Job Discussion Forums

[BobStrauss]

I posted this in the UAE forum, but it would also be nice to get a general view of the region.

I'm just now getting out of the international school scene in Asia, where workloads can be quite high. Despite having roughly 20 contact hours per week, I always put in at least 50 hours of actual work (more like 55), and a couple weeks out of each semester it is much higher (well over 60). This is due to paperwork requirements, extra-curricular activities, parent meetings, staff meetings, assessment-development, marking of assessments, etc.

How much actual time do teachers put in at the university level in the ME? Not the "company men" who go above and beyond, nor the slackers who put in the minimum, but the solid educators who work hard and do their jobs well. How many hours each week does it require?

[veiledsentiments]

All depends on the employer...

Contact hours range from 15-20 a week. Time at employer's premises can range from contact hours + office hours up to 40 hours a week. How much time you put into prep depends on your experience in what you are teaching... and what subject you are teaching. For instance, teaching writing is more labor intensive with all those papers to correct. Most place don't have lots of extra-curricular activities... nothing like one does in K-12 teaching.

VS

[nomad soul]

For Saudi Arabia, the same. However, if you're hired by a recruiting company to teach in a university prep year program, you may end up working 6 days a week for 48 hours total, per your contract. It's best to avoid recruiting agencies, if possible, and apply directly to the universities.

[Gerund]

If you want to make more money for less work, don't go after a university job in the Middle East, go after a military job. Teachers generally have 2 to 4 contact hours a day and very little to do when at their desks--little prep, no marking, no test writing. Frequent days with even fewer (sometimes zero) contact hours because of military instruction, Islamic instruction, etc. Frequent days off, Occasional entire weeks off, and good money--plenty more than you're making now and more than you'd make at a university.

But you'll earn your money. The students are generally HORRIBLE.