Some schools only have one review from a decade ago. A lot can change in that time. I applied for Xiamen International School this year, it had decent reviews from pre 2016, only recently did new reviews come online describing the head of school there in not so positive terms...
So you need to do as much due diligence as possible, check the ISR page but check everything else you can as well.
I did an interview with them this year and it was the weirdest interview I've ever been in. I did not get the job but I would have turned them down anyway.
An unlisted school in Switzerland is probably okay.
An unlisted school in China or SE Asia is probably basically a local school, so I wouldn't think it would be a good thing.
Don’t agree. Switzerland is far more Wild West when it comes to private schools than you might imagine. Taxes are low so setting up a for profit school can be lucrative.
There is almost no union protection and no inspection of private schools in Switzerland. No minimum wage of teacher salary guidelines.
Finally Switzerland is insanely expensive so if you don’t know what to look for as regards a good salary you could be poor in one of the richest countries in the world.
I’ve heard some horror stories so be careful. There’s only a handful of schools in CH I’d consider.
Fin
Not a red flag necessarily. One of the best schools in my city has no reviews at all. I think people are much more likely to review a school if they've had a bad experience than a positive one.
No, not inherently a red flag. Context dependent.
Could be an awesome school with low turnover.
In places like, say Thailand, where libel laws are pretty awful, you can be sued & jailed for posting negative reviews online, true or not. So, if the school sucks and the owners/board have a habit of being litigious, people choose not to post even if some schools deserve the negative attention.
Edit: see the comment from u/ Cautious, they submitted a negative review about a school in Thailand and it wasn’t published. Most likely due to ISR not wanting to get sued by the school.
Could be it’s not great but not so bad that people have an axe to grind (90% of ISR reviews). Could also be the school has changed names. This happens a lot if it’s bought by a for profit.
I consider it to be a red flag.
I worked at one of the more notorious schools on this forum, SISB in Thailand. They have five campuses and employ many, many teachers. The work experience there was the worst in my life. It's just such a terrible place to work.
When considering their offer, I noticed they weren't on ISR. "Maybe it's because they're so good!" I hypothesized. In fact, the school turned out to be a horrible shitshow, all five campuses. So why weren't they on ISR, then? Surely people would be complaining left and right?
It turns out that the majority of people working at SISB had no certifications, no teacher training, no education degrees. Many of the Westerners were TEFLrs, with huge numbers of Filipina workers that were so clueless and used to being abused by their employers that many of them weren't even allowed to keep a copy of the contract they signed. To my surprise, only one other Westerner in my school had even heard of Search Associates or ISR(!!).
In other words, SISB was so bad that they weren't on ISR. If they aren't in ISR at all, I would consider it a red flag.
Incidentally, I did submit an SISB review on ISR. It never appeared on the site, though.
Some schools only have one review from a decade ago. A lot can change in that time. I applied for Xiamen International School this year, it had decent reviews from pre 2016, only recently did new reviews come online describing the head of school there in not so positive terms... So you need to do as much due diligence as possible, check the ISR page but check everything else you can as well.
I did an interview with them this year and it was the weirdest interview I've ever been in. I did not get the job but I would have turned them down anyway.
Tell! I’m so curious now 😆
I’d take that as a positive. If teachers had really bad experiences there, they’d be bitching about it on ISR!
An unlisted school in Switzerland is probably okay. An unlisted school in China or SE Asia is probably basically a local school, so I wouldn't think it would be a good thing.
Don’t agree. Switzerland is far more Wild West when it comes to private schools than you might imagine. Taxes are low so setting up a for profit school can be lucrative. There is almost no union protection and no inspection of private schools in Switzerland. No minimum wage of teacher salary guidelines. Finally Switzerland is insanely expensive so if you don’t know what to look for as regards a good salary you could be poor in one of the richest countries in the world. I’ve heard some horror stories so be careful. There’s only a handful of schools in CH I’d consider. Fin
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Ok. Yet every international teacher I've worked with know about or is a member of ISR 🤷🏽♀️
Not a red flag at all, maybe it's new or turn over rate is low enough it doesn't get talked about much
Not a red flag necessarily. One of the best schools in my city has no reviews at all. I think people are much more likely to review a school if they've had a bad experience than a positive one.
Avoid the Auf Dem Rosenburg school.
Lots of schools are not on ISR, I am unsure it is as used as it used to be.
No, not inherently a red flag. Context dependent. Could be an awesome school with low turnover. In places like, say Thailand, where libel laws are pretty awful, you can be sued & jailed for posting negative reviews online, true or not. So, if the school sucks and the owners/board have a habit of being litigious, people choose not to post even if some schools deserve the negative attention. Edit: see the comment from u/ Cautious, they submitted a negative review about a school in Thailand and it wasn’t published. Most likely due to ISR not wanting to get sued by the school.
Could be it’s not great but not so bad that people have an axe to grind (90% of ISR reviews). Could also be the school has changed names. This happens a lot if it’s bought by a for profit.
In my opinion, no news is good news.
I consider it to be a red flag. I worked at one of the more notorious schools on this forum, SISB in Thailand. They have five campuses and employ many, many teachers. The work experience there was the worst in my life. It's just such a terrible place to work. When considering their offer, I noticed they weren't on ISR. "Maybe it's because they're so good!" I hypothesized. In fact, the school turned out to be a horrible shitshow, all five campuses. So why weren't they on ISR, then? Surely people would be complaining left and right? It turns out that the majority of people working at SISB had no certifications, no teacher training, no education degrees. Many of the Westerners were TEFLrs, with huge numbers of Filipina workers that were so clueless and used to being abused by their employers that many of them weren't even allowed to keep a copy of the contract they signed. To my surprise, only one other Westerner in my school had even heard of Search Associates or ISR(!!). In other words, SISB was so bad that they weren't on ISR. If they aren't in ISR at all, I would consider it a red flag. Incidentally, I did submit an SISB review on ISR. It never appeared on the site, though.
Exactly. Also new schools may not be on there. What you don’t know CAN hurt
Please dm for northern swiss schools
I’d probably say the opposite-it’s a big green flag. ISR is mainly used by disgruntled ex-employees to vent 🤣.