Job Discussion Forums

redeyes · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 254

VS,thanks again for all your insights/advice on these boards. You are a consistently reliable source IMHO. Appreciated.

helenl · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1202

Offices for teaching staff at HCT? Not a chance. You would be assigned a chair in a 2 or 4 seat cubicle and privy to a lot of personal and professional phone calls. There was one guy who refused to talk on his mobile at this desk and marched around the office 'sharing' his conversations with the other 50 people on the floor. Can you tell I'm not a fan of this type of environment Laughing

HCT has a stated policy that you must be on campus 40 hrs /week. How stringently this is policed depends on the campus and the local stool pigeons (hey, they're found in every office environment). English teachers always have a lot of meetings to attend at HCT so the 40 hours is usually achieved most of the time. If your workload is light during a given semester or your students are on workplacement then you are usually able to curtail your time on campus by going on work place visits. Wink

redeyes · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 254

Are the line managers/management team UAE staff, or are there Westerner line managers too? How many staff per staff room? I heard some of the smaller branches only have a fifteen strong staff for EFL work.

helenl · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1202

I should have added "and enforced" after the word policed in my previous posting.

There are campuses where you have more freedom to come and go, but the endless meetings tend to tie you up a lot of the time.

redeyes · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 254

I wonder what all the meetings that take so much time, could be about? Is there really so much that demands such regular meetings?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

redeyes · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 254

Thanks again VS -- Is a lot of the bureaucracy generated by American/Brit line managers etc, or UAE staff? At previous schools I have worked at, it was almost never generated by local staff, who tended to have a cooler outlook.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Invariably Westerners...

Though the Emirati Minister of Higher Ed is always interested in new management fads from the West where he was educated. Laughing

VS

Afra · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 389

I don't think one can generalise across the system about the number of meetings teachers have to attend; it very much depends on the attitude of the immediate manager and his/her management style.

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:39 pm Post subject: Hi, VS

I think that you contribute well to this board, but sometimes suspect that your information might be a bit dated. I can imagine that you still have many valuable informants at the HCT, but, again, I suspect, that over time at that set of institutions (ANY institution in the ME and elsewhere!) your informants may have become a bit jaded. My question to you over the dreaded meeting issue is, Don't you think that your reporting on the frequency of meetings could be campus-centric? I have informants at many of the colleges and I've heard of reports similar to yours all the way to where there are very few meetings (to the point that the Chair actually apologized on calling the meeting, but circumstances dictated its need). I've also heard of Chairs micromanaging to those who pick pretty good Academic Coordinators and basically leave the teaching staff to do their magic.

I was just wondering on your thoughts on these points. Question

NCTBA

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Certainly true NCTBA... there have always been branch differences. But, I think that I can safely say that even the most laid back branch of HCT had (and still has) more meetings - and committees than all of the other places I worked... combined. Laughing

My first job in Oman, we had one departmental meeting in 4 years.

Tell me... do they still have people driving all over the Emirates having meetings? Getting assigned to the test committee was a fate worse than death. I haven't heard it mentioned for awhile.

And yes, I expect that many of my sources are just a tad jaded. How could one avoid it if you have taught there for 10-15 years? Wink

Some of them feel that it is worse now than it was when I was there as far as this goes.

VS
(PS: it was the bureaucracy of the system that made me leave... I liked all the individuals - management and faculty - and the students... and the pay package)

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:57 pm Post subject:

As they say in the Court of Law, "Question asked and answered". Thx, VS

NCTBA

helenl · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1202

At one campus I ran across a teacher who was trying to decide which of 3 meetings (scheduled for the same day and time) she should attend. I suggested she tell each of the meeting organizers that she was going to one of the other meetings and then go home. Laughing

ckhl · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 214 Location: SE Asia

I'm a twelve-year veteran of the HCT. In the nearly twenty four semesters I've taught there I've hardly attended any meetings. Those I do attend are among teachers, usually to agree on an exam or course outline/syllabus. Although this hasn't been out of principle, I probably do thirty-two to thirty-five hour work week.

redeyes · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 254

ckhl, that's encouraging news indeed, and the contact hours obligations look very fair indeed. It looks very much like there are different rules from campus to campus, whcih makes sense. Can I PM you to ask you a question or two more? Hope that's ok?

Heleni, I just PM'd you too if that's ok.Thanks all. All info very much appreciated.

Best,

RE.