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canadianinuae
Joined: 24 Sep 2011
Posts: 30
Location: Al Ain
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 Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:05 am Post subject: |
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| 1chunk wrote: |
| nomad soul wrote: |
| 1chunk wrote: |
| The ministry is currently rejecting Muslim guys with beards. Confirmed fact. So if you are one, then don't waste your time with these narrow minded idiots. |
Consider it part of the dress code just as there are requirements female teachers have to abide by. |
Dress code? Try telling that to the Muslim lads who keep a beard for religious reasons. You'd think UAE, being a Muslim country, would be more understanding.
However, I am well aware of the situation. Muslims from the west are generally looked down upon in the Gulf. Even though from my own experience, they are far more competent and 'normal' than many of the 'white non Muslim' dudes I have met. |
Oh my...us against them? yeech ...too bad it's become a "let's bash other's for whatever reason forum"...instead of supporting. It's difficult enough in the UAE to know who's real and who's not  |
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SWISSCHEESE123
Joined: 02 Jul 2016
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 1:18 pm Post subject: Astute |
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Great forum guys, I have my interview this weekend!!! i've been told to expect an written assessment where My classroom management, subject knowledge etc will be checked. this will then follow a face to face interview. (if anyone knows of exactly what will be asked I will be grateful!!)
secondly the package: £50k!!!! WTF! only issue for me is i have 3 kids and a partner and the package won't support education and housing fees which makes me think I won't save much after i've paid this out. I was thinking I go it alone just to make some money. with that much money we could travel back and forth and still save money. for at least 2 years maybe.
any info would be gratefully received. |
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2buckets
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 515
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:11 pm Post subject: Re: Astute |
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"only issue for me is i have 3 kids and a partner "
Partners without a license are not legal in the UAE.
Going it alone might be your only option. |
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SWISSCHEESE123
Joined: 02 Jul 2016
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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@ 2 buckets
sorry i meant wife lol.
yeah i suppose it would be a big decision going alone but the finances are amazing. |
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Gulezar
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 6:20 pm Post subject: Re: Astute |
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| SWISSCHEESE123 wrote: |
secondly the package: £50k!!!! WTF! only issue for me is i have 3 kids and a partner and the package won't support education and housing fees which makes me think I won't save much after i've paid this out. I was thinking I go it alone just to make some money. with that much money we could travel back and forth and still save money. for at least 2 years maybe.
any info would be gratefully received. |
Was that 50,000 BPS before or after BrExit?
You might want to get the lay of the land before you ship the wife and kids over. Housing costs can vary greatly, as can educational expenses, depending on where you are posted. Also, there can be a long waiting list to get the kids into school. You might want to get a monthly furnished apartment for the first month and decide if you are going solo or not.
50,000 BPS would not go very far in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. You can get a sense of housing costs by looking at dubizzle, if you know where you'll be headed. |
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SWISSCHEESE123
Joined: 02 Jul 2016
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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| well to be honest i was hoping to go other places like ajman or sharjah where the school fees and living costs could be more manageable. surly 50k would be more than enough in those areas. |
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Shookran
Joined: 07 Aug 2016
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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I wounder if they went and what their experiences were like.
The British Pound's lower value at the moment converts 21K AED into a whopping 4,600 GBP a month. Not so whopping when the allowances have been included in that monthly salary.
I've also been offered an interview. I have a family with kids, and we've even considered me going by myself to send back savings, pay off a few debts etc. But whilst they've stripped away all the allowances that seemingly mighty monthly fee still doesn't seem good enough to make it worthwhile. It was a good deal with the allowances added but not now. When the Arabs settle their little oil problem we'll look at the ME again to see if they can put the packages back how they should be! |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Shookran wrote: |
| I've also been offered an interview. I have a family with kids, and we've even considered me going by myself to send back savings, pay off a few debts etc. But whilst they've stripped away all the allowances that seemingly mighty monthly fee still doesn't seem good enough to make it worthwhile. It was a good deal with the allowances added but not now. When the Arabs settle their little oil problem we'll look at the ME again to see if they can put the packages back how they should be! |
The GCC isn't the only oil market hit. But even if there is a significant economic turnaround, don't count on salary and bennies returning to what they were 5+ years ago. Plus, the GCC's collective initiative to replace expats is in full swing.
Is your wife able to take up employment --- even part time work? That would certainly lessen your financial situation in terms of funding your children's education. Otherwise, head to China... Or, look into reinventing yourself by transitioning to another profession. Welcome to the real world. |
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Shookran
Joined: 07 Aug 2016
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| Shookran wrote: |
| I've also been offered an interview. I have a family with kids, and we've even considered me going by myself to send back savings, pay off a few debts etc. But whilst they've stripped away all the allowances that seemingly mighty monthly fee still doesn't seem good enough to make it worthwhile. It was a good deal with the allowances added but not now. When the Arabs settle their little oil problem we'll look at the ME again to see if they can put the packages back how they should be! |
The GCC isn't the only oil market hit. But even if there is a significant economic turnaround, don't count on salary and bennies returning to what they were 5+ years ago. Plus, the GCC's collective initiative to replace expats is in full swing.
Is your wife able to take up employment --- even part time work? That would certainly lessen your financial situation in terms of funding your children's education. Otherwise, head to China... Or, look into reinventing yourself by transitioning to another profession. Welcome to the real world. |
My wife could work yes, but difficult. We have one 4 year-old daughter who could start Kindergarten next September (the one we need the education allowance for) and a 14 month-old son (the difficult bit).
