Job Discussion Forums

[steppy-boy]

With several years experience teaching in Oman, I can tell you that I have never seen salaries so low, the cost of living so high, teacher morale so low and the level of mis-management so high. For all those considering working for any College of Applied Science (especially Sohar College), my advice is: see Oman as a last alternative. Try elsewhere in the Gulf first. Then if all else fails, try Oman, but do so at your own risk. Even the Omani students are not as nice as they used to be and are starting to get very jaded and cynical with their own Colleges. In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest to you: get into another profession. Get a normal job. ESL teaching is NOT a normal job. It is, on the whole, a rather childish and futile occupation.

[007]

[boundforsaudi]

Higher Colleges of Applied Sciences? How did you get that? The Colleges of Applied Sciences don't include the word "Higher." Neither do the Colleges of Technology, except for the main campus in Muscat. Makes more sense than the UAE HCT system, where all the colleges are Higher. Higher than what?

[veiledsentiments]

As I expected and predicted, once Oman went to a system of using recruiters it was all downhill. And now the recruiters are using recruiters to add another bureaucratic layer to peel off more cash and make it harder to get any problems fixed.

These are entry level jobs for those that need or want a foot in the Gulf and don't have decent credentials. It is one of the few places that will hire you without an MA.

As to the comment about the profession, for me this was a second career, but I entered it as I was getting the MA. It really is a 'dead-end' job/profession if you don't get the proper credentials... and it is a dead-end job even with the credentials if you go back home. As to its being 'childish'... that describes a lot of the teachers I have worked with... and some who post here... and a lot of people in my previous career in the US too. It seems a common human failing.

VS

[Geronimo]

Steppy-boy, I've checked back through your posts on this forum and I've become puzzled by a few of them.

On Jan. 8 2007, you wrote,
' I left [Sohar College] some months ago because I could see what was happening.'

And on Feb. 8, 2007, in response to a query about your whereabouts, you wrote;
' I did leave some time ago, but you could say that I am still there in "spirit."'

And, after that, on May 7, 2008, you wrote, ' I'm still at the [Sohar] College. I never left.'

Is your current presence in Sohar corporeal or ectoplasmic in nature?

Oh! And VS, have you ever set foot on the campus of one of the Colleges of Applied Sciences?

You don't know what proportion of the current teaching staff there hold MAs or are Doctors, do you? You don't know how much teacher training takes place in these Colleges, do you?

Would you choose a hotel on the basis of a review posted by someone who had never been to that hotel? Personally, I prefer to base my hotel choice assessments on recent visitors' reviews, rather than rely upon postings from those who, (if, indeed, they exist), base their own hotel reviews on visits to a different hotel, located over 100 miles down the road, made many years previously.

Why is that my mistake, VS? Where am I going wrong here?

Geronimo

[veiledsentiments]

I don't see anywhere on this thread that you were accused of making any mistakes, but I know plenty of people with low credentials that they are hiring. I also hear from many unhappy people there by PM. (and we do have those on here who are unhappy - and a few that are fine with their jobs)

I stand by everything I said. These MoHE jobs used to be the plum jobs before they expanded it and went to recruiters - they had significantly higher pay back then (pay dropped 30%) and were direct hire. It has all been downhill since then and there is no necessity for me to visit any of the campuses to know that. It is still one of the few places that will hire someone without an MA. (feel free to check my posts, but I have never made any claim that there were no people with an MA).

For people with a high tolerance for problems and/or are keenly interested in experience life in Oman outside of the capital they are fine. But... for anyone with an MA and good experience, there are better choices.

Can you deny any of that?

VS
(They have to train their teachers there? Really? Everywhere I worked the teachers were already experienced so training wasn't necessary...)

[Geronimo]

VS, in response to your postings above.... I first contacted Abdul Majid Majali in response to his advert on tefl.com back in 2004. I visited the tefl.com website today and - yes, you've guessed it - he's still advertising there on behalf of the MoHE today. Regarding the remuneration package, it is slightly higher in today's advert than it was 4 years ago, once the free accomodation provision has been taken into account.

It will take years for a professionally trained cadre of in-house Omani HRM experts to emerge. The Foundation Programme's students couldn't wait that long....There are a host of HRD issues in the MoHE Colleges that need urgent attention. An effective recruiter needs to have a tight grip of the job profiles of his vacancies. Do these job profiles even exist in the case of the MoHE's teaching posts? I doubt it.

Apart from the SQU, which other TEFL employers based in Oman insist on an MA? Besides, this forum is here to serve the interests of non-MA holders, too.

With regard to your remark about teacher training, it would appear that you were unaware that a substantial Omani English teacher training programme has been undertaken by MoHE colleges for a number of years now. This teacher training programme has provided substantial intellectual challenges for a significant number of highly experienced and well-qualified English teachers.

Expat English teachers have the right to expect further training opportunities in their workplace, too, of course. For example, the introduction of IELTS courses and Blackboard technology have pointed to further in-house training requirements. Teachers at Sohar College of Applied Sciences have had opportunities to attend annual ELT conferences at the SQU; and to submit their papers to a new MoHE symposium located last year at Nizwa College.

