Job Discussion Forums

[Otterman Ollie]

I recently discovered that my supplementary employer is going to make deductions from my pitiful salary because I am paid for the 50 minute lesson only and the break time is not included in my actual paid salary ,although the amount you are paid is quoted as an hourly rate . Am I alone in thinking this is a bit of a rip off, is a similar arrangement made with the students ? Out of interest what is an average hourly rate paid by one of these establishments ? Do they pay any travelling costs if you have to make your way to another part of the city,Im thinking of Izmir specfically here ,thanks FGT for the info on the BC can you give me an insight on the working of these language schools minds when it comes to coming across with the folding stuff ,call me naive and lacking worldly wisdom but I thought I was dealing with honest people .What is the usual policy about breaks do we get paid while they (the students) take a break ? Is this sort of bs normal ? I am so glad this is not my sole means of income . Any other pitfalls I need to be aware of ,naturally I dont expect them to pay my taxes or social security,do you ? We are working for peanuts anyway ,no wonder these places have high staff tunover .

[dmb]

I have heard of this happening before. However have a good look at the contract. Does it say 'real hours'? I've seen this in contracts before. I've also known schools where teachers where expected to spend their breaks with their students(this was part of the hour)

What you say about tax. If you are legal then the school pays the tax. It's paid at source by law. What I believe(read know) is that the school lies(shock horror) on the tax form. Rather then say they pay you 2 milyar a month they write on the tax form they only pay you 200,000,000 TL a month. Hence they don't pay as much tax. To most teachers this doesn't matter. But say you were to stay in Turkey for ever and ever and ever. Then you would get an unpleasant surprise when it was time to retire and collect your pension

[FGT]

I agree with dmb about the tax/SSK situation.

As far as payment for classes is concerned, a 45 or 50 minute lesson is usually referred to as a "ders saati" (lesson hour) which leads to confusion with "real" hours. Students usually understand both what they're getting and what they're paying for; teachers often don't understand what they're getting and what they're being paid for. In my experience, salaries are usually quoted at an hourly rate (60 mins) for time spent in the classroom only, regardless of whether or not the teacher chooses, or is expected, to spend the breaks with the students. Thus two 45 minute periods with a ten minute break equate to 1.5 hours paid teaching.
If the rate is high enough (say 20 mill TL an hour), the discrepancy isn't particularly important, but if you're being paid a pittance (say 10 mill TL an hour) I'd be concerned. If it's somewhere in the middle you take the money or have a choice.

I've worked at 2 schools in Izmir, they both pay/paid travelling time for teaching off-site but only if it's more than 30 minutes from the school and at a lower rate than for teaching.

Other pitfalls? Most language schools offer free accommodation or a housing allowance. This is quite a sizeable perk but only if the accommodation is good or the housing allowance is realistic. Part-time teachers or others who don't receive this perk should be paid at a higher hourly rate.

Does the school arrange and pay for the residence permit? Good schools do.

If you teach one-to-one through a language school, check what happens if the student cancels at the last minute or fails to turn up. Do you still get paid?

If you are employed on a full-time basis, is there a guaranteed minimum salary? (So that if you teach only 40 hours in a month, you are paid for 60, for example)

What about paid holiday and/or bayrams? Is there a return flight to the UK included?

It's worth checking all the small print. These things mount up. Hope this helps.

[Otterman Ollie]

Hi

Thanks for your comments thus far ,the comment you made about an hourly rate of 20 means that because of this system you lose 3.3 million each hour ,multiply that by the weekly hours you do and then the weeks in a month worked and you are talking about an amount that is useful to say the least,it would pay for a few decent meals at least . I don't really need the help from them regarding the flat or the tax and ssk payments thats already sussed with my real full time job ,I was just looking for a bit of variety in my teaching and hoping to get paid for the time I gave ,but this is only token payment in my opinion and they will lose me sooner than they think .
There seems to be a lot of indifference towards us from the bosses at these places we use them of course but they never give us the benefit of the doubt that we might want to do a professional job .
Not wanting to jump to another post .time is my enemy the BC thing I was looking for a library to join and get up to date with current affairs find out about forthcoming seminars or work shops etc ,are they still running ?
FGT you said that the library is going to an undisclosed place but you know where ,would you care to share that knıowledge at the moment nobody seems to know very much or they are'nt saying very much .

Thanks Ollie

[FGT]

Yes, you're right that the salary drops by x percent because the time spent with students in the breaks isn't paid. That's why the whole package is important: airfare, accommodation, residence permit, guaranteed minimum etc etc.
If you have another job you a) aren't in need of and b) aren't eligible for these perks. You should therefore be paid at a higher rate. See above.