Job Discussion Forums

[letitslidedude]

Here is the link!
http://tesolarabia.org/conference/jobfair/jobView.php?id=43

IAT is planning to hire during TESOL Arabia native English teachers! Have they lost their minds? Have they forgotten that recently within 2 months in Al Ain, they lost 50% of their Native teachers? Are they aware that their salaries are low and the lowest in the UAE?

Wait & see! I would be very curious to see how many innocent native teachers will apply and take their insecure and stressful positions?

Either offer a good package to the natives or if you can't afford it, just hire Arab English teachers?

What a mess!

[globalnomad2]

I notice they can't even get their ad straight--under "Salary and benefits" they repeat the applicant requirements (Delta, two years experience, blah blah blah). Brilliant.

[letitslidedude]

They don�t tell you about the salary and other perks, BUT I do! I am just hoping to help those innocent native teachers to avoid this place like HELL!

1) Salaries for WESTERNERS: Maximum 8900 AED/A month: And you need a Master's degree/ 10 years of teaching experience besides a CELTA/DELTA. What a joke!

2) Other perks: 2 tickets per family/ 20,000 AED for schooling for each child and up to 2: Total: 40,000 per family. You will need to kiss your monthly salary to cover schooling tuitions, add transportations, meals, registration fees, field trips, books and the song goes on!

3) Insurance: You pay about 190AED/a month to get ALICO for yourself. For your family, you have to pay 170 AED/A month for each member. If you have 3 kids & a wife, do your math again!

4) Housing allowance: Abu Dhabi & Dubai: For a married family: 72,000 AED/A year. This is the maximum a teacher can get! You can get a 2 bedroom apartment unfurnished, add your monthly bills. Kiss your salary again!

5) Housing allowance/ Relocation and more: 20,000 AED/ for 3 years. If you resign before one year, you will have to pay it all. There is no common sense and they use a pro-rata system.

6) Need more, PM me!

[WD40]

I have a single friend who joined Abu Dhabi in Setember. She enjoys it and does not see the salary as poor considering she was on less in the UK (due to taxation etc..) Remeber also that in the UK you DO NOT get

Housing allowance (she shares a flat and the allowance is enough)
nor
Education Allowance (she is single and does not require it)
Transport is free once a year home

Therefore, if you did your sums right at the beginning before taking the job you are either quite content because you worked out whether it was economical or not or you are screwed because you didn't.

She also says that though the students are young 16-18 year olds - they are far better behaved than those back in the UK. She is also using Skills for Life materials whcih are by far, better than most that is offered by many institutions

PS I do not work there nor do I wish to as I have a family and it would be financial suicide to even think about going there, but there are always two sides to a story. My advice to you if you have read this - look into it if you are single DON'T if you have more than one child!!

[letitslidedude]

Thanks for your positive post! However, comparing salaries and benefits to UK, or any Western country is a suicidal initiative. Why? First of all, all TEFLers and TESOLers left their countries to be in others for different reasons and usually on a personal ground! Some left because they feel no longer home, while others for adventures and the list goes on! In reality, I have to admit that the majority (and not all) usually come here for MONEY!
In my opinion, you cannot compare teaching English in UK or your home country to the Gulf or other spots. Lack of family presence, normal life, friends, neighborhood, favorite coffee shops, weather, shopping habits, Christmas parties, church and more!
All in all, for a starter like your friend, and single on a top of it, I believe it is a deal! My message was not directed to English Teachers who have a little experience and less qualification, but to those qualified ones who have a chip on their shoulders in terms of teaching experience.
Take care!

[Zoot]

Read all that Miknunez and globalnomad2 have to say about this organization and take it to heart in the most sincerest way - AVOID IAT like you would avoid a plague. The organization lacks integrity. Why? Because any employee with this characteristic left long ago!!!

[janejohn]

Anyone thinking of making of making a contract to work with IAT from
August, give it a miss. I worked there for a full year, gave 6 months notice, and still haven't received my final pay cheque, which is salary for June and July, plus one month's gratuity, minus two thirds of the 20,000Dh
establishment allowance. This should come to about 20,000Dh.

When I left the Emirates in early July, none of the resigning English teachers at our school had been paid, despite repeated emails, phonecalls, screaming at the accountant etc. The accountant blamed top Emirati management for the fiasco, and told me that I wasn't entitled to the gratuity even though the contract clearly states that I am.

