Job Discussion Forums

[Derkugelschrieber]

After reading the seemingly never-ending posts and insults directed at the staff and the Head of the English Language Department at Sohar College, I posted a reply where I pointed out that the person making the posts was no longer employed at the college, that he had been terminated for nefarious reasons and that he still lurks around the college looking for negative things to say on the internet. For doing so, the moderators have threatened to take away my ability to post anything.
It would appear then that this is only a forum for the unfair slamming of individuals and taking cheap shots at those who have better things to than read and reply to this rubbish.
The fact is, Sohar College is in Oman and, as such, it has good and bad points. One of the unfortunate bad points is their bad luck recruiting teachers who spend a few months here and realize the job is challenging and they leave. That has nothing at all to do with the Head of the Department. Recruiting is done by contractors and they are the only ones who have a say over who works here and who doesn't.
However, at this point, aside from being understaffed, we have, for the most part, a highly competent and professional staff. We are all friends and we support each other both in and outside of the workplace. If this is the kind of environment that you would find appealing, then apply here. If not, then don't.

Derkugelschrieber
Somewhere in Oman

[veiledsentiments]

I read the post that disappeared, and expected that it would do so. The MODs have no way of knowing who or where the guilt is...

I think the problem was that you got too specific and directly attacked other posters, which is different from someone coming on and slamming their management. That is almost the norm here.

I know that some are contented with their job at Sohar and we need more of them to come on and say so. But it's usually only those that are unhappy who come around. Better to post some positive details about the employer rather than to attack the attackers... just an idea...

VS

[Archangel]

Derkugelschrieber, Veilsentiments (as usual ) is right. Your last posting was a little over the top and too personal. The MOD was right to delete it. Try to restrain yourself in future if you please.

Just a few comments about what you said. You mentioned that everyone is friendly and supportive. That is simply not true. As a staff member, I know that most of the staff are distrustful of each other, are back-biting and gossiping and non-supportive generally. The atmosphere is one of fear and suspicion. Most conversation tends towards cynicism towards the College, the HOD, the Admin and even the country. Generally, the teachers here are an unhappy lot with alcoholic, personal, spiritual and emotional problems. Moreover, many are quite lonely and really miss having a partner or that special person in their life. I meet with them every day and hear their cries of woe and anguish and behind the smiles and bon-hommie, there is real loneliness, confusion and dejection. I know you are one of them Derkugelschrieber and I feel for you, I really do.

There is no �bad luck� in the whole recruitment process. How could Sohar College have such �bad luck� over the past two years? You say that it has nothing to do with the Head of Department. I beg to differ. The HOD is like a Captain of a Ship. If he doesn't know how to lead, to inspire confidence and bring people (the staff) together, and can't make decisions, then what sort of leader is he? What sort of ship do we have after all is said and done? All we have is a collection of individuals trying to steer the ship, each doing his or her own thing in the fog of confusion. A Captain like that ought to be fired and replaced before disaster strikes. I know that sometimes he sits behind his desk and chain-smokes and in his lonelier moments, even sheds tears.

The contractors do not have the final say as to who they employ. The final decision is made by those in the Ministry. But what do they know anyway, up there in their ivory towers in Muscat? Thirty years ago, the directors of the Ministry were riding donkeys as children; now they drive Mercedes and sit in plush offices. I don't blame them because most of them don't know what the hell they are supposed to be doing as well. Actually, if the truth be told, the fact is that no one in the whole Ministry, from top to bottom, actually knows for sure what their job is. In my experience the only ones who know are the Indian cleaners and gardeners employed by the College. They have a pretty good idea about what they're supposed to be doing. The rest of us ain't got a clue. We're just here for the money, the sun, the scuba diving and because ... we just haven't got anywhere else to go for the time-being.

[bje]

Thanks for an insightful and empathic post, Archangel. I wish there were more like this.

