Job Discussion Forums

[MotherF]

You countered, High teacher rotation usually speaks for itself with but the teachers that I worked with had been with UVM for well over 18 months.

What am I supposed to read into it?

by using BUT and the expression "well over" you give the impression that you think staying 18 months is not high teacher rotation.

I work at a school with 15 English teachers. 5 of us have been here over 7 years. And only 2 have been here less than 12 months. So maybe my view point is skewed but I don't think saying well so-in-so has been here more than a year, is proof that they don't have a high teacher turn over rate.

[Gregory.]

MotherF I congratulate your institution for its recruitment retention rates.

However, you have to accept that this position is very much the exception, not the norm.

I think the key point here is your use of the word

[Isla Guapa]

Since Gregory doesn't work for UVM, I wonder why he seems so interested in their teacher retention rates.

[Dragonlady]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[Gregory.]

Isla - you're right... I don't work for the UVM. If you read my original post, it actually comments upon the institutions attempts to improve their language teaching through competence based teaching and assessment with portfolios, which is, in my opinion a really interesting approach to language teaching.

Lets not worry about exams so much, lets collect evidence of a students language ability. I really think this is something worth discussing.

Another poster brought up the issue of teacher retention. I just pointed out that I don't think the teacher turnover is as high as some would like to make it out to be. In fact, I met a teacher in Chihuhua who had worked for the university for 12 years. It's not all doom and gloom. Perspective.

Swings and roundabouts. Thats all.

DragonLady- I appreciate your attention to details. I didn't realise that you had noticed my absence. But I'm pleased to be back. Positive as always.

[Dragonlady]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[Gregory.]

Let's get this thread back on topic.

A thought occurred to me yesterday. It's important to remember that simply because a school doesn't have high turnover doesn't translate into a good teaching team.

Very often a school will have old teachers working for several years in the position because of 'golden handcuffs'- in other words they couldn't move to another school and receive the same benefits. So, good or bad, motivated or not, they stay in the same position.

This surely can't be good for students.

The idea that a school with low teacher turnover leads to a quality teaching team is rubbish. Pure rubbish.

The fact that teacehrs are not native speakers makes them less likely to complain or hack the problems is equally flawed.

[Gregory.]