Job Discussion Forums

[Middle East Beast]

HCT's not bad, but man are more teachers needed.

[Eisenhorn]

Ah ... lovely. Trolling.

Since HCT has over 14 campuses (I do I count MZ and ruwais seperate? I never know) all over, you are bound to find good campuses and bad.

And opinions vary from one campus to another about their management. Some instructors love it, and some hate it.

If you dislike your campus, feel free to leave. No one is making you stay here and teach. There are literally dozens of others who will take your place.

Now with regards to management, quite often it seems that ogres/ogress rise to the top due to wasta, and the management system/style here is usually not very good. Often, they do not lead by example, but instead prefer to rule by fear and paranoia. But it varies from campus to campus, director to director.

But you are painting with a VERY WIDE brush to try to indict the entire HCT system. If you don't like it, leave.

[veiledsentiments]

Defend them? I think HCT and the system pros and cons have been pretty well covered here - especially in the last few months. Some can cope with it and some can't. I was happy to arrive there... loved my teaching... enjoyed most of my fellow teachers... and was even happier to leave. I don't regret a moment of it - professionally I learned so much from the exceptional teachers that I worked with, but I wouldn't go back. The place is way too top heavy with management.

VS

[Middle East Beast]

Just kidding...very understaffed, though.

The UAE is a pretty nice country.

The students are great, too.

[secretsquirrel]

I'll have to put you right on THIS, Eisenhorn...

"If you dislike your campus, feel free to leave. No one is making you stay here and teach. There are literally dozens of others who will take your place. "

HCT staff at Abu Dhabi Women's College are no longer free to leave. It's well-known that a block has been put on teachers transferring out of ADWC to other HCT collegess in the system. So in fact the management ARE making them stay there and teach.

As for the 'literally dozens of others' who are waiting in the wings, I doubt it. The unjustified sackings of several highly respected and well-liked faculty members in recent months has led to a catastrophic decline in morale, which has been well-documented on these pages and a certain blog, I believe. Almost no-one is happy there, few want to remain now, hence the refusal to consider transfers out - it would be a very unedifying spectacle (for the management) of a mass exodus!

The Dean known as 'The Ruler' has been mostly responsible for this state of affairs, and she is despised by virtually all the teaching staff there. She bullies the other managers into submission, and exercises her position of influence with certain Emiratis to consolidate her grip on the college.

It's a brave fool who wants to work there now!

[helenl]

I think the poster meant to imply that if unhappy, one could resign and leave HCT altogether. The situation at ADWC reminds me of the situation at the Sharjah campus not so long ago - when conditions were similar, the villain, the director.

Anyone who asked for a transfer was considered a traitor and was not renewed (if up for renewal) and subject to various insidious forms of "harrassment" until up for renewal (i.e. extra duties, new/extra preps, constant micromanagment, criticism, etc.) and then not renewed.

As to whether there are dozens waiting in the wings, there seems to be quite a few - I imagine they're making do (in EFL especially) with adjuncts in some campuses as well - where they seem to be scrambling for instructors is in the content courses more than EFL?

Over the past 5 years teachers have been given more contact hours and more ex-class duties/projects while the conditions and pay have not kept pace. Now the pay is not slave wages, but it certainly isn't what it once was - however, it is still competitive with other similar institutions in the UAE

[secretsquirrel]

Beg to differ a little there, helenl. While it's true that there have been large problems in sourcing content teachers (especially white ones with MAs and PhDs), these problems have been extending to ESL teachers too.

In the part of the HCT empire that I know best, several new ESL/EFL recruits have been non-European and non-Western types, but with EU or US passports. In other words, they are not native speakers. This is not to denigrate them in any way, but merely to point out that recruiting requirements have been changed - downwards.

Another source of English teachers, as you point out, are adjuncts - housewives with a Tefl certificate and little experience of teaching. While these candidates may be suitable for teaching the usual course-book crap to low level students, they're hardly the caliber required for the more serious stuff.