'Different strokes for different folks!' Non-native speakers from Iraq have different calculations to make than teachers from the USA. Males have more M.E. opportunities to apply for, and so on.... One of my former colleagues had spent a VSO year in a self-built beach hut in Eritrea prior to his arrival at Sohar College....
Let's provide the inside track and allow external parties to draw their own conclusions, in their own contexts, based on a balanced presentation of the facts.
[ That'll be the day! Mod. ]

[boundforsaudi]

Majali no longer recruits directly for the MOHE. His ads are on behalf of Hawthorn.

Years have nothing to do with the recruiting process getting better in Oman. In fact, it has been getting worse. One of theses days it may approach the incompetence shown by the "cadre of HRM experts" in the UAE's HCT system. The worse thing that can happen to recruitment is to hand it over to the so-called "HRM experts." Recruitment should be done by the HOD, assuming some enlightened dean has figured out what kind of HOD to hire, and some enlightened minister has figured out what kind of dean to hire.

[eha]

All of the above. But I don't think it's all a matter of deteriorating recruitment policies: Omani society is changing very very fast indeed. Many of the students are still sweet, polite and co-operative--- but the poster who said they're becoming cynical is right. The whole concept of 'professionalism' also needs to be reconsidered and applied--- very much as it needs to be in other Gulf educational systems. Oman is entering a phase of speedy-- and often ill-planned --- development; it's no longer the Arcadia of the Gulf. It's a shame; I loved the politeness and pleasantness of the Omani students I knew when I first came here---the absence of arrogance; the manners that reflected a self-respecting culture. But relationships are certainly going to be affected by changing social conditions.

[veiledsentiments]

[denise]

Actually, salaries are still 1000ish + housing. They haven't dropped as low as 700. New teachers don't get trained--it is assumed that they already have proper training and experience.

d

[rocketchild]

there seemed to be a thread started where I talked about money being too low in Oman. And even V.S. boo-hoo'd me.
Well, why the change in tone.

The money isn't lower than two weeks ago.

I think Steppy Boy is burnt out. Time to move on SteppyBoy. So many people on this board told me that Oman isn't about the money, it's about the camping. hahaha

And Steppy Boy likes to have things taken off the board he doesn't agree with . I would say Steppy Boy had fallen out of favour with his students and is working summer school.

Bitter much.

[veiledsentiments]

There are a lot of poor reading skills in this profession. Oman has and always has had one of the lowest pay scales in the Gulf and nowhere have I said otherwise. That said, the MoHE used to pay 1000 OR a month back in the late 90's though the number of hires then were small... and there were plenty of ads here on Dave's after the switchover to recruiters where the salaries on offer were dropped to from 600-800 depending on creds. I didn't say that was the pay now.

I don't find it much of compliment to the new system that they have finally reached the level that was being paid 10 years ago for direct hire MA holders. Glad to have cleared up that it is the Omani teachers who are being trained and not their hires.

VS

[Geronimo]

Boundforsaudi, I accept that Abdul Majid Majali works for Hawthorn now. And, I'm sure that you accept that Hawthorn recruit behalf of the MoHE. I note, too, your point made in one of your other recent postings on this forum that CfBT are using the website, www.teachanywhere.com. On the homepage of this website, though, the CfBT state that teachanywhere.com is "the exclusive recruitment agency for CfBT Education Trust's international positions." So, does this amount to recruitment sub-contractors sub-contracting? Using their own exclusive website-I don't think so.

With respect to my comment about the potential contribution of 'HRM experts', I wasn't referring to any of the people that I have encountered in the TEFL field in the countries where I've been employed as an EFL teacher, or in the UAE, for that matter. I was referring to the HRM experts that I've had dealings with in the English public sector, including the Education Departments, during my time in HRM.

If real experts in organisational design and engineering work were let loose, there would be some prospect for improvement, believe me, providing that they had a strong enough corporate sponsor backing them. The fact that these putative HRM consultants would not be tefltastic could be viewed as an asset, not as a disadvantage - from both the MoHE's standpoint and from that of their teachers' further down the line. Different organisational cultures hold different cultural values and they maintain different operational standards.

If the minister knows how to recruit the Deans, and if the Deans, who are on rotation, know how to recruit the HODs, and if the HODs, who have dozens of staff reporting directly to them incessantly, know how to recruit the teachers, then we'll all live happily ever after. And Ali's in Wonderland.
And if not?! Status Quo anyone? (Not my favourite rock band, either.)

Has anyone come across 'Action Learning Sets' or the social constructionism movement in an EFL context? (Background info on these phenomena is available at:- http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2002/proceedings/papers/05.htm .)
I keep wondering if there is a place for Action Learning Sets, asynchronous or otherwise, in the Omani F.E. arena. I'm seeking out a suitable topic for an M.A. dissertation, and I'd welcome feedback, +ve or -ve, if there has been any exposure.

Geronimo

[veiledsentiments]

Not familiar with HRM... is that Human Resources Management?

I don't quite get the concept of sub-contractors using another subcontractor. Who is the contract with? Who is responsible if one has problems with... say one's flat? Is this just another way to pass the buck around... so that both of them can claim that you have to talk to the other one?

VS