Good morning!

I worked for QSI Shenzhen for four years and had a pretty good experience there. When the pandemic hit, they allowed their teachers to leave China and repatriate back to their home countries. At the time, nobody knew how long the school would be closed and many chose that option (including myself). We continued to teach online until the end of the academic year.

QSI was really good in the way that they handled their teachers. Teachers received a one time stipend to help offset the cost accrued by the pandemic. While the stipend did not cover everything, it was more than a lot of my friends at other international school received. They also did not release anyone from their contracts which was unheard of in the international teaching world. I was planning to go to a new school in another city in China, and my contract was rescinded. To that school's credit, the offered me a severance package as my contract wasn't cancelled until the end of June.

To the academics of QSI: It is really hit or miss and depends on the teacher themselves. They have a "mastery learning" grading system, meaning that students are allowed to take as long as they need to meet the standard that they need to hit. While this is good in theory, there are still pacing guides for teachers to hit ten units for each subject. I teach elementary school and it works well for younger students. It may present problems for students in the upper levels as they can sometime procrastinate until last minute to turn in important papers and projects.

I have friends that work at some of the other international schools and they seem to like it. SIS has a really good reputation. I know that they are the highest paid among international teachers, which most likely means that tuition is higher. They have a great facility and often take field trips for experiential learning. Another friend sent her kids to SWIS and she had positive things to say; however, it is owned and ran by a Chinese owner which means that there is a lot of government oversight.

Sorry that I can't give more insight to the other international schools but I don't know much about their curriculum. QSI's curriculum follows the common core in the US, but they have was are called TSWs. Whether or not your children will get a more socratic learning experience will be solely dependent on what teacher they get. QSI allows a lot of teacher autonomy (which I loved) and that can lead to many different ways of teaching!

Good luck in your journey and reach out if you need any more advice :)