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[Special Report]

Do You Want to Set Yourself in this Situation?

This is the ultimate question of a mature teacher. Do you want to set yourself in this situation? I�ll outline most of the things that a Primary Native English Teacher will go through in the Primary Native English Teacher Scheme in Hong Kong. And, remember the control you will have and probably the most control you will ever have in the scheme with be this question: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

There are things that others haven�t told you in their writings about the NET Scheme in Hong Kong. I don�t know why. Selective memory, only the teachers with good experiences have written or the writers have just simply forgotten to mention some really important facts in making a decision in which to apply and work in the NET Scheme in Hong Kong.

The interviewers!! They were nice, weren�t they? What you don�t know is that the attrition rates of PNET and SNET teachers are: 2006: PNET: 32%, SNET: 25 %; 2005: PNET :46%, SNET 53%; 2004: Started keeping statistics because so many were leaving. (South China Morning Post) These are not the statistics I heard, but I�ll go with the newspaper.) The statistics are not yet out this year, but these are the Employment and Manpower Bureau (EMB) statistics. So, with so many teachers leaving, they need to recruit teachers! They�d better be nice because all the teachers in the scheme are leaving at the end of their contracts. And, to add to this, the interviewers just interview. That is their job as they know it. Other ministries, schools and people (Supervisory Teachers (SET), English Panel Chairs (EPC) etc.) are responsible for their part with no coordination. What the interviewers say in the interview is only their word for it; it does not count further than that!

Ask yourself the question: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

The article about �___ White� is completely true. I was here during that time. I had dealings with some of the support people helping her. (Please read the pre-existing article: �What about this?� posted earlier.) The poor teacher was told by doctors after returning to Canada, not to work for one year!

Ask yourself the question: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

You think the number of years that you submit as bona fide years of educational experience will be counted at face value?? Surprise, surprise! No matter how many years you will submit, you will not receive them all. Teachers with bona fide (indisputable) 20 + experience, in educational systems in other countries, have been given many years less. A contract was signed, the EMB did not honour the number of years after the teacher had started teaching, ie. in October. Committed !! Lawyers were threatened, yet nothing done!! I had 8 years teaching in Korea in the institutes. I was given 2 years, 11 months and the small print says only full years count. One of those years was August 31, 1995 to August 28, 1996. What separated the dates was a weekend! Nope, not a full year! Down to two years. Eg. 2: Bona fide 17 years educational experience in Australia was �squashed� to 12 years.
Also, Masters degrees and Ph.d.�s make no difference. There is no credit or pay increase for extra education.

The question is: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

It�s a school based curriculum in Hong Kong. Translation: school curriculum vary greatly from one school to the next. Fine you say? The EMB has very little power. This is the Ministry of Education with only the �power� to recommend. The real power is in the hands of the principal or the supervisor for the governing body of the school. The principal has almost unlimited power. Some use discretion, others become �power drunk�. Principals turn the schools into �fiefdoms� for what they feel is good for the school, students, parents or themselves.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

You might come as a teaching couple. There is no consideration as to placing the two of you close together. Travel time is easily an hour each way. Add two hours to your daily schedule. You�ll be traveling much, much longer than you probably thought on really crowded public transit.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Schools are making and changing their schedules for longer and longer hours. The schools will have 10-12 hour days if you don�t speak up at the beginning and will expect you to work the same. The Hong Kong thinking is two fold: the more hours I work, the better teacher I am (or appear), and �I need to be seen pulling my weight so others will not complain.�

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Don�t think you will have time for hobbies. You MIGHT have time for one hobby. After working, there isn�t much energy left inside of you for more.

Question: Do I want to put myself into this situation?

You, a PNET or SNET will be between two employers. The two employers are the EMB and the other is the school where you work. The two employers want different things. The EMB, who hired you (the interviewers), want the PNET/SNET as an �agent of change�. To provide new and relevant teaching pedagogy to the Local English Teachers (LETs). This is what they advertise for and what the advertisement tries to promote.

What the school wants is a PNET or SNET that will fit into their school culture and do what they are told. The school is not used to opinions: �After all, we are all going in the same direction!� This is the type of thinking. And, the school is the one that signs the contract, the body that can terminate the contract within one month, the one that decides if they would like to renew your contract and probably most importantly whether they will give a gratuity at the end of the contract of 15% of your base salary. These plus a reference letter can be �held over your head� during the duration of the contract.

