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Are Salaries Rising?
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currentaffairs



Joined: 22 Aug 2012
Posts: 828

PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:09 pm    Post subject: Are Salaries Rising? Reply with quote

In the past couple of years there has been a huge expansion in the education sector in Saudi with the Colleges of Excellence. In the UK alone, the involvement of Further Education colleges in Saudi is estimated to be worth one billion pounds sterling:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-billion-exports-win-for-uk-education-in-saudi-arabia

The salaries that these new employers are paying seems to be higher than the norm. One college is paying 55,000 USD a year plus housing for a BA plus CELTA and a few years of experience. Will this drive up the salaries offered by the likes of the traditional Saudi employers like EdEx, Hussan, ICEAT and the rest?

http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=35836

Would people prefer to work in a vocational college or for one of the contractors on a PYP program? Interesting times..
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pooroldedgar



Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While advertised prices are nice, offered prices are better. Also, the recruiter in question seems to have suddenly changed employers.
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jobsworthjohn



Joined: 28 Sep 2014
Posts: 22

PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very interesting question. I think the ad implies very strongly that the offered salary is basic and exclusive of allowances.
Quote:

Requirements: 
•CELTA, TEFL or equivalent. 
•Minimum 3 years’ experience 
•Be able to speak English to mother tongue standard 
•Third level bachelor degree in English. 
•Ability and willingness to relocate 
•Ability to meet all above responsibilities

Package on offer: 
•210,000 Saudi Riyals, $55,000.00 US Dollar / £37,000 GBP / $67,000 Canadian Dollar / $71,000.00 AUD / $668,000.00 ZAR (TAX FREE) Lead Teachers, Heads of Department or candidates with specific experiences or qualifications will receive additional salary increments 
•Flights and Visas organised and provided 
•52 days paid holidays 
•Performance related bonus 
•Free transport to and from work or travel allowance 
•Free housing provided including all utilities


Whether the reality matches the words is of course another matter.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That position specifies a BA in English as opposed to an unrelated degree. Plus, I suspect the class sizes and teaching hours are high and that teachers are expected to work their 'okoles off (based on those responsibilities).
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pooroldedgar



Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It seems generally help that salaries in Saudi have gone down quite a bit since the 90s/00s. Why? Is it simply supply and demand?
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pooroldedgar wrote:
It seems generally help that salaries in Saudi have gone down quite a bit since the 90s/00s. Why? Is it simply supply and demand?

Frankly, salaries in our home countries are stagnant as well --- wages in certain industries haven't noticeably budged in the past decade or so. The situation in the rest of the world isn't much different. By the way, the average annual pay for a full-time, experienced MA TESOL holder in a US university IEP is around $35,000 with benefits. And that's before taxes. That makes the salaries and benefits offered in KSA a very good deal when put in perspective.

The demand for teachers in Saudi Arabia is obviously still there, especially given the umpteen ads for those vocational schools. At the same time, more and more Saudis are also returning from the US, Canada, and UK with MAs and/or doctoral degrees in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. Additionally, some Saudi teachers are near-native to native speakers (i.e., their mother is American, British, Canadian... and/or they spent much of their childhood in the west). The point is, these TEFL jobs aren't limited to foreigners with passports from Anglophone countries.
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jobsworthjohn



Joined: 28 Sep 2014
Posts: 22

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
salaries in Saudi have gone down quite a bit since the 90s/00s


Just curious - it would be interesting to us newbies just for comparison to get some inkling of what salaries were in those bygone times. Eg for a CELTA and unrelated BA with minimal experience. Oldies please help thanks.
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currentaffairs



Joined: 22 Aug 2012
Posts: 828

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
The demand for teachers in Saudi Arabia is obviously still there, especially given the umpteen ads for those vocational schools. At the same time, more and more Saudis are also returning from the US, Canada, and UK with MAs and/or doctoral degrees in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. Additionally, some Saudi teachers are near-native to native speakers (i.e., their mother is American, British, Canadian... and/or they spent much of their childhood in the west). The point is, these TEFL jobs aren't limited to foreigners with passports from Anglophone countries.


I have yet to see any of that. Many so-called degree holders from Saudi who attended US/UK universities often appear to have paid for their degrees and have limited English skills. On one program, we had a bunch of Saudis with English degrees who were training to be English teachers. Most of them failed the basic English test for A1-A2 learners that the students were taking...

I think it will take some time before we see many Saudis in teaching positions. In my experience, there are a number of well-qualified and good teachers from Jordan and Egypt, though.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

currentaffairs wrote:
I have yet to see any of that. Many so-called degree holders from Saudi who attended US/UK universities often appear to have paid for their degrees and have limited English skills. On one program, we had a bunch of Saudis with English degrees who were training to be English teachers. Most of them failed the basic English test for A1-A2 learners that the students were taking...

I think it will take some time before we see many Saudis in teaching positions.

I suspect those teacher trainees had English Literature rather than English degrees. But that definitely doesn't describe my experience at the university PYP where I taught; my Saudi colleagues were already trained/qualified. In fact, my co-teacher had completed her MA TESOL at Ohio State U and was quite proficient in English as well as a very capable teacher---we easily bounced ideas and strategies off each other for our shared class. During my time in KSA, we also said farewell to several teachers who had received scholarships to US universities to complete their MAs, and we welcomed a couple of Saudi women who had recently graduated from NYU's graduate TESOL program. Perhaps Saudi women are forging way ahead of the men in terms of TEFL. Either way, they do exist.
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currentaffairs



Joined: 22 Aug 2012
Posts: 828

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, I would suspect that Saudi women are more motivated and able than most of their male counterparts. In Japan, I saw a similar pattern with a lot more women going to study abroad compared to the men.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is not that more Saudi women are going abroad to study than Saudi men. In fact, the males are multiples time the females abroad. The difference is that very few Gulf men are interested in teaching... anything. Teaching for men is considered a low prestige job. Males with good English skills have way better opportunities in other fields. Opportunities that are not open to Gulf women.

VS
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pooroldedgar



Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember in Oman there were a handful of Omani teachers. And I never thought their English was an issue. But I remember the Omani teacher with the classroom opposite mine. Right on clock, 40 minutes into the 100 minute lesson: class dismissed. And how many of those 40 minutes was he in the hallways, on his phone?
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those behaviors aren't limited to nationals. Regardless, hopefully this thread won't stray from the topic of salary trends for expats.
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sicklyman



Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930

PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
Frankly, salaries in our home countries are stagnant as well

and those in the rest of the TEFL world haven't risen much either. I started in 1996 and the going rate in the UK for DELTA qualified is still around £25/hour (forget a salary - you're grateful for zero hours contracts there) and the current Japanese monthly salary fixed at it's 1998 level of Y250,000.

nomad soul wrote:
these TEFL jobs aren't limited to foreigners with passports from Anglophone countries.

The word among the cubicles is that Saudi Aramco will shortly begin hiring Saudis with relevant langauge skills and qualifications to teach in their English programs. I've certainly met Saudis with the language skills to do it. Not sure my imagination stretches to them doing a CELTA (let alone a DELTA though!)
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desert date



Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:13 pm    Post subject: Salary increments Reply with quote

Hi All. Say I started off at SAR14,000 at a public uni, what kind of increments can I expect over a five-year period?
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