Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

Ecuador now needs 2,800 EFL teachers
By Andrea Pérez, EL Gazette | November 2016
Source: http://www.elgazette.com/

Ecuador needs 2,800 English language teachers to accomplish the goals of its new English language learning policy, El País newspaper reports. The ministry of education has launched a new school curriculum in which English language is a mandatory subject in all state schools. Beginning in the current (2016–17) school year, primary-school children, who started on 5 September, have three hours of English a week. The move to more primary-school English was approved in 2014, while the policy aims to see all students attaining CEFR A1-level proficiency in English language by the time they are aged eleven. The plan also includes teachers reaching B2 in English, with students attaining B1 by the time they leave high school.

The Andean nation of Ecuador currently has 8,400 EFL teachers, but it needs more before the new stage of its English language policy begins in May 2017. Minister of education Augusto Espinosa stated that the government sees providing equal opportunities in education as the best way to combat poverty. The country seeks to extend access to education at all levels, El País reported.

According to the British Council, the ‘greatest barriers to English language learning are a lack of access to government-funded programmes and the high cost of study’. The minister said that the government will hire foreign ELT teachers and the country will see the first results of the new school curriculum by 2020.

(End of article)

[HLJHLJ]

This has been promoted extensively locally as well. Normally, I would be the first to sing Ecuador's praises, but right now I would have to urge caution instead.

First, we have an election early next year, and anything could happen afterwards. There is no guarantee at all that the new government will retain this programme.

Second, the low price of oil has put a massive strain on public finances here, and people just aren't being paid. Personally, I won't do anymore publicly funded work until things settle down again. It took me 6 months of constant fighting to get paid for my last public contract, and it's just too stressful. The colleague I worked with is still fighting for her pay.

It will swing back round eventually, but I couldn't, in good conscience, encourage anyone to make this particular jump right now.

[Landon]

How are they paying you, that you have fight for 6 months to get paid? If I don't receive my paycheck as soon as I teach I wouldn't show back up to school anymore.

Employees and contractors get paid no matter what, right? No pay, no work. If public school contracts aren't being paid, I would think that children are not being taught anymore.

It almost sounds like a scam if you are saying that you have to fight for public contracts, but they are still launching policies and recruiting 2,800 new teachers for public schools.

[HLJHLJ]

I used to think that too, but if you insist on being paid on time every month in Ecuador, you'll never work. It's not just teaching, it happens to everyone, in both public and private funded settings. When a company has a cash flow problem, people don't get paid, once the company has money again, people get their back pay. It's such an ingrained part of the culture, no-one seems to think anything of it. I won't say that it doesn't bother me, but I am having to learn to be more flexible about it.

I mostly work freelance, which for public contracts means you only get paid when the course is finished, so there's a bigger risk of not being paid at all. Although I have always been paid eventually.

However, there are teachers at that public university I worked at who haven't been paid in nearly a year. Ditto for many of the construction workers who are working on the Metro and the new municipality building.

They could quit, but then they'll never get paid, or they can stick it out, and they'll be paid eventually. Unless of course the economy gets a lot worse, and the government goes broke. I am assured that won't happen, but I wouldn't want to bank on it right now.

[Landon]

Wow. That is completely backwards. They must be some really hard up workers if they are willing to work for free and hope there is a pay day.

It sounds like contracts are meaningless. There must be precedent of payment right off the bat, or I am not working. In the end, all the we have is our time. Giving my time, is like making a payment to them. And Im not into gambling with everything Ive got.

[HLJHLJ]

Actually, employees have a lot of protection in Ecuador, and contracts carry a lot of weight, which I guess is why people don't worry about it so much. As I said, people do generally get paid in the end, so they don't really consider it to be a gamble.

If you took it to a tribunal, they would rule in your favour for sure, but then if the company has no money, you'd still have to wait to actually be paid. The Ministry of Work won't usually bankrupt a company that 'intends' to pay, just to make them pay up sooner (though it has happened).

It's just a variation on what happens everywhere. In the UK and the US, when a company is struggling they screw over their suppliers, and those suppliers often never get paid in full. Here, it's the employees that take the hit, but at least they do usually get paid in the end.