The mature question is: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

I personally felt like an �educational mercenary�. The EMB hired me to do a job that they can�t do, so they pumped me full of �agent of change� rhetoric and then put me into the schools.

With the school at the beginning, I used to feel a free hand in doing new things, making suggestions etc. and even initiating things on my own. . Now, (schools change and with a new principal, very much.) the principal is micromanaging me in the things he wants me to do. (Yes, he is a male principal) I�ve had a good rapport with him, but now I�m almost being told what to do. I am being told what to do!! (By the way, the term principal should really be changed to �principalcess� or Head Mistress; the number of primary principals is overwhelmingly female in Hong Kong.)

This is not what the EMB advertised!! I need to be very political and it takes a lot of energy politically working around 2 employers and the wants of both.

Question: Do I want to place myself in this situation?

Wow!! Look at the money I will make!!

The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar. The US is the largest market for Hong Kong products. Since 2003, the Canadian dollar exchange rate has fallen from 4.9 to 7.1 Hong Kong dollars. Interpretation: It takes 7.1 Hong Kong dollars to buy 1 Canadian dollar, now. It used to take only $4.9Hk to buy $1.00 Cdn. That is 2.2 divided by 7! By my calculator that is 31.47 % loss in salary. The Australian dollar is also losing value: $6.5 Hk buys $1.00 Aus, now. I�m not sure what it was in 2003. (Please check www. Oanda.com ) Other Asian economy exchange rates are rising in value. The Hong Kong dollar value to other currencies is falling and badly! And, financial advisors see this as a continuing trend following a low and declining US dollar value.

Question: Do I want to place myself in this situation?

Just a note for Canadians: There is a �white paper� in Federal parliament that will make Canadians abroad pay Canadian percentage taxes!!!! That means that you will be paying your host countries taxes AND Canadian taxes. This will be for Canadian passport holders which is ALL of us!!! In essence, out taxes will no longer be based on residency but on citizenship (copied straight from the US!! But in the US, any money under $82,000 US is tax free. Not Canadians!!)

This is being prompted by Garth Turner, MP for Halton in Southern Ontario!!! This is an absolute outrage!! More information coming, but best to look up his telephone, fax number, email and address of his constituency office in Halton Region and Ottawa. Best to send your opinion in that order as a telephone call represents �x� number of dissatisfied constituents, a fax is �x� times 3, an email is �x� times ?, a letter represents �x� times ?, but much higher and the best of all is walking into his constituency office and telling him what you think.

Getting visas for teachers who would like to stay for a second contract or a third would be easy. You would think! Well, not so. There has been an ever increasing �Leave it to the last minute� attitude where Chinese schools don�t have a PNET or SNET before the summer holidays. The result is a mad scramble in August and September. Not only is there a very late problem of interviewing and organizing a PNET or SNET, but also there are two other factors. Who is here coming back to Hong Kong on their own without a contract to come to and the second is it takes time 3-6 weeks for a Visa to be processed.

Who do you think will wait for the Visa? The school and the PNET or SNET will wait, but the school wants the PNET or SNET working at the school. The PNET is working without a visa!!! The school expects it. Immigration won�t allow it and it is an offense here to work without a visa. And, the EMB only recognizes the start date of the employment visa as the first day they will pay. Several teachers have reported working for up to 6 weeks without pay!!! The EMB denies it!

Do I want to set myself in this situation??

The EMB is very disorganized, out of touch and SLOW! There have been innumerable accounts of teachers who were successful in their interviews in February and March (a few years ago when they did them that early!) but decided not to come to Hong Kong. The reason? The contracts weren�t sent out by the EMB until June!!! No one can plan their international life at that late stage especially if you have children and schools to find.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Job satisfaction is generally limited in the PNET scheme. In some cases, job satisfaction never arrives and getting the salary at the end of the month doesn�t make up for it. There are some exceptions, however. Generally speaking, job satisfaction as in other countries is periodic and you shouldn�t think of job satisfaction as an attraction.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

