Job Discussion Forums

[Glenlivet]

Quite a lot of correspondence at the moment about salaries and how poor they are. Do contributors feel that there maybe a correlation between working part time hours and earning part time money?

In my previous position I was splitting my time between two schools and my private students, I had 42 clock hours booked which gave me an average of 35 contact clock hours per week after cancellations (this is what I need to survive comfortably). On a few occasions I actually worked the 42 hours which was killing and unsustainable. On an average Tuesday I worked 9 contact clock hours, bloody hard but I made 475pln.

I guess if your average middle income Joe worked 20 hours a week, he wouldn't be middle income Joe for long!

[Sgt Bilko]

I don't think 20 hours a week is part time. State school teachers here in Poland have a full time contract of 18 teaching hours (18 45 minute lessons). I think it's a recognition that we plan, mark, form fill, attend meetings, have training etc etc which gives us a working week approximately double the length of the actual teaching hours.

8 hours a day is OK (just about) most of the time but what do you do when it comes to writing reports or marking tests/homweork? Maybe it'd be different for 1-1 business conversation classes but not with 12-14 teenagers.

[Glenlivet]

Granted in the State sector, I was thinking about the private sector where (in my experience) non teaching time is less onerous. I also guess that the 45 minute teaching hour reflects the need for preparation.

[Harry from NWE]

[Glenlivet]

[Richfilth]

Yonks back when I did my teacher training experience it was mooted that 5 hours teaching was equivalent to 8 hours in an office, making a 25-hour week a full time job. My first position in Poland was 26 hours a week, and I certainly felt drained come Friday. But that's what teaching teenagers does to you.

As Sgt Bilko said, state school teachers are obliged to do all the planning and marking that a lot of us private-sector staff are exempt from. The school I had been working for until recently were excellent at this; no reports or lesson plans or monthly tests for 1-to-1 students, just the key to the classroom, do what I like, and a signature from the client at the end of it.

Of course, when it came to asking for a pay rise above the 1zl/1min ratio, excuses regarding the cost of administration, resources and blah blah blah came out. And if the school didn't even supply a coursebook for that class, where did the other 90zl go after the boss had deducted my wages from the 150zl the student paid per hour?

If you work for a school, they will always take a cut, that's to be expected. Maybe some of the school owners on here could clarify what their hourly costs per teacher are, in terms of maintaining the school.

[Harry from NWE]

[Steve Smith]

I can't believe how little salaries have moved on in Poland in the last decade. I was paid �500 GBP NET in 1996, and never taught more than 22 hours. And trust me, that money went a long way back then. Not that there was that much out there to actually buy.....