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TED Izmir

 
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crobizzle



Joined: 16 Oct 2015
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:24 am    Post subject: TED Izmir Reply with quote

I'm starting this thread as a warning to Native English Speaker teachers to avoid TED Izmir...at least for the next few years until they can work out their MAJOR problems. My experience with the school was that they wouldn't hesitate to lie to you, wouldn't communicate important information to you, and would bully you if you happened to disagree with them. I accepted a job there mainly based on the belief that the TED schools in Turkey were all generally similar, sharing a common curricula, respect of and use of English, and had a good support system for non-Turkish speakers. I soon found out I was wrong on all points.

Rather than just complain endlessly, I'm going to list my major complaints with the school, so that if you have any future dealings with them, you will have an idea of what kinds of questions to ask, & how they might respond.

1) They did not pay me the amount that was stated on my contract as my salary
This was a huge shock, & the tipping point that caused me to resign. I interviewed for the job in February, & during my interview I asked if I would be paid in USD or TL. I was told it didn't matter, I could choose. That was the first time that I told them it was very important to me that I would be paid in USD. When I was sent a contract to sign to accept the job, it was completely blank. I immediately contacted the school and told them I would not sign a legally binding document that was completely blank. At this point, I outlined again that I expected to see that I would be paid my salary in USD on any contract I signed. They sent me a new contract a few weeks later which did this. In the summer, I received an email from my new Dept Head which made some comment about "don't forget the +/- 8%" regarding my salary. I immediately wrote to her and asked her what she was talking about. If I was going to be paid in USD, why did I need to worry about +/- 8%? I never got a response. You can imagine my shock when I went to receive my first salary payment, and not only was it NOT in USD, but it was also about 800tl LESS than the amount stated in my contract by the day's exchange rate. I was furious. I told the accounting person there must have been a mistake, but he said it wasn't HIS mistake (in Turkish of course) & I would need to talk to my Dept Head if there was a problem. I did. She told me the TED organization had set the conversion rate at 2.5tl/1USD (the current rate was 3.03tl/1USD) and "didn't anyone tell you?!" Nothing was resolved. One week later I resigned.

2) They expect you to work nearly a month for free
When I signed my contract, the start date was written as September 1. I was relieved for this because I was leaving a high stress job, getting married, visiting my family in the US, and moving during the summer, so I looked forward to having a full 2 1/2 months to do all of that. I had regularly sent emails to my new Dept Head from about April onwards, asking questions to try to make my transition to the school a smooth one. I rarely received responses to my emails. After my wedding & showing friends and family around Turkey, my husband & I went to the States. The last email I had sent to my Dept Head said something along the lines of, "I'm looking forward to seeing you when I return to Turkey at the end of August!" This was one of the few emails she DID respond to, in which she said, "You need to be at school on August 10." Again, I was shocked and furious. It was mid-July when she told me this, & this was the FIRST time she had ever mentioned that I would need to start working before the date written on my contract. I responded & told her that was impossible since I wouldn't be coming back to Turkey until the end of August, & that we would need to discuss how I would be paid for working any days before my contract start date. She didn't like that, & wrote back that it was quite normal in Turkey to start working before Sept 1 (I had worked at 3 other schools in Turkey previously, and none of them required me to work before my contract start date), and that she remembered quite clearly that I was told this in my interview. I had notes I'd taken from the interview, & what I'd been told was that they usually did some observations before school started to "Level" students 1 or 2 weeks before school started, but I was never told that would be part of MY responsibilities. School also generally starts the 3rd week of September, so nothing indicated I would need to work in August. As to payment, she said that all of the staff was expected to work from August 10 on, and the first salary payment would be on Oct 1. Nothing extra. Free labor.

