Job Discussion Forums

leggeymountbatten · Joined: 11 Mar 2016 Posts: 74

Any posters have any information or background on "English Gate."
They are an English language provider who are rumored to be taking over at TTC.

There are many anxious teachers at TTC fearing for their futures. Any info on this outfit would be much appreciated to put minds at rest.

Leggey

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

That would be English Gate Academy (EGA). Apparently not a great reputation:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=110531

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=106823

leggeymountbatten · Joined: 11 Mar 2016 Posts: 74

NS - much obliged for the links.

Leggey

babur · Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 1:50 pm Post subject: English Gate

And EG will probably bring along their own sheep.

Desert Dueller · Joined: 20 Jul 2015 Posts: 45 Location: Montreal

EGA have a very bad reputation in the region. Nomad Soul is spot on. They run a bells and whistles website, but if you have a look at their "partners" listed there, most arrangements or contracts have run out: they have lost IPA, Riyadh schools and Princess Noura. Not much left now, apart from the arrangement with interlink.

They were the last provider left standing in the race to the bottom for TVTC/CoE to subcontract the running of TTC at such short notice - after the Saudis kicked out Germany-based GIZ in February, half way through a five-year management contract.

For the few non-German souls left stranded at TTC, things could not be worse. We're talking mainly the ELTs. Tentative assurances from CoE - nothing more. Two weeks to the end of term and no contracts in sight.

With EGA's reputation, it will be a stark and dramatic decline in contractual terms and conditions. Single status and a big cut in housing - leave your partners at home. Forget about school fees for the kids. More teaching hours and more discipline. More hassles in every department, from visas to pay to everyday workplace logistics. Good luck to those that have to carry on for lack of alternatives.

Time for a good clean out perhaps. EGA will bring in fresh - and much cheaper - faces. Not a bad thing from the students' perspective, with too many lazy folk having shown no interest in their jobs for a long time and only counting their salaries, housing allowances (for families that don't exist) and other benefits. Those days are over now. Welcome back to the real TEFL KSA world.

EGA will run a tight ship. No doubt they will have done their homework on current staff, staffing levels and actual requirements. A CoE commissioned report has identified key issues like poor management and EGA will take their cue from that. They will no doubt weed out old managers, if they haven't departed with GIZ already. The English department is in dire need of a change of management and fundamental restructuring, leaving behind the chaos of the last two years.