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dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
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 Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:51 am Post subject: |
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good plan. posters here can be so cruel  |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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| dmb wrote: |
I guess size has something to do with it  The bigger the place the more likely there is to be a disgruntled employee. |
I'd say yes and no on this one. There are large places that rarely have negative posts... like UAEU, HCT, ZU, SQU, KU, AUS...
They have gone through many teachers through the years and just the rare negative post has shown up here. Just a few mumbles now and again with a problem management individual.
The big problems are invariably related to organizations that are NOT direct hires or NOT government contracts. The worst being language schools, small private international schools, and private universities. Personally I wouldn't touch the first two with a barge pole, and you must be very careful with all the new private colleges and universities. AUS has been pretty successful. In Oman, Mazoon has received a bit of bad press here, while MCBS has done all right. There are a couple of other places that have had little or no mention on the boards.
Then there is the problem that things can change one way or the other. Both good and bad management can move on and be replaced by the opposite. So, making lists is not that helpful... It is better done just as we are now... asking for information as places advertise. There will be little hiring done in the ME from now until next year at the decent places.
Checking with current teachers is always the best option, but that doesn't mean that you can necessarily find one to check with... We are often stuck with a 'grapevine' of varying accuracy...
VS |
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carnac
Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 310
Location: in my village in Oman ;-)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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Everyone gripes from time to time about their job. Human nature. The most satisfied teachers I know in Oman work either for RAFO or RAO and stay for a long time. SQU is supposed to be generally ok also but I have no direct experience. I hear no complaints from teachers at Polyglot or British Council. Much of the rest seems to be a throw of the dice.
I have learned enough about the topic school to know to stay faaaaar away, thanks very much.  |
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boundforsaudi
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 243
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Signor
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 66
Location: Qatar
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Looked at your link and then went to the CfBT home page - and then to Oman:
http://www.cfbt.com/workus/oman.html
The posts at the colleges are not listed and there is an email address for the director. In fact the only CfBT vacancies seem to be in the UK, Brunei and Malaysia. I think your address may be out of date.
As for the other matter - I'm not sure of the situation although I have met teachers working in the regional colleges who are direct hire - but whether they went through the recruiter or contacted the Ministry themselves, I don't know.
Anyone out there help? |
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Signor
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 66
Location: Qatar
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| Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:05 am Post subject: |
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This appeared on the beer thread and may answer the question about the recruiter.
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Although the Ministry of Higher Education has a good reputation in Oman, it is better to be employed by them directly and not through an agent. In particular be very wary about accepting MOHE jobs, or any other jobs, through the recruiting agent with the title of �CEO� whose �office has a hotel address�. This is the same so-called �CEO� who caused such havoc at Sur University College and who went on to create the same sort of havoc at Hawthorn Muscat where he was also �CEO�. The same company owns SUC and Hawthorn as well as hotels and travel agencies.
When I was teaching at Hawthorn until last year there were five of us there who were contracted teachers. All were well-qualified and experienced. One had a Master�s degree, one was completing a Master�s and one has since begun a Master�s. Three had the DELTA. We all had on-going contractual issues which were never resolved during our one year there. We had thought the school would be a safe, professional place to work as it came under the umbrella of Melbourne University Private. However, the school was merely a franchise and MUP had little control. Due to the concerns of the teachers the Quality Controller from MUP drew up an improved draft contract spelling out the �hidden extras� such as no release letters. As MUP have since become defunct, presumably such a contract has no validity, if indeed it was ever implemented.
One of the aforementioned five teachers paid her own return airfare after the �CEO� had promised it would be reimbursed. The cost of the single fare from her country of origin to Muscat was reimbursed but she found out only a few weeks before the end of her contract that the �CEO� had informed the Board in writing that she had agreed not to claim her return airfare. Repeated requests from her to the Board to guarantee that the fare would be reimbursed were ignored. Finally she was informed it would not be paid. This was conveyed to her in a letter from the �CEO� who made sure he was out of the country before she was given the letter. She asked the accountant to pay her last month�s salary and holiday pay a week before she left Oman. He agreed to do this but on the day it was due he �discovered� he did not have a cheque signed by the sheik who owns the school. Only when she threatened to withhold her end-of-course reports from her Ministry of Higher Education sponsored students and to e-mail the students and the Ministry to explain why, did he �remember� he could have the cash sent round that evening.
Another teacher, fed up with the on-going �mickey-mouseness�, found a better job in the UAE and, being a true professional, gave the required notice. The accountant threatened not only to withhold her final month�s salary, he told her he had listed her as an absconder and if she attempted to leave the country on her planned holiday he would have her arrested. She had the good sense to go to the British Embassy who informed him otherwise. However, her final month�s salary was not paid to her until she was actually at the check-in counter at the airport. At least she did get all her money, unlike a previous teacher who finished her two-year contract (one year with SUC and one year with Hawthorn) and the day before she was due to fly back to her country found out her promised overtime had not been paid.
A third teacher was sub-contracted to RAFO by Hawthorn, which took a large commission. He and a fourth teacher from Hawthorn were offered jobs at RAFO (much better conditions and salaries) at the end of their contract with Hawthorn but were unable to accept the jobs because the sheik refused to give them release letters. They loved Muscat and had planned on staying in Oman for several years, but after such shoddy treatment they left the country, and once again the Omani students missed out on excellent teachers.
A new teacher arrived at Hawthorn, stayed twenty four hours, learned a few home truths, and flew back to his own country with the return ticket that the company had forgotten to take off him. Another new teacher stayed a month before finding and accepting a better job in another country and sensibly leaving quietly the day after she was paid.
Far from learning from the results of their poor people management skills and making an effort to retain good teachers, the company does not care if teachers do not renew their contracts as another unsuspecting bunch - qualified or unqualified - will always be found to fill the gaps. Because of the many complaints from staff the �CEO� was eventually removed from his office at Hawthorn but he was retained by the company and continues to act as a recruiting agent.
Oman is a beautiful, fascinating country and Omani students are, on the whole, very pleasant to teach. It is vital, however, to be very careful about the school you sign on with and to take heed of warnings about staying clear of individuals such as this �CEO�. |
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oh_lucky_me
Joined: 25 Sep 2004
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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Oh dear! Sounds like Hawthorne is going the same way as ELS and CECN. I just don't understand the mentality of not giving releases simply because they can. Surely they realise that more damage is done by the negative publicity they get.
I also don't understand why people support these companies, practically condoning it. One can only think that they work for a company that witholds release letters and there is some shred of twisted loyalty. Be interesting to see what some of these loyalists who write into this forum will be writing, when their contracts are over. |
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