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goteach99
Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 4
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 Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:55 am Post subject: KFUPM |
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I am a teacher at KFUPM. Expect the low end of the pay scale if you come
here. I have two Masters and one is in ESL. I have years of public school
experience but they only give credit for ESL teaching. They also don't pay
for certifications with public school systems, advanced degrees, or
ability. The pay is good if you are not qualified to get a job in your
country and have spent a few years working for peanuts in a developing
country and having a good time.
The housing is a constant complaint. The single men say they have a
small hotel fridge and not enough room to cook. Married couples get a
tiny one bedroom apartmen. The handbook they sent me said that we
would get a two bedroom but you have to take what they give you.
The plus side is the time off. You teach four hours a day and have a nice
long summer break. I like the students and enjoy teaching. One other
complaint is that you may have to teach up to five extra classes a week
if other teachers are sick. You don't get paid for that. Luckily I have had
to do only two classes this year but the danger is there. The university
is also very supportive with paperwork and does not try to hold on to
your passport.
I would be happier here if they paid me based on my qualifications, I was
single (my wife cannot work or study), I could work on my PhD, and
they gave us a decent apartment.
If you are single and unqualified this is a good deal.
I will be glad to answer any posted questions. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:39 pm Post subject: Re: KFUPM |
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| goteach99 wrote: |
I have years of public school
experience but they only give credit for ESL teaching. They also don't pay
for certifications with public school systems, advanced degrees, or
ability.
One other complaint is that you may have to teach up to five extra classes a week if other teachers are sick. You don't get paid for that. |
I just wanted to comment that these two are pretty much SOP for the vast majority of ME employers. Very few places count non-related experience and many have a set pay scale with no credit for degrees.
Being required to cover for other teachers for no extra pay is a standard part of most contracts. At least you don't have a batch of female teachers taking months off for maternity leave that all the rest of the teachers have to cover for no compensation. At one university I worked we had at least one teacher - often two - out for this every semester for years on end.
VS |
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nikon
Joined: 01 Feb 2004
Posts: 34
Location: waiting for clearance to land
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| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:52 pm Post subject: KFUPM is it true? |
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| From what I've learned about KFUPM, I agree with the the comments and would just like to add just this: besides being single, and unqualified, it appears that employees need be required to have police academy training and police experience- I've heard that the majority of the classroom work over there, is police work! |
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nathan_lomax
Joined: 16 Mar 2007
Posts: 9
Location: Bahrain
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| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, thanks for the info. I had just sent off for the application form. I thought from the description the campus lufe would make up for the low (even though tax free) salary. I don't think I'll bother now. Thanks! |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:42 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| If you are single and unqualified this is a good deal. |
If you're unqualified you won't get a look in so don't waste your time on the application form.
As for being single an advantage that is debateable. A fair proportion of the staff have wives that don't work, often Philipino or Thai, and they don't seem that unhappy. If you have a wife that would have a job in her home country, or elsewhere where you would teach TEFL, then why bother coming to anywhere in the Gulf where she is likely to have problems finding employment? I don't see Dhahran, where KFUPM is, as being any worse than elsewhere in Saudi for women finding jobs. If you are coming to the Gulf with the wife, and want to both work, then find somewhere that offers both of you a job (that is look for educational institutions with men and women's sections).
| Quote: |
One other
complaint is that you may have to teach up to five extra classes a week
if other teachers are sick. You don't get paid for that. Luckily I have had
to do only two classes this year but the danger is there |
The answer to that, as VS said, is to give up teaching as a job! Everywhere I have ever worked, apart from Language Schools, you have been liable to lose your free periods for cover. Absences are exceptionally rare at KFUPM so the 'danger' is likely to be around the two or three classes a year mentioned. In general Saudi has one of the lowest absenteeism rates in the world among EFL teachers, so this is a fairly unreasonable gripe.
| Quote: |
The housing is a constant complaint. The single men say they have a
small hotel fridge and not enough room to cook. Married couples get a
tiny one bedroom apartmen. |
The housing for single people isn't anything to write home about but I have seen worse. Present single person housing are studio type apartments and the kitchenette is in the main room, and the fridge is the standard small house fridge with an ice compartment but no separate freezer compartment. I rarely cook as a result. New apartments should be ready in June, and those have separate bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, though the last two are very small, and they seem to lack storage space, as present apartments have a storage *beep* dressing room that will be missing in the new ones. On the plus side the houses are well-built and quiet, everything is provided, and you get free internet or can pay SR75 monthly for DSL.
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| I thought from the description the campus lufe would make up for the low (even though tax free) salary. I don't think I'll bother now. Thanks! |
'Life' isn't what you come to Saudi Arabia for. The campus does have all facilities, including a couple of gyms, restaurants shops and barbers, plus the library. Comfortable, but nothing wildly exciting. You are close to Khobar, even closer to Rashid Mall, and can get to Bahrain cheaply at weekends. Justy don't expect Oxbridge intellectual fervor, or frat boy parties.
i
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| It appears that employees need be required to have police academy training and police experience- I've heard that the majority of the classroom work over there, is police work! |
This is quite untrue and suggests your correspondent knows nothing about KFUPM at all. The OP has stated, "I like the students and enjoy teaching." Some students may be lazy, but nearly all are pleasant and polite (the last three classes I have taught at KFUPM have been among the most pleasant I have taught anywhere in the world) and complaints about misbehaviour are rare. Some classes are better than others but I have not heard of any singularly unpleasant classes to teach, as you tend to get on occasion in most other institutions in the Gulf.
Pay scales are supposed to be going up, though nobody knows when we will find out, or how much the increase will be. |
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goteach99
Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:33 pm Post subject: Additional comments. |
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If you have no qualifications or background in ESL but a couple of years
teaching I think you have a good chance of a job. We are so short on
staff that I think that they are looking at anyone that applies. I started
this semester with 35 students in each class and a limit of 38. Luckily,
some did not show so I am down to about 31 each.
I taught in Jeddah at the teachers college and we did not have to cover
classes. In any professional educational institution you are not required
to cover classes. I'm sure the professors don't have to do it. You also
don't have to do it in any public school where I worked. The policies
here show how much they respect us as professionals.
As far as give up education as a career, we are not in a career. We are
temporary laborers and are treated accordingly. As long as they can fill
the classrooms with anyone that wants to travel and don't worry about
training or qualifications that is the way they will treat ESL people. Try
getting a professional qualification in any other field by taking a two week
class. That is how you become a bartender, not a professional educator.
By the way, the University of Florida is advertising for a full time ESL
lecturer and requires a Masters Degree. They are only paying about
$22,000 for the school year. I can get $50,000 in Miami public schools.
Countdown till summer. Good luck to all. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:50 pm | | |
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