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stillnosheep · Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe

"A question of econmomics"?

More a question of spelling, or at least spellchecking, I'd say.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

All the OP is doing is describing why teachers at private language schools in English speakng countries as well as in foreign placements are getting screwed over.

It really shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that management's ability to drive a BMW is more important to them than their teachers' ability to eat. that's why paying teachers late and saying "Gee, we really wish we could pay you, but there just isn't the money [after I take my pay] this month" isn't unheard of in places like Toronto. And it is pretty common knowledge that if you want to make a career out of teaching English, then you should get out of eikaiwas or language schools and into goverment programmes for teachers or private high schools/ universities etc. and also that the amount of buying potential possible in an English speaking country is going to be far less than the amount of buying potential in a non-English speaking country when you teach English.

The situation will not change because there are always going to be people willing to work for very little money, often because they simply don't need money for whatever reason (usually a highly paid spouse).

waxwing · Joined: 29 Jun 2003 Posts: 719 Location: China

John Hall · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 5:35 pm Post subject:

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

madison01 · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 40

Thanks to stillnosheep for pointing out the typo, Doh!

I get the feeling that this post annoyed some people. I'm sorry if that is the case. I have now moved away from EFL teaching as a career for the simple reason that I would never earn enough money to buy a house, get a pension and have a family.

I understand that some people have posted other options and business models here and whilst I don't disagree with some of them, to a point, I think some people missed the point of the post.

A large proportion of private language schools, in the UK and abroad, are owned by single owners or Ltd companies; a large proportion of that large proportion are profit driven businesses. There are, of course, a lot of factors that determine how successful a business is, however, the single goal of all of the businesses that fall into this large proportion is to make as large a profit as is humanly possible.

I am not condoning the reduction in quality which inevitably comes about when teachers are paid little and changed annually for less qualified cheaper teachers. I am merely pointing out, that the business in which you work is, chiefly, a profit driven business.

And please, before anybody points out that there are other alternatives, take note of this; as far as the school owners are concerned, the only alternative is one that makes them even more profit.

The model I posted a few days back works for many schools and is unlikely to change unless there is much stronger regulation on private schools and far fewer new teachers enter the market on a monthly basis. Even then, inventive owners would find some way of circumventing these.

I do believe that teachers of English with the level of education experience and professionalism that schools want should be paid more, however, I also believe that it is highly unlikely happen.

John Hall · Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:25 pm Post subject:

How about a temporary reduction of profit in the short term in order to pay good teachers better wages, build a better reputation than your competitors because of it, and make more money in the long run by doing more business in the future?

madison01 · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 40

shuize · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270

John Hall · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 4:41 pm Post subject:

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 5:34 pm Post subject:

John Hall · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:56 pm Post subject:

Long posts tend to kill threads, but Justin's comments here, I think, are really worth paying attention to. Perhaps he scared the others away?

With regard to turnover and returning clients, one thing has been overlooked. And that is that students when they finish an English program are probably not going to return to it later, unless they go for a long period without using English, and then need a refresher course. The focus then should not be on getting the same students to return, but to have graduates who are extremely competent in English, and who let others know where they studied English. Obviously, a young student's brothers or sisters could be attracted to the same school, but also, the new employee who speaks English better than the older employees who need to improve their English will recommend that school to the older employees.

It would appear to me that Madison's school did not regard the idea of having a good reputation academically as being a positive selling point for the school. But this does work, and can even eliminate some of the need for advertising. I know of a company here in Costa Rica that has done "corporate language training" at a higher level than anybody else for over twenty years, and yet they have never advertised!