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R_totale
Joined: 14 Feb 2018 Posts: 7
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:07 am Post subject: Avoid King Saud First Year Common |
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Thought I might give an update on the (dire) situation at King Saud University’s rebranded First Year Common.
The program has entered into terminal decline. Salaries were slashed at the beginning of the year and have been cut even further for new recruits (now hovering around 9000 plus allowances I believe). Every month sees a new round of newbies doing a runner the day after pay day (most are on business visas these days).
Working hours have increased, so that some teachers are forced (not sure if this is still the case) to teach more or less all day everyday. All this done against a background of demeaning micro-management resulting in one of the most unpleasant working environments I have ever encountered. Several of the new managers stand out in their petty, arrogant, officious awfulness - the self-styled 'guided one' and the 'kiwi' who, in a few short months, have succeeded in making themselves reviled and the management that promoted such characters a laughing stock (if they weren't already).
Management in general spend their days cooking up ever more ridiculous ways of proving their management mettle – getting overworked teachers to write essays, attend ‘management meetings’ where staff are treated like CELTA guinea pigs, instigating office hour requirements etc etc...
So if anyone out there is thinking of making the jump, please be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) and give this particular institution a very wide berth indeed.
Last edited by R_totale on Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:49 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Foo_Fighters_Dave
Joined: 09 Dec 2016 Posts: 162
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:06 am Post subject: |
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9000 SAR a month? How much of a slash did the University do to cut that down? Sorry to hear that the job is difficult.
Are the students decent? |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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R_totale wrote: |
Never exactly a great place to work the program has entered into terminal decline. Salaries were slashed at the beginning of the year and have been cut even further for new recruits (now hovering around 9000 plus allowances I believe). Every month sees a new round of newbies doing a runner the day after pay day (most are on business visas these days). |
Foo_Fighters_Dave wrote: |
9000 SAR a month? How much of a slash did the University do to cut that down? |
KSU doesn't employ teachers; it uses private, for-profit companies to hire and staff teachers for its English prep year program. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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And those companies make profit by charging KSU x+y and giving the teachers x, while retaining y for themselves.
Go figure as they say in Algebra.
Contracting out jobs started in the Kingdom with ARAMCO. It is now almost universal and provides rich pickings - but not for those who take the jobs. The Saudi middlemen make a nice living out of it. This was certainly the intention of those who designed this exploitative system. |
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In the heat of the moment
Joined: 22 May 2015 Posts: 393 Location: Italy
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:50 am Post subject: |
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Why would anyone accept such a poor deal? You can earn more than 9,000 sar in China, and have better students, colleagues, and life - social and in general. |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010 Posts: 946 Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:30 am Post subject: |
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In the heat of the moment wrote: |
Why would anyone accept such a poor deal? You can earn more than 9,000 sar in China, and have better students, colleagues, and life - social and in general. |
Word. I was earning more than that in Saigon. The students were [mostly] a dream to teach, management were sensible and fair-minded, the city had a great nightlife etc, etc.
R_totale wrote: |
Every month sees a new round of newbies doing a runner the day after pay day (most are on business visas these days).
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From what I've heard, that's always been the case. When I was in Oman, I knew four teachers who had taught there and their stories about the place were fascinating and, invariably, wholly negative. If its working environment have declined even further since then then I dread to think about what it would be like to actually have to go in there every day. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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I left KSA in 2011. I think I left at a good time. |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:26 am Post subject: ha |
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I think it was a good time to get out the sand Scot. It's over. The race to the bottom continues at pace because someone's twigged that the teacher's ain't the problem..... |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:09 am Post subject: |
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Large pool of people happy to come to the region for religious reasons. It was noticeable when I was there that more reliance was being placed on the recruitment of teachers from that demographic. In a few years these jobs will be done by locals.
I have met several Saudi nationals teaching English in Intermediate and Secondary schools who can definitely do a better job than some of the weirdos recruited from the West. Myself included., |
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In the heat of the moment
Joined: 22 May 2015 Posts: 393 Location: Italy
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:47 am Post subject: |
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scot47 wrote: |
Large pool of people happy to come to the region for religious reasons. It was noticeable when I was there that more reliance was being placed on the recruitment of teachers from that demographic. In a few years these jobs will be done by locals.
I have met several Saudi nationals teaching English in Intermediate and Secondary schools who can definitely do a better job than some of the weirdos recruited from the West. Myself included., |
(my bolding)
Many also leave for the same reason, Scot, as the branch of Islam here is not only on a different tree to theirs, it's in a different forest! |
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R_totale
Joined: 14 Feb 2018 Posts: 7
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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In answer to the question why would anyone accept such a bad deal? - my two cents is that employees fall into four categories:
1) old hands hanging on for one more year
2) Non westerners for whom the salary is still attractive (Egyptians, Syrians etc)
3) religious types (although most only stick a year - do the hajj etc and get out)
4) desparadoes, weirdos and unemployables who couldn't get another job (King Saud has been so desperate they no longer check the certificates of those on business visas & all pretence at hiring decent teachers has gone).
The students are usually very decent, friendly and eager to learn. Some of the low levels can be a bit hard to handle but that is mainly because the curriculum is done by incompetents who think beginners are best served by tearing through an academic skills book at lightning pace... |
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TravelingMuslim
Joined: 12 Jun 2015 Posts: 21
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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This thread seems a place for disgruntled teachers to vent.
1) No, the HR didn't do it. Salary cuts go way higher then them. They got bigger cuts than the teachers.
2) Level B teachers in sem 1 were definitely overworked, but now most teachers teach about 4 hours or less a day.
3) The teaching isn't micromanaged at all, just the logistics. They are overly-strict on paperwork and signin and things like it, but I feel quite relaxed as a teacher.
Won't deny salaries aren't good right now but it's not the nightmare some people are making it out to be. |
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R_totale
Joined: 14 Feb 2018 Posts: 7
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't claim the head of HR personally instigated the pay cuts just the incompetent and bullying managerial style. Granted this is par for the course in Saudi but having worked in a few different places I can honestly say I never felt as demeaned or patronised as when I worked at King Saud. Any teacher who works there and says he feels treated like a valued professional is simply lying or has very very low standards.
Nor did I claim the teaching itself was micromanaged - its too big a campus for that, indeed its the perfect place to hide and do next to no teaching & plenty of teachers do that. Like I said the hiring criteria is basically 'has he got a pulse?' these days. |
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Linguist
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 202
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
I have met several Saudi nationals teaching English in Intermediate and Secondary schools who can definitely do a better job than some of the weirdos recruited from the West. Myself included., |
Wise words here Scot. |
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psychedelicacy
Joined: 05 Oct 2013 Posts: 180 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 2:11 am Post subject: |
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Foo_Fighters_Dave wrote: |
Are the students decent? |
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