The pedagogy of the schools is probably 50 years behind what is being taught in your home country. Rote learning, text book opening and closing at the end of each period, the local teachers marking piles and piles of books each day. Really! Unbelievable amounts of marking for them. It is brainless tedium for them, but they do it.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

The students� parents are very powerful in Hong Kong education. In some, to most schools the administration has allowed the parents to have an office. What do they do there? I don�t know, but I think they think of ways to attack the administration and the teachers with complaints. In the school I teach in, when a complaint comes into the school from a parent, the teacher is hauled into the principal�s office and the complaint is put right at the teacher. Eg.1 �A parent thinks your teaching is too strict.� (The teacher has 30 years teaching experience.) Eg. 2 �You are yelling too much at the students. The parents think you yell too much!� The teacher has the worst behaved class in the school in a working class neighbourhood. The principal does not lead. He passes the criticism onto whomever, unedited!!

The latest is the school bus company that takes the children to and from school. This bus company has cancelled the contract with the school. Yes, the bus company initiated the cancellation! Why? Because the company was sick of dealing with the parents� complaints about the buses! So, the contract will end because the principal will not lead and take the criticism!

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Teaching is filled with people all day. But in Hong Kong, PNETS and SNETS teach alone. Maybe for you, you have taught in your home country or you have taught in institutes in other Asian countries, but you have always taught with other foreigners on a day to day basis. The other foreigners have there own classes but are teaching at the same school and share a common teachers� room. Well, you teach alone in Hong Kong. One PNET and one SNET per school! Depending on the size of the school, 20-60 Chinese staff with an all student body anywhere from 300 to 1200 or more. The local teachers speak English and that is great, however after time, there is no �bandying around�, jokes to tell and stories to laugh at. That communication is so vital after awhile in a foreign culture. You are there, alone.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Class sizes are an issue. 40 students to a class (or just 2-3 less) is the norm for PNETs. I don�t know about SNETs. This is the issue between teachers, the Professional Teachers Union (PTU) and the EMB. It is not resolved and is on-going. I don�t know what the outcome will be. The PTU and teachers want 20-25 students per class, the EMB says there is no difference in teaching quality for students with smaller classes. You can see how far apart they are.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

One of the things I noticed was the age of the other teachers when I arrived in the PNET Scheme. After teaching in other countries, the average age was 22 to maybe 30 or so. When I arrived here in Hong Kong, all the teachers seemed seasoned professionals from their home countries that had put in many, many years. My impression was that some of them had put in 30+ years in their home country and now wanted more money beyond their pension (double dip, so to speak). Others were retired and wanted to keep active. Others had children who had grown up and out of the house and it seemed like they used teaching in Hong Kong to get away from them. This was my initial impression. Since then, I think it is less pronounced. Or, I�ve aged! And, that is surely the truth! However, the teaching population seems much older.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Bringing your children to Hong Kong to attend primary or secondary school while you teach here is expensive! Someone with better figures on school tuition can say in more exact terms, but international schools charge between $5,000 -$8,000 Hk per month and the English School Foundation (ESF) schools charge more reasonably from $3,000 Hk + or - to about $5,000 Hk + or � a month in school fees. This does not include extras such as trips and other �essentials� that the parents are expected to pay. The EMB does give a �Special Allowance� which they say is for school expenses, but that is the housing allowance �gone taxable� with the inclusion of �school expenses�. After the rent, there isn�t much left for school fees.

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Everyone seems to have an opinion here. Every teacher feels they have to say something on this issue and that issue and be �snarky� with others who don�t believe as they do. Be prepared to have others be negative and uncooperative at what you think is a �slam dunk�!

Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Try to make up your own mind. This is probably more difficult than you might think. You have probably read or thought that the teachers who wrote in are the ones with the bad schools and that is only what you will hear. Some truth to that! But, what is really �throwing� is that you get teachers writing in saying its good, and that those people are negative and complainers and can�t adapt or have brought it on themselves. These are the people who were parachuted into the good schools and have no idea what it is like to have to deal with such unreasonable requests, personality problems and the loneliness of teaching in the Hong Kong educational system.

Back to that question: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

There are some things that can be done, however. There are some positive things that a person can do to shield themselves from the outside environment.

