (They are not common, but they do exist).

You can get 150 000 in a few schools, it usually does include the housing allowance and some schools have their own housing scheme and prefer you to live there.

[Mickey Cohen]

So being less than 30 and not having a degree in education this job isnt too bad?

[zeichen]

yeah, but sounds like you were making more money before doing privates. The problem with the lower ranked schools isn't the pay. Thai administration run these like a fire sale. They just take as much money as they can and don't put anything back in. Poor resources, no training/professional development, low standards for entrance and low expectations while in the program, any complaints go directly to you, too many complaints and they let you go.

If you don't have a lot of other options, I would take it and hope that with a few years you can move up to a better school. It wouldn't be a bad idea if education is the field that you want to stick with to do a Masters in Education. There are quite a few very good programs that are online that lead to certification. Get certified with a masters in Education and you could teach in higher quality International schools all over the world.

[saroq]

Im not a certified teacher but they re still ready to take me in. Its not a well known school but has the name international. Salary is low work load is high but it should be a good step in my career?!

I don't know how much advantage you're going to get out of the job. If you are expecting that it will lead to a job in a genuine international school I don't think that's likely. If you are not a certified teacher you won't get employment at a reputable (real) international school in BKK. Any business can put "International School" in its title but that doesn't make it a real international school and the parent community won't accept someone without teaching credentials unless it was in some very specific area such as a particular sport or area of technology.

[charliebadenhop]

Thanks Zeichin!

Very surprised to read what you wrote.

I lived in Japan for 30 years (I never taught) and there are very few teaching jobs that go above $4,000 a month, and needless to say the cost of living there is MUCH higher than in Thailand.

[BobbyL]

It's not Siam International School, is it?

I think everyone who works there is unqualified, and normally lasts about two months.

[Mickey Cohen]

No

The school is listed in wikipedia international schools in thailand.

Is that a proof if being inter? lol

[zeichen]

I think what people are talking about is that the name International doesn't always mean quality. Following an international curriculum is the only characteristic that qualifies these schools in Thailand. If a school accepts all students who can pay no matter how poor their English is, will result in lower standards. How can you be following the curriculum if students don't understand "open your book"?

Some schools especially those that hire non qualified teachers and pay below 50k baht a month typically are poorly run. Keeping parents happy and falsifying progress of their students isn't uncommon. Some of these schools actually charge high rates but pay their staff nothing.

Some schools just pay the fees to get the approved curriculum but don't necessarily follow it fully. Some of these lower class schools don't even have proper text books which would put more effort on the teacher to create material.

[carter1882]

Thank you, Coulson for criticizing my punctuation. Just to let you know I was head of the Thai department, not English. If you would like to try out for that job try living in Thailand for a while, pay a bit of attention and who knows, one day you may be able to retire a rich and happy man. Regards,

[Mickey Cohen]

Thank you, Coulson for criticizing my punctuation. Just to let you know I was head of the Thai department, not English. If you would like to try out for that job try living in Thailand for a while, pay a bit of attention and who knows, one day you may be able to retire a rich and happy man. Regards,

Just by curiosity, are you thai?

[Scott]

Posts and reply critical of grammar have been removed.

[starshiptrooper]

No

The school is listed in wikipedia international schools in thailand.

Is that a proof if being inter? lol

Have a look at the schools webpage and see if they are an accredited school. Look for "CIS" (Council of International Schools). If they are accredited they probably have some standards...

[Mickey Cohen]

No

The school is listed in wikipedia international schools in thailand.

Is that a proof if being inter? lol

Have a look at the schools webpage and see if they are an accredited school. Look for "CIS" (Council of International Schools). If they are accredited they probably have some standards...

Its on the ISAT website but only has ONESQA accreditation

[starshiptrooper]

No

The school is listed in wikipedia international schools in thailand.

Is that a proof if being inter? lol

Have a look at the schools webpage and see if they are an accredited school. Look for "CIS" (Council of International Schools). If they are accredited they probably have some standards...

