Community Guidelines

Last updated: February 21, 2026

School Transparency is built on the honesty and generosity of the international teaching community. Every review, salary report, and tip helps another teacher make a better-informed decision. These guidelines exist to keep the platform trustworthy, fair, and useful for everyone.

What We Expect

  • Be honest. Share your genuine experience. If a school was great, say so. If it wasn't, say that too. What matters is that it's real.
  • Be specific. "The management was poor" is less helpful than "Teacher concerns raised in meetings were consistently dismissed without follow-up." Details help other teachers evaluate whether a concern applies to them.
  • Be fair. No school is perfect, and no school is entirely bad. A balanced review that covers both strengths and weaknesses is more credible and more useful.
  • Be current. Conditions at schools change. If your experience is several years old, mention that. A review from 2019 may not reflect how a school operates today.
  • Report accurate data. When submitting salary, housing, or cost-of-living information, use real numbers from your actual experience. Don't estimate or guess.

What Is Not Allowed

The following will result in your submission being rejected:

False factual claims

Stating something as fact that you know to be untrue, or making specific accusations without basis. There is a difference between sharing your opinion ("I felt the administration was unresponsive") and making an unsubstantiated factual claim ("The principal embezzles school funds"). Opinions based on your experience are welcome. Unverifiable factual allegations about criminal or unethical behavior are not.

Harassment or personal attacks

Targeting specific individuals by name with the intent to harass, intimidate, or damage their personal reputation. You may describe your experience with management, administration, or colleagues in general terms without naming individuals.

Confidential or private information

Posting internal school documents, private communications, personal contact information of staff, or other confidential material.

Discrimination and hate speech

Content that targets individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic.

Spam and promotion

Advertising, recruitment agency promotions, commercial solicitations, or any content submitted primarily for promotional purposes rather than to share genuine experience.

Duplicate or manipulative submissions

Submitting the same review multiple times, or coordinating with others to artificially inflate or deflate a school's rating.

How Moderation Works

  1. You submit a review, salary report, housing data, or tip through one of our forms.
  2. You verify your email address via the link we send you (expires in 24 hours).
  3. We review your submission against these guidelines. This typically takes a few days.
  4. We publish or reject. If approved, your submission appears on the site. If rejected, you receive an email explaining why, and you are welcome to resubmit with changes.

We review every submission before it goes live. We reserve the sole and absolute right to approve, reject, or remove any content at any time, for any reason.

For Schools

We understand that negative reviews can be frustrating. Here is how we handle school concerns:

  • We do not remove reviews because they are negative. Honest criticism of a school's working conditions, management, or facilities is permitted.
  • We will review reported content. If you believe a review violates these guidelines (contains false factual claims, harassment, or confidential information), you may report it to us. We will review the report and make a determination at our sole discretion.
  • We make the final call. We are not obligated to remove content based on external requests, legal threats, or pressure. Our moderation decisions are final.

Consequences

  • First violation: Submission rejected with an email explaining which guideline was violated and how to fix it.
  • Repeated violations: Your email address may be banned from making further submissions.
  • Severe violations (threats, doxxing, illegal content): Immediate ban, and we may cooperate with law enforcement if necessary.

Contact

To report a guideline violation or ask questions about moderation, email us at: hello@schooltransparency.com