Job Discussion Forums

[s.pin]

Hello everyone,

I am planning to work for The British Institute in Indonesia but I would just like to get some feedback from people who are currently working there or have previously worked for the school. Please let me know about your experience there because this will greatly help me with deciding on whether to move to the country and live in Indonesia for a year.

Thank you!

[Tudor]

Which one? They have about fifteen branches across Indonesia so comments about TBI Bandung, for example, won't be much use if you're planning to work at TBI Surabaya. Most of these schools are franchised so although they conform to certain things (such as curriculum and branding) other things (such as wages, management etc) can be very different.

[s.pin]

TBI Cibubur

[Tudor]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about them, they've only been open a while.

Do bear in mind though that Cibubur is a fair way out of central Jakarta, so I wouldn't imagine there's a great deal in terms of entertainment there.

Also, consider what salary they're offering. AFAIK, the three central branches (Kuningan, Sudirman and Fatmawati) pay about 14.5 million so if Cibubur are offering substantially lower you might be better trying to get into one of the these branches - better money and location. I'd imagine at least one of the above currently have vacancies.

Good luck, anyway.

[sushikurva]

,,,

[s.pin]

Yes, I have an English degree.

[princesss]

The one to avoid at all costs is TBI Bekasi Sun City. Met 2 ex-teachers who told me scary stories about not being paid salaries and so on. TBI doesnt seem to step in and help teachers when things go wrong at the smaller TBI schools

[plumpy nut]

In order to get a job through the British Institute you normally have to have a Celta. On their online application process you have to list your CELTA, and if you don't it is considered incomplete. Nothing on the application for listing another certificate ie. TEFL, TESOL.

[princesss]

Don't worry about that. I know someone without a degree in any subject who has had work at TBI Kuningan. All last year they had casuals coming and going. They can't get enough qualified teachers. They sometimes offer people 3 month schedules or gentlemen's agreement or something from what I read on the thread on here These are at your own risk if Immigration comes knocking. They used to have 3 CELTA trainers I heard but now they are down to 1. Standards are not high these days If you want to work there without proper credentials I say give it a go.

[bradleycooper]

TBI has axed its expat school managers over the last 5 years (with one nepotistic exception) and slowly replaced them with "low-cost" locals. Anyone who has criticized the policy has been subjected to a smear campaign accusing them of being crazy, incompetent, hated etc. Out of 16 schools, there is only 1 managed by an expat now. All of them used to be expat-managed. Surprise, surprise this exception happens to be the best friend of the main axe-man who got rid of all the others. This guy does not even have a degree- he told many people this himself- but the company has no standards anymore, just endless internal politicking.

There have also been many problems with Immigration at many of their schools. In 2007 they made national news when British teachers were deported from TBI Bogor in a raid. Even though TBI had put them on the wrong visa- namely a business consultant visa- TBI Head Office didn't lift a finger to help them and just ordered fresh expats from the online job recruitment forums. I have copies of the newspaper reports if anyone wants to see them. Even now they still use the same "business consultant visas" and fly some of their teachers in and out of Singapore every couple of months to renew them. These are the same practices that resulted in raids and deportations in the past. I don't know why they don't just raise salaries to get more qualified teachers with the right degree, but the local Senior Management are allergic to spending money these days.

Here is a link to a thread on here where Dave's user 'limakaki' accuses TBI of lying about the fact that there are no management jobs for expats at TBI. 'Limakaki' also says that no one would want to work for TBI if they have more than a CELTA. This person appears later in this thread ludicrously attacking me for criticizing TBI, but he was doing it himself just 15 months ago! His old comments are true, but he is now flatly contradicting himself because of his friendship with a current TBI manager. Still, you can see how flatly he contradicts his own story.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=90957

[MadRiley]

I think this sort of thing is common all around Asia. A lot of the schools in China are little more than a front for black market money too. Still how can people be so surprised that this this company is engaged in coruption? We are talking about a nation which routinely tops 'Worst of Asia' lists in terms of corruption.

[bradleycooper]

In terms of The British Institute, there have indeed been many instances of entrenched corruption. Like many other language schools in Jakarta, they run a scam where they steal expat teachers' bonus month salaries. Allow me to explain.

Every employee in Indonesia is entitled to a bonus extra months's salary paid in conjunction with a religious festival. It is called THR. Most Indonesians are Muslims, so it is paid at Lebaran, the end of the fasting month. Some companies pay it to Christians at Xmas but others just pay everyone at Lebaran, regardless of religion. Expat teachers are entitled to this bonus pay just like everyone else, but the language school 'mills' have created a nice little money spinner by banking on the ignorance of expats about Indonesian law.

TBI has never paid THR to expats at any of their branches, however they are required by law to put it aside. At TBI Kuningan (their supposed 'good' school) expat teachers' salaries have reached a total of $18,000 per month for many years. That means each year someone in Senior Management has pocketed the $18,000 which is legally supposed to go to expat teachers. At all the 5 "group schools" combined, you could put the total wages at twice that, so someone is taking home a massive chunk of money by scamming expat teachers in the company. I have spoken to someone who works in tax within Indonesia, so I am sure about the legalities here.

TBI is a VERY nice money-spinner for a corrupt inner elite. They randomly fire school managers all the time and blame the school managers for all the problems within the schools. However the real problem in TBI is that it is being looted through various scams such as the THR matter and never investing student payments in marketing or facilities. They are cheap and haven't updated their computers and other facilities for many, many years. The Senior Management are there because they can get rich off various illegal practices and have very little interest in education. It is all just a front. The teachers direct their frustrations against the school managers who Senior Management willingly throw to the lions every so often, using them as a scapegoat for frustrations. TBI Kuningan is on its 6th manager in 7 years. The real problem has been the Director, who never appears in schools except to fire people! The people she has surrounded herself with do nothing but lie to cover up the scams and tax evasion.

In the end you can see how little TBI really cares for its teachers by their complete indifference when various expats complained that they were cheated and lied to by the school owner of TBI Bekasi Sun City. The same Senior Managers who pretend that THR doesn't exist, simply ignored the problem and refused to even answer the emails of cheated teachers at TBI Bekasi. "It's a franchise school...there is nothing we can do," is their mantra. But finally in the last couple of years the truth has been leaking out, and it's a pretty ugly tale whichever way you look at it.

[limakaki]

[bradleycooper]

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

We'll try this again.

If the insults, hyperbole and ad hominem comments continue, the makers of which will be issued a permanent exit order from this board.

I kid you not.