If you demand to be paid up front, you just won't get hired. I've used that line to politely decline a contract without having to actually say no.

[Kim Macintosh]

I finally made it to Ecuador, got my visa in order, and going into 2017 will be looking for work in Quito.

Are the private institutes perhaps going to be better/worse on paying? I get your point about mgmt using salaries as a cash-flow tool, paying when its convenient. But it seems they'd just hire staff when there are enough students for a new class to be acceptably profitable.

Maybe the better question is whether there various classes of teaching venue vary: whether institutes might be more reliable about pay that these publics schools now staffing, versus universities?

[Landon]

Thats interesting. But, 6 months and even a year, like you are talking about, and 'constantly fighting' for a public contract collection? It's hard to believe anyone would go for that, or would even be able to do that.

I learned a long time ago that there is no use suing a poor man (or company). Cant squeeze water from a stone.

With what you've said, it sounds like the Ecuadorian government needs to rightsize a few things before they start implementing building contracts and new mandatory hiring policies that they can't afford to begin with.

[HLJHLJ]

The current situation is abnormal, it's not unusual to have to wait a month or two to be paid in any job. Waiting a year is definitely not normal, and it's currently specific to public funded positions (although I've known it happen for several months at private universities as well). Basically, the government is massively in debt to China, and had banked on oil revenue to pay it off, but the price of oil has collapsed and the debt still has to be serviced. Hence why I am urging caution on these particular positions.

Kim, stay away from anything public funded right now. Language schools are a different situation. Their issues are mainly just shoddy business practices, like language schools everywhere in the world. Right now I am doing some part time work at Internacional University, and in all honesty they are the only university or language school I know of that haven't screwed a previous employee about over pay. And it could just be that they have, and I just haven't heard about it. However, although it does happen occasionally, it doesn't happen usually, and most people don't have major problems. Keep your eyes open, and if something feels off, it probably is.

[Kim Macintosh]

Thanks....

I've worked in the equivalent of institutes in other countries and there's always this sense of vulnerability, not being a native and the school generally having connections that transcend whatever rule-of-law may exist.

Then there is the backwardness of such schools not paying or shorting employees for no other reason than that they can. I get the sense of people running schools with the short-sightedness usually reserved for kids with their first lemonade stand.

However, what I'm getting here is more benign delays from usually reliable and credible organizations where it shouldn't be such an issue. BUT, being what they are, you'll eventually get paid.

[HLJHLJ]

Yes, that sounds about right. If you want to chat about anywhere specific, feel free to drop me a PM.

[just_a_mirage]

You also need to factor in the earthquake. The country took a huge hit with that, and a lot of funds were diverted to that cause.

As for why people accept it? What choice do they have? There are a good number of foreign English teachers here, but the majority of them are Ecuadorian. This is business as usual here and they are used to it. For the rest of us, most have other incentives to be in Ecuador. Nobody really comes here to teach with the sole purpose of making money. There are many other places to do that and make much more.

I taught for 3 months at a very well-known university in 2008. Still haven't been paid yet. Obviously never will be. Every other place I have worked has paid, although not always on time. Late paychecks are a way of life here, even for public servants like the police.

The idea to institute more English in the schools was initiated before the earthquake and I believe before the massive drop in oil prices. As stated previously, the election in a few months may result in some big changes. Or not. We will have to wait and see.

[dakelei]

My niece is engaged to an Ecuadorian and currently lives in Quito. She tells me the place is busting with retirees doing English lessons on the side for extra cash. I find that discouraging. I'm nowhere near being able to retire and if I went to Ecuador I need a job that actually paid the bills.

[HLJHLJ]

Are you sure she means Quito? That's certainly the case in Cuenca, but not Quito. The retiree ex-pat community in Quito is relatively small. I do know a few people in that age range that are teaching here, but they mostly work full time because they have to, not as a side income. They have practically zero impact on the local market, which is very much dominated by younger foreign teachers.

[dakelei]

My niece is engaged to an Ecuadorian and currently lives in Quito. She tells me the place is busting with retirees doing English lessons on the side for extra cash. I find that discouraging. I'm nowhere near being able to retire and if I went to Ecuador I need a job that actually paid the bills.