Job Discussion Forums

[Dan The Chainsawman]

My contract has this single line in the middle of it saying my employer can resort to fines as a disciplinary action.

Last week I went to our weekly meeting and the head teacher tells us all that in the future anyone missing more than 3 lesson plans will be fined a full day of pay.

I flat out told him if he tries to fine me a full day of pay for a missing lesson plan I'm resigning on the spot. They back pedal a bit and decide to rethink the idea.

Last word I got was that the higher muckity mucks in the regional office decided the new rule is gravy and that we are stuck with it. To compensate for what is probably going to be a rather loud uproar tomorrow when they give us the official news they are having the assistant manager, a foreigner, double check the lesson plans for the month a week before the office staff does to ensure no one gets fined.

Still.. The whole thing irks me.. I've never actually not done a lesson plan, but I have misplaced them.

500 or so RMB for a damn piece of paper seems like total overkill as well. Is this a case where the Chinese owner is refusing to back down, but at the same time doing what he has to do to restore some semblance of harmony without him loosing any face?

I'm pondering telling them all to bite me tomorrow and quitting over it as they've pulled some other dodgy crap. I'm really not sure what I want to do yet.

Should I be over-reacting?

As in blowing up and doing the foreigner rampage up and down the streets of sunny Xining?

Or should I just let it slide and not rock the boat?

What I really want to do involves a bottle, rag, and gasoline but I'm fresh out of matches.

[kungfucowboy83]

if lesson plans are part of your contractual duties just fill out your lesson plans on time, then you side step the whole issue of how much a fine you should or shouldn't have to pay.

[kev7161]

I don't want to "assume" (because, well, you know), but are you contracted through the end of this school year? If so, that's only about 8 weeks away more-or-less. Couldn't you maintain for that long, then split and find something more suitable for you (along with being extra diligent about your lesson plans)? If you are in a longer-term contract at a language center, well, I have no advice.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I agree with you there and I don't have a problem doing them. I do my lesson plans on time, and I do a fairly good job on them. The problem I have is they do get misplaced on occasion and getting fined 500 rmb for a lesson plan is pretty dang steep.

What rankles my hide even further is they don't actually check the lesson plans for content. They merely read over the date and class numbers.

Essentially it feels to me like someone is hoping to pocket some cash. I also wonder if I merely brush this one off they'll try something else thinking that we are just being push overs.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

[suanlatudousi]

If you're unable to keep track of a single piece of paper then maybe being a teacher too difficult.

Submit your plans to whatever authority receives them and create a receipt-document for that person to sign to acknowledge he/she received it and prevent that person from misplacing it and assigning blame to you.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Actually, setting aside the snotty tone of your post that is a half decent suggestion.

[shenyanggerry]

A few years ago when I was bored I organized most of my material into a Curriculum Master. When they asked for lesson plans, I said I'd use L3 (lecture 3), G4 (group discussion 4), w7 (pair work), etc. They never bothered me again.

They're not getting my material free. I spent too much time accumulating it.

[brsmith15]

Like it or not, lesson plans, syllabi, course outlines, copies of slides and handouts are all just part of being a professional. I realize it's part of what the lawyers call "form over substance," or what I call process before purpose, but so it is.

By the bye, these same folks would have Jesus get a PhD in Philosopy before he couldlecture and the deans at Princeton would have Einstein submit outlines of his theories.

[naturegirl321]

Try emailing them to your coordinator, that way they can't get lost and don't kill trees by printing.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I think the part that burns me up the most is they are allowed to enact a fine of nearly 500 rmb over one word in our contract. Clearly, had I read the thing a bit more thoroughly I wouldn't have signed it.

[China.Pete]

I think you may be overreacting a bit. The owner (or his minion) came up with what he thought was a great idea -- fine the blokes for not turning in their lesson plans. Teachers go ballistic. Don't want teachers quitting on them, but if the owner backs down, he loses face. So, another foreigner "checks" the lesson plans first; thus virtually guaranteeing that no one will ever be fined. In the Chinese view, the problem has been solved. If you really can't stand this style of management, you could always move on. But you may not find it all that different elsewhere. It could even be worse.

[nickpellatt]

I dont think the rule sounds so unreasonable to be honest. Also, in the initial post, it says 3 missing lesson plans incur the fine? That suggests your employer will accept you accidently losing one without punishment.

I personally would prefer NOT to have this ruling over me, but by the same token, if you are offered a contract which has some clauses or rules within it, you cant really get miffed when your employer (quite rightly) decides to enforce them.

I also think the rules arent really there to punish you, someone who (as you suggest) completes lesson plans but may lose one, but are perhaps there for another teacher who submits nothing, plans nothing, and maybe then often teaches nothing.

I had a job in an unrelated profession, and had a boss I really liked working for. He used to tell us, 'these are my rules, I expect you to follow em ... if you dont, Im going to ask you to leave and get someone who will follow them ...' Which I guess is kinda fair really.

I have a contract with an organisation within the UK now, and they also impose a few rules, one of which covers me reaching certain standards or I will lose my contract. This is a blanket rule, yet none of the classroom teachers complain about it, and we do our best to abide by it. I cant help but think if the whole organisation and its employees where transported to China ... everyone would then moan and complain about the same ruling.

[waxwing]

[platinum peyote]

Not too sure, Dan, but I knew a bloke that went by the name of Aaron in Korea that faced a similar situation, last I heard he hightailed it to another country for threatening his boss with fisticuffs.