Job Discussion Forums

berrygirl21 · Joined: 20 Aug 2012 Posts: 1

Can anyone tell me what it's like working for the British Council in Malaysia? I am looking at several job offers at the minute and was just hoping to get some info from teachers already out there........Please no pointless negativity, I just want the facts!!

Tudor · Joined: 21 Aug 2009 Posts: 215

Can't tell you much really, but I briefly worked with a guy who spent three years there and he said it was a great job.

The salary seems pretty good for KL, but I think it's quite a tough place to get into, or so I've been told by BC teachers at other locations.

scot47 · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:45 pm Post subject:

You do know that BC is like "Upstaiirs, Downstairs". Clear dichotomy between full-timers (Oxbridge) and the menials.

sushikurva · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 52 Location: out n' about

Having worked for the BC in a number of countries, my opinion is that despite the good salary and benefits, it is a lame, self-serving and fantastically hypocritical organisaion. In all the centres that I have worked, a frequent topic of conversation is the ridiculous things that have happened to people at the hands of the BC at various BC centres around the world.

However, the centre in KL, where I currently work, is so far, after half a year, drama free and an entirely decent place to work. I can't speak for the teacher mentor or upskilling programs, or Penang, but KL is alright.

Not wanting to be entirely negative, I would also say that most of the other teachers I have worked with at various centres are some of the best people i have met, both personally and professionally, in the 15 years I've worked in TEFL, and the one good thing about the crappiness of the BC is that it bonds people together.

It's too bad really, beacause it's an organisation with so much potential, but it just doesn't seem to live up to its reputation very often...

Tudor · Joined: 21 Aug 2009 Posts: 215

sushikurva · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 52 Location: out n' about

During an immigration raid in one country, the country director panicked and ordered the teachers there to go into the classrooms and hide under the desks...

A teacher was formally disciplined for cracking a disparaging joke about a syllabus in which the final 6 hours of a class was only given 2 pages in a textbook for material...

A TCM who upon arrival at a new centre gave a speech about "happy teachers" being the most important part of the BC's business, and then began cutting salary and benefits...about 20% of the teachers there expressed their happiness by quitting or not renewing their contracts...

A thousand others...