Job Discussion Forums

[Gauguin]

I was wondering if any EFL teachers find their jobs here in the Gulf stressful and if so why. Is it� (placed Alphabetically)

� Accommodation & living conditions
� Colleagues
� Environment and Cultural differences
� Management
� Students
� Workplace
� Other


I appreciate that teaching in other countries may also be stressful but my question is focused on the Gulf and mainly the UAE.

I may write a paper on the subject and present it at TESOL Arabia next year, so only serious answers please.

gauguin

[Shakhbut]

edit

[globalnomad2]

Verily, it is the Land of Not Quite Right.

[veiledsentiments]

Admittedly I am no longer in the Gulf, but I found teaching there significantly less stressful that my previous career in business. And I would place the major cause of stress... in both careers... to management problems. IMHO, the rest of the things on your list were what made this a much less stressful career than business.

I suppose that I could say that the extreme heat could cause some stress...

VS

[dmb]

[veiledsentiments]

Presumably you would get to actually 'see' them, dmb... Most of the time one can tell.

...though there have been a few borderline cases...

VS

[sandy gallop]

..

[letitslidedude]

In my humble opinion, stress is everywhere and the only difference that exists is the level of stress that you get. But, again, it depends on many factors such as:

1) Who are you?
2) Age?
3) Family situation?
4) Financial status?
5) Your history?
6) Your philosophy about Education
7) Your point of view about the Arab world and work ethics
Where do you come form?
9) Why are you teaching in the Gulf?
10) Health?
11) Passion & hobbies?
12) Family relations
13) Co-workers friendship?
14) Your character?
15) Your mood?
16) Your professionalism
17) Your people skills?

And the last very important FACTOR:

Did you work for Qatar University? Who was your manager?

Take care!

[globalnomad2]

The two factors that are most relevant to my own assessment of stress levels are not listed by Letitslide, dude...but I'll let it slide this time :

1. What kind of students you have
2. What kind of management you're subjected to.

[redcliff]

whether you are stressed or not depends on your mindset and whether or not you let certain things get to you. I've met too many teachers who feel hard done by and that the world owes them a favour because they don't have a sense of the proverbial bigger picture.
if you let the little things get to you you'll be stressed. and there is no doubt there are a ton of little things in teaching. but trying doing a number of other things for a living and you'll soon realize how good you had it...

[Iamherebecause]

The biggest stressor here is having to leave at least half of my professionalism at home. Never before have I worked in a place where honest professionalism can get you sacked, demoted or sidelined rather than it promoting discussion, development and improvement of what goes on in and outside the classroom. And I have worked in quite a few places, believe me.

Among the 'certain things that get to (me)' are having to fudge marks; having to accept unprofessional decisions because they were made by someone senior (but not ELT aware); constant changing of guidelines on class size etc; and then stuff like colleagues being 'let go' because the qualification which used to be OK is now no longer acceptable; or students passing final exams because it would be too embarassing to have them fail again. Then there's the whole emperor's new clothes business about how the students are getting better when we all know that they aren't but no-one dare deny it as strongly as they ought... including me...

I could go on but I won't.

[Bindair Dundat]

Stress? The worst stressors in the Gulf are, as has been noted, out-of-touch management and out-of-touch personal expectations.

I was stressed to the max when I first started working in the Gulf many years ago, but I pretty much have it under control now. The times I still get the most cranked up are when I expect more from the social environment than is realistically possible. I mean, I still sometimes think that it should be a simple matter for the pizza delivery boy to find my house (since he has been there ten times already), or for the guard to unlock the door to my classroom every morning. When I manage to keep those expectations in check, everything is fine. I'd rather be here than back in the real world making 1/3 the package and working for a living.

Why isn't this thread in the ME section, BTW?

[veiledsentiments]

Good idea... perhaps a passing moderator will move it over there...

VS