BEWARE: "Teachers in Turkey"

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Not=Really=Sure
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:47 pm
Location: Istanbul

BEWARE: "Teachers in Turkey"

Post by Not=Really=Sure » Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:11 pm

Hello all,

For anyone taking on prospective jobs in Istanbul, I thought I'd give you a quick warning about this organisation, "Teachers in Turkey" aka "Leeds Language Academy". I signed up with their partners, "Teach to Travel", a couple of months ago because they offered an immediate start, and quickly regretted it once I was there.

Simply put: They're not as great as advertised. Not at all.

*While working with them, I have received absolutely no support whatsoever - no teaching assistance, orientation, demo classes. I was simply dropped at the school on day 1 without being told how I would be able to get back to my hostel again.

*Their "help with finding accommodation", as promised in their adverts, consisted of a single employee with questionable English telling me to look on craigslist. I was eventually able to acquire an apartment entirely independent of him.

*Other former employees of theirs have said that when they applied to our school directly, the salary was 600TRL higher than *beep* pays - i.e., they are gouging wages in order to get a 'commission' on each teacher.

*Their contracts are ILLEGAL - without a work permit, they are not able to actually employ you, and so you risk arrest until a work permit is obtained. I have consulted with legal persons about this fact, and they agree unanimously that it is not legal to hire teachers without a permit.

*THEY WILL TAKE YOUR CERTIFICATES - when you arrive, they ask you for your degree certificate and TEFL certificate, ostensibly because they need to hold these to apply for your residence permit. This is a lie; anyone involved in the legal process for such things will tell you that they have no right to hold them, and that copies will suffice.

Other employees who have resigned from them have been curtly told that they will keep illegally holding onto their documents in order to prevent them from leaving or offending *beep* further. Their apparent attitude is that it is legal if it is in the contract, even when the contract is illegal. When I mentioned the error of this while being told I was fired, the boss simply said: "Sue me".

Thankfully I had obtained my documents beforehand, so there is no problem there.

*They are willing to smear your reputation if you offend them in the slightest. Because I spoke in an irritated tone of voice to one of their staff after she condescended to me when I demanded my certificates, I was branded "unstable" and told I "yelled at helpless female employees", and they informed security at my school not to let me in as they considered me too dangerous to teach the children - a libellous claim that goes against everything the rest of the teaching staff knows about me.

*Their aforementioned boss is a hypocritical misogynist - he has been known to swear, yell and talk down to female employees, and is currently being sued by one of the schools they deal with for doing so - as well as taking an illegal cut of teachers' pay.

I have decided not to take legal action against them, for now, as they are not worth it - but I don't want anyone else to make my mistake, so I am here warning you against the aptly-acronymed *beep*.

TEACHERS IN TURKEY WILL NOT VALUE YOU AS A TEACHER - ONLY AS A RESOURCE TO BE EXPLOITED

Best of luck seeking a Teaching job in Turkey or elsewhere![/b]

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