Job Discussion Forums

[gstieglit]

I am looking for recent, informative input regarding IAT. Would really love to hear from a teacher who is there now, but I invite all input regarding pay, benefits and work environment.

[veiledsentiments]

Did you read any of the posts on this page? There are 3 other IAT threads which have repeatedly requested this information for the past month... with no answers so far... You could have just bumped one of those...

With places in the ME, expecting improvement in a month or two is a fantasy. With luck, they may improve after a year or two or three. As I recall you have an MA... thus you should be able to avoid a place like this with more questions than answers.

VS

[mikenunez]

here is a story right out of the horse's mouth! i am currently working in IAT Abu Dhabi.

Here are some highlights of what is awaiting you in case you end up here:

a) the accomodation is a serious problem. With the housing allowance you get(4800 dirhams a month), you might be able to find a studio(unfurnished) somewhere decent! but that requires days and days of searching. The school had promised assistance but it was all a myth. You are simply on your own.

b) I have a MA in TESOL and over 10 years of teaching ESL, and my salary is 9000 dirhams a month and that is for over 40 hours of teaching.

c) Classes start at 7:30 in the morning and finish at 3:00 but you have to stay for another hour(dont ask me why???). You need to teach at least 28 periods every week, which is way too many, as that leaves not much time for preparation. Resources are non-existent. You have to be very very creative and spend hours after hours glued to your laptop to prepare worksheets and material for teaching.

d) As for the students, they are the least motivated and the worst behavior wise! the discipline level is the lowest possible. The school was supposed to enroll students with an intermediate level of English but they ended up letting everyone in. so you have students in your class who cant even spell their own names.

e) There is no set curriculuum or course outline in place. There is no set goal and planning is on a daily basis as you dont know what might happen tomorrow. The management might decide to change the schedule without prior notice!

d) In short, if you are really desperate for work, if you are a backpacker, or want to try your threshold for patience, this is the place.

I have signed a three-year contract but if i can make it to the end of the first year, i will call it a big challenge in my life

so my advice is in case you decide to apply for any job here, make sure you ask for every detail regarding who you teach, how many hours a week, the level of the students and the resources provided!

[gstieglit]

Thanks for the input. May I ask how they got you there? Obviously you are highly qualified, MA plus 10 years. Did they mislead you? Were you new to the region?

[veiledsentiments]

Sounds a shame that with your credentials you ended up with them... MA +10 should have allowed you to get a position with any of the good employers.

VS

[mikenunez]

I was recruited through Griffith University where i had been working for six years as ESL teacher teaching IELTS and ISLPR prep courses and recently Direct Entry program(DEP) . I think it was partly my fault not to have asked for more information regarding the nature of the job and what i was expected to do. I was told that IAT AD was a new project and that the school would benefit from my experience in course development, course design and teaching skill!

[veiledsentiments]

Sad how many times I have heard this story in the Gulf. The reality is that nowadays (at least since the mid-90s) is that almost all of these new start-ups are total nightmares. I have pretty consistently advised people to avoid them for at least the first 3-4 years... unless one is the type that thrives on chaos (and there are some that do).

And the worst are always those that use outside recruiters to hire... who invariably have little or no idea what is needed. What this project needs is people with extensive teacher training at primary/secondary levels and/or teaching basic English skills to kids along with heavy experience dealing the behavior problems.

It is great luck if one gets intermediate level English by university... I would estimate that way less than half achieve that level by secondary graduation. Sad how these recruiter continually lie to and/or misinform the people they hire... My second repeated piece of advice to people is to NEVER take a job in the Gulf (except Saudi) through an agent/outside recruiter.

VS

[globalnomad2]

gaslight-- You should be working at one of the colleges or universities here making 12-14,000 and teaching 18-20 hours. I actually will have 14 hours at full salary at George Mason next semester. This is a rotating benefit--one ESL instructor gets 14 hours and the the other 2 or 3 teachers get 18. We might all get fewer hours later.

[Kosh]

The Time Has Come

The time has come for me to speak out about the ADEC program.

There are many reasons why teachers should avoid this teaching job.