3) They won't apply for your work permit on time, which creates extra expenses for you when you have to apply for your own Residence Permit separately
It is illegal to work in Turkey without a work permit. Everyone knows this, which is why contracts always say that the school will provide you with a work permit. (This is also how they agree to provide you with insurance, since you can then receive SGK- the national insurance- if your employer provides you with a work permit.) Having already lived & worked in Turkey for 5 years, I was well aware of the work permit/residence permit situation. I knew that it usually took MONTHS for a work permit to be issued. I also knew the system had recently changed a year before, but again, I was familiar with the process & aware that if the school applied for my work permit, it would also count as my residence permit, & I shouldn't have to apply for one separately. When I was hired, I repeatedly asked what documents the school needed from me for my work permit application. By the end of May, I told them I'd really like to have all of my documents to them before my wedding, which meant I needed to know NOW what they needed from me. Nothing. At the beginning of July, DAYS before I was supposed to leave for the States, they sent me a list of things they needed immediately. It took my husband & I 2 full days to gather all of the documents (1 day for the medical report alone because the HR person at the school told us the WRONG thing that we needed). We mailed those to the school, & I thought I was done. Until I returned to Turkey, & started my job at the end of August, & was suddenly told I needed to have some documents translated & notarized for my application. (Again, this is typical, but every school I've worked at before has done this themselves...& I couldn't understand why they hadn't told me they needed ME to do this sooner.) At this point I could understand that they had not applied for my work permit yet, & my current permit was about to expire on August 31. I started asking my Dept Head, verbally & in email if they would have this done by Sept 1, as my insurance coverage would be ending, and if they hadn't applied by that date, I would need to apply separately for a Residence Permit so I could be in Turkey legally. No response. Well, not no response, but on Aug 31, the day my Residence Permit expired, I was told thatI would need to apply for a Residence Permit. This meant 2 things to me: 1-they had not fulfilled the contract by applying for my work permit by Sept 1 (meaning I wouldn't have insurance through THEM), and 2- I had to pay nearly 500tl of MY money to apply for a Residence Permit 2 days late & the school would not reimburse me for that. This experience showed me the HR person at the school was incompetent, & didn't know how to do her job.

4) The contract
I've already mentioned above how they sent me a blank contract. I later found out that I wasn't the only person they did this to. However, they told the other people they HAD to sign the blank contract, whereas they actually sent me a new contract to sign. Now, in Turkey, you usually have to sign a Turkish version & English version of your contract. Therefore, I had my then fiance look at the Turkish version, while I looked at the English version. It was immediately clear that they were 2 different contracts. It was not just a translated version of one contract, but 2 different contracts. Again, I emailed my Dept Head asking for clarification, because the contracts said 2 different things in some parts, & the part where the English contract talked about flight reimbursements did not match my notes from the interview. She actually responded to that email, and having her response in English, in an email, I signed the contract with the understanding that what she had told me in the email were the correct terms. This was in April. In May, I was still waiting for my official copy of the contract to be sent to me. I asked 2 or 3 times, and by the end of May I was told that I would just have to wait. I asked if the school could send me a "Memo of Understanding" or "Sample Contract" as most other schools usually do. Again, "No." I was feeling very uneasy about not having a copy of my contract, so when I started working, again, I asked for a copy verbally. I was told I just needed to wait a little longer. When my salary payment & work permit problems occurred, I went to the HR woman & said "I want a copy of my contract." (Some other colleagues said they had just been in her office, & all of our contracts were on her desk....mine on top.) She told me she didn't have it, my Dept Head did. I didn't see my Dept Head that day, so I emailed her that I wanted a copy of my contract. She also said she didn't have it, it was in Ankara. It turned into lie, upon lie...& by the time I resigned, I still did not have a copy of my contract.

