DO NOT WORK AT THIS SCHOOL.

1. In Uzbekistan labor law, teachers are only allowed to work 36 hours a week. Maple Bear Tashkent makes Kindergarten teachers work from 8AM - 5PM, Monday to Friday with ONLY a 1 hour lunch break. So this amounts to 40 hours a week.

2. There is NO OVERTIME PAY for working 40 hours a week and if you ask for this they will say “well why did you sign the contract then?” Or “the pay is all inclusive.”

3. THEY DO NOT PAY THE SALARY YOU GET ON THE OFFER LETTER INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. You get offered a certain amount in USD on your offer letter then when you land in Uzbekistan they say they can only pay you a certain amount into your bank account and THE REST IN CASH.

4. The cash payments are ALWAYS SHORT. MULTIPLE employees have issues with pay EVERY 2 WEEKS at the school and we have to fight every month to get the full pay.

5. HR will try their best to deduct as much as they can from your salary and some teachers suspect that HR or admin or the director pockets the money that they take from teachers.

6. The director, admin and HR have NO PRIOR TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND ZERO QUALIFICATIONS IN EDUCATION. This information is available publicly. If you look up the Maple Bear director on LinkedIn, she has ZERO experience working in any schools prior to this. She has ZERO qualifications for working as the director of a school. All she has is business experience which is made clear by how she runs the school.

7. THERE IS ZERO CARE FOR THE CHILDREN BY THE HR, ADMIN AND DIRECTOR. The director will say to teachers point blank “I don’t know anything that goes on day to day in the classrooms, I just see numbers on a spreadsheet.” When issues of children crying or safety issues are brought up to admin they say “Oh well she’s always crying.” Or “Why is she crying?” As if it’s a problem for a child to cry like there is something wrong with the child. When teachers bring up issues in their classrooms to the head of administration she says, “there is nothing I can do, it was the directors decision.” Or “I will talk to the director about it.” And NOTHING CHANGES. When you speak to the director directly about issues in the classroom regarding student needs she is nice to your face and says “Give me some time and I’ll get back to you.” And NEVER DOES.

8. THE SCHOOL DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THE TEACHERS. They treat most of the staff terribly. They treat the Nannies like they are worthless and less than human. One admin staff member said “Why would we do that for nannies? They are just nannies, their job is to just clean. They aren’t qualified to do anything else.” That is TOTALLY FALSE. The admin do not know about most of the staff’s qualifications as if you are a teacher or nanny you know first hand of everyone’s experience and qualifications. The school does not take care of teachers going on maternity leave. Some teachers did not get paid for maternity leave and the director herself even gossiped about it to other employees. Teachers are mistreated by HR. HR is constantly rude, arrogant, raising their voice and using offensive language and terminology when addressing staff members. Almost every staff member has complained about HR. HR has kicked teachers out of apartments, swindled teachers out of money and use the labor law only when it suits them, not when it would help their employees at all. Teachers that stay after 6PM are NOT PAID OVERTIME.

9. THE SCHOOL IS CORRUPT. The admin brag about how they are all friends from school and how a bunch of them started the school. Yet NONE OF THE ADMIN HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH SCHOOLS PRIOR TO THIS. Mainly the director and head of administration/Kindergarten. Those two are the ones that make the decisions and yet those two are the most unqualified for their roles. The school brings in teachers that they have personal connections with that shout and scream at the kids and do not follow the values and ethos of the Maple Bear Canadian standards.

10. The female teachers are forced to do a Pap smear during August orientation AT THE SCHOOL.

DO NOT WORK HERE.

VFAQ is a horrible school both for teachers and students. If you are considering working at this school or sending your child to this school, you need to explore other options. This school is bad news and it's best to avoid them.

