Job Discussion Forums

[tengerfu]

Anyone out there got anything new positive or negative comments about the Australian College of Kuwait? They are currently advertising for Foundation Program Instructors. There hasn't been any posts about them for almost a year. Good thing? Thanks.

[triedtolive]

Hi,

The only thing I have heard is that the President has recently resigned. Not sure why.

I also heard from a friend that they are expanding which is a good thing.

[Gulezar]

Well organized and systematic in the Foundation Program, and so far, all goes well. Can this really be the Middle East? Maybe when things are running smoothly, people don�t feel the need to express themselves and vent.

[Dedicated]

I have just received an e-mail from a very good Australian friend who is currently at ACK. I'll summarize the main points to help others :

*ACK says they are " honest and transparent in all dealings". The website states all Foundation Program teachers are native speakers - they are not, and they are the ones who haggle over grammar points.

*4 instructors left in the first 6 weeks.

*Class size 25-26 students, mostly arrogant, rude, disrespectful and unmotivated. But they are the customers - we have to entertain them.

*Class hours up to 30 per week - classes start at 8am until 7pm. If you are lucky, you teach from 8am until 4pm, otherwise 11am until 7pm. If you are a Business teacher, you may start at 8am and finish at 7pm, with nowhere to go during the day. Everybody MUST do 8 hours in the building.

* The "happy, safe and inspiring work environment" promised does not stretch to the accommodation. You are placed in single occupancy, fully-furnished apartments on arrival (fully-furnished being cheap, scratched furniture, dirty rug, filthy windows, one plate, one fork, one knife, one spoon, no saucepans, no frying pans, cockroaches or mice, a 40 year old twin-tub washing machine that floods the bathroom) and charged 280 KD per month for this (about �560, or double Sydney prices). It is Third World standard in an oil rich country.

* 20 days paid holiday a year, (1 month) but you can request 20 days UNPAID leave in the summer. This is in stark contrast to Kuwait University who pay 2,000KD (�4,000) furniture allowance on arrival, a 4 bedroomed apartment, 3 months paid summer holiday, plus 2-3 weeks mid-semester paid, with free transport and evening overtime paid.
*You arrive on a visitor's visa, and they promise "to transfer this to a work visa on arrival". The reality is that you work for about 10-11 weeks, then get sent to Bahrain for a medical exam. (If you fail this for any reason, you cannot get back into Kuwait and have to arrange for somebody to forward your worldly goods.) Then in Kuwait, you repeat the medical in about week 14, and only then can start the procedure for residence and can apply for a driving licence. My Embassy tells me this is illegal.

* This period corresponds with the probation period of 100 days - if you fail they don't pay your return flight or for these procedures.

* The "world-leading curriculum" means working through Headway coursebooks

* There is no standardisation, no guidance, no criteria.

* They are heavily advertising for January - I wonder why?

* The ceiling salary for a Foundation Instructor is 1,400 before deductions, so no reward for staying a long time.

VERY TRANSPARENT - it's a cheap-skate, money-making operation.

[Dedicated]

Forgot to mention two other points:
* ACK don't pay for accompanying spouses
* ACK don't pay for accompanying children or school fees.

[monkeybreath]

In response to the above posting regarding the Australian College of Kuwait, I would like to refute some of the comments made, and add some clarity to some of the unconstructive criticism given.

I work at the college - and have done so for a few years now. The Foundation program has certainly had its ups and downs in terms of its academic quality, but I believe that this is typical of newer institutions and would be very surprised if ACK's critics work at institutions that have not struggled to construct sound programs in their formative years. Most of the griping about ACK academically is unfounded - we operate under a continuous process of review, which has made our language programs more rigorous, and which will continue to identify weaknesses and raise the standard of our programs. Yes, we use Headway - not a bad course book, used in many language centres. We also supplement our programs with a lot of additional material that is designed bearing in mind the practical, vocational nature of the Diploma programs that our students are moving into. To suggest that there is [b]�no standardisation, no guidance, no criteria�[/b] is bollocks, all programs follow prescriptive unit and course criteria that is methodically reviewed by department heads and instructors who, contrary to suggestion, do give a damn.