5)The general work environment
When I accepted the job, I was told that teacher's generally taught 24 hours a week, teachers stayed late 2 nights a week for meetings (but hopefully it would be changing to only 1 night), some Saturdays were required, the students were great, & everything I needed to know would be translated into English.
The reality: Days before school started, the principal made an announcement that all teachers would have to teach at least 30 hours a week...but at the last minute the English dept hired one more teacher, so I was given 28 teaching hours a week instead; we had to stay 2 nights after school, but as the servis bus didn't show up, I didn't get home until after 8pm those nights. Also, the meeting turned out to be for other people, not me; certain grade levels had to go to school for meetings starting the 1st Saturday; the majority of the students were awful (in the sense that they had no discipline & did not view the teacher as a person who should be respected or listened to); and almost nothing was ever translated into English.
To be able to do your job at TED Izmir, it became clear that you needed to be fluent in Turkish. Many of the students (even at the middle school level) had almost no English, & no desire to learn it. They used the fact that they couldn't understand you as permission to have loud conversations with their friends across the room in Turkish, & the administration took no initiative to help teachers when they were asked to help with this situation. The meetings that we had to attend were almost always in Turkish, yet no one translated for the foreign teachers, nor did the Dept Head respond to verbal requests or emails asking for specific things to be translated. School rules & policies were never explained to foreign teachers. For example, I never knew what the attendance policy was, I was never told how many grades I was responsible for giving students (to be entered on e-okul, etc), and I didn't even know what I was supposed to do if I was sick (note- the school doctor doesn't know English). All of these contributed to a very stressful work environment.

I resigned after 1 1/2 months of working at the school. According to Turkish Labor law, & my contracts (which I only had photos of, not the official copies), I had the right to do that. I also had a medical note, as the stress from the job resulted in 2 herniated disks in my back. However, the second the school (mainly my Dept Head) realized I was serious about resigning, she began bullying me with threats that the school would take me to court. She repeated this in several emails, told me I couldn't resign, and that the principal wanted to see me. (Note that all of this communication had to go through my Dept Head because no one else at the school speaks English, not the principal, not the HR person, no one.) It wasn't until I contacted someone at the main TED organization in Ankara that anything was done. I was finally informed that my resignation was legal, and accepted, & I was told what documents to send the school in Izmir.

If I had been new to teaching, I would have thought that I was a terrible teacher & person because of the way things were handled at the school. However, I knew my rights & I had already been in Turkey for 5 years, & had successfully taught numerous Turkish students in both public & private school settings. I'm actually a pretty good teacher, & I knew it, which made it all the more clear that TED Izmir needs babysitters for their students, not serious educators.

I hope that changes will be made to the school in the future, but for anyone considering the school in the near future, beware of the English Dept Head (she will lie to you & manipulate you), and don't expect the administration to have any concern or understanding for "foreigner problems".
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for taking the time to warn the rest of us about TED İzmir. I think you made the right decision by leaving, but I'm also hoping you were compensated at least something for the 6 weeks you worked there.

Also note that I think you need to have a residence permit that's valid for at least six months before your job can apply for a work permit on your behalf. Even if your school wanted to, I don't think they could've extended your previous work permit or residence permit for this reason unless you were working at the same place of employment the previous year in which case they have until two weeks after its expiration.

Regardless, it's clear that they were disorganized, dishonest, deceptive, and totally trying to take advantage of you. I hope you are able to find another job soon and are back to good health again!
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crobizzle



Joined: 16 Oct 2015
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for your support nichtta.

Thank goodness I did take the salary payment they offered me (even though it was significantly less than it should have been).

As to the work permit, I've had continual residency in Turkey for 5 years, & I even asked when I had to apply for my residence permit in September if it was necessary if my school had applied for a work permit. I was told that the school should have been able to apply for my work permit as long as they did so before my old work permit expired. I truly should not have needed to apply for a residence permit at all. I know the residence permit situation is tricky sometimes, but the school wasn't even trying to do things the right way.
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Otterman Ollie



Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 1067
Location: South Western Turkey

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Worked there when it opened last year.not many left of the orginal team at that place.
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EFL Educator



Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No surprises here...it's all related to the new TEFL world order.... Shocked
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