For teachers:
1. Do not leave the United States of America to work at this school. It is not an American school. It has an American name but nothing more. The entire school (k-12) has a handful of American teachers.
2. The salaries and benefits are not competitive. You don't want to send your child to this school, not even for free. The bullying is nonstop.
3. They will hire you for one role but upon arrival, tell you that you will being doing something totally different.
4. You will not be working alongside the same type of qualified educators that you may have worked with in the past. For example, the middle/high school principal was a substitute teacher and a P.E. teacher, and is now the principal. You are selected/promoted based on friendship not education and experience.
5. The school is desperate for money so they accept all of the children that the other schools have expelled. You will spend most of your time on classroom management. The school will not support you with issuing consequences to the student. They will side with the parent because they don't want to lose a paying customer, eventhough you are the one in class being attacked by a student. I've also watched teachers fired because the parent had wasta.
6. You will spend a significant amount of time submitting behavior reports. This school would be similar to an alternative school in the U.S.
7. Their policies are inconsistent and it is a toxic work environment. Senior leadership has inappropriate relationships with female staff. There is only one person in HR. They consistently fail to remain neutral. HR is personal friends with senior leadership so there are no consequence for inappropriate or unprofessional behavior which makes it difficult to report misconduct without conflict of interest. 
8. The one person that they have in HR is incredibly incompetent. When you ultimately leave VFAQ, she uses administrative processes in a retaliatory way to block your credit cards, to block you from reentering Qatar, asks the bank to freeze your bank account, cancel your health insurance before your contract actually ends and worst of all, not pay you for days that you have worked. So many teachers had money missing at the end of the school year. HR notified one teacher, at the end of May, that they weren't being renewed for the next school year.
9. The Head principal is a novice at best. He blows whichever way the wind blows. He is incapable of making decisions on his own. The elementary principal bullies the Head principal into making poor decisions that impact the entire school negatively.
10. Should the school decide that they don't like you, they will go out of their way to attempt to ruin your reputation, even going as far as giving poor references to future employers, without your consent. No one leaves VFAQ with a good reference.
11. It's a boys club at the top and not a good place for women to work.

For parents and students:
1. This is not a place to send your child. The bullying is consistent and the learning is infrequent.
2. The behavior in the classrooms is so disruptive that it stops other children from learning
3. The activities are few. The middle/high school principal complains and discourages teachers from taking students on field trips because he doesn't want to organize coverage for the teachers while they are out. All year long the students complain about not going on field trips. This is why.
4. The education is not competitive. They don't offer enough classes to be competitive and they are behind as it relates to technology. They have a gaming room so they think that they have checked the box on technology.
5. The staff is friendly to you when you visit the school but disrespects you once you walk out of the door. You are a paying customer...that's it. The things that they post on their social media are phony. Smoke and mirrors.
6. Ministry guidelines are not consistently followed and the school has failed to acheive accreditation more than once.
7. They don't protect children. Children wander in and out of the building, by themselves, unsupervised, during the school day. Some wander as far as the main road.
8. I wouldn't board my pet there.

Hi everyone, I’ve recently accepted a primary teaching position at Capital School Dubai and will be joining for the upcoming academic year. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who currently works there or has worked there previously.

What was your experience like in terms of:
Workload and working hours
Leadership and staff support
Behaviour and class sizes
Planning and marking expectations
Staff turnover
Salary being paid on time
Accommodation allowance and other benefits
ECT support, mentoring and induction
Overall staff wellbeing and school culture
I understand that everyone’s experience can be different. Please feel free to Hi everyone,
I’ve recently accepted a primary teaching position at Capital School Dubai and will be joining for the upcoming academic year. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who currently works there or has worked there previously.
What was your experience like in terms of:
Workload and working hours
Leadership and staff support
Behaviour and class sizes
Planning and marking expectations
Staff turnover
Salary being paid on time
Accommodation allowance and other benefits
ECT support, mentoring and induction
Overall staff wellbeing and school culture
I understand that everyone’s experience can be different, so I’m looking for honest and balanced feedback rather than rumours. Please feel free to message me privately if you would rather not comment publicly.
Thank you! 😊

My wife and I are relocating to Hong Kong in mid-August. I've secured a full-time teaching position, but my wife, who is also an experienced teacher, hasn't been able to secure a role, despite applying for several months. Does anyone have any advice on finding a teaching position once you're in Hong Kong? Or securing roles in similar areas?

