Job Discussion Forums

[Ger]

I pass this school on my way to were I live and I know a P6 pupil who studies there. So when I saw the advertisement for a new NET at this time in the school year I decided to ask the kid about the foreign teacher at her school.

The P6 kid told me that the NET has left the school because "the other teachers didn't like him" but many of the classes of students liked him and the P6 kid herself liked him.

[Pieface]

If you think about just how many NETs have left due to an outright lack of friendliness in the staffroom/ from the Headteacher/ mentor etc. then I would say this is a perfectly plausible scenario. However, I'm not sure how a P6 student would have acquired the exact details!

[Smoog]

You'd be surprised how catty and unprofessional some of the local teachers can be.

For one of my classes the local teacher handed out a biography about myself! She had found out about some of my life (where I'm from, # of siblings, wht my parents do) and then just made the rest up. Didn't bother to tell me beforehand what she was going to do, and it definitely wasn't part of the lesson we had decided on. She had just suddenly decided she needed my lessontime to catch up on her lessons. Don't know 'bout you, but I found it bloody unprofessional and very rude. If I want the students to know about me, I'll tell them. No-one else.

Another one came into class late with a whole bunch of worksheets she had prepared without consulting me. She interrupted the reading I was doing and said the class had to do her w/s. When I told her it was my lesson and I had planned a reading lesson, she launched into a huge tirade against me. She stood in front of the class and repeatedly told me in a loud voice that I was extremely unprofessional for not doing what she wanted.

Another teacher has not manged to come to my class on time in the 9 months I've been working there. She's always at least 10 minutes late each time. Always with the same excuse "I forgot". Some times it may be "I didn't hear the bell". Once she didn't turn up until 5 minutes before the lesson ended. Not that it matters. When she does turn up, she just sits at her desk marking. Great examples of co-teaching goes on in those lessons I can tell you.

That's just three of the many stories I have to share!

So when a P6 student says she's been told that "the other teachers didn't like him", I'd reckon she has been.


edit: Just noticed - It's exactly a year since I joined! Whoot! It's my birthday!

[Ger]

Pieface wrote:

"However, I'm not sure how a P6 student would have acquired the exact details!"

The P6 kid studies at the school in question, and I teach her elder brother in private tutorials at their home.

The P6 kid told me that she goes to that school. I remember it was difficult for her to spell and pronounce "Millennium" and I had almost given up on having an answer to my question, "What school do you go to?" because it took her so long to answer it.

Anyway, I wouldn't say she has the "exact details". In fact, I was surprised that she just didn't say, "I don't know" when I asked her about the NET at her school. But there you have it, this P6 kid knows more than even I expected her to know on this particular question.

[Ger]

Po Leung Kuk Tin Ka Ping Millennium Primary School

This school is advertising again late May 2006. This is the third adertisement this year 2006.

Why is there such a high turnover of NET staff?

What is internally wrong at the school?

Are the NETs who go there incompetent?

Who has got the scoop?

[ChrisRose]

It is not always the innocent NET.
Remember, regardless of compitancy, they local teachers have; studied, graduated and invested time in thier employment.

Unfortunetly a lot of NET's don't understand the HK situation with regards to educational reforms.

"You wil be the instigators of reform", or something along those lines form the EMB!

So, you have a lot of locals, then a NET fresh to HK, overpaid, over here, telling the locals what they should be doing.

NET's should be advised to have a settling in period where they keep it zipped. Understand local 'face'.

BTW I am an expat NET, just in case anyone thought I was local.

Best regards,
Chris

[anninhk]

I have a lot of sympathy with Chris Rose's point of view.

Sometimes the lack of empathy with the local staff astounds me.
I just wonder how they would feel if they were in their own country and some person from overseas came to their school and suddenly started telling them how to do their job how they would feel? Especially, as in some cases, that person is not as qualified or experienced and who got the job because they were a Native Speaker!

As in every country there are some teachers here who struggle in the classroom but for the majority they teach in the way they do because of the system and they are successful in terms of what is required. A lot of them would like to teach in different ways and a lot are very open and willing to try new things but find the pressure of exams and tests and the expectations of the school mean that they have to resort to the methods they use.

NETs can only be successful in the school if they have the support and respect of the local staff and that has to be earned and not just expected.