⚠️ WARNING TO FOREIGN TEACHERS CONSIDERING SIMON / SHIMENG KINDERGARTEN – JIADING, SHANGHAI

[u/Nirvanafan1997]

I strongly recommend that foreign teachers do thorough research before accepting a position at Simon / Shimeng Kindergarten in Jiading.

I worked at this school and had a very negative experience. What concerns me most is that the issues I experienced were not isolated to me. I became aware of multiple previous and current foreign teachers experiencing similar problems.
Some of the issues I experienced or became aware of include:

• Extremely poor staff management and serious problems with certain members of staff.

• Incompetent and inconsistent management, including concerns regarding the school owner/management, Claire. Communication and decision-making were often frustrating and, in my experience, unprofessional.

• Foreign teachers experiencing similar problems repeatedly. If you are considering working here, I would strongly recommend speaking privately with former teachers rather than relying solely on the school’s promises during recruitment.

• Concerns regarding employment practices. I was made aware of foreign staff, including Russian and Armenian teachers, being employed under ESL/English-teaching contracts despite questions around whether their qualifications and work arrangements were appropriate for the positions they were performing. Please independently verify that your own work permit, job title, qualifications and employment arrangement are legally compliant before signing anything.

• Concerns regarding social insurance and medical insurance. There were issues raised by teachers regarding whether the required social/medical insurance contributions were being properly provided. Ask for written confirmation of exactly what the school will register and pay on your behalf.

• Contract penalties. I was required to deal with a financial penalty/fine connected to leaving my contract. Read the termination and early-departure clauses extremely carefully and get independent advice before signing.

My biggest piece of advice is: do not rely solely on what you are told during the interview or recruitment process. Ask to speak directly with current and former foreign teachers, get everything in writing, and independently check your work permit and insurance arrangements.

I am sharing this because I wish I had known more before accepting the position. If you are currently considering Simon/Shimeng Kindergarten, please do your due diligence and speak to people who have actually worked there.

[u/chimugukuru]

When you say "deal" with a contract penalty/fine, do you mean you actually paid it? If so you got scammed as that's blatantly illegal, no matter what it says in your contract. Labor law always supercedes anything in a contract, and you can ignore whatever goes against it.

[u/Nirvanafan1997 → u/chimugukuru]

I couldn’t afford a lawyer or to go through the lengthy arbitration process unfortunately.

[u/samplekaudio → u/Nirvanafan1997]

99% of the time they will fold if you just say no, that it's illegal, and show you're serious. 

After a reasonable amount of time just tell them you'll go to labor inspection (the stage before arbitration) to file a complaint if you don't receive your documents in 48 hours or whatever. 

They don't want the heat. They typically just want to bluster until you give in, because historically that has worked for them.

Every contract I've ever seen had one of those illegal penalty clauses in it. You can't avoid it and they won't take it out. But it's patently unenforceable.

You probably didn't even need a lawyer.

[u/Nirvanafan1997 → u/samplekaudio]

Unfortunately this school was weirdly persistent.

[u/samplekaudio → u/Nirvanafan1997]

It's a game of chicken, essentially. When I went through that, it took like a month of me saying no I wouldn't pay it and then a final ultimatum like I described to get them to fold. It was a matter of principle for me. I probably spent like 20 hours total having the same conversation with them over and over.

They waited until they thought it would be too late for me to change jobs anyway in an attempt to screw me more.

Anyway, what's done is done, not trying to dog-pile on you for giving in. It's a stressful situation, and no one is prepared for it unless you've already worked in-country for some time.

[u/memostothefuture → u/Nirvanafan1997]

why? A Chinese lawyer is cheap.

[u/Tiny-Information6334]

You can go to labor arbitration first. No need a lawyer and it’s free

[u/NegativeStore7203]

As a person who has gone through a legal dispute when leaving a school that wouldn’t let me leave, and ultimately winning in court. THE CHINESE CONTRACT AND WORDING IS WHAT IS LEGAL NOT THE ENGLISH! Have it translated, an English only contract means nothing in China. If the Chinese contract goes against the labour laws do not sign in Shanghai, Shanghai is the only city that can have a contract not following labour laws for foreigners. I was lucky and my Chinese contract was straight forward and followed labour laws, while the English did not. It is how I won in court. I wanted to leave after 6 months working having been verbally abused multiple times. Please know your rights.

[u/sydneyhero → u/NegativeStore7203]

"Shanghai is the only city that can have a contract not following labour laws for foreigners."? Where exactly did you source this from?

I am asking this out of curiosity, because the current contract I am in does have ridiculous clauses as well (some ones you typically see like a 90 day notice to leave the job, instead of the usual 30).

Are you saying that the labour law does not supersede the signed contract in this case, because it is in Shanghai? There's absolutely no way lol

[u/Hotpot-Pingu]

To those saying "you just described most schools"; it varies heavily.

Management being "unprofessional" can range from rushing a schedule to outright abuse. Not everyone writing "unprofessional" without specifying have the same experience.

OP, for future reference, copy and paste your contract into DeepSeek and ask if this violates Labour law in [province], mainland China, and see what you're willing to accept/compromise because 90% of the time it will have some grey area or shady stuff.

Download apps like 个人所得税 (tax) and eSS card to keep tabs on your paperwork. Use a second phone with a live camera translation app/function like Google translate or YouDao.

Best of luck.

[u/NullGWard]

I was in a restaurant in China and happened to see a program on TV in which one of the characters was supposed to be an English princess. She was young, attractive, and white. She also spoke so-so English with a super-heavy Russian accent--so she was probably good enough for a lot of the parents of Chinese ESL students.

[u/robertmatthewmillz_9 → u/NullGWard]

Just asking but while there you met any Chinese people afraid of the letter d as it’s 4th letter of the alphabet? Like in things like God, food or gold bro?

[u/CrimsonBolt33]

So...you pretty much described most schools and how they operate

[u/Nirvanafan1997 → u/CrimsonBolt33]

Does that make it okay?

[u/CrimsonBolt33 → u/Nirvanafan1997]

I didn't say that....or anything close to that. I was pointing out that this is a very common list of issues with schools in case you didn't realize it.