Primary Teachers Overseas

[LovetoTeach86]

Any teachers here in Singapore or Dubai? Have a few questions about local hire.

I could help you re Singapore. Have been a local hire there, although currently about to go out on an expat contract this time round

Thanks tomhazard. Currently based in a British school overseas but husband is looking to move to either Singapore or Dubai through current company. Problem is while salary is high they won’t give school fees. Where we are now because I am a teacher (albeit local hire) they give us a huge discount on fees. Does this happen in Singapore? I know Singapore as my parents lived there so I know how high cost of living can me. School fees seems insane! What are schools like to work at? I don’t feel well supported in my current school an we are going through huge changes because of a bad inspection report. Teachers seem to be bearing the brunt of this.

Entirely depends on school. N. A schools have a good rep...

• depends on company. Not school.

Different companies in Singapore will offer different things

This depends completely on the school. The big players (tanglin, dulwich, uwc, sas, SJi) give local hire none or minimal discount on school fees. You do get priority for admission though.
The smaller, newer schools are more generous on school places in lieu of any other benefit. I know for example One World offers a 75% discount to locally hired staff. there are a lot of schools and I'm sure you'd get work within a reasonably short space of time depending on your subject but the school fee thing will be very variable.
Fyi in singapire you get taxed on the school place benefit now

International schools in the UAE will give you a discount but fees are incredibly high.
I wouldn't be moving to either country without an accommodation and education allowance, although the days of fat contracts are well and truly over.

Inclined to agree with motherlondon although don't know about Dubai,
When I was local hire in Sg my kids were pre-school so wasn't a biggie but I wouldn't have been able to do it with my kids older.
I'm going back on a package this summer including 2 school places but without them we definitely wouldn't be able to afford to live in Singapore. Lack of school fee provision is a reason a fair number of people move on from Singapore

tomharzard...are you going back to the same school on a different contract? It’s a big no no at our school. My other option is to be the international hire as my husband’s job won’t be affected by this but it makes it very difficult to find a job I imagine as most schools seem to be cutting costs and therefore I will be a very unattractive hire.

No I'm going to a different school. How many children do you have? If it's one or two you shouldn't he an unattractive hire.

We are doing what you mention - this time I am going as international hire and DH will be a local hire. This is purely because of the school place aspect as his company wouldn't provide this.

For you though it might be a bit late to get an intl contract as recruitment is largely over! There might something - GEMS world academy were hiring primary teachers not long ago and your international experience will be highly valued out there.

Also def contact One World. The head is British and really nice, they are expanding and often recruiting and they give 75% discount to a local hire - their fees are a bit cheaper too so 25% wouldn't be too expensive for you. Reports of the school are good

Thanks for all the advice. We are staying in our current country at least 1 more school year so I’ll keep an eye on recruitment for next year. 2 children but neither in school yet. So did you apply in Singapore but tell your new school you are applying as an overseas hire?

Nope, I lived in Singapore a few years ago and worked as a local hire then. We came home and decided that we'd like to go back but kids are older now, so I applied as a genuine overseas hire and after a zillion applications finally got there!

That’s great news. We do love Singapore. It’s def on our hit list. I’m only familiar with Dulwich which I have been super impressive with but heard other schools or there are excellent.

Dulwich is good but everyone seems happy with their schools in Singapore! Tanglin, UWC, Nexus, SJI, SAS, Eton House, AIS all seem to have fairly happy teachers and parents. There are so many schools I'm sure with your experience you'd be an attractive overseas hire if you apply from Dubai in the next recruitment round. Good luck

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Will keep an eye out for next recruitment round and hope my experience will be enough! Good luck with your new posting.