[hakbs]

[007]

[Geronimo]

Der Kugelscrieber,

The moderators edited my postings, too. It was because I was speculating about the identity of Archangel/Steppy-boy. I've learnt from my mistake - and I think that you should learn from yours, too. You went "over the top" in your earlier posting...threatening to tell a poster's wife where he was! Outrageous!

I remain unconvinced, however, by Archangel's proposal that the Indian cleaners should take over the running of the Omani Ministry of Higher Education. In another recent posting he claimed that the Indian cleaners were thinking about returning to Kerala. So, I reckon that our Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cleaners should be rewarded for their loyalty with that promotion, instead.

By the way, I'm sorry that I missed your "Toga Party" last Wednesday. Who won the wet T-Shirt competition?

[Stephen Jones]

[Archangel]

There's more in the pipe-line fellas! Stay tuned.

[eha]

"You mentioned that everyone is friendly and supportive. That is simply not true. As a staff member, I know that most of the staff are distrustful of each other, are back-biting and gossiping and non-supportive generally. The atmosphere is one of fear and suspicion. Most conversation tends towards cynicism towards the College, the HOD, the Admin and even the country. Generally, the teachers here are an unhappy lot with alcoholic, personal, spiritual and emotional problems."

Just in case anyone thinks this is exclusive to Sohar, or even to Oman: I've been in the Gulf region for twenty years, and I've NEVER found anything remotely resembling a truly professional, functioning staff environment. Yes, some cliques are happy enough--- usually because they've entrenched themselves solidly with Management--- best not to go into the tactics whereby this is achieved. But in most cases, any decent people on the staff in Gulf institutions, are NOT HAPPY. The best of of them admit that they're trying to keep their heads above water, while many others practise the 'see-nothing', 'hear nothing', 'say nothing' technique. They then christen this 'keeping your head down', and try to make it look positive. Whatever happened to: All it takes for the triumph of evil, is that good people do nothing? If I didn't believe that before, my observations over the last twenty years would have convinced me. Of course, sometimes, among the dross, you do find the occasional nugget; there are (thank God) a few splendid people around-- unfortunately, they aren't usually enough to form a 'critical mass' of the kind of supportive professionals that the local cultures should be modelling themselves on. (I won't follow up that point; it usually leads to misunderstanding and unpleasantness.) But I'm glad to see, at last, a little of the truth being told: appearances are deceptive, and let's just be careful whose version of reality we're listening to, when we hear how wonderful a particular management or staff is. For me, what distinguishes a truly professional environment is very simple: conscientiousness combined with civility. One of the plenary speakers at a conference I attended recently summed up the proceedings as: 'an unusually good- mannered conference.' Many of us who complain about working conditions are just asking to work among 'good-mannered people.' Of course, that means sincerity, not superficiality--- the amount of air-kissing that goes on in the corridors isn't exactly a measure of real good feeling among colleagues.

[Archangel]

Thanks for the contribution eha. Compared with you I have only been teaching in the Gulf a short time. You've had 20 years experience here. Sad to hear that in those 20 years you have " NEVER found anything remotely resembling a truly professional, functioning staff environment". It doesn't give one much hope then. The person who posted that glossly picture of Sohar College, Derkugelschrieber, has his own unqiue perspective on the world I guess, and if he truly believes in what he has written, good on him. I guess our standards about what is an acceptable working environment are different to his. (MOD edit to avoid re-starting previous deleted threads) Things can be turned around, but when you get an Omani admin in serious denial about the problems, then nothing much will change. First thing that should change of course, is the HOD. A great HOD can change the ethos and culture of a department over-night. Unfortunately I don't see that happening soon at Sohar College.

