Job Discussion Forums

[Peter_J]

Can anyone give the latest on Mazoon? They've got five vacancies, are people leaving in packs? Judging by the previous postings Mazoon has been an atrocious place to work.

[flutterbayou]

It's hard to pinpoint, but easy to guess reasons, Peter.

The turnover might very well be due to teachers experiencing culture shock, not over being in a new country but for the reasons being hinted at in other threads.

Teaching is not an appreciated profession is some areas of the world, and although Omani students are extremely sweet and kind-hearted on a one-to-one basis, males are often rambuncious in the classroom buildings - opening doors and interrupting classes, for instance - and overly talkative in Arabic. Some come late and leave early, and demand that the teacher mark them as present.

Of course there are regulations and suggestions given by Administration to put a stop to poor behavior, but Heads of Departments and others above do very little to follow through to support teaching staff. Teachers do well to insist on proper class decorum, but those of us who do often become tired of the day-to-day energy it takes. First year English students (who are actually in their second year) do better for some reason, but students taking Foundation Year classes have not yet settled in to College, and are not all that well-behaved.

My thoughts as a newbie is that Oman is beautiful and the locals are charming but that classroom resources are poor and support systems are substandard. Not all students have books to use. IPR are ignored to the extent that most texts are photocopied... but then there is the issue of breakdowns of copy machines, and shortages of copy paper.

Do you get the picture?

Some teachers do well here because they find their niche and stick to it. Others do as little as possible for the sake of the earnings. Then, again, others move on because they expected a College to be a center of higher learning, and the country of Oman has not yet reached or formulated any vision of that nature. My guess is that poor administration + lack of solid resources + general disorganization = teachers leave.

[Peter_J]

Thanks, flutterbayou. Quite a comprehensive synopsis, I must say. Do you work for Mazoon? Is this your personal, first-hand experience or just an opinion?

[veiledsentiments]

The government college that flutterbayou worked at was in the hinterlands where the situation is quite different from Muscat... almost black and white, I'd say. Her experience was short and not so sweet.

Mazoon is a private women's college which is loosely affiliated with a US institution and it has had an ebb and flow of management issues through the years. The posts about their problems were a few years back, so things had been calm for awhile. It may be a meltdown or it may be that a number of teachers were hired at the same time and decided that it was time to move on. I don't expect that this is the kind of place where people stay forever - like SQU. We haven't had a poster from Mazoon for a year or two or three. Hopefully one of them is lurking. (send a PM if you don't want to post!!)

It is likely one of those places where one could do a contract or two if one's expectations are low and one wanted to experience Oman - while living in Muscat. The pay won't be stellar and I'm not sure what they are doing about housing. Rentals are hard to find these days, so I wouldn't take a position that didn't provide housing rather than an allowance.

VS

[flutterbayou]

Hi VS and Peter -

Peter was asking why so many (5) job vacancies appear at once. Could it be that the Muscat area is experiencing similar issues as are the colleges in the hinterlands?

I don't think he was asking about lifestyle or rentals. It was my impression that he wanted to know why a college would have an atrocious track record.

[veiledsentiments]

Not really... other than the common iffy management. Mazoon is not a part of the MoHE, has a whole different group of students... mostly urban girls, and has no recruiter issues.

They just ran an ad here on Dave's for teachers, so you know that people are reading about for information. So, I answered his question as well as possible considering that we haven't had a poster from Mazoon for 2-3 years. I suspect that few of their teachers are Westerners... and they are the ones who show up here to vent.

I have always considered Mazoon to be an entry level job. A place for teachers trying to get that first Gulf job to put on the CV to help them step up to a better place. It is a decent location and nice students - a place where if you are flexible and have low expectations, you can last out a contract.

ADU is atrocious... MLI became atrocious... Mazoon has never reached that level.

VS

[Peter_J]

Someone has just tipped me that this academic year Mazoon had tried to add more working hours without extra pay and force teachers to sign illegal contracts. That sounds pretty atrocious to me.

[veiledsentiments]

The illegal contract issue can quite easily be corrected through the labor ministry. Oman is quite strict on this. Even if you sign it, if it doesn't follow Omani labor law, the employer can't enforce it. Not that it is normally worth the fight...

Adding hours without extra pay? That is a regular occurrence in Gulf education. For the last twenty years teaching hours have been creeping up in every institution - including the top tier jobs. Not one of them has raised the pay based on this issue. I notice that you said 'tried' which assumes that the teachers managed to refuse.

If this is your definition of an 'atrocious' employer, you probably shouldn't consider working in the Gulf.

VS

[Peter_J]

You�ve got thousands of postings on this list, veiledsentiments, and appear to be quite defensive of the Gulf educational establishments. Who�s your current employer, the Ministry of Propaganda? Let�s just stick to the topic of this thread!

[veiledsentiments]

[Peter_J]

You�re right. My agenda is not to make stupid mistakes and I reckon working for Mazoon would be one of them. Appreciate your input.

[bje]

[Peter_J]

Hope you are relieved, bje Mazoon management. Just didn�t know Mazoon is managed from UAE. Happy recruiting, anyways. Peace.

[bje]

[Peter_J]

Of course, Dr Freud-bje-Mazoon-management, you would say something like this, wouldn�t you? And I can see you want to turn this thread personal. No need to bother � I�ve been warned that Mazoon�s management is neurotic.