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Do I stand a chance?

 
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lovesand



Joined: 13 Sep 2012
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:08 pm    Post subject: Do I stand a chance? Reply with quote

Hello everyone,

I would like to know from the more experienced teachers working in the country, what are my chances in landing a position in one of the tech colleges in Oman?

I'm an Australian native speaker. I currently hold a BA in Visual Communication, a TESOL Certificate (320 hours + practicum) and a Certificate in Training and Assessment. I have 2 years working experience as a teacher for the South korean Department of Education and 1 year as a private language tutor for 1st year uni students (although I'm not sure how much this would be taken into consideration).

Also I'm aware that the academic year starts in September, but do you know if there are any new hires during the second semester?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

If you could help, it would be much appreciated.

Cheers
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The catch for you is that the latest buzz is that the Ministry is enforcing the rule that teachers must have a "related" BA. The question becomes whether they would consider yours to be related. They want something in education.

A related MA trumps the lack.

No one is sure what will happen when they discover that they can't get enough teachers. Beware of applying... the recruiter saying no problem... you resign from your current position... and then the Ministry says Nope, you can't get a visa.

VS
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lovesand



Joined: 13 Sep 2012
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply VS.

With my current position here in Korea I will need to give them 60 days notice if I want to leave, or do a runner and that is not my style at all. I was hoping that if I was offered a position to transition form one job to the next but it might be a little tricky by the sounds of it.

In the perfect world I would continue working here, while doing all the paperwork for the new job, and then leave Korea several weeks before I need to be in Oman, go back home see family and pick up summer clothes and then fly to Oman from Australia. But all this, in the perfect world. lol

Do you know if colleges hire teachers for the second semester?
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They are constantly hiring because these recruiter positions have LOTS of turnover. Conditions can be spotty...

VS
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StampLover



Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 83
Location: Salalah, Oman

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why are you always saying they have a high turnover?

Salalah College of Technology, with a staff of 113 in the English program, only 4 did not re-sign and two were asked not to come back.

I think that's pretty darn good.

In IbriCT it was out of 45 only 3.

The reason why the recruiters are constantly hiring is because they can't fill their positions. Right now in Salalah, we still need 25 teachers on paper. But in reality we don't need more than 5. Colleges over-project their numbers and companies are more than happy to oblige. Yet, in reality we will never see this many teachers.

I am speaking about MOM, recruiters.
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lovesand



Joined: 13 Sep 2012
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Stamplover,

So in regards to the MOM recruiters. If you are saying that on paper the college needs 25 teachers but in reality no more than 5, what happens to the other 20 teachers that are hired?

I'm just trying to get my head around the entire recruiting system for Oman, and see what the chances are for position openings for the second semester.
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StampLover



Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 83
Location: Salalah, Oman

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They never find 25. They are lucky to get 5...
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

StampLover wrote:
Why are you always saying they have a high turnover?

You mentioned only two branches. Salalah has always been one of the most popular locations... along with Muscat. Many of the smaller towns have a terrible time keeping teachers for more that a year or two. There are many of these jobs going with the two Ministries and all of their various branches. And yes, there is a high turnover when you add them altogether. A bigger problems is increasing student numbers though and poor planning on the part of the Ministries and managements.

The new requirement for an education related BA is just going to make it more impossible to fill these positions.

The reality is that they are always advertising and always interviewing and always hiring. TATI just ran an ad here on Dave's for teachers for September. As in they want and need them yesterday.

VS
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FarGone



Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Posts: 97

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Funny.

I earned (yes) a Master's degree in Magazine Writing (non-fiction journalism emphasis) at the most prestigious university of its (departmental) kind; one of my Professors was a novelist, a PEN awardee, who never passed the eighth grade.

...These silly Omani administrators MUST wise up. Rolling Eyes
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1st Sgt Welsh



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FarGone wrote:


...These silly Omani administrators MUST wise up. Rolling Eyes


Sounds like it. I'm in a very similar situation to the OP and I started a thread on this a few weeks ago.

Naturally it's up to the state to decide what academic background and experience they require, but if they can't get teachers as it is, I can't see what they hope to achieve by making the requirements even more stringent. Indeed, as far as I can see, they have three options:

a) just accept that there is going to be a substantial shortage of native English-speaking teachers
b) reduce the requirements or
c) substantially increase the employment conditions to attract more 'qualified' applicants.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FarGone wrote:
Funny.

I earned (yes) a Master's degree in Magazine Writing (non-fiction journalism emphasis) at the most prestigious university of its (departmental) kind; one of my Professors was a novelist, a PEN awardee, who never passed the eighth grade.

...These silly Omani administrators MUST wise up. Rolling Eyes

Not that different from the "silly - insert your home country - administrators" who also require related degrees and related experience. Academia naturally looks for academic credentials. This part of the world has great respect - so to speak - for fancy sounding degrees.

But try to get a decent job at a university in the US... even as a lowly adjunct for crappy pay and no benefits... and they will require an MA in Ap Ling and years of experience.

VS
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FarGone



Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Posts: 97

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jah: I worked as "adjunct Professor" (no benefits), in the US, for the first 1.5 years of mine teaching tenure (1992-1993); then as a Doctoral Teaching Fellow (5 years) at another US university.

Got plenty of "recognized academic publications," VS.

I'm pro'ly not the one at whom to aim yer snarky laser-sights. Arrow
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1st Sgt Welsh



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

veiledsentiments wrote:


But try to get a decent job at a university in the US... even as a lowly adjunct for crappy pay and no benefits... and they will require an MA in Ap Ling and years of experience.

VS


Sure, but this is probably just a simple case of supply and demand and the US universities can afford to be extremely picky. Can Oman? Besides, it wasn't always like this. Back in the 1960s/70s you could walk into an Associate Professorship at a prestigious university in Australia with just a PhD, no publications and a few years tutoring. There were more positions than there were suitable applicants and that's certainly not the case today Crying or Very sad.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That was true in the US too. Back in the 60's when I was in college, at least half, if not more, of the 'professors' only had MAs. Yes, it is supply and demand, but it is also the horrible "out-sourcing" idea of American business leaking into Academia. The idea that you don't actually "hire" people, but do everything with "temps" and "contractors," which in academia are called "adjuncts" which sounds fancier, but same crap system.

Tenure is slowly disappearing and university education is no longer an appealing field to enter.

When I arrived in Oman in 1988, they required an MA + 1 year of related experience at SQU. About 6 years later, they had to lower standards to not requiring MAs. It was more of the problem that Americans were taking over the department since we go the MA route, not the CELTA route... and the management was British.

At these numerous colleges opening all around Oman, they lowered the standards for hiring to ability to breath. Watching this board clearly shows what happened. Credentials were not being checked and there was zero vetting. They ended up with lots of teachers that were unemployable in the rest of the Gulf... unable to teach... unable to fit into these systems. The Ministries decided to crack down. Lots of teachers were axed (and showed up here to whinge) and recruiters were told to do a better job and require at least a BA + CELTA + 2-3 years of experience. Now they have decided that the BA should be education related. It remains to be seen if they can get enough native speaker teachers or not.

What normally happens is that they hire more non-native speakers.

VS
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