Job Discussion Forums

[Epicticus]

Just to let you know that now that the cat is out of the bag, there are at least 8 teachers who will have their contracts terminated/not renewed soon for having fake degrees, qualifications and experiences they never had. I was informed this by someone very close to the Dean. At the moment there are a lot of teachers heading to their classes with very worried looks on their faces!

[Sleepwalker]

English teachers only or all lecturers/teachers?

This would be so unfair if it just applied to language staff as falsified qualifications are rumoured to be very common from a certain sub-continent.

[jdl]

Unfortunately, there is always opportunity for good con artist in ESL, as employer or employee.

[jdl]

Con, flim flam, swindle, grift, bunko, false pretense... is not limited by language, nationality or geography. All that a good con requires is enough confidence to 'pass oneself off'. A natural scam for a 'native speaker' would be to exagerate qualification in order to acquire employment in a ESL environment. A non native would have to 'up the ante' , not having the natural/native English language skills, by exagerating the paper qualification. As long as the artist is believable the con will work. Most must expect to be 'found out' eventually. Are we surprised that a good con artist can teach or appear to teach and inspire confidence? It is pre-requisite.

Ah well, there is always another mark to be had in another setting. Time to fold up the game and move on. MMMM.....maybe the time is better spent acquiring the qualification.

[angelfire]

There hasn't been any traffic on this thread for about 3 months. Can someone update the situation there?

[Eric Carlson]

As it's to the Hawthorn Agency's financial advantage to replace their complement of 'teachers' each year this is what invariably happens, without any reference of the qualifications or abilities of the teacher. Epicticus is well aware of this. Also a high proportion of staff resign.

Unfortunately, there are no checks of academic qualifications for this college, apart from a request for a scan. "Experiences" are another matter. The institutionalised long term staff thrive on malicious gossip, so a perfectly true statement made in conversation can be expanded into an epic tale of bizarre proportions.

It's not really to anyones credit to remain at Sohar College too long, rather a case of the lunatics taking over the asylum.

[Gazoo1000]

[Gazoo1000]

[nomad soul]

[Gazoo1000]

Well, lucky for all of us this thread has new life in it.

Any thoughts about the low wages at Hawthorn?

[nomad soul]

Yes, $2,350 is what you'd get with your bachelor's degree. Hawthorn is a business, so there's no incentive to pay teachers more.

[Gazoo1000]

Oh, thank you for educating me on this point.

I didn't realize all lecturers in Oman make no more than $2,350. per month. Good to know.

[nomad soul]

[veiledsentiments]

I didn't note anywhere on that website or NS's post that referred to "all lecturers in Oman" or even that it was the highest that Hawthorn will pay. Since they will hire with an unrelated BA if one has a CELTA/cert and 3 years of experience, I'd say that $2350 is about one's value. These have always been entry level jobs for the Gulf.

If one has better credentials, one can probably get more. They aren't the only employer in Oman. Not to mention that no one has ever gone to Oman for the TEFL Big Bucks.

VS

[Gazoo1000]

Not sure where you're getting your info but several years ago (probably more now) I got a job in Oman earning 1300 OR. Just a bachelors, not education oriented.

I have no idea why one would mention bachelor degree holders but not be referring to all bachelor holders, just some.

The other day I spent a few OR on a cup of coffee, but not all cups of coffee, just the one. Some cups of coffee are free while others costs thousands or Omani Rials...