The first and most powerful is to ask yourself: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

Second, the school to which you will be assigned is like a falling parachute. Some people land at good schools and others will not. From there, maintaining an open mind, looking for the positives and listening to the LETs and administrators and trying to be flexible as to how education is taught in Hong Kong are all good ideas.

The question one last time: Do I want to set myself in this situation?

This is a mature question and needs to be asked if you are attempting to teach here. Reason it out, decide what you want. Reading this will prepare you more fully to answer this all important question.

[BeckyBen]

Oh my God!
You can never really tell what a job is going to be like until you experience the daily grind.
It is very hard to imagine what situation you are putting yourself into.
I thought I had landed a super job at this prestigious International Primary School in Beijing but have never been so unhappy.
Thanks for the warnings.
Are you still a NET?
I think I will be prepared for it to be a tough couple of years with many frustrations. That has been my experience of teaching anyway!
Somehow( and yes, I think it is the money and the chance to live in HK) I am still quite keen to go through with it.

[YellowHair]

SR,

Thanks for the advice. Sorry you've had a tough run.

[anninhk]

While I can understand where Serious Report is coming from I have to answer the question with a 'Yes'.

Being a NET is an individual experience as, until you try it, you can never know how you will react in a situation where you are an outsider. If you move to a new school in your own country you can easily fit in, but in Hong Kong you have to make a real effort to adapt to the school culture which is completely different from that in a primary school in England.
Also you are being held up as some sort of 'expert' and this can be a threat to the Panel Chair and the Principal so it is a fine line between trying to be the agent of change and learning to work within the system.

I have been in my school for nearly 5 years and there have been highs and lows. Fortunately the staff are generally friendly and I do feel part of the school but for most of those 5 years I have felt I have had very little effect on the way English is taught. However, next year we are going group children for reading in P6 and use books suited to the level of the kids. This is a huge move and I hope that this will be successful and spread throughtout the school.

I think my advice to anyone contemplating working in the NET scheme is to be prepared to look and listen and wait. To go into the school with an open mind and see how you can work with the Panel Chair within the system as it is, and not try and change things overnight. Treat the staff in the way you want them to treat you and be willing to learn. Hong Kong is a great place to live and nowhere is perfect!

[starfall]

I agree with SR.

What are the statistics on NETs looking for new schools/contracts every 2 years? There seems to be quite a few.

If you're lucky like Anninhk and have a school where you're reasonably happy, then great, you can put up with the school system.

If you're not, then you leave or find another school. It's not a job for everyone.

I wonder if the (lower) attrition rate for 2006 is due to the retention bonus as quite a few NETs will be on the 10% rate?

[BCinHK]

When the scheme was first set up, the government counted on a 20% attrition rate. But, as stated in SR�s report, the rates were never that low:

From LegCo Panel on Education documents
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr06-07/english/panels/ed/minutes/ed070416.pdf
2005-2006 school year: 32% for PNETs, 25% for secondary NETS .

http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr06-07/english/panels/ed/papers/ed0416cb2-1545-4-e.pdf
2003-2004 s/y: 39% PNETs, 44% SNETs
2004-2005 s/y: 46% PNERTs 53% SNETs

Starfall: The lower rate for 2006 might also be due to the fact that they had to hire so many people in 2005 to replace those who left and those NETs would only have been mid-contract. Also, wasn't that when the Special Allowance went up to $12,950?

The number of NETs who change schools is NEVER mentioned! It would be an interesting statistic...

Many NETs have said that it is a gamble, a crap shoot, a game of Russian roulette to enter the NET scheme - and it is! There are so many variables: your personality/expectations/tolerance for change/rubbish, the principal, the panel chair, your colleagues, the students, the syllabus, teaching schedule, the endless list of things that make up a teaching day in HK, plus all the personal stuff like finding friends, a support system, and a place where you feel welcome.

I'm about to sign my 5th contract. Some days are really good and other days I would like to leave this crappy place.... But for now I'm here.

