is this a good deal for Qingdao?

[pauljholt]

Hi there,

 

I'm a Physics teacher moving to Qingdao with 5 years of exeperience. do you think i have been offered a reasonable salary?

 

Here is what they have offered:

 

Monthly salary: RMB 19,060.00 before tax.  Salary is based on 12 months per year.

 

Standard benefits:

RMB 3000 per month housing allowance before tax.

Annual return flights allowance RMB 10,000; we will buy the first ticket for the teacher to travel to Qingdao and the last ticket return home when completing the final contract.

Contract renewal bonus: one more month salary for each consecutive full year of service for the new contracts after the initial 2-year contract. 

A very good health insurance.  

 

 

 

 

[Chris Two Times]

Let me ask a question: as a physics teacher (high school, I presume) with five years of experience, could you get a comparable salary in your home country?

 

Additionally, would any teaching job in your home country offer good insurance, flights, and a housing allowance?

 

I taught for three years in New York City, and while I could command a similar salary in in the NYC with good insurance, teaching conditions were rough. How will the teaching conditions be at this school in Qingdao? In my opinion, regardless of how high the salary is, if the teaching conditions are rough, then it ain't worth it.

 

I think it's a decent offer...again, if the kids are serious and hard-working, the administration is highly supportive of you and not into micro-managing their teachers and if it can be trusted (honoring this offer), and if you simply enjoy going to work every day and getting the job done, then getting about 3,000 USD monthly with an additional approximate 500 USD for housing in Qingdao, Shandong (a decent city, I'm told, never been) should be all right. Also, getting a 12-month contract is good, rather than a 9-month or 10-month one.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[DachZanz]

Hi there, 

 

ChrisTimesTwo above has a really insightful response.  All I'd like to add is that I've lived in Shandong province, for one year.  I was in Yantai, a smaller city not far from Qingdao.  The salary you have will certainly be enough to support your lifestyle and, if you have a family, it will be enough for that as well.  It's a good salary and westerners get by comfortably on much less.  

 

Qingdao is a really pretty city too, from what I remember (I only have spent a few days there, but liked it very much).

[Chris Two Times]

DachZanz raises a good point that was in the back of my mind when I penned the above response. Your 3,000 USD in Qingdao should take you a lot farther than my 3,000 USD took me in New York City. Plus, I was paying slightly less than a grand in rent from that. That additional 3,000 RMB housing allowance is a nice thing to have--I'm not sure how much apartment you can get for 3,000 RMB in Qingdao, but that chunk of change most certainly helps you out nicely.

 

I would look further into the school, if you haven't done so already, and see what "the culture" is like: serious, supportive, studious (oh! alliteration!) or place for spoiled idle loafer rich kids to pass the time...ha!...or...all of the above (?!?!).

 

I'm thinking this may be a high school that is preparing its students to study abroad as undergraduates; therefore, they will be taking the full alphabet soup battery of AP, SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, etc. I'm told that grade 11/junior year is the "money year" for such students. True?

 

Good luck with it all, pauljholt. China can be a very good place to be a teacher and make money.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[anonymoose]

To me, it doesn't make sense to treat the housing allowance separately. All in all, you'd be getting almost 23000 per month on average. Of that, what you spend on housing is up to you.

 

It depends on your qualifications. I think you could get up to 10000+ more per month if you had good qualifications, in Shanghai at least.

 

Also, I would want to know what the hours are, and if there are any extra-curricular requirements.

 

Overall, it sounds like a reasonable deal, but you need to take all the other factors into consideration as well.

[Lu]

I think you could get up to 10000+ more per month if you had good qualifications, in Shanghai at least.

I would guess, though, that Shanghai is also a good deal more expensive than Qingdao. 3000 yuan wouldn't get you that much house in Beijing, or in Shanghai I assume, but should go a lot further in Qingdao.

 

All in all the salary is not bad, but whether it's worth it depends on what the job is like (hours, students, class size, administration).

[roddy]

Yeah, what you've said sounds great, and it should be easy to save a large chunk of that. I'd maybe want to check out the school a bit - if it's only been set up a year or two you may find administrative chaos, if they've only just started doing physics they might not have the resources you need, etc. But to be honest on that money, you can put up with a lot of nonsense. I'd also ask them to work out a post-tax figure for you, just so you know where you'll stand. 

 

Does anyone know how tax on housing allowances works?

[gato]

Housing allowance for expats should be tax-free.

[pauljholt]

thank you for all the fantastic info and support!

 

its at the confucius international school qingdao, class sizes from 5 to 15 and about 22 contact hours per week.

[pauljholt]

The schools is Confucius International School, Qingdao

 

Anyone heard of it? any feedback?

[aone]

青岛孔裔(牛津)国际公学
Confucius International School Qingdao is an fairly good private senior middle school.