[eha]

Archangel wrote:
"where the other teachers are of a better quality, not because they have MA's and PhD's, but because they are relatively decent people"

In case anyone thinks that people like us are ''Being negative" (in itself a very judgmental and negative term) : is the above an awful lot to ask, in an 'academic' environment? I've never come across such insecurity as I've found in the Tefling world: everyone seems to be flashing his/her MA; PhD etc in your face every other minute. They don't seem to grasp the fact that people like myself aren't in the slightest bit impressed by academic qualifications; I truly believe that, life circumstances being equal, ANYONE can get an MA or a PhD in his/her own speciality. It's no big deal. What IS a big deal, however, is HOW MUCH YOUR ATTITUDES TO AND TREATMENT OF OTHERS HAVE IMPROVED, in the course of all those years of brain development. I don't make up my mind about colleagues on the basis of their qualifications; rather, I judge their qualification for their job on the basis of how I see them behave. I'm not a demanding person; as Archangel said above, is good manners too much to ask for, in a third-level educational institution? There are civilized ways of showing dissent and of dealing with conflict: but in the several institutions in this region in which I've done time, I've seen highly unacceptable behaviour on the part of people who are supposed to know better. Archangel also mentioned the backbiting, the vicious gossip, the completely primitive forms of abuse that go on among people who claim to be 'professionals'. Such things wouldn't appear in a truly professional environment, and anyone who says (as people in denial often do) "You find that kind of thing everywhere"--- well, you find crassness and uncivilized behaviour everywhere: but does that make them right? And do you put up with them, or worse, join in with them, everywhere? I think there IS an 'expat syndrome'; I think many people DO behave worse when they're away from their own habitat--- often simply because they CAN. I'd like to read more of the truth (which is never negative) on this forum; and I don't mean bashing individuals or specific managements--- I mean, what IS a truly professional environment? And if you find certain behaviours going on there, does their presence undermine any attempt on the part of the decent minority who are trying to set up such an environment?

[hakbs]

Having a Master's or a PHD doesn't automatically makes you a better teacher. Other factors play important roles such as: attitude, personality, experience, motivation, cultural senitivity, social skills and so forth.

[Zola6666]

Yes, all of us teachers here in Oman have been saddened at the situation here when the Ministry has paid for guidance, and then the universities - Australian last year and New Zealand this year, fail to produce workable materials, don�t order the books on time, and then write completely impossible syllabi and outcome expectations.

Yes, the students and teachers suffer.

I've learned to ignore most everyone else and do the best I can in the classroom, supplementing a LOT when the material is completely wrong for students' abilities. It seems the really good teachers do this. Some teachers say, �Well, this is what the Ministry said, so who cares if any learning happens?�

This isn't just an Omani problem. This happens around the world, and from what I hear, in China too. Western universities promise the world, deliver horrendously inappropriate material and often unqualified, unethical teachers, collect tons of money, and leave the teachers on the front line endlessly trying to communicate with the local people in power that things just aren't working. This model may have worked fine 20 years ago when there were far fewer Western teachers here to grasp the situation and complain.

To my surprise, however, doing speaking tests today, a student who failed last year�s Foundation program, then went on to fail summer school, just completed another Foundation year and now has learned! Many of us teachers had been led to believe no student failed, but this young man did, and so did another student. There might be more.

Information like this from the Administration would help teachers� morale. We, and the students, seem to feel that everyone passes, and therefore grades and work done in class means nothing. Unfortunately, I discovered this by accident�. But good news is good news, no matter how it comes!

[eha]

And everybody suffers--- I feel so sorry for the kids who are caught in this mess; sorry for ourselves--- the front-line targets; even for the few knowledgeable and ethical administrators who are aware of how things are, but find they can't do anything about it.
The situation may have appeared to work fine twenty years ago--- but it's because no-one listened to the few lone voices that were raised at that time, that it's as bad as it is now. Remember how people used to be marginalized--- called 'negative' when they pointed out the discrepancies? Told to leave if they didn't like it? (I'm not talking about Oman here, but other Gulf horror stories) And if you still stuck to your guns, you'd come in for some of the ugliest personal abuse I've ever had the misfortune to witness in a so-called 'professional' situation.
Should I be using the past tense?