We've done our calculations with both Saudi jobs and UAE packages (if the UAE offers can even be called packages!). After all the essentials have been paid for out of the salaries we'd be left with enough to live on. A slightly higher standard of living yes, but when all is said and done, not really worth the bother - as long as they chip away at the allowances and the basic salaries. The ME packages have even gone down since we first started to look at returning at the beginning of 2016! And in addition I think we'd be right to be a bit nervous that having found a decent package, that it too would be reduced mid-sentence  Or as has been often reported, suddenly becoming expendable.
The Saudisation and Emiritisation is already showing signs of failure as there have been recent reports of local teachers leaving the profession because teacher's wages and treatment hasn't improved for a number of years, with talk of teaching becoming a 'hostile environment'. So with the teaching profession getting a bad reputation they are going to have difficulty keeping teachers much less attract new ones.
In describing problems with this agent and that project, badly managed this and that, I don't think anyone has entertained the possibility of that dirty word 'corruption'. Maybe they have and I missed it. But how could so many projects in Saudi have been so mis-managed, cruely managed and gone wrong with the wrong people hired? And all those reports of bad agents. It hadn't occurred to me before but putting it all together it stinks like corruption could be rife. From the government departments and the education establishments right down to the agents. I may completely wrong, and it may always have been run like that. We've been watching these and other forums for a good 5 years now and the steady downward spiral of packages and projects going wrong bears a close resemblence to what has been happening to the financial markets, and we all know that greedy and corrupt people have and continue to cause the financial crises. |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 4:21 am Post subject: erm |
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50k with a missus and kid all in? Forget it.
Rent will be your biggest issue, especially if you are placed in Abu Dhabi. They want the rent up front with deposits and you'll have to buy your furniture. You'll need a car too. The flat and car will take 7-10k of your money, more if you are in Abu Dhabi. Stuff to do isn't cheap either. You'll most likely travel at Eid when the ticket prices are extortionate. I don't think that salary is enough. The deals aren't family deals anymore.
I'm going through the rigmarole of lease renewal right now and the charges for not telling them I'm moving out 60 days in advance (we were renegotiating) are $1,500 alone. There are all sorts of hidden costs like the car parking and speeding fines you'll get. Forget the big ticket family days out at Ferrari World etc and brunches.
Any way they can get money out of you here, they will. Don't think 50k is a lot because it isn't. |
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canadianinuae
Joined: 24 Sep 2011
Posts: 30
Location: Al Ain
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:24 am Post subject: Re: erm |
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| dragonpiwo wrote: |
50k with a missus and kid all in? Forget it.
Rent will be your biggest issue, especially if you are placed in Abu Dhabi. They want the rent up front with deposits and you'll have to buy your furniture. You'll need a car too. The flat and car will take 7-10k of your money, more if you are in Abu Dhabi. Stuff to do isn't cheap either. You'll most likely travel at Eid when the ticket prices are extortionate. I don't think that salary is enough. The deals aren't family deals anymore.
I'm going through the rigmarole of lease renewal right now and the charges for not telling them I'm moving out 60 days in advance (we were renegotiating) are $1,500 alone. There are all sorts of hidden costs like the car parking and speeding fines you'll get. Forget the big ticket family days out at Ferrari World etc and brunches.
Won't be in AD if it's with MOE, it'll be in northern Emirates, which is much cheaper, but the jobs ....
Any way they can get money out of you here, they will. Don't think 50k is a lot because it isn't. |
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metopia
Joined: 20 Jul 2016
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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I'm about to apply for a job in the UAE through Astute Education. There has seemed to be a dearth of info. on what the job entails, as others have previously mentioned.
As I have no dependants, would it be fair to assume I could save at least a quarter of the salary? I'm fairly frugal.
My main concern is about what the workload will be when I get there.
Also, I was curious about the 2 year contract. Does anyone have any details about what happens if one were to quit early?
In a decade in ESL, I haven't quit before the end of a contract but there seem like so many potential variables here... |
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TheEasyLife
Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 57
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:50 am Post subject: |
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Hi metopia,
I assume you're British if you're going through Astute Education. I also went through them and they're fine.
As the pound has plummeted the salary equates to 4,600 quid a month. It's easy to save 25% and even more if you live frugally and don't spend too much on housing. This depends on where you live, of course. I'm in Dubai and can save 25%, no problem.
The workload is fine for me. I teach English and have 22 x 45 minute lessons per week. Also, the lessons are already planned and on the system (if you teach English, other subjects I'm not sure about) so we have plenty of free time. I get to school at 7am and leave between 1-2pm every day. You do need good classroom management skills though as the kids are immature and have few manners. I had to split up a fight today!
As for Astute Education, they try to give you as much information as they can but don't really know much themselves. I pushed them to tell me the Emirate I would be working in and they told me Fujairah. My school is in Dubai (as I mentioned before) so I assume they lied just to get me off their back.
I hope this information helps and contact me if you need to know anything else. |
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TheEasyLife
Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 57
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:01 am Post subject: |
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P.S. The contract is for 2 years but we can leave with 5 days notice in the first 3 months as we're on probation and we need to give 2 months notice after the probation has finished.
Or you could just do a runner after payday... |
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metopia
Joined: 20 Jul 2016
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks!
TheEasyLife - Very handy info. Yes, I am based in the UK (not a great time to be here!).
A Few Questions...
-What were your set up costs and how did you deal with them? Did you get any help from MOE?
-Are you dojng classes by yourself or is their a classroom assistant on hand?
-Is there a chance to do overtime and is there an option and opportunity to do private tuition?
Finally, any tips on the interview would be a veritable boon!
You are welcome to send me a PM if for any reason it seems more sensible. |
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