Yes we have large class numbers - 25 in a classroom is the general maximum which is occasionally exceeded. All instructors agree that this number is not conducive to language learning, but this is a private college after all, and the executive group insists that these numbers are necessary in order to keep the college afloat. Plenty of dissent from academic team � but nonetheless many of our staff are very committed to the task at hand, despite this hurdle

Calling ACK students [b]�mostly arrogant, rude, disrespectful and unmotivated�[/b] is a crass generalisation. Many of our students are polite, genuine and extremely respectful � far more so than Western students of the same age. As for their motivation � it is an unfortunate fact that many people of all ages in this country are unmotivated � a side effect of living in circumstances of plenty and rarely being held accountable. Dedicated�s comments reveal more about the lack of awareness his friend has about the social complexities of life in Kuwait than they do about ACK students in particular. Many students in Kuwait see their education as imperative primarily to their chances of marriage, so an expectation that they will approach their studies with the compelling factors of career and financial security pushing them is na�ve. That is not to say that ACK provides a social arena for matchmaking � students are very much encouraged to approach their studied seriously.

The non-native speakers that we have teaching on the Foundation program are fluent English users with accents, who generally work harder than a lot of their native speaking counterparts. They generally have a level of language awareness that aids their students� language acquisition, and generate dynamic lessons that far exceed [b]�haggling over grammar�[/b] � an offensive comment.

We sign contracts that suggest 30 hours of teaching a week � this is a left over from original contracts which the executive group refuse to change so they get more bang from their buck, but has NEVER been implemented in practical terms. No instructor in the Foundation program has done more than 20 hours a week over the last 2-3 semesters without having received overtime payment. In the business program, instructors are asked to do some long days in return for having very little or no teaching on other days, thus enabling them to work four day weeks, or do very short fifth days. Yes everybody must do 8 hours in the building � they like to see us here, and there is plenty of prep to do.

Yes, we get only 20 days paid holidays a year � but everyone is well aware of this when they sign the contract, so I am not quite sure why people then act surprised. If you want longer holidays, don�t sign. Having said this, it would be great to get more paid leave, and we do feel that the summer semester during which we teach portions of classes is a waste of time that does not benefit students, and in fact contributes to instructor fatigue.

Yes we have high instructor turn over � Kuwait is not the most attractive of places upon initial experience and unfortunately the financial reward is just not motivating enough to maintain instructors, particularly from Australia. But many people do stay, find Kuwait a liveable enough place, and the college an affable enough place to work. The lack of financial incentive is a [b]MAJOR[/b] issue that needs to be addressed immediately as the current package is simply not competitive in this region. The fact that Foundation instructors have been consistently paid far less than their Diploma- teaching counterparts is a slap in the face which is countered by management with an argument of supply and demand. Until more instructors quit and give this as their reason for doing so, I doubt things will change.

[b]ACCOMMODATION[/b] � Here I agree with Dedicated�s friend wholeheartedly. The accommodation supplied by ACK is a disgrace that guarantees new instructors start off at the college on the wrong foot, feeling unwelcome and uncomfortable. There are several different ACK accommodation buildings, and the standard between them is unfortunate. The initial building was quite clean and well furnished, although feels a bit like a serviced apartment � not at all the kind of place that would convince a new instructor to settle in long term. These apartments are overpriced � but so is all accommodation in Kuwait. The college would be far better off waking up to the kind of incentives that HCT use, allowing people to furnish a quality apartment and dig in for the long haul. A major problem is that the package presented to newcomers is given as a bulk salary figure, but is in fact calculated as salary + accommodation allowance + travel allowance � no free accommodation thrown in, so people are very disappointed when their decent salary then gets fritted away on very average accommodation for very high costs.

Finally, no there are no extras for spouses or children, but as far as I am concerned why should there be? Single people don�t get supplements, if you have family and don�t want to pay for them, then living overseas may not be ideal for you.

My primary gripe about the college is that we receive almost no professional development opportunities, and what PD funding exists is farmed out to PHD research grants that will give ACK a nice kickback in terms of glory. In my time here, what I have learned has been from experience and a personal commitment to improve my skills, not from ACK trying to enhance my skills-base and thus the skills-base of the organisation.

That�s my rant � ACK isn�t an ideal place to work, but it sure is not as bad as all these other postings make out � evidenced by the fact that there are very few comments posted by its employees. Thanks for reading!