Job Discussion Forums

[carlen]

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[Sunburnt Individual]

Yep, Penta comes and inspects the schools. They talk to some of the teachers (VERY briefly), the administration, and some of the students. After that the school gets the report with their ratings on various things ranging from hygiene and cleanliness to student happiness to some evaluation of the teachers.

[teachaway]

Hi Everyone,

As a representative for Teach Away I would like to answer some of the questions posed on this board. Teach Away does not generally review discussion boards, but it was made aware to us by an applicant that there was some misinformation on this thread. With that being said here are some direct answers to questions that have been posed in this thread, and other similar threads on this board.

1. Teach Away is an official recruitment provider for ADEC.
2. Teach Away is facilitating interviews in North America (Chicago, New York, LA, Toronto and Vancouver) in Late April and/or Late May.
3. Candidates who apply through Teach Away will be employed directly by the Education Council.
4. The salary range is 11,000AED to 16,000AED per month
5. There are over 200 vacant positions for September.
6. Candidates will be teaching Grade 1 and 2.
7. Accommodation will not be shared. Candidates with families will be accommodated with bigger apartments than single candidates.
8. There is NOT an education allowance for candidates with children.
9. Teachers will teach English, Math and Science at the primary level
10. Teach Away does not take any part of the teachers salary, housing allowance, or flight ticket. In fact, we worked with ADEC to develop a competitive salary for teachers working in public schools internationally.
11. In addition to working with ADEC, Teach Away is the official North American recruitment provider for the Hong Kong Education Bureau. Teach Away is also a leading provider of English speaking teachers for the Government of Korea, and the Japanese Public system. In addition, to this you can see other teaching positions that we have in Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia on our website.

If there are any other questions that arise please do not hesitate to contact me directly at [email protected]. You can also visit our office in Toronto if you are in the area, or call our general line at +1.416.628.1386.

-Dave

[allyp]

Hi Dave,

I have worked in quite a number of national schools. What concerns me about these positions is there appears to be no support network. No cluster leaders for teachers to refer to if any problems arise.. This is not the US or Canada, Principals have either very low English skills or no English skills. Some are interested in school classes, their students and teachers, many are not. The idea of just 'dumping' native speakers new to the Emirates seems like a recipe for disaster. I presently supervise such teachers in another program and I can assure you it is not an easy transition to National Schools for the majority of new teachers.

[helenl]

Note that the Teach Away rep does explicitly state that there is no education allowance for dependent children. It is incumbent on the prospective applicant to do some research to find out what the school fees would be in the school of their choice - an important consideration for any parent.

There was no mention of health coverage. Perhaps this was an item that was overlooked by the Teach Away poster and could be clarified?

[carlen]

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[Sunburnt Individual]

They're not the only ones who don't always see the point.

When asking what they wanted to be when they grew up, I received almost no answers from middle school girls. I assumed they didn't understand, but apparently some of them did. One girl finally answered, slightly confused about my frustration "get married, have babies." her friend chimed in "and go shopping!" The room started chirping and nodding in agreement. Out of 25 girls, maybe 18-20 seemed pleased with this answer. One day I was teaching and was totally ignored. One student said "KhaLLAS, teacher. Sit, happy. We don't care. Sit and tell lady to give you tea."

It's not ALL the students, but it's definitely more than enough that it should be mentioned. I did get a lot of progress out of a few children, but it was not a very rewarding year. The aims that the parents have for their children varies enormously.

[teachaway]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the responses and detailed review of my post. I will answer the questions below.

-The start dates for these positions are in late August (sorry for the confusion).
-Health Care is provided for all candidates
-For the first year of this program, ADEC is planning to place teachers in more populated areas in order to give them the best chance to succeed.
-Candidates will be placed in groups (3-5 per school). The purpose of this is to help ease the transition for new teachers into the system. The goal is to have teachers build a support network with other teachers.
-ADEC is also interested in hiring Arabic speakers with North American/ UK/Australian/S. African training in an effort to help the communication barriers that may occur between staff and management
-Teach Away also offers a support network for teachers through various online groups. All candidates will also be able to attend an online pre-departure presentation to help prepare for their year abroad. Teachers can also contact their Teach Away rep should they experience any issues while overseas as we are in close contact with the Education Council.

I agree that teaching overseas requires a high degree of flexibility, positivity and willingness to overcome challenges. As with every new program there are sure to be growing pains and thus candidates that are flexible, positive and motivated are preferred.

NOTE: Teach Away will not be monitoring this discussion any longer. Please feel free to email any questions you have directly to me at [email protected]. You can also call our general line at +1.416.628.1386. I hope that my posts have helped clarify the program details.

Dave
Teach Away

[Sheikh N Bake]

[quote="Sunburnt Individual "KhaLLAS, teacher. Sit, happy. We don't care. Sit and tell lady to give you tea."
quote]

Sounds good to me--sit, happy, drink tea, read book collect cheque!

[johnslat]

Dear Sheik,
Well, you ARE a sheik.
Regards,
John

[carlen]

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[Zoot]

carlen, your posts are always full of insight and show a deep understanding and all the issues you mentioned are only some of those having to be dealt with in the public education system in the UAE.

Dave of TeachAway - I'm sorry, your post shows no understanding of what you're dealing with at all. Even to suggest that someone can problem solve by turning to Facebook or to a recruiter for assistance once working in a school is absurd - the recruiter has no power whatsoever unless of course you've signed some sort of contract that does give you the power to assist the staff you've recruited. What do you imagine Teach Away could do if someone you'd recruited called to say they'd just been abused by a teacher or principal who themselves don't want to work? Using the kind of language we are familiar with and that mostly works in western work environments to explain away these situations is not doing prospective employees any good, at all.

Here, teachers turn up for lessons when they feel like it, usually they have a break from socialising for brief periods to present in the classroom, principals are scared of the teachers and won't jeopardise their own jobs by upsetting someone through making them accountable, teachers refuse on a daily basis to 'work' and leave the schools 'exhausted' at each day's end to go home and sleep. The local ones can't be sacked and those of other middle-eastern nationalities will do anything to keep their jobs.

I'm also left to guess why ADEC has elected not to provide school fees for those married with children. That seems to me to be a sure way of cutting off the possibility of having experienced staff as a part of their mandate in education, here in the UAE. Any ideas anyone?

[carlen]

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[ap4058]

It seems Teach Away is not the only one recruiting, CfBT are holding several meeting in the UK for positions in Abu Dhabi?

[allyp]

Teachaway actually edited out the bit about using Facebook to give new teachers a forum to discuss any concerns.
But I went looking, sadly Teachaway has no friends.