Job Discussion Forums

[chryanvii]

We have just become short-staffed because one teacher has unexpectedly left without telling anybody. But this particular center [for some reason or another] does not hire part-timers to fill in slots. It is up to the full-timers to cover for each other [which I didn't know about, or think about in advance before accepting the job]

Should I "take one for the team" and learn to be a team player, and just buck it up and do the overtime while feeling miserable about doing it, or should I be straight forward and tell them I was expecting to have 2 days off every week with no questions asked, and no changing around?

To be quite frank, I keep hearing the words at this training center, "we are a team". Unfortunately, I have never really thought about this kind of job as a "team" job. I am more of an individualist...

Thanks for your 2 cents...

[johntpartee]

If you're going to be miserable, you're not going to be doing any good for anybody. You'll suffer, the students will suffer..........

[Andrew Jordan]

It is common for schools to expect overtime, how you respond to it is dependent on many things. If you flatly refuse they may not work with you in the future, or you may get less desirable classes. If you do "take it for the team" you may not get any recognition for it.

It's a negotiation, and the contract is just the starting point (you didn't say what country you are in, so it may be different), not to end of negotiations as it in the west.

[spiral78]

I believe the OP is in China? As noted above, standards very by country and region - and schools, obviously. There is no industry standard in EFL .

We use the word 'team' in some respects; our teachers collaborate on our work, hopefully raising standards overall.

In an actual pinch, we might cover a class or two for another teacher, but not over the long-term. Anyone can have an accident and need short-term coverage, but in your situation the teacher has left, and from an ethical standpoint, the school should go about replacing him/her asap.

[teacheratlarge]

When you say cover, I assume you mean without compensation. In Japan people are asked to do it at times, but it almost always means additional pay. At least, even for full timers, you have some compensation for working 'for the team'.

[chryanvii]

So the general consensus here seems to be that I should agree to do it, right?

[spiral78]

Gaijin, No, covering a class or classes for another teacher is never uncompensated.
We are always either paid, or repaid by having class/es off later on.
Very civilized world I live in.

OP, I think that if it's short-term and you will be compensated in some way (take a class off later, or be paid), you should do it. What would happen if you broke your leg or something? Hopefully someone would cover for you in an emergency.

[chryanvii]

I don't feel comfortable with doing overtime, because I am transitioning from working at a university for 3 years with a whole lot of free time + vacation, to working a full-time job with barely any free time. I am still trying to get used to it, and I feel tired a lot. Therefore, I always feel I need at least 2 days a week of rest, and time to myself.

My free time is very sacred to me. If I didn't get this time to myself, I would start to feel very upset, and closed in in my life.

When somebody asks me to do overtime, I start to feel very nervous, and royally unhappy about life, because I get no time to myself to do other things in life that I want to do. Do you think my feeling is wrong, that I shouldn't always be entitled to 2 days of rest each week?

[spiral78]

Do you mean you are being asked to teach at weekends?
Of course no-one should be asked to do this. If it's inside the timeframe of a normal work week (however that's defined where you are) then it's fair game, provided you are compensated. But did the teacher who left have some abnormal schedule (maybe that's why s/he left?).

[Andre 3000]

OP, I think that you will have to suck it up in the short term, but if it's clear that the centre doesn't have any flexibility regarding part-time teachers or an academic manager who can cover absences, your long-term future may lie elsewhere.

Regarding the days where you work overtime, can you come to an agreement with the centre on not doing office hours on those days (if you do them)?

Maybe you could ask for a favourable scheduling on those days too - if it's a 1pm start, get them to move the classes to an hour that minimises your time there.

Does the centre provide its own curriculum/materials? If so, negotiate that you use them on overtime days, and that you're not doing someone else's English corners and all the prep that goes with it.

[Aigana]

I think this is something that MUST be covered by the contract before you even set your foot in the new work place. I have been teaching privately as a live-in tutor for over 5 years now and it happens to me regularly with international jobs, when it is expected of me to work overtime. Often this is because of the difference in work culture and also because, as a UK teacher, I am paid considerably more than local staff.

[godmachine12]

[Chancellor]

The school where I work has an established rate of pay for overtime. So, since they're paying me extra to work it, I don't mind if they occasionally ask me to work it.