[veiledsentiments]

All of you teachers need to have banded together to get a lawyer to take this to the labor court. This is not an unusual problem, but if it is an ongoing program, you will eventually get your money as they have no case. Many others have succeeded.

Don't let them get away with it...

VS

[Zoot]

Great idea, veiled sentiments! Except that employees of IAT have been informed taking group action in the UAE is illegal! And remember IAT is a government organization. The best employees of IAT can do is to warn others NOT to take up employment with the organization.

[veiledsentiments]

It has been done before with success at least twice that I know of. In both cases that I have direct knowledge of, it was against the military which is a government organization. The first was a contract in the early 90's where the contractor ran off with all the salaries, but eventually the military had to relent and pay the teachers. The second was the infamous MLI meltdown. In both cases, it was a group.

VS

[janejohn]

Still no final pay cheque from IAT, which, surprise surprise, is run by the UAE military. The lying accountant is still ignoring my emails, so I'm considering engaging a lawyer to at least lodge a complaint with the Ministry of Labour. Does anyone know of other teachers who have the same problem?

Janejohn

[Zoot]

I think there are many teachers having the same problem as yours! They do as they like when they like - why are you surprised that IAT is funded by the Military? Didn't you know that before you began working for them?

[janejohn]

The IAT accountant has finally seen fit to send me notification of what IAT believe they owe me, which is 4,781Dh, less than a quarter of what I believe they owe me.
They didn't pay the gratuity on the grounds that I didn't work a full year, although I was there on the first day of school and there on the last day. Apparently one academic year doesn't constitute a full year.
My total holiday pay worked out at 93% of one month's pay. Where they dragged up this figure from no-one can imagine. For the month of June, I was only paid up until the last day of school, June 21st.
What happened to the paid holidays for 45 working days a year mentioned in the contract?
I had to repay nearly three quarters of my establishment allowance,
although I discharged one third my obligation to IAT and should only have to repay two thirds of it.
I had to pay health insurance for the months of June and July although I gave back my health care card on June 14.

I was told a number of lies before joining IAT.
These were:
1) There were no significant discipline problems.
2) It was a select entry school with the implication that most of the
students were above average.
3) We wouldn't have more than 5 forty-five minute lessons a day.
4) It was implied that the fact that students were paid would be used
to improve the standard of their work and behaviour.

In reality I found:
1) Constant chatting in Arabic and reluctance to work made teaching quite exhausting.

2) Most of my students were below average (I had lower ability groups). I had several serious remedial cases who didn't know the alphabet, couldn't read words like cat and dog, and couldn't even write simple words correctly in Arabic.

3) For most of the year (except for the last learning cycle) I was teaching
28 to 30 lessons a week.

4) Discipline was fairly weak and student's pay was never docked for bad
behaviour or lack of work. The top heavy admin structure seemed worried that students would leave the school, thus endangering their own cushy, well paid jobs.

Does anyone still want to work for IAT? I didn't find out that it was a military school until after I started.

[Zoot]

Everything Janejohn has said is true - the contact hours are exhausting because of behaviour management problems, which are not perceived as the students' but rather the teacher's problem!! The teachers consider themselves to be doing well if they have to teach only 4 1/2 hours per day!!

Unlike an earlier comment made by vs, IAT is NOT improving - it is sliding backwards at a rapid pace.

[veiledsentiments]

These military contracts in the Gulf always seem to be a problem. This is now the third one with pay discrepancies. Realistically if you took them to labor court, you would probably be able to get the full 45 days of leave per the contract, on top of the portion of June that you were paid. I doubt that the contract states "45 working days" as that would be unheard of in the Gulf... it is 45 calendar days. I fear that giving a 45 day holiday puts you under a year for the gratuity payment... very tricky how they did that. It is possible that this wouldn't fly in court. The allowance should also confirm to the contract whether it states the payback is three years... or four years as they paid it.

But to get back to real life... if you add up that amount of money, even if you won, would you have anything left after the legal bills? Unless you can fight something like this with a batch of teachers and one lawyer, it is hardly worth the aggravation. Best case it would be a year or more to get any of the money.

In both previous suits against the military for teacher pay, it was many teachers and in the first one, the teachers were owed more than a year's salary each... plus benefits. (long story, but they kept teaching even after their employer had absconded with the money...) After a couple years in court, the teachers won... at least those that stayed and waited it all out.

The best advice is to avoid working for the UAE military... no good stories to tell on these places.

VS
(PS... the students sounded like the norm for the military)