Job Discussion Forums

[Cognition]

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[hkteach]

I don't know this school but it doesn't sound too good that's for sure !
Schools such as this keep on getting NETs even though their predecessors have resigned, asked EMB for a transfer out or just run off.
WhY??? because the school wants one.

Hong Kong is littered with the shattered hopes of many a NET who came here in good faith, believing the blurb in the EMB ads. (these ads are in the local press again today by the way)

Once here, many find themselves in schools where they are treated pretty badly - given huge teaching loads, lots of extra duties, Saturday work (sometimes Sundays) pushed around by local colleagues on a power trip and/or ignored by their local teachers.
What does the EMB do? If the NET seeks assistance and pushes hard, they may be transferred but then another NET is appointed.
Why doesn't the EMB bite the bulet and refuse to allocate NETs to such places??? surely with NETs in short supply, they should be given to more worthy schools.

I have a friend who's having a terrible time at the moment - with a principal from hell who comes into lessons unannounced, interferes in the teaching, castigates the NET in front of the class and in the presence of other teachers, calls NET to meetings in the office to 'discuss' the lesson or general teaching performance (one way conversation criticising everything the NET does).
This is the same principal who fought tooth and nail to persuade this NET to choose this school.
EMB has been made aware of the situation which is intolerable for the NET. At the moment, my friend is waiting to see what EMB do about this. If nothing, HK will lose another NET who just packs up and goes home disillusiioned with the whole NETscheme.

[User N. Ame]

Hmmm... suddenly, I'm not so enthusiastic about my upcoming NET interview.

Please tell me these are extreme exceptions to the rule.

[hkteach]

I'd love to be able to tell you that. But if I did, I'd be stretching the truth.

There ARE good schools here - principals who are on the same wavelength as their NET and who treat their NET fairly and with professional respect, Panel Chairs who are friendly and supportive and local teachers who are keen to take advantage of what their NET can offer.

While some really enjoy their job, many have nightmare situations. Most NETs are somewhere in between. But overall, I think happy NETs are in the minority. Some of the unhappy ones never return from their first Christmas holiday break. Others don't even last that long. But then again, many stay here for several years.

As has been said before, it all depends on the school you get. It really is a lottery and it's difficult to pick the winning combination when you are so far away and know nothing about the system here in Hong Kong.

I know a NET who turned down four schools before accepting one at her first appointment. WOW! I didn't know at the time that a NET could do that. I thought that the school who contacted you was the one you were 'allocated to' (wish I had known it though - would've saved me a lot of grief during my first year - they sounded good on the phone didn't they? Duhhhhh!)

My advice to any potential NET - go to the interview, have the patience to wait it out until you get contacted by schools and then seek information about the schools from those of us 'on the ground' . Post here and also on hkpnetsforum for info . While doesn't guarantee a good school because maybe we don't know about it or there have been changes (new principal, new Panel Chair etc.) which influence the situation, it improves your chances.
And lastly DON'T disregard a school because of its location (e.g. because it isn't on Hong Kong Island which is where you fancy living or spending your leisure time). Focus on getting the right school and then organise your living arrangements and social life around that, rather than the other way around. If you do it the first way, you stand a far better chance of being content with your situation as it's easier to find a good place to live and socialise than a great school in the area you want.

[misutabiru]

Thanks, hkteach. It's good to know that you and others are out there to give the new folks a hand. I sure hope I am one of them.

[Smoog]

On a more positive note, Monday just gone one of the local teachers (teaches Chinese, not English) came to see me and asked me what I was doing after school. She then asked me if I could stay until half-past (we can - and I always do - leave at 4.10pm), as it was important.

Why was she wanting me to stay later you ask?

She had made an extremely nice and very large cake that had as it's base Black Forest Chocolate Cake and it's top 1/2 Mango Cheesecake topped with the biggest strawberries I've ever seen.
She'd remembered me mentioning to her last year that it's my birthday this month and that my two favourite cakes are Chocolate cake and Cheese cake.

So not every school is from Hell.

[lambada]

Yes, it's a lottery. I had an ugly first school and great schools for my 2nd contract. Now I just need a third contract. Please God may it be a good one! HK is a fun place, the money's good, and you get great holidays. Just don't expect to change the world, become professionally developed, or that it's going to be like teaching in the West. It's sometimes lonely, often funny, sometimes irritating, occasionally rewarding, irrational and always unforgetable.

[Ger]

Dear Cognition (Shields, Nicholas David Robb(?) Killarobs

I am alarmed to read your post. Apply to the school at my own peril, you wrote. I was about to apply. You have mostly written about the micropolitics as you have perceived them, and I acknowledge that they are important to a worker's sense of well-being. You have written a little about the administration-Emb-ICAC-Inland Revenue interface, could you help me to understand a few other aspects of the school please?

You wrote that it is an EMI school, I was given to understand that it was a bilingual medium of instruction school: English and Mandarin. Is this not the case?

Could you say whether it is an aided school or a direct subsidy school?

How do you know that Mr Chan is "bent"?

Would you mind telling me about the workload for English teachers, the students' levels of discipline, the English Language curriculum?

Are there many foreign English teachers working there?

Are you from the USA?

What is the pay like?

Sincerely

Ger