Its on the ISAT website but only has ONESQA accreditation

I don't think the ONESQA says anything about their status as an international school. I would assume they're not an established international school.

[Mickey Cohen]

But most of the international schools dont have CSI in thailand

[Mickey Cohen]

Its seems not over 10 schools in thai have CSI accreditation

[starshiptrooper]

Its seems not over 10 schools in thai have CSI accreditation

According to http://www.cois.org/page.cfm?p=1913 there are 29 CIS accredited schools. I cannot think of any good international school in Thailand that is not on that list.

[Mickey Cohen]

Its seems not over 10 schools in thai have CSI accreditation

According to http://www.cois.org/page.cfm?p=1913 there are 29 CIS accredited schools. I cannot think of any good international school in Thailand that is not on that list.

may we get this list?

Cheers

[aarontendo]

He provided a link, that literally took me 10 seconds to find the list of. Good on ya.

[Mickey Cohen]

He provided a link, that literally took me 10 seconds to find the list of. Good on ya.

ok got it!

[professor21]

by the way I've been a professor at 3 schools and I have coursework from the US in Honors Physics and Mathematics and a master's in music, what do I need to do in the way of certificates and other things to get a good paying teaching job?

I am terribly crippled by lung problems and on a ventilator and was in Bangkok for the medical treatment which is quite expensive

[MatteoBassini]

My maths teacher makes 20,000 a month

My headteacher makes 50,000 a month.

[bangmai]

In a large urban school district in America, the max workload was 280 minutes per day. That would be 23 hours and 20 minutes per week. High School would frequently be 5 x 50 minute periods per day + "homeroom." A major varsity head coach would get his contract multiplied by 1.2, which was pretty good. Other areas paid a stipend of about 1500 usd for the season, which was well under minimum wage. Some schools were great about absolutely minimizing faculty meetings, while there were other horror stories of them talking about item #3 on a list of 8 things at 19:15. Almost all of it trivial that should have just been an executive decision.

Edited July 19, 2015 by bangmai

[IntEdSource]

Mickey Cohen:

In response to your original question, I'm aware of a few low tier international schools (licensed by the MOE and members of ISAT) that pay as low as 40,000 - 50,000 per month. Those in the mid tier have a higher range. As I indicated in another thread, salaries at the high mid tier and upper tier schools can be substantially higher. I have a few salary scales of schools on hand that demonstrate this (I made the figures approximate). Those with additional responsibilities also qualify for additional pay in each of these cases.

• Case 1 - mid-sized school in central Bangkok: 50,000 - 130,000 (maximum point of entry: 80,000); does not provide housing, but does include airfare and a few other benefits
• Case 2 - mid-sized school in central Bangkok: 90,000 - 115,000 (maximum point of entry: 100,000); also provides housing allowance, airfare and other benefits
• Case 3 - mid-sized school in central Bangkok: 88,000 - 164,000 (maximum point of entry: 115,000); does not provide housing, but does include airfare and several other benefits
• Case 4 - large school in Bangkok suburb: 105,000 - 165,000 (maximum point of entry: not designated); includes free housing, airfare and other benefits

The top tier schools currently have scales that begin around 150,000 (175,000 in one case as of the last time I had seen it), and most teachers at those schools are well above that base. Those with additional responsibilities are even higher, and the benefits are top notch.

26 periods is slightly high on average, but most of the schools I'm aware of have a minimum full-time requirement of 20 and a maximum of 25. In a few cases I've seen a maximum of 30, and my friends at that school were certainly unhappy with it. (As others have pointed out, however, it also depends on the length of the periods.)

If it helps, when I originally came to Thailand I was also less than 30, did not yet have a degree in education, and I earned 65,000 at a mid-sized international school. I was happy with the offer at that point in my career despite having taken a pay cut from my work in another country. It's then a matter of working your way up the ladder if you do want to be a professional educator. If you're aspiring to work at one of the top schools, the reality is that it's difficult to get those positions if you're already in Thailand unless you happen to have particular skills that match an opening or you have an inside connection. I happened to get lucky with the former scenario.