What the HCT apparently fails to understand is that, as the quality of management declines, so will the number of suitable teaching applicants they receive. This in turn means that they will cast the net for teachers even wider, attracting less suitable candidates. In short, it's a downward spiral that can only be halted by getting rid of the awful managers that HCT currently has, rather than victimising good teachers and sacking them for trivial reasons.

BTW, I note that a handful of new teachers at ADWC have walked already, after only a few months. Clearly they were very disappointed at what they saw - and experienced. How will they reverse this decline at ADWC? The teachers are waiting to see - but they ALL know where the solution lies!

[veiledsentiments]

[Eisenhorn]

[freesoul]

[BrownSauce]

I'm not so sure, freesoul. I would imagine that an English-medium college like HCT, or any such college in the UAE, would only employ native speakers or 'bilingual' Arabs to teach English. Perhaps they would also choose teachers from India and similar countries where English is an official second language, and who had studied in English.

But several friends of mine have noted that the demand for EFL/ESL teachers in the UAE now is so strong that non-natives are frequently employed to teach English, and their grasp of the language is not adequate - simple fact. If this upsets you, that's tough.

[secretsquirrel]

Oh dear, it seems I have rattled a few people's cages! Well, let it be - I'm not worried at all, as we all have the right to express our own opinions.

And while I'll ignore some of the more childish comments wheeled out by the chronically PC members of this forum, I would like to respond to the craven attitude displayed by one in particular.

Comments such as these - "either do the job, or leave." - make me want to heave. Never heard of 'spine'? If you feel that something is wrong, then you have every right to stand up and draw attention to it. If teachers in the UAE had some sort of effective union or staff association, we could counter management malpractice and bullying. But we don't, so we have our only recourse in the pages of forums such as this.

And then this: "I cannot tell you how much I despise people who sit around and bicker and complain constantly." Really? Then why did you just tell me? And you know what? I CAN (and will) tell you how much I despise people who have no backbone, and will roll over whenever faced with unnecessary discomfort and unethical workplace practices.

And another thing - if we don't make a fuss, things will never get better, Dr Pangloss. Never heard of the saying "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"?

As you're not prepared to do anything, as nothing stirs your conscience, I guess you're not one of the 'good men', eh?!

As for the remark that "No one is making you stay with HCT or stay in the UAE. ", I can counter with a simple question. Why should I leave when I'm not in the wrong? You're welcome to join the Yellow-bellies on the plane home, or just sit in your apartment/villa and count the money, but SOME of us possess a sense of dignity and self-respect that can not be either bought or ignored.

Somehow, I don't think you're one of them.

[helenl]

UAE Law No. 8 of 1980, as amended by Law No. 12 of 1986 (the "Labour Law") governs most aspects of employer/employee relations, such as hours of work, leave, termination rights, medical benefits and repatriation.

Trade unions do not exist. In the case of a dispute between employer and employee, or in interpretation of the Labour Law, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will initially act as an adjudicator, in an effort to resolve matters. If a party wishes to appeal any such decision it can take its case to court. Strikes and lock outs are forbidden Source = the following www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/dubai/jdblab.html

As you say SS, maybe if teachers did organize and stand up for themselves as a group and individually, bullying management types would have to tread more lightly. However, as the excerpt above shows, unions are not "allowed" in UAE, and those who have gone on strike in the past have either been fined, arrested, or put on the next plane home.

As for being able to appeal to the Ministry of Labour in the event of a dispute, yes, that is possible. In addition, if your residency has been revoked, you have 30 days to get out of UAE - hardly time enough to resolve a court case and pursuing one long distance is difficult at best (not to mention expensive).

Perhaps people should have more "gumption" but most of us have to earn a living and having to fight one's employer is stressful at best - most will take one of two options - suck it up and put up with the conditions, or pack their bags and move on. And I sincerely believe that's what most people do all over the world in most industries.

Until and unless people refuse to take jobs with poor employers in the first place things probably won't change significantly. When organizations can't get decently qualified employees or keep them longer than 6 months, then the organization will start to seriously look at itself and its practices and management.

[Eisenhorn]

[D. Merit]