Job Discussion Forums

[nigel2]

So, the mighty BC are harbouring cockle pickers on their premises! What do you think will happen next?
(What would Cameron do if the Confucius Institute did the same thing in the UK?)

[theoriginalprankster]

Interesting how they've messed up.

They've used foreign workers as examiners and markers.

Decided to charge tax, and then have the government squeeze them.

Good thing I'm re-certifying, then outta there.

BC offers much better options in other countries.

And BC China is in a bad situation now. They messed around the examiners and markers. And they messed around the Chinese government. Two bad moves.

[nigel2]

Past summers…

June 2004 “Tax showdown for British Council in Russia”

June 2006 “In her report, the secretary of state also confirmed that the council had now registered all its centres in Russia with the local tax authorities and had complied with tax demands from the Russian authorities totalling £1.4m. The council's activities were now being carried out in a "tax-compliant environment", the Foreign Office report said. "Provided no further difficulties are encountered, we expect the council to be fully compliant with its legal and tax obligations in Russia within the next six months."

June 2008 “Russia sends 'punitive' tax bill to British Council”

Quotes from The Guardian, emphasis mine.

[Sashadroogie]

The kerfuffle in Russia over the BC's tax affairs had more to do with the ongoing diplomatic spat between the two countries' governments than anything else. The BC had been operating as a registered charity, and therefore legally exempted from taxes, until the local authorities decided it was not a charity after all and demanded tax. All being very murky, it is still hard to know exactly what the situation was. In any case, the educational division of the BC pulled out of Russia totally...

[theoriginalprankster]

Note: all examiners who have not signed the tax form thingy are out of work.

BUT they can still marks scripts at BC's offices.

Must be a bummer to have your salary drop by RMB3000-12000/month.

[NoBillyNO]

[theoriginalprankster]

[NoBillyNO]

So if they are out of work, how can they still mark exams?

[theoriginalprankster]

[NoBillyNO]

Sorry, just to clarify.....that those without the proper signed paperwork or the proper RP allowing them to work .....are still grading test....but they are not being paid the same amount as those who do the exams....but just a thought .... so is grading papers a job which pays based on the amount of exams graded....

[Big Worm]

Not an examiner, but have a few friends that are long time graders.

The general consensus is that this is somehow a ploy for the BC to restructure their system and hire full time markers at lower wages.

[vikeologist]

Big Worm - I haven't heard one single person put forward that idea.

Here's the thing. They need a large number of examiners 2 days a week, and much fewer to none the other 5 days. If they have to take on full time examiners, that will be bad for them, and they'd still need extra examiners at the weekends.

Not disputing that there could be something in it, but at first reading it seems unlikely.


noBillyNo. - There are two types of examining, the speaking test and the written test. Examiners start off doing the speaking test. Once you've been an examiner for a while (3 months I think) then you can apply for the training to be a writing examiner.

Both tests are per exam, but the speaking is on a schedule (3 an hour); the writing is whatever speed you can go at. The writing doesn't take as long, and is thus paid at a far lower rate. As there's the same number of speaking and writing tests, that means that there's far less money as a whole in writing examining. All the same, if someone was getting a day and a half of writing work, that might be roughly the same as what someone would get from a weekend of speaking examining, but then again might be totally different, depending on speed, and how much you have to pay for transport and hotels. Anyway, there's not a lot of writing examining to spread around.

[wonderingjoesmith]

Somebody here has said that BC does its business the same way everywhere in the world; however, i've just spoken to a few fellas who claim that that's "bollocks" or something like that. Over a few beers and apparently against their BC agreements, those seemingly experienced Brits were willing to disclose so much about test scores, quality of examiners, hiring process, wages in this country and around the world and much more.

[shawadywady]

[theoriginalprankster]

I would be very curious to get a breakdown of what examiners are paid (and taxed) worldwide, considering I'm thinking of making The Great Leap Forward sometime this year..