Job Discussion Forums

[gochubandit]

have been considering moving to Dubai/Abu Dhabi in the future and am considering possible careers out there. my (future) quals by that time will be:

BA in History/Communications (interpersonal/media)
CELTA
MA in International studies
4 years teaching exp.

I hear the salary/lifestyle is good out there, but am asking for more FB. typical workweek (enough time to pursue extracurricular stuff like exercise and studying arabic)? conservative laws (my friend lives in Saudi and i think he's having a tough time out there. need a comparison)? pay? housing? health/dental/med benefits? pension? tax issues?

productive/helpful comments only please. thx

[adorabilly]

You do realize that most of your questions are answered in other threads on this board right?

As for jobs, there are plenty of adverts you can look over. You should realized that any of the university teaching jobs are 40 to 50 hours a week on site. You will teach about 20 hours of contact time, and the rest of the work time is usually committee work, team work, etc... and you may have grading/lesson planning to do at home.

Depending on which emirate you will live in you will find you have plenty of extra time, or none at all depending on the commute to and from work.

As compared to Saudi, it is much more liberal here than there.

[gochubandit]

but are the uni gigs the higher paying ones? how does the work lifestyle compare to int'l schools or language institutes? you say 40-50 hours/week. doesn't sound like much free time at all. 20 contact hours is fine with me and i do spend a significant time prepping/fine tuning LPs, but i'm trying to figure out how rigid/flexible the work environment is.

Dubai or Abu Dhabi? i'm leaning more towards the latter, but any other comments on city life is welcome.

[veiledsentiments]

I too suggest that you take a few hours and read thoroughly over these boards. That will allow you to make informed and specific questions.

To get a decent salary in the International Schools, you have to go to the very few top schools (the ones where the embassies send their kids) and to get into them you need formal teaching certification from your home country. (which you don't have). IMHO, language institute jobs are the bottom of the barrel... long hours and low pay.

The top jobs are university level, but your credentials are minimal unless your 4 years experience is (would be?) from teaching Academic English to Arabic speakers. Nor are your credentials - BA & MA - directly related to EFL.

Pension? that one made me laugh. sorry... Do your own saving and investing. As to the tax rules, check your own country's tax code. There are no taxes charged by these countries.

I would make some adjustments to Adorabilly's post. It is true of his employer, but I would say that the average teaching hours at university level is 15-20 in the Gulf these days with the time on campus ranging from 30-50 hours. Hours have been creeping upward over the years. How long you spend on campus depends on the employer, but they do have a more factory-worker mentality and expect you to spend more time there. I found that the majority of time that I spent on campus was wasted since the offices were noisy - so my prep and corrections were done at home. But that depends on your concentration capacity when surrounded by ringing phones and general chaos.

Be aware that applying for the top jobs in the Emirates, you may not be able to choose your city. Many of the places have branches and they put you where they need you. I suggest that you expand your search to include Qatar and Oman. That first job can be difficult to get and your qualifications will not put your CV at the top of the pile I'm afraid...

VS

[mishmumkin]

It seems the OP would likely find employment w/ some of the Ministry of Higher Education colleges in since they're requirements are laxed. You would be looking at a salary between 6500-9500 Omani riyals, which i would think goes a long way in places like sohar, sur, nizwa, and salalah. Abu Dhabi U, an employer with a pretty crap reputation, would likely employ the OP, but the salary is not going to match the uni salaries you might have been quoted for the UAE.

The UAE does offer some of the higher salaries in the ESOL, but really only for the MA TESOL holders, and perhaps for some qualified K-12 teachers working in the right places.

[Iamherebecause]

Without an MA related to ELT (Applied Linguistics, TEFL, TESOL etc) you won't get a job teaching English in one of the better, and better paid, tertiary institutes - ZU, UAEU, HCT etc.

Without a PhD in your content area (International Studies: what IS that?) you won't get a job teaching content in one of the better universities.

Without a formal teaching qualification such as PGCE or BEd or whatever they call it in the US to teach in the high school system it's difficult to get a job in one of the better international schools. When desperate they may hire an unqualified person locally but international hires with full benefits tend to have all the relevant degrees.

Even if you get different experience in another country such as Oman UAE institutions will rate qualifications over experience.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[adorabilly]

As the name says.. Higher Colleges of technology... (to me college = university)

Most teachers have classes that start at 8am. Meaning you need to be on site by 745 (at the latest), and most are onsite from 7 to 730 am, and many stay after 5.

going on my wifes schedule, she is gone from 7am until 5 15pm every day. sunday through thursday.

I also know there are lots of schools here that require a minimum of 40 hours on site (HCT does, but when you have to show up at 7am, and are unable to leave for lunch (no where to go), and stay there until 5pm...(lots of meetings don't get done until 4:30 or 4:45) so you are spending 10 hours a day on campus.

And then if you live in dubai or sharjah you have to really pay attention to your commute time.

At other schools it may be possible to put in 30 hours and be done.. but not for HCT.

[veiledsentiments]

It is not that you are wrong adorabilly, it is just that HCT is not the only game in town and our OP was asking about overall possibilities. HCT has always been the most demanding of Gulf employers with ZU a close second.

In US parlance, we interchange the terms college and university because in the US system, they are the same. We differentiate more in degree received. That is not true in the systems of other countries and we often end up confusing each other. In most of Europe I believe a college is often a part of a university and calling an institution a university has more status than a college. You will run into a bit of snobbishness in people saying that HCT is a 'mere' college.

Another area of confusion, in the US we often use the term 'school' to cover K through university - any place with classrooms and teachers. In the British style systems that first entered the Gulf, 'school' is only used to refer to K-12.

VS

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

Snobbishness .. that's a good one ... if you're in education in the UAE, no matter where you are, what have you got to be snobbish about ... it could, however, be a reaction to some ex and current HCT staff trying - over the years - to make the place out to be something that it isn't ...

Adorabilly, you did say 'any university' ... which is misleading as you're suggesting to the OP that what you say is true for all uni's ... I simply pointed out an example off the top of my head which contradicted your info ...

My reference to HCT actually supported your numbers (as the hours I gave came within your range) so I'm not sure why you've found it necessary to defend yourself on that point ...

[Tahr]

HCT: a glorified middle school that makes itself out to be the Cambridge of the ME. No, a glorified day care. Delusions of grandeur is a phrase that comes to mind.