Job Discussion Forums

[yaco]

Is there a compiled list of dubious educational employers in China ?????

[Ferne]

I have been wondering the same and ironically, I have only come across postings blacklisting foreign teachers!!

[Susie]

http://escribe.com/education/teflchinajob

Many people have discussed your question from different points of view on the site which I list above. Have a read.

My own view of the "naming and shaming" policy is that it is futile to some extent. Why? Just as a virulent virus can adapt and mutate to survive against a regime of drugs, so too can schools.

How do schools that are "named and shamed" adapt and mutate to survive?

Schools can change their names.

Schools don't have to reveal their names on the internet when advertising for foreign staff.

Schools can change the managing companies that they subcontract to, (which companies don't advertise the name of the school but they advertise the company name to hire/manage/fire foreign staff, pay the foreign staff, provide a curriculum, etc.)

Schools can use agencies through which to hire EFL teachers.

Schools can use word of mouth (get other foreigners to hire EFL teachers).

Schools can use other ways and means that I don't know about yet.

Schools can learn lessons from being "named and shamed" and can reform for the good of all concerned.


I hope this answer helps in some way.

[sojourner]

I'm intrigued ! Where exactly is this blacklist ?

Regards,

Peter

[Gray000]

Also keep in mind that TEFLers, taken as a whole, are not the most stable people in the world. You can't always trust what you read about a school.

[Roger]

As Gray said, some opinions offered by TEFLers cannot be counted on as being totally reliable. There are quite some unstable characters in the market.
If you refer to the Job Info forum, you will see a tremendous number of totally one-sided comments that give their employers zero credit for their own efforts. Many abuse that forum to start a personal vendetta against a school, demonising and condemning them.

On the other hand, few schools reward your loyalty with their own loyalty to you. It is often like in a shop - patronise the same store or restaurant more than two times, and the price mysteriously goes up! If you stay with the same employer, they may treat you like dirt in the second year. It's an irrational world!

When operators are making amends and improving their operation style, most people prefer to remain sceptical - potentially unfairly so! Some schools have been flamed so often on this forum they could not ignore the effects this had - and they improved though many kept criticising them for mistakes committed in the past! This ostracism hurts not just schools - it hurts your own prospects. Not to mention the schools' clients.

Thus it would be a somewhat useless attempt trying to list bad employers.