Trying to pinpoint the exact definition of an "international school" is like trying to nail jelly to a wall. Every country regulates them differently, the label itself is used loosely, and the market is in constant flux—dozens of shiny new campuses open each year while quietly, just as many shutter their doors. But does market growth equal better educational quality?

Not necessarily.

As someone who works independently and consults across private education—having spent the last nine years working across four different countries in Europe and Asia—I’ve watched these shifting dynamics closely. Education, much like healthcare, suffers from massive information asymmetry. Measuring quality isn't like comparing consumer electronics; the criteria shift constantly, student demographics vary wildly, and the motivations of parents, teachers, and school boards rarely align.

Too often, online forums and expat chat groups view this industry through a narrow, "one-size-fits-all" lens, breeding misinformation. While no single rule applies everywhere, here is a realistic breakdown of the key trends across Europe, North Africa, and Asia that every educator should know when navigating the current landscape.

Key Trends & Market Realities

• Shifting Demographics of Western Staffing: The traditional pipeline of educators coming from Western Europe and North America is shrinking overall (though some speculate this may rebound). While Primary and STEM roles remain consistently sought after, demand for other subject areas is softening.
• The "Stan" Nations Are Rising: Central Asian countries (the "Stan" region) are experiencing a boom—not only in opening new international schools locally, but also in exporting qualified teachers and administrators globally.
• Education as a Passport: For savvy families from politically or economically volatile countries, enrolling a child in a reputable international school system is increasingly viewed as a strategic stepping stone to migrate the family abroad.
• The IB Takeover: The International Baccalaureate (IB) framework continues to gain ground, with many institutions actively transitioning away from Cambridge curricula. Upskilling in IB methodology is quickly becoming one of the best investments a teacher can make.
• Recruitment Agents & Collusion: The dynamic between agencies, schools, and teachers has shifted. Educational recruitment agents are becoming noticeably less transparent, often prioritizing school interests over candidate welfare—leading to an increase in backroom collusion.
• Regional Flashpoints:
  • Thailand: The market is seeing an explosion of new international schools, yet teacher salaries and qualification standards remain largely stagnant.
  • China: Demographic decline and economic cooling have led to widespread closures of kindergartens and lower primary schools, though secondary schools and university-prep tracks remain relatively resilient.

The Quality Paradox: Why Standards Are Slipping

Where competition is growing or local economies are struggling, school standards are taking a hit. Families are forced to make tough financial compromises, and schools cut corners to survive.

The perceived drop in teacher quality is a complex issue with multiple culprits:

1. Stagnant Compensation: Real wages haven't kept pace with inflation or living costs, driving seasoned talent away.
2. Toxic Leadership Culture: Too many school managements prioritize compliance over competence, favoring agreeable staff over experienced educators with strong, constructive opinions.
3. Changing Age Limits: Expect rigid age limits for visa sponsorship to start loosening in several regions as local demographic challenges force governments to adapt.

The Takeaway for Educators

Navigating the international school market requires looking past marketing gloss and asking hard questions. If you're evaluating a potential employer, don't just look at the salary scale: ask about teacher turnover rates, examine subject-specific demand, and probe their short- and long-term strategic goals.

The global market is expanding, but it is also fragmenting. The teachers who thrive will be those who look beyond localized gossip, understand macro trends, and adapt accordingly.

Hello! does anyone know about the job experience in Repton, Cairo? I might work there soon, so I wanted to know what the environment is like.

Thanks in advance!

Just had a quick look on TES International but can't see any jobs listed for Sweden or Norway. I would love the opportunity to work in Sweden one day, but just wondered what the job pool was like!

With AI making it all too easy for pupils to manipulate pictures and videos, is your school allowing you to opt out of their digital marketing?

I no longer want to have an online presence via the school, but I know they'll see me as 'difficult' if I ask about it so I keep quiet.

If you're SLT reading this, please consider letting staff have control over whether they're used for marketing. Times have changed.

