Does anyone have any suggestions of things you need to be clear about with a potential employer before going to work for them?
Here’s my list, from the point of view of teaching at a high school but should be mostly applicable for everyone:
what days and hours?
-start\finish times - ie when are we expected to be at school?
-block hours - 6hrs back to back or 6 hours out of 10?
-max per week\month - ie when does overtime kick in? I had a job a while back that specified 100hrs/month - great until chinese new year, then I was sched. 35 hrs a week to get the 100 out of me…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES - this is really important. What do they expect from us?
-role\school expectations - are we supposed to teach grammar, practise what they know, or what?
-lesson plans - who prepares
-material & props - where from?
-class sizes, TA
office hours - some schools specify that you have to do some ‘office work’
-what day\time
-flexible?
-doing what?
-where?
paperwork - how much extra stuff is there going to be aside from the actual teaching?
-homework - do we have to set hmwk? mark it?
-weekly tests - necessary in some schools
-student grades - do we have to give grades/assessments?
-exams - who sets exams/tests?
holidays - salary = paid monthly, regardlesss of whether the school is actually open. Can you clarify what happens in the event of:
- public hols eg 10-10 day
- CNY
- summer & winter breaks
- typhoon, sars etc
exam time - how often and what do we do?
-duties
-hours
-paid?
special events - are these held, do we have to be there, etc
-sports days
-parents days
-plays\shows etc
-competitions
absence - what are the rules?
-illness
-late
-casual leave
contract - what happens if…
-termination
-disputes
-chain of command - who are we working for?
pay
-timesheets
-partial months pro rata or hourly?
-bonus?
-NHI
-tax - receipt required
-o\t rate
school
-area, desk, cupboard, spare classroom (english corner) - is there some place will be set aside for us?
-dress code
-lunchbox\microwave
-travel costs\accomodation
-who are your students?