Job Discussion Forums

teraysah · Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 9

Hi All!
Is anyone out there teaching in Brunei? If so, I would like to know the living and working conditions. Thanks!

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Sorry; I can't provide any first-hand info, but

this link might help: http://brunei.cfbt.org/bn/

reposted from The Master Index Thailand

international.teacher · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 7

I work for cfbt Brunei and I would not recommend coming here. I am disappointed with the organization's 'care' for the professionals they recruit.

Unfortunately I cannot give you anymore details as this is a fish bowl community and my contract is not finished until next year. That's when I'm out of here!

saint57 · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:34 am Post subject:

I can barely take it here in Malaysia. Why would you want to go to Brunei?

international.teacher · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 7

Sorry for the delay in replying I haven't signed on for a while. I came initially because the recruitment process is very good. I was also pleased with the orientation course they offer, but then it was downhill after that.

I also wanted to live in a tropical country.

Isisgato · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 28

TESTING !!!

Isisgato · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 28

I must say I agree with 'international teacher' above........I wouldn't recommend anyone come to Brunei. The salaries haven't gone up in 20 years or so.......must've been great money back then, but now..........

.......you've got Middle East expenses on an extremely NOT Middle East salary.

In addition the schools are literally falling to pieces; they would be
condemned by any western-style health and safety agency.

The expat scene which I heard was marvellous years ago is now dull, dull, dull......if your idea of social life is church socials and PTA meetings,
i.e. like a Worcestershire village in 1959, then it's the place for you. And if you're single, glug, glug, glug and the A.A. for you at end of contract.

A lot of people seem to share my opinion as expats are flocking out. Car boot / garage sales are if not every day, then certainly every weekend.

Isisgato · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 28

More inf as time goes by.................

kparsons · Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Saint-

Why aren't you enjoying Malaysia?

international.teacher · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 7

Isisgato, not only hasn't there been a pay rise for 20 years CfBT is nickle an diming teachers left and right.

I know of one teacher who is oblidged to be on a single contract because she teaches primary. They do not give 'married' contracts to married people who teach primary, so as a result when she had her child here she got few of the benefits a married person would get.

The MoE is now advertising on the Guardian so I am deducing that CfBT's time is limited. (That in combination with all the other nonsense they are getting up to).

I think things are going downhill and as the same team is involved with CfBT Malaysia it's no surprise that the complaints are similar.

As far as facilities go I have seen with my own eyes classrooms without electricity, with fans that don't work, with windows smashed out and doors kicked in. In many schools teachers have to pay for their own photocopying or go out of their way to get to the nearest CfBT office to do thier photocoying. It's shameful really.

CfBT's refrain is that you'll never have 'a better lifestyle', which was probably true 20 years ago when everything was new.

Isisgato · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 28

Hi, International Teacher,

So the ( presumably Brunei ) MoE is adding in the 'Guardian', eh ? Well, the very transparent fact that CfBT's time is limited doesn't surprise me.

Admittedly SOME of the bad things in Brunei AREN'T CfBT's doing, but, to be honest, not a lot........

I've found them ( CfBT ) to be extremely
supercilious............mind you, that seems to be a feature of life in Brunei..........the "pecking order" of the ( very ) few expats left...........

'You work for Shell ?' 'Nope !'
'You work as a doctor ?' 'Nope !'
'You work for the Gov't ?' 'Nope !"

.....and then the realisation sets in.....you work for CfBT........the faces
harden, the smiles disappear.......you're a CfBT-er, you're the bottom of the pile, you're going to break something, steal something, run away without paying, or at least argue about the bill........"you've done me out of 20 cents here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Or am I being cynical ?????

I don't think so, really. CfBT tries hard to put itself across as an "expat" job, but really it's little more than one step removed, ( NOT 'UP' by any means, really ) from starting out in TEFL when it's a year or two in ...............
........................................well, you know the type of thing.....Stavros Papadopoulos' "MAYFAIR AND CHELSEA SCHOOL OF ENGLISH", ( up the stairway beside Ari's garage in Piraeus, never mind the red light on the opposite door...)
They have a complete lack of expertise in personnel management, and, when not being entirely supercilious when they don't want / need anything, depend on a fading hippy matey-ness combined with a 1950's schoolboys'/schoolgirls' annual style of 'jolly comradeship' which doesn't last when the sh*t hits the fan.

However, unfortunately, as always, the bottom line is money......they don't pay NEARLY well enough, and they can't get away from that........

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

This post is neither looking for information on teaching in Brunei nor on the country itself.

Background: I was born in Bandar Seri Begawan and lived there for 14 years before moving to Canada in 1981. I was a student at Chunghwa Middle School in BSB at the time, and I never had a chance to say goodbye to any of my classmates when I left. I pretty well just...disappeared from Brunei. I did have contact with a couple boys but that was almost twenty years ago. I would really, REALLY love to get in touch with any of them still living in Brunei. For all I know, some of them could well be working at Chunghwa.

Therefore, it is my hope that someone who is currently teaching in Brunei and who knows some of the Chinese locals there could help me. The people I am looking for would be either about 40 years old now. I have a couple photos I'd scanned and brought with me from Canada (I am currently teaching in China), and I can e-mail them to you so you can show them around and see if anyone recognizes any of the children in the photos.

Thanks in advance!

saint57 · Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:00 pm Post subject:

cactus-bd · Joined: 10 Oct 2006 Posts: 1

I have living in Brunei for a year and have been really enjoying it. I get heaps more free time than back home and while its true the school are run down the teaching is pretty easy and the hours are much shorter than back home. It's true that the money isn't as good as else where but if you are prepared to stay a while and get over the hump of start up expenses then I think you can definitely save some money. Eating out is fairly cheap, gas is really cheap, and travel to other places in Asia is cheap. I am here with my family and I think it is a good place for a family. I can imagine it would be a bit boring if you were single. It has been easy to meet plenty of people. I think it is like anywhere you get out of something what you put into it. There are also plenty of sporting facilities here if you are into being active. The culture can be very conservative and the Bruneian lack of work ethic and logic but you can live your own life and not have too much to do with it. Its worth looking into. I have no regrets and think I will be here a while. Some of the other people posting on this thread don't get out enough maybe?

summergirl · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Brunei

I too live in Brunei and work for CfBT. It seems to be a great place for families to live, it is an easy life and you can get a cheap Amah to look after the kids. For single people there is not a lot to do, however if you are into sport you should be right. I would not reccommend working for CfBT. I too have had a lot of the same issues as international teacher. In the beginning CfBT are great, they look after you and provide a great orientation course when you arrive, however when it comes to support later on, you are mostly on your own, it appears they only put in a token effort. There are also several discrepencies with the way the contract is being interpreted. I would suggest you read the fine print carefully and do not assume that anything (that is not carefully spelt out will go your way). In my experience they will twist the wording in the contract and policies in order to save any amount of money that they can. I have not found them to honour the contract in good faith. I will not be renewing my contract with this company. If you are keen to live in Brunei, I would suggest the two international schools in Bandar or the Shell school in Kuala Belait, the staff in these schools seem relatively happy.