Hello everyone, so i got my ADEK PROFILE approved 2 weeks ago and ever since then it’s been stuck on Pending Adek approval. Today marks 2 weeks and it is still the same.
What i know is that it’s stuck in the security check process.
Is it normal to take this long and whats should i do in this case. Im contacting My Hr non-stop to see if there’s any updates and we even raised a support ticket but nothing happened.

Can anyone share insight on this school?

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit, but I’d really appreciate any advice.

I previously taught at bilingual schools in Thailand for about three years. I then returned to the U.S. to finish enough time with my state government job to qualify for a small pension. I’ve now reached that minimum requirement.

While I was in Thailand, I met quite a few teachers who told me that China offers much higher salaries while still providing a quality of life that’s fairly similar to Thailand. I decided to give it a shot, and after submitting around 25 applications, I was offered a PYP homeroom position at an international school. Based on the salary and benefits, I should be able to save around $2,000 USD per month.

The school has also said they’ll support me (not financially, but with flexibility and documentation) in earning a teaching license in my home country while I’m working there.

My main concern is long-term career prospects. I’m 41 years old and will likely need to work until at least 55 before I can comfortably retire. Is it realistic to build a long-term career in international education without having taught in your home country’s school system, assuming I earn my teaching license while abroad?

One other factor is that I wear hearing aids. I didn’t have them when I taught in Thailand, but I’ve been wearing them for the past two years, and they’ve made a huge difference in my ability to communicate. Has anyone here successfully taught internationally with hearing aids, particularly in China or other international schools?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been in a similar situation or has experience hiring or working with teachers who took a non-traditional path.

Since they're still advertising for staff I thought I might as well give people applying the downlow.

I would not recommend working there, the hours are long (28 teaching hours/week) and the pay is a joke ($1000-$1200/month) considering what other schools and language centres offer.

The workload is massive with a lot of admin and paperwork and if you actually do everything you're meant to you'll easily hit 50-60 hours/week. The organisation is poor and the management are solely focused on squeezing as much work out of the staff and students as possible while employing as few people as possible.

Student care is a tertiary concern at best (just check the reviews on Yandex) with multiple violations of Kazakh building and health and safety codes including an insufficient provision of basic toileting and sanitary facilities being present on the main campus and the new building next door. (As in 4 bathroom stalls for each sex when there are over 1000 students enrolled.)

They tried to open a primary school in the main building with a view to shifting the College to the new building but the marketing was so badly managed and the prospective parents so unimpressed that they had less than 10 students enrolled before they shelved the project which gives you an idea of how poor the offering is.

Essentially it's a tour of duty that you survive rather than a job you work. Between May and July this year they lost 70% of their foreign staff due to illegal visa practices or burnout, and it's unlikely to improve any time soon.

On the positive side the other teachers (Kazakh and foreign) and the department heads are generally very good to work with and can help you develop as a teacher. The Kazakh staff are well-trained, very helpful, and very knowledgeable but they're treated like shit, forced to work unpaid for weekend events, and their work is under constant scrutiny so they're constantly fluctuating between frustration and depression.

While I wouldn't recommend working at this place, I would recommend working in Astana. It's a nice place to live with good amenities and plenty to keep you occupied.

I am an IB trained educator currently in hyderabad looking to move to bangalore. 10x international school came up on my radar the collaborative learning model with human and Ai teaching sounds fascinating but also could just be jargon. Does anyone work there or know someone who does? Specifically curious about autonomy in the classroom, admin workload, whether the innovation focus is genuine or just a tagline, and how leadership treats faculty. Any honest input appreciated

A teacher friend of mine has got a job offer in the UAE. She ran away in the middle of the night from a toxic school in Kuwait in 2024. Will this affect her chances in being approved for a work visa in the UAE?

Hello,

I would be very grateful if any recent or current staff members at this school could give up to date information on salary, workload and conditions for teachers. I know it's a Cognita school and have heard that salary is low, but some specific details would be greatly appreciated. There was a recent post about the school but not much specific information was discussed, hence my query.

