Job Discussion Forums

[mesquite]

Couldn't find the post on this one, it was pretty comprehensive but it seems to have gone. Anyhow, Iwould like to know what people think the worst practices in EFL are.

For me some
of the worst practices include management control and bullying (I work for a bully who has to have his finger in every pie), lack of transparency (we never know what decisions are being made or discussed, no input which makes us feel excluded). Too many teaching hours is another big problem. With lesson preparation and grading, you don't have much time for anything else if you are teaching more than 16 hours. Teaching loads need to be taken into consideration - when you overwork your teachers, they can't be too creative as their timetable is loaded. Ideally ESL teachers shouldn't be teaching more than 15 or 16 hours. Teaching timetable overload causes burnout and stress.

Another problem is non-teaching assignments: when you're hired as a teacher, you should be working as a teacher not as a donkey doing all kinds of 'busy' work to make sure you are occupied. Faculty don't have to do this, managers seem to think that EFL teachers are there to be exploited and used.

Another thing I hate is spying - always being chekced on by minions and spies. How low can you go???? Faculty don't have to put up with this. Why do management people think it's OK to do this to EFL teachers? I bet they wouldn't like someone spying on them but then of course, they make sure they aren't.

Management accountability -Managers should be held accountable for their idiotic decisions that mess students and teachers around. They try to hold teachers responsible for their dumb decisions.

Anyone have other ideas?

[jdl]

Some people actually work 40+ hours per week. Ask any teacher in a public school system. You have too much time on your hands. Go play tennis or get a 'project' that is not work related. It will fill your time and provide something to think about and enjoy.

[veiledsentiments]

[mesquite]

[denise]

I have 20 contact hours per week, and I don't mind because I like teaching.

d

[veiledsentiments]

First off, not all teachers teach writing. Not to mention that the majority of teachers that I worked with managed to do all of their prep and marking during the time that we were forced to hang around the workplace. Over my many years of teaching in the Gulf, I was one of the few who took work home. I did all my essay correcting where I could sit with my feet up and drink tea... not exactly onerous employment. Most of the teachers bragged that they never took any work home... and they were home somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 every day.

Prep time was only long the first time I taught a course. I quickly moved to only teaching writing and from my third year, I had pretty much prepped a lesson for every level and need only open my file for a few minutes to do the prep.

My only beef was the places like HCT that obsessed with meetings, but they were the worst... the other universities that I taught for didn't interfere so much. After 15 years of working in accounting prior to going into education, teaching was a complete walk in the park. In office work, 40 hours is considered a slow week. For more than 6 months of the year, the hours were closer to 70. (with no overtime pay because everyone is salaried)

Personally I loved the leisurely pace and low workload of education... even with those stacks of essay drafts to correct. Like Denise, I loved teaching and the moments in the classroom and student conferences were always the best part of the day.

VS

[Kaspar Hauser]

[basiltherat]

Employers who completely forget who is working for them.

After having been with the company for over 5 years, I once walked in to the company's head office and was passed in the hall by the manager who, looking at me with a frown on his face, asked:

"Yes ? Can I help you ?"

I couldn't help myself and just burst into laughter.

I found out later he was stoned out of his mind.

Best
Basil

[777]

Mesquite,
You sound like you work where I work. But I teach more contact hours than you do.

[eha]

'...Management accountability -Managers should be held accountable for their idiotic decisions that mess students and teachers around. They try to hold teachers responsible for their dumb decisions...'

But one of the most basic features of managerialism is that accountability works UP, not DOWN. After all, it's a system dreamt up by managers over the last twenty years or so - started in the commericial world and some underemployed idiot in an Education Ministry somewhere thought it would be another nice trick to play on teachers--- revenge for his/her own probably lousy --and deservedly so--- experience of schools and teachers. Combined with the concurrent asininities of student participation in management, student evaluation of teachers, students otherwise displacing time and energy they desperately need for studying --- it's led to a nice how-d'ye-do --- the dire state of education today, on an international scale. Read the Canadian educationalist David Solway; he says it so much better than I can.

[mesquite]

[ryder]

Carmo85
How about making a poll on worst practices. This could be helpful.

[scot47]

I have 20 regular hours plus 5 overtime. 16 would be a dream ! Quit complaining and get a life !

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

The first step in getting a life, especially in Saudi where you are, usually involves taking a taxi to the airport.

Regards,
John

[scot47]

There is life after Saudi - I know that. The Sage of Santa Fe is living proof of that !

HE LIVES !