Job Discussion Forums

[judgedredd]

I have been offered a job at this school. As far as I can tell it's some kind of language centre that does preparation courses for university students, TOEFL courses and such..

But are they any good? I read a lot about dodgy schools on these forums so I just wondered if anyone here knows anything about them?

Your comments would be most appreciated

Thanks

[englishgibson]

i believe they operate under an ACT Education Solution Limited license that's actually based in Australia. the ACT prep they advertise is for their students' american uni entry exams. their GAC program is posted here on forums too. that's actually supposed to be their main course run by Australia (or so i'd like to think). pm me if you need more on the topic.

cheers and beers

[Itsme]

In my experience the public schools are the best to work for. Since this one is foreign owned it might be ok though....

[englishgibson]

i don't know if you're refering to our OP's school there, but if you are it's not "foreign owned" and it's surely not a "public school"..i can tell you that much on.

cheers and beers to our public school experiences that may vary from place to place and have roles for us that may not fit everyone

[Neilhrd]

There are at least two GAC preparation centres in Guangzhou which also offer ACT embedded into their GAC programmes. They are independent franchises owned by Chinese but moderated by GAC in Shanghai and Australia. In theory the academic content and standards should be the same but in practice enforcement of this is erratic to put it mildly. Salaries and working conditions are entirely at the discretion of the franchisee and vary considerably.

There may also be other schools in Guanzhou operating solely as ACT centres. If so be careful because the legal status of ACT as an independent entity in China is complex. No two officials or provinces give the same answers to questions about this point.

My advice is ask questions to find out exactly who you are dealing with. Look for discrepencies in the names used or people who reply to your e mails etc. If the names keep changing then walk away. As always you should also ask for the e mail addresses of other FTs who are, or have been, working there. If these are not forthcoming be very cautious. You also need to check carefully that they have a foreign teacher's licence and can get you a Z visa because centres teaching ACT illegally can't.

However the good news is that if you are dealing with a legit school GAC and ACT are among the more rewarding programmes to teach in China because they lead to real qualifications and usually attract some highly motivated and capable students.