Firstly, my response was not a "school" response but mine. Sorry if having a pride in the school you work in and finding people sniping about it who know nothing about our particular school is somehow "indicative of education in China". Actually it couldnt be more different. I've never before worked in any school, China or before , where the school tells parents that tutors after school should not be used and that their children will be at a disadvantage if they do not allow them to be children while they can, that the school will get them there through active learning rather than rote, that if they want their kids to succeed at uni ( ie when they leave home and have to survive without them) they should let their kids come to the prom, school discos, sleepovers, spend time volunteering at the healing home or one of the other school charities. Not work into the night in a frenzy. Our students join the sports teams/eca teams after school run by staff volunteers. Our students go skiing, DoE, scuba diving and safari - doing work for universities in South Africa, MUN and WSC around the world. Our students do well academically ( and sorry but if parents have come out of the local system they need to know they will reach uni in the west as there is no safety net ) but they get offers from these unis because they are not number machines/ work horses but because they are proactive socialised young people. I'm sorry if your experience has been bad in China. I'm sure I'm not going to convince you that not all schools in China are the same. You have obviously had a bad time. I'm just asking that you spend time assessing the schools you know rather than supposing that our school fits your mould. I know I'm not going to convince you though which is a shame. I wont spend any further time doing so. Needless to say our kids are a credit to us and their parents.

If SUIS schools are so bad ( and by the way there are 7 secondary schools all different so which one do you mean ?) then why has Gubei had 10 (yes 10)students in this years CIE IGCSE exams who received Top in Yhe World scores, one IB student with 45 points and 34 points average with 1 in 5 of a large cohort over 38 points ( that weren't massaged by pulling students out), 2 students last year at Cambridge and 6 going for Ivy League/ Oxbridge with all G12 getting offers from s top 100 this year. In response to other post, a teacher was sacked for inappropriate comments NOTfor having an affair. Doesn't that show a school with good safe guarding standards? Really - do you all work for our competitor's SLT trying to do us down? We have a happy staff room and we work our butts off for great well behaved students. Work is pressured at times but where isn't it in a good school? Fed up with the moaning s general comments. If you've got something to say about s school that I have worked for for last 4 years and hope to continue with them at least get your facts straight and gave the accuracy to say which school you are working for..... and when you say it us a money making school - it's actually half the fees of other international school but giving the same experience and prospects for both staff and kids.

The management of this school: BULLIES. To be absolutely avoided!!!!!

I heard a lot bad things about the schoool's administration before and had an 'opportunity' to experience that recently. I will withdraw my children from the schoo at the end of the term. A few of my friends are doing the same for various reasons. I just can't see how the school will get better under the English headmaster's leadership. Go to see him and you will know what I mean.

Wow! What a pile of moaning minnies! Parents who want an international education for their child and their child can't speak English - and the school principal gets criticized for advising extra English lessons! My children have been at Shanghai United International School for four years, and I have nothing but praise for R S. He took a failing school and turned it round. The school size has doubled in four years and the quality of teachers has improved a lot. There are still lots of problems with the Chinese administration. After all this time they still do not know what international standards are. But Mr R and his senior teachers have been very successful in giving us a good bilingual English and Chinese education at a much lower price than the other international schools. A year ago we lost R S to the secondary campus and hear that he has developed just as good a reputation there as he did here at the primary school. Good with kids, good with parents. We now have a new principal from the UK. Very quiet. Hope he keeps up the good work. I am looking for an ESL teacher for my friend's kid and came across this website by accident. I couldn't believe some of the stupid comments!

Concerned, that's what crap schools do. Do you think they are going to tell you on the phone "We are crap, come on down."

It doesn't work like that. The crappier they are, the more they know it, and the more their going to try and reassure you everything is kosher. That't not to say that if a school tries to sound good and reassure you that they are crap, that would be circular logic. No, what I am saying is that, so what if they tell you everything is great, what else are they going to do?

Your better of trusting the reports from other FT's on this board who have worked there or had first hand experience than you are in trusting the school. The school is too hevily invested and has too much to loose to be telling you their crap if they indeed are.

Do your homework, and if you read even a handful of bad reports, avoid the school. One or two are explainable, anything more, and you should definitely avoid. Also, trust your gut, use your instincts, and be discerning when you read reports about a place. Even one repoprt can scare me off from working for a school if it is credible enough, and if my gut confirms the truth of it. Basically, proceed at your own risk always here in China, and use your instincts, trust them, don't ever ignore them. I have at times and seriously regretted it.

You guys really think you're the cats meow, don't you. Get over yourselves. Oh, by the way, Choatle, I've got a bet going with a few teacher friends here on how long it will take you to figure out how to use "your" and "you're." My bets on never, since you've been misusing "your" for so long now and even though you've been advised on how to use it properly, you're still not doing it, so it's apparently way beyond your level of comprehension. How could anyone, other than a New York misfit take you even half seriously? The next bet is whether or not you're even actually a teacher. My bet would be on you being some junior high school kid that pops in now and then just to see who you can fool. Bottom line; get a life.

Excellent, astute advice, Choatle! No matter how many questions I asked, possible scenarios I anticipated and probed, I always missed a few critical inquiries. One must be incresingly creative with qurestions as employers are inceasingly clever and ambiguous.

Choatle is absolutely right! Getting clear, understandable, and agreebale terms is reasonable, and if the employer can't handle it -- go! Employers in China constantly force us to draw a line in the sand. Be prepared to do at times; otherwise, you're stuck. Avoid being pressured as much as possible. It's not easy.

Reportedly Shanghai Americian School; Shanghai Singapore School; Rego International School; Concordia International School & Yew Cheng International School are noted to be the best of the best for formal education in Shanghai along with Shanghai Middle School. For training centres I would say Global IELTS; New Oriental; Wall Street; English First; Web International but there are so many good ones out there that I am really not doing just to by not mentioning them and of course there are bad ones as you can see above.

Its worth a search online and a few hours research prior to falling into the same traps wehave here. However under the privious management things worked smoothly and FT's were treat fairly, just the current management and staff have turned it into a "bordello" for senior/middle aged men or a "hive of unqualified fraudsters" rather than a school.

Do not know which campus you are at but I have had nothing but problems with double talk form the managers since coming here. Hours grew out to unmanagable levels, competent managers have all been replaced with incompetent managers. Weekly INSETT training turn out to be a farce. Monday to Friday has now turned into and most Saturdays. My line manager not only isn't a qualified teacher or manager but has a dipolma mill degree from some obscure fictious UK university. Unless you are willing to take advances and inuendos aimed at your personal life and willing to "come across" then your time is going to be hard here. I cannot and will not stand having "sexual" remarks and "advances" made towards me so like you, and most of the others, I have choosen not to renew my contract with them again this year. Odd thing was only a few years back it was a real joy to work here now it is a real nightmare.