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[rapidoamigo]

I have decided to write a review about this school so that members of the TEFL community have the opportunity to avoid making the same mistake I and three other teachers made in January 2013 - that was accepting an offer of employment from The Benedict School of Pomigliano D'Arco, South Italy.

It's hard to find an appropriate place to start with this as there were many problems. I will begin by explaining that this area of Italy is desolate and depraved. The town itself is lifeless and there is very little to do. Aesthetically it is very depressing. Pomigliano D'Arco is not the Italy one expects but is instead more akin to a small town in a less developed country. There is a social, cultural and economic poverty so engrained into the fabric of this area that finding any joy or relief from the rigorous schedule becomes very difficult. Note, I do not use rigorous 'working' schedule because most of the hours accrued are not spent working, but are instead spent UNPAID driving for miles across Naples Province to taxi one's fellow colleagues to their schools.

This process of 'taxiing' has been going on for years as the school was blacklisted in 2007 for this reason. As 95% of The Benedict School's business comes from poor state schools miles outside of Pomigliano D'Arco, the 'taxiing' is necessary to The Benedict School's 'business'. That is why in their TEFL advert they state that a driving license is essential.

The driving, waiting around and stressful organisation use up many unpaid hours every day, there is no exaggeration here. This problem is caused by the school only having three cars though eight teachers who are all working at different times and different places. This system is backward and chaotic and could be solved by adding more cars but the school owner, Mrs Clemente, doesn't need to go to this expense as it's not her that has to wait around for hours unpaid, get up at six most mornings, and only be paid for a fraction of the time one is at work - no, it's the unfortunate people she arrogantly exploits as part of her business, and has probably done so for a long time.

There are also other fundamental issues with this school emerging from the owner's draconian approach to business and to people. Over their 30 years of business (there has only been the one owner) it is clear that very little money has been spent on resources. There seems to be little focus on the learner's experience and Mrs Clemente is too busy to consider teacher development, these things are simply not priorities. Making money and keeping it to herself is the priority. The school is understaffed, bare and unpleasant.

The Director of Studies is a guy named Jorge who seems to be a good teacher though is overworked and simply does not have the time to do his job properly. If you accept an offer from this school you will become a cog in the wheel, there only to be used. Mrs Clemente's expectations are very high yet she will not give anything back. In fact she seems to lack an understanding of the concept of giving back and struggles to show any kind of warmth to those around her. No matter your age/life situation/needs/health, you will be expected to do as you are told, and be at work for as many hours as they need you to be, at times teaching for 5-6 hours without a break. The Benedict School of Pomigliano D'Arco do not care about the employee, they care about what they can take from the employee and from the already poor schools around the area....that to me is a real shame. If the European Commission were aware of what was happening at the school Mrs Clemente would perhaps find herself in some bother.

There is also a nasty clique within this school who enjoy talking dirty behind their colleagues' backs. As stated they recruited four new teachers in January and within the first month all four had left. We found that we weren't welcomed with positivity nor open arms but instead with negativity and coldness. There is a general lack of warmth about the place and some of the people working their seemed fairly heartless. And I doubt this will change as the school is run by a family and a couple of other teachers who seem to lack the strength to get out.

Another important issue is the 'free accomodation'. All of the flats held by the school are dated, dingy, lacking in privacy and freezing cold. Some are without heating. One expects the south of Italy to be warm but in the winter months there is little difference between Naples province and parts of Northern Europe. You will be expected to share one of these flats with members of the clique and they may not be to your taste, or more probably, you to theirs. You will also be expected to pay the utility bills which are much more expensive in this part of the world than others. On the whole the Benedict School of Pomigliano D'Arco and the near criminal system constructed to support it is more reminiscent of a soviet gulag camp than an honest, upstanding language school.

If you want to enjoy life in Italy and avoid wasting a lot of time, money and energy, I and many more strongly urge you to AVOID THE BENEDICT SCHOOL OF POMIGLIANO D'ARCO.

[englishposse]

I am so glad that someone has come forward to express their terrible experience of this second rate school. I too had this misfortune of working here and I also can verify the terrible way in which you are treated by the school and in particular Mrs Carmen Clemente.

The taxiing everyday and the disorganization of the car system used to get me down, I would daily have to eat my lunch in the car whilst driving between schools and wait around until other teachers had finished and of course all unpaid.

Mrs Clemente has quite ancient views on business basically she's the boss and you do as she says. You are never asked you are simply told and forget about having a life out of school it simply doesn't exist. On public holidays we were summoned into school for about 2 hours + to simply be told things we already knew and pointless matters, nothing to benefit you as a teacher and of course all unpaid.

The most DISGUSTING thing that happened was when a female teacher was expected (as by all) to use the public transport system late at night to get to lessons and one particular night in a underground station this teacher was attacked by a man, forget how shocked and frightened she was, Benedict school still expected her to work the next day and attend the same lesson by the same means of transport until the teacher in question protested.

Please avoid this school at all costs you are treated as a slave and get paid the same.

[Gulaas]

As one of the teachers working with rapidoamigo I can confirm all of the comments regarding this school are true. This is a belated reply as I have been trying to sort out my life after spending a lot of time and money moving to Italy only to leave very disappointed.

Everything that needs to be said about Benedict School Pomigliano d' Arco has been said. It is simply a case of someone putting money before the welfare of their staff and the students. In any line of work this is a disaster, all the more in education. An example of this concerning staff was being out of my apartment for 6 hours and earning 11 Euro. I am not motivated by money, that's not why I teach, but there are limits!
As for cutting costs with the students, resources are pretty much nonexistent. We were told we could photocopy but basically then told not to use any paper.I can teach with no resources but it's not going to be to the best of my ability and to the detriment of the students.

Things like the above got me down pretty fast and I left without giving notice, something I am not proud of but the the way the school operates made me feel I didn't have much choice.

If the previous posts have not convinced you I would strongly recommend avoiding this school. All the more after reading the comment from englishposse.

[Teacher in Rome]

In no way trying to minimise the shock and distress of the teacher who was attacked, but I wasn't aware that Pomigliano d' Arco had an underground transport system.

[englishposse]

Pomigliano D' arco doesn't have an underground transport system but some of the Circumversuviana stations close to Naples where the incident happened do have stations that are underground!

[Teacher in Rome]

Thanks for the clarification!

Many women I know won't use the Rome metro on their own after office hours, and it's pretty shocking that female teachers are expected to use public transport late at night. What happened in the end - has the school backed down to allow for taxi journeys?

[**beer-goggles**]

Another question that should also be raised is the alleged fraud that this school has undertaken in relation to PON projects. A former employee of this school and my new colleague found out very belatedly that 'his/her' CV had been doctored with a false English degree to ensure 'he/she' arrived at the top of the graduatory.
(How often are CVs really checked when your boss knows all the local school bosses??)
The said employee only found out about this fact when applying for another job at my school, only to realise that the CV had been changed without their knowledge.

When teachers are undertaking numerous PONs for private schools their is only 1 person who makes the money and that is the boss and certainly not the slave working for E8-10 an hour doing this work when the net hourly rate is E56.



Further to the above. Can anyone advise as to what teachers should try to 'negotiate' as an hourly rate for PON. I know of another teacher who did a PON at E8 an hour....MUG.

[Teacher in Rome]

You might not get the chance to negotiate the PON rates - I thought the whole scheme was coming to an end...

Certainly when I was working for an institution that had won a PON contract, the teachers earned a massive amount (for that time). The school didn't do badly out of it either.