Old China hands like me can for sure smell the rat as we know China is like and how most of these schools or "schools" operate there. Most of them are crap, cheat and deceive on purpose just to make a quick buck.

I do not trust any agent nor any training "school".

I agree with you about the majority of schools being crap and out to cheat you and make a quick buck on the side. Especially privately owned schools and training centers. I did mention though, this is not a private or training school but actually a public school in partnership with other public schools in the Tianjin area.

No, I don't need to work in a place like that to form my opinion. As I said, I can smell a rat, and in case of training centres I always do! They are all the same, and that makes smelling a rat/the rat rather easy.

Again, this is not a private school/training centre but in fact a public school, partnered with other public government run schools.

Oh, have they? Now,. you see what is good for you need not necessarily be good for others as well. If they have been good to you and not to others, how could your opinion count at all?

This is a self refuting statement, First and foremost Sandra was asking... has anyone worked for this school and she wanted to know opinions from people who HAVE worked for this school. You clearly haven't worked there and have no clue, therefore you can't actually give an accurate portrayal, just mere speculation coming from possibly your past experiences (good or bad) with other companies/schools etc. which also doesn't hold any value either to her specific question. After all, "what you see is good/bad for you need not necessarily be good/bad for others as well."

Also if she actually contacts the school herself, we have other foreign teachers who could talk to her in person/skype/over the phone. I and others can assure her, that its a good school, they value and take care of you.

A straightforward answer: Safest bets are public universities and middle schools/colleges, although they differ largely in terms of quality jobs and treatment. Yet, still much safer and better than any private agent or (mostly crappy) training centre operation.

To get a job in a public place, you need to be qualified. Not all foreign teachers or "teachers" really are. Most likely then, the latter will end up at places like yours. Nothing personal and no offence intended but working for any of those training centres in China is a job at the bottom of the barrel. Just read the regular horror stories about those places that people have to tell on here and elsewhere, and you will know why.

My advice to anyone, avoid Privately run and Training schools too. I agree public schools in general are the safest bets, including kindergarten and primary schools, not just middle, highschool and universities. Normally, I find teaching younger students pays better. To not include kindergartens and primary schools however is your personal bias. Perhaps you don't know how to teach children or your preference is toward older students. People with lack of experience teaching children or have low energy levels are perhaps better suited towards higher educated students.

Owen International Education School requires teachers who are qualified (Have at least a degree, TEFL/TESOL/ESL certificate), be a native English speaker + have teaching experience. I have all of these and more.

My current circumstances, I work 15 hours a week teaching (I choose the grades I want to teach, only 3 grades), no office hours (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, teaching hours between 8:30 til 4:00pm with a massive lunch break in the middle) I get free accommodation (Private, fully furnished, not shared), a full Z-VISA converted into a resident VISA on arrival, free insurances, full flight reimbursement, all public holidays inc. 8 weeks winter + summer vacations paid for. Due to my performances at this school, I have had 3 pay rises. I just signed a new contract for next September because frankly I see no other school which competes with my offer from this school, including universities and I negotiated more salary and got it (However, I cannot share this information online, but I can say its alot higher than the original specified standard salary of 7000 rmb a month). Next term I will also have free Chinese lessons. Now if you call this bottom of the barrel so be it.