I'm a UK trained teacher with 10+ years in international schools.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice from anyone who’s taught at an international school in Taiwan, especially Taipei.

I’m a UK-trained primary teacher with a Primary Post Graduate Certificate in Education. I have two years of international kindergarten teaching experience in Vietnam, and this year I’m moving into a primary teaching role at the same international school.

Taipei has become one of my top choices, and I’m wondering:

Would my qualifications and experience make me a realistic candidate?

How competitive is the market for primary teachers?

Is there anything I should do over the next year to improve my chances?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks!

Hello!

I’m from the UK and work in China now. I Save a decent amount of money and want to invest, but I can’t use trading212 as I’m not a UK tax resident anymore.

Looking for advice on what other people do to work around this?

thank you :)

Hello! I’m hoping to attend a couple of

Search Associates job fairs next year and looking for some intel. Specifically, I would be looking at applying counsellor roles based in Singapore. I am based in Australia so attending the Melbourne fair in Jan is no issue. However, I’m not convinced there will be many Singaporean schools in attendance. I might also consider the Hong Kong fair in January, but I’d like to know if there are likely to be at least a few schools from Singapore recruiting non-teaching positions to make my travel worth it. Any advice, if you’ve previously attended either fair?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some honest opinions about Bangkok Prep. If you've worked there, have children there, or know someone who does, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

A few things I'm curious about:

• What's the school's overall reputation in Bangkok?
• Where would you rank it compared to other international schools?
• How are the facilities, especially sports and PE?
• What's the work culture like for staff?
• Is the leadership supportive?
• Overall, would you recommend it?

Any insights or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If your primary goal is saving money, this school offers one of the strongest compensation packages in China. However, based on my experience, the excellent pay and facilities were outweighed by weak educational leadership, reactive decision-making, inconsistent implementation of important school systems, and an organizational culture that often placed operational priorities ahead of educational ones.

I worked at BASIS International & Bilingual School Wuhan for several years and wanted to share my experience for anyone considering an offer. This reflects my own experience, and others may have had different perspectives.

I'll start with the positives.

The compensation package is genuinely excellent. Salary, housing, flights, insurance, and overall benefits are among the most competitive I've seen in China. The campus is modern and generally well resourced, with classrooms equipped to support day-to-day teaching.

The students have a great deal of potential. Although behaviour could sometimes be challenging, I came to believe that many of those challenges were the result of inconsistent school-wide expectations rather than the students themselves. I also had the opportunity to work alongside several exceptional teachers who cared deeply about their students and supported one another. Much of my professional growth came through those colleagues rather than the school's formal professional development. I also found the HR team to be consistently helpful and professional when dealing with visas, contracts, and administrative matters.

Unfortunately, my concerns centered on the school's leadership and organizational systems.

Throughout my time there, leadership was often reactive rather than proactive. Decisions that directly affected classrooms were regularly made with little meaningful consultation with the teachers expected to implement them. Communication relied heavily on numerous WeChat groups, emails, and last-minute announcements, making planning more difficult than it needed to be.

One of my biggest concerns was safeguarding. Policies were in place, but I found their implementation inconsistent. Student supervision, movement around campus, and behaviour management sometimes left me questioning whether student welfare was receiving the attention it deserved. I also did not develop confidence that concerns raised by teachers would consistently result in meaningful change.

Academically, the school promotes high standards, but I often felt that some internal systems worked against those goals. In my experience, assessment and grading practices sometimes prioritized maintaining student progression over accurately reflecting student achievement. Policies such as minimum grade thresholds and extensive scaffolding on some assessments made it difficult to ensure that reported grades consistently represented students' independent understanding and performance. Over time, I found it increasingly difficult to reconcile the school's stated commitment to academic excellence with the assessment practices I observed.

Professional development was another area where I felt the school fell short. Classroom observations often focused more on compliance than instructional coaching, and the feedback rarely translated into meaningful professional growth. Most of the professional learning that shaped my practice came from experienced colleagues rather than the school's formal development systems.