Management

The management at all levels of this project is non-existent. Upper management is too concerned with its grand projects and boasts how the company is getting bigger everyday. This is not a solution too the difficulties experienced.

Middle management is concerned with what the project should be. No practical solutions to the continuing problems of mismanagement of all parties. A spin doctor turning up occasionally and making grandiose promises is not a solution. It doesn�t matter how bubbly and positive you sound. Unless you can follow through with the promises made don�t bother.

Micro management within the schools consists of bullying as a major tactic of controlling the teachers. This is more prevalent in the girl�s school. Divide and conquer is another tactic used within this school. These managers with poor people skills were not the right choice for the job. Wishy washy �Say yes to any proposal� people do not make good leaders. For clarity this does not apply to the dearly departed former leader of the boy�s school.

Teachers

Untrained and unqualified teachers are the norm. Teachers put into the schools who have never taught ESL, have never taught children and teenagers are dominant. So far two teachers have absconded, two resignations, two transfers (based on gross incompetence within the school) and multiple sackings is the current head count of teachers leaving the schools.

Students

Unmanageable, rude, disrespectful and undisciplined students are the norm in these schools. These students need busloads of teachers, teacher�s aids, counsellors working 24/7 for any difference to be made to their education. The students have an appallingly low level of ability in everything. The circus that goes on in the classrooms of these schools is something to be avoided.

Overall I would rate the ADEC project as one of the biggest jokes of education in the Middle East.

Further comments anyone?

IMHO Kosh

[Strolling minstrel]

Wow. That's quite a catalogue of errors! And I see you've posted this on three separate threads. Which is why I'm a bit confused. IAT have a core business (IAT schools) and a number of projects (working with paying clients). Does this relate to one of their own? Or is it a client-based project? I'm guessing it's client-based - but I heard that the new-fangled Abu Dhabi Education Council was running the new Public Private Partnership in a number of regular schools. The English project you refer to here is surely being run in a couple of Model Schools... which I thought were being operated by the Abu Dhabi Education Zone (at least that's what it says when I drive past the schools in question and their website boasts of them, too). Can anyone help?

A very confused...

[gstieglit]

What is the ADEC program?

Also, is it safe to assume that the debacle is at all the IAT campuses?

[rosyanna]

ADEC have appointed 4 providers in Abu Dhabi emirate - Nord Anglia, Mosaica, CfBT and Sabis. These companies have gone into 30 schools around the emirate, with the aim of improving the standards in those schools. I think there are also native english speakers in the government model schools, but am not sure if this is ADEC or Abu Dhabi Education Zone. It is confusing, as there is also the Ministry of Education in the mix. Am also not sure how IAT fits into it all as well.

[Iamherebecause]

Just wondered whether there is any difference in how the 4 contracted providers handle this project, contracts, staff, resources etc. CfBT used to have a good reputation for education project management in e.g. Brunei, Malaysia, but I think their standards have dropped. Nord Anglia used not to be so highly thought of in the UK - more interested in making profit, didn't pay teachers well; I was surprised when I heard they were involved in this sort of thing. SABIS - weird educational ethos and we all know about the demands they make of their own staff in the UAE and the odd questions on their application forms (see relevant threads). Never heard of Mosaica, who are they?

[rosyanna]

Mosaica is an american company. As I understand, Mosaica and CfBT offer the best contracts for this project. Both those companies were involved in a similar project in Qatar. It seems as if Bahrain may be about to embark on something similar.
CfBT have 12 schools in the UAE project, spread around Abu Dhabi emirate. Nord Anglia has 6 in Al Ain. Mosaica and Sabis are only in Abu Dhabi city.

[veiledsentiments]

I have to say that this sounds like one of the most avoidable situations in the Gulf for awhile. Here you have a bunch of recruiters of various shades of incompetency who will feed you half truths and never all the correct details for a job that will be mostly unknown because it sounds like there are 3 or 4 different situations being mixed all together... with little or no track record yet... and in fact, all reports have been negative...

WOW... how desperate must one be to jump into this possible snakepit if you have been reading the threads here...

Great... so let's expand it to Bahrain too...

VS