Job Discussion Forums

[cherrybee]

I am waiting to hear if I have been offered a job with a school in Trapani starting in January for 4 months and would like to know what the place is like before I go any further. This forum has already provided mixed opinions, though more negative than positive. Any information or opinions would be very much appreciated as this would be my first tefl job abroad and I do not want it turning into a nightmare scenario where I can't wait to get back home.

[asromacalcio]

Italy is what you make it, I think many TEFLers who go there just don't leave, more so than for any other country.

Quagi might be a good school and I've met two ex teachers one of whom loved it one of whom was more reserved but I'd say it had the worst reputation of any school in Italy.

[Betti]

All the negative postings on Quagi have miraculously "disappeared" (and they were legion)...one can only assume that the school has posted a complaint...draw your own conclusions.

[asromacalcio]

Somebody I knew had worked there and couldn't understand for the life of her why it had a bad reputation, she really couldn't.

But she accepted that it did.

[ilaria]

I also know someone who has worked there fairly recently and gives it a neutral-to-good rating.

When I first moved to Sicily I interviewed with Quagi and, despite the fact that I would have accepted the pay and conditions, and the interviewer liked me (I think!), they told me I was overqualified. Make of that what you will. Perhaps I had BO that day, or perhaps for some reason they prefer to hire newbies.

[asromacalcio]

Many British Institutes schools have similar attitudes, and as I worked for one of them and avoid them *without exception* I would be similarly suspicious of a school which neglected to employ more experienced teachers. Seems illogical, to me.

[ilaria]

Ah well, I'm more philosophical than angry about it. To be fair, some positions are more entry-level than others. A school that has short courses and a set-in-stone syllabus won't actually need a teacher with skills and experience in materials and curriculum design. I have to say that I liked Trapani and I'd just finished quite a stressful contract in another country - I was in the mood to take an undemanding job and chill out! (And maybe my tiredness/frazzledness/horribly superior attitude came across in the interview, although I don't really think that was the problem...???) The school might have been burned before by experienced teachers who quit the moment they were offered better pay or more interesting work elsewhere. Or (even worse) by those who stayed and moaned. And to be honest I might have ended up doing either of those things. Anyway, I'm very happy in my current job.

[Betti]

Call me a cynic, but the reason that schools employ non-experienced teachers exclusively is because they are easier to manipulate and less likely to complain (in the sense that they have no prior experience of other schools with which to make a comparison). Quagi has employed experienced teachers in the past and the ones that I have known were continually criticised and demeaned. If you want to work from (possibly) 9.30am until 10pm every night then Quagi's the school for you! I'm wary of writing more because, as I mentioned above, all previous negative postings on this school have been removed. I've decided to write a book instead!!!

[cherrybee]

thanks to all of you who replied to my post on trapani and quagi. I never actually took the job as I was offered another job first in verona, north italy which I am now very glad I took!

[asromacalcio]

I was there last year, if it's not prying, where are you working?