Job Discussion Forums

[Selyer]

There's a number of countries applying for EU membership pretty soon here whose primary languages are other than English. Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, etc. Any thoughts on how this may change suppply/demand in the EU TEFL market? Anybody think this will eventually make it easier for non-EU citizens to work legally in EU countries? More EU countries, lower ratio of EU native English speakers?

Hmmm....

[bnix]

But I doubt if anyone out there has a definitive answer for you.I know I don't.Will the number of TESOL teachers coming from the UK(an EU member) be sufficient to supply future demands for EU countires?Maybe someone out there has a more definite answer...but I doubt it.

I have a feeling that ,if restrictions are relaxed regarding non-EU people teaching in EU countries...it may be in EU countries like Czech,Slovenia,etc...former countries of the Communis tbloc....and not in EU countries like France and Italy.Note,I just said that is an opinion.I have no way of really knowing.

[rogan]

I think that the new member countries will apply EU policies from day 1 (or day 2) of their membership.

Those countries are eager to join - see the results of the various referendum in the candidate countries.

Also, they will have little choice about applying EU laws. They can't have the benefits of membership without sticking to the rules.

For some years France didn't apply some EU regulations - they paid phenomenal fines.
The new member countries won't be prepared to rock the boat while they are waiting for huge development grants that can be delayed if they don't play by our rules.

So my own view is that enlargement will merely add to the number of countries where none EU nationals will have difficulty finding legal employment.

I'm an EU national and I have been an EU supporter for more than 25 years.

[travellingscot]

I only took my tesol course in september 2002 and struggled to find a place as most of the colleges/language schools said they were getting an increase in inquiries every month.Many people want to leave uk for various reasons and teaching english is seen as a good option by many of them(Sorry all you anti-newbies).
I think the number of native uk teachers will increase,but also is it possible that countries who have difficulty attracting teachers will employ teachers from countries in western europe who have high qualifications or a good standard of spoken english?

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Greetings Selyer:

I raised this exact topic on the Russian Forum a week or so ago.

My hunch is that EU expansion will make it generally more difficult for non-EU passport holders to find legal work within the EU, at least in the short term.

And an unfortunate knock-on effect for Russia: Many of those newly displaced non-EU passport holders will then begin looking even farther east for their next 'gig', and that means Russia and the former USSR. And that means ... salaries and contract terms here in Russia will probably worsen in the coming decade.

It's your basic supply and demand: too many teachers chasing too few jobs in an EFL market already dominated by unscrupulous (often greedy) businessmen.

Ooops! Did I say that? Oh well, I guess I did.

Let's look on the bright side. Maybe I'm wrong?!

Warm wishes,
keNt

[rogan]

The other side of the coin is also true.

I think many Eastern European Qualified Teachers will happily move West into the (British) State education system.

They will be happy to take the vacant posts in inner city schools that are currently empty.
For those people the salaries will appear to be very attractive.

[scot47]

There are already Bulgarian teachers working legally in state schools in the urban areas of England. Good luck to them, I would sooner work as a supervisor on a chain gang. Emigration of young skilled people is a real problem in Bulgaria now. Bear that in mind if you are thinking of moving in the opposite direction. Do you really want a job at $200 a month ?

[rogan]

[maruss]

Cyprus will also HAVE to apply the new rules from 1st May 2004 on freedom of movement/employment for all E.U citizens,whether it likes it or not-as if we don't have enough problems already with boat-loads of illegal Syrians,Kurds etc etc. being rounded up and sent back on a regualar basis-yesterday was the latest example-plus all the overstay" tourists" from Russia who resort to stealing or selling their bodies(if they are female!) when their money runs out and there are no casual jobs at hand, or they can't find a boyfriend!
The E.U. also want us to set up a detention centre for non-E.U. illegal nationals as we will be the eastern end of the bloc,but have criticised us because we jail all illegal persons who are caught at present until they are deported!
Perhaps I am making the right decision to leave here soon!
M.

[Selyer]

Thanks for offering your thoughts on the matter, folks!

How will the world change as it becomes more and more global-minded and what will the consequences of these changes be on mankind--which language will overtake the others first, will monocentric language ideologies become a thing of the past, what links will there be between language, culture and literacy development in certain countires, etc. etc.?

Just one of the many interesting "Hmmm, I wonder..."s that churns around in my brain at night when I can't sleep!

[mortus]

When I was in Budapest in 1999-2000 the owner/director of the largest TEFL school in Hungary (International House) explained what was going to happen when Hungary joined the EU...

CAUTION: This might not have been completely true at the time and even if it was it might have changed since!

When Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland fully joined the EU there was going to be a ban for up to 10 years (maybe less) for their citizens to move freely into Western Europe. The EU had no intention of allowing throngs of poor Central Europeans to flood into its rich countries. So they said that the immigration part of normal EU membership would be delayed, though probably not for Western Europeans to go work in these 3 countries.

I would suspect that these new members (if all the above is true) would maintain their own visa rules for a while to come. But eventually they would become like the original EU members.

[Alex Shulgin]

Not all EU member states are behaving the same. Germany is planning to limit the rights of citizens of the new member states to work in Germany with no paperwork for seven years (can't have the fatherland being polluted by a bunch of dirty slavs). The UK is planning to let citizens of the new member states work in UK with absolutely no paperwork (other than a passport from the relevent state) from day one of membership (might as well make all those illegal workers in London legal so they can pay tax appears to be the thinking of the British government). However the new member states aren't sure what to do. Here in Poland the plan is to keep permits in place for at least 2 years but to make them automatically granted to EU citizens (a superb idea, let's all apply and pay for something which we get automatically). The British government are somewhat less than pleased with this idea. They are trying to convince the Polish government to have the same rules for Brits as the British government has for Poles. Logic tells us what should happen but logic is not one of the noted qualities of the Polish government!

[mortus]

What you are describing Alex is sort of how I imagined it to be. It will be interesting to see how all of this works out.

[Phil_b]