[anninhk]

Some people move schools because they don't like the school they are in but others have to move because their schools are closing - I have 2 friends in that position at the moment, and some have to move because their schools don't like them. Schools do not have to renew your contract and quite a few people are surprised at the end of two years when they find that they don't have a job!
I wonder how many teachers are 100% happy with their job wherever they teach? It is so easy to concentrate on the negatives and forget there are some positives to being a PNET - no reports to write, no irate parents to deal with, no real accountability as you are not the only teacher the children get, a lot of weeks when there is no teaching, in primary, only having to plan 3 or 4 lessons per week and very little marking, only 28 periods of teaching a week (when I was teaching in primary elsewhere I was lucky if I got one period free).
As some people have pointed out I might be one of the lucky ones as I have a good school but funnily enough I have a lot of friends who are in the same position ( and some who are not!) but there are 600+ NETs and many of them have been here for a number of contracts so it can't be all bad.

[Lao Wai]

[anninhk]

I actually agree with all you have said here. If you want to be a proper teacher don't come to Hong Kong.
Yes, I am older and therefore do find it easier to go with the flow although I also find is so frustrating to have ideas and not be able to implement them.
As I also said though, after 5 years there is going to be a change and maybe that is the key. If you are only in the school 2 years who will carry on when you go? Will the next NET want to change things again?
You are constantly fighting the exam system and teachers feel the only way to prepare their kids is to drill them the way they do now. Things will only change when they themselves see there is a better way and take ownership of those changes.

[starfall]

I think that the increasing trend towards removing experienced teachers should also be noted. Experienced teachers are not as compliant as newbies, fresh out of their home countries with no teaching experience at all.

After all, why have a AT section which can teach experienced teachers nothing? They have to justify their jobs so why not recruit newbies?

[Horizontal Hero]

Yep, being a NET can be tough. Generally speaking, lack of job satisfaction and isolation are the big killers, at least for me. It's certainly no gold mine either. The OP was right about the EMB docking every damn cent they can. But they do count part years - they just don't count part months - e.g. one contract I worked from Jan. 2nd till Dec. 30th - and they counted it as ten months! Absolutely outrageous! I'm a teacher with 17 years of educational experience and a higher degree, and yet earn 15 000 a month less than some other teachers here with similar experiece and a simple B. ed!! But on the positive side, if I was getting paid what I'm worth I might be tempted to stay. As it is, leaving will be easy. Just quietly, I'm looking for the escape hatch.

[door3344]

[Horizontal Hero]

erase

[Special Report]

I am glad to see so many people viewed what was written about the PNET scheme in Hong Kong. It was written with as much objectivity as I can manage at this time.

I wrote that one of the most difficult or deceiving (in a nice way) things about the scheme is or are the positive comments made about the scheme. These comments tend to come from teachers who have had a good experience with their schools, then, tend to spread their good experience. And, it is good for them.

Anninhk is one of them. I have talked to her on the phone and she is happy and bubbly and it was just seconds before I found myself enlightened by her demeanor. This is very helpful to have. She is a bright light from a personality given to her and this shines through.

However, it wasn't stated that she teaches in the New Territories of Hong Kong. I have worked in the New Territories and in 'Hong Kong'. The attitude and the people ARE different! As well, the students too who are at the schools are also different including the expectations for them and from the school itself.

By and large, and it is a generalization, the NT schools tend to be more relaxed where personalities can make a real difference. This is not the case in Hong Kong where there tends to be a competion for better schools, band 1 schools for high school, and better schools in primary. This attracts a more serious attitude and the resulting school culture.

Anninhk speaks well of her school. She was desparately sot by another school, still in the territores. So, the perspective is one of elation and not indicative of the PNET scheme on the whole.

[anninhk]

I'm afraid Special Report talked to someone else. He did not talk to me!
I teach in a Band One primary school in Kowloon and I can tell you that the pressure for the kids to perform is great, and the reluctance of the staff to change for fear of standards falling, a great barrier to the implementation of any new teaching methods.
However, after 5 years we are now going to implement a guided reading programme with P6 children in order to try and cope with the range of abilities within the year level.
Surely the idea is to give prospective NETs a balanced view of what being a NET is lik, and I personally know a lot of NETs who enjoy the job and the experience very much, but am also know others who have had a very raw deal.
Whoever the other anninhk is I'm glad that she too has had a positive experience, and I still maintain that if you come here and are willing to accept that you are the outsider and adjust your attitude accordingly you will have a much better time than if you go into the school expecting it to change for you.