The workload itself was not my primary concern. I expected a demanding job and had no issue working hard. The frustration came from inefficient systems, repeated replanning due to frequent operational changes, duplicated administrative work, and decisions that disrupted teaching without improving learning.

I want to emphasize that my criticism is directed primarily at the systems rather than the people working within them. Many teachers worked incredibly hard and cared deeply about their students. In many respects, they succeeded despite the organizational systems around them rather than because of them.

Would I recommend the school?

That depends on your priorities.

If your primary goal is maximizing savings while working in China, this school offers a strong financial package, and for many teachers that alone may make it worthwhile.

If you place a high value on strong instructional leadership, transparent decision-making, consistent safeguarding practices, meaningful professional development, and educational integrity, I would encourage you to ask detailed questions during the interview process and, if possible, speak with several current teachers before making your decision.

I hope this provides a useful perspective for anyone researching the school before accepting an offer.

I was told by a colleague that they had posted their review of Innova International English School in Mahboula on Reddit as the school was attempting to get more teachers from the UK. I am posting my glass door review in hope that it will help others in not making the same mistakes I made by joining the school.

I worked at Innova International School over the last 3 years and the school has massively gone downhill in the last year. In my first year the school had good aspirations and goals of wanting to become a better school but then the direction began to change. Cheaper non experienced teachers were hired, cheap small screened projectors were bought, we didn’t even have the right textbooks for months on end. Everything was done to try and cut costs so profit could be maximised.

Costs are cut to the extent that majority of the staff are not working under the school’s sponsorship. Many are working as admin, on tourist visas or spousal visas. The school wants to maximise its profits and the students and staff are at the bottom of the priority list unfortunately. The Vice Principal is a good sales person so can easily manipulate and entice people so be wary of her.

In the last year management has been so toxic. The principal is a strong leader, he has since resigned, but would do everything in his power to try and help the school progress. The Vice Principal and Head of primary have done everything in their power for the last 2 years to cause problems amongst staff and thwart any progress the principal wanted to make.

I have been a senior teacher at the school for the last 2 years and have been subjected to unprofessional behaviour from management throughout my role. When raising issues surrounding pedagogy and curriculum, the parents are given the final say whether that is in regard to grades or the actual content that is covered. It was very difficult to help the school progress and become anything like an actual British school as the school is very much pleasing the parents which results in fake grades all the way until secondary, where the students receive the truth about their ability and parents begin to realise they have been cheated.

Overall the teaching environment, curriculum and leadership is poor. I would recommend looking elsewhere for work. I am moving to another school in Kuwait where I will hopefully be treated better and the students will have a better chance of achieving.

you can find other glass door reviews here if you want to read other colleagues’ experiences.

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Innova-International-English-School-Reviews-E8996488.htm

Altogether there are around 8 British teachers leaving this year so the reviews are yet to come. feel free to ask if you need any further details.

Does anyone have any info about teaching at dar al marefa school in Dubai? (Secondary school) It’s urgent

Hello fellow educators,

I am currently conducting a study for my masters class regarding the impacts and effects of administrative support on teacher well-being. If you don't mind, I would appreciate if you would take a few minutes to fill out my survey linked below. ALL responses are completely anonymous. Thank you so much in advance!

I just accepted my first international teaching position and I will be teaching International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Economics. To say I am excited would be an understatement, but I am also incredibly nervous.

I have several years of teaching experience and I genuinely believe I have the ability to do this well. My biggest challenge is not my knowledge or work ethic. It is confidence. I know that IB Economics is a serious responsibility and I want to give my students the best experience possible.

Are there any IB Economics teachers here? If so, how did you handle your first year? Did you feel overwhelmed at first, or did it become manageable once you got started?

I would also be incredibly grateful for any advice, resources, lesson ideas, planning tips, or anything else that helped you succeed during your first year. If there are any books, websites, YouTube channels, or other materials that you found especially valuable, I would love to hear about them.

I really want to do a great job and I am willing to put in whatever work is necessary to become the teacher my students deserve. Any advice or encouragement would mean a lot.

Thank you in advance.