Job Discussion Forums

[idrinkthewater]

Where and with whom have you had your best work experiences?

I spent last year at an American college in Nanjing, but that job sorta fell in my lap--I've never had to navigate the EFL underworld before. There's plenty of information on who's bad, but if an employer is good, there's little incentive for anyone to comment. Ex. The EFL Blacklist blog is going strong, but The EFL Whitelist hasn't been updated since it was stillborn in 2008.

Any specific recommendations would be very much appreciated, particularly ones in Jiangsu!

[theincredibleegg]

yes, i wonder. Why is are there no white-lists?

One might get the impression that everyone writing "reviews" etc. are just doing it for the sake of emotional outlet

[Lister]

The blacklisted schools would be frantically writing good reviews about themselves using multiple names on the white list. Would probably end up being a pointless website really quickly.

[caleypatrick]

It's a selfish world out there, and greed and kindness are at different ends of the spectrum. I suspect many of the "teachers", and I use the term lightly, who have decent jobs want to keep that information to themselves. After all, why would a 2-year college graduate with no experience teaching in the west - but holding a good university teaching gig in China - want to tell anyone about his/her good fortune. No sirree. If they tell, you may very well displace them. I suspect they don't want their goose cooked; however, little do they suspect that the Chinese only want your white face and your ability to get along with the students.

[cormac]

Well, I figure there's more to it considering what I've read here and from friends experiences.

1. Management change. - Schools change. The management or the bosses move on or are replaced. With one manager the school is a fantastic place to work, and then the manager is replaced, and the school becomes a nightmare. Its hard to put a green light on a school, when the school can change so easily.

2. School focus, or management style change. - Kid Castle has a horrible reputation now. Was pretty bad when I worked for them. And yet two years previously, the branch I was in had a great reputation with the FT's working there. It was pressure from head office and changing work schedules which changed the workplace, and the focus of the business from having fun to making as much money as possible. So again the school can change so easily. From wonderful to horrendous in a short space of time.

3. Responsibility. Who wants to take on the responsibility of recommending schools when there are so many variables to consider. The success of the teacher with kids/parents, the personality of the teacher, the relationships between the FT and the other chinese staff, etc. Simply put you could have one FT working in the school loving it, and another FT who gets the worst reactions from everyone because of their personality or just terrible work ethic.

4. Lastly, very few teachers who are happy in their jobs post on this forum. I personally know thirteen foreigners working in China right now,
and only one of them uses this forum. While this forum is excellent in many ways, its not a comprehensive coverage of FTs in China.

A white list isn't really feasible in this instance. There are too many variables with both the FT themselves and the Chinese mgt.

[Jayray]

[idrinkthewater]

All thought provoking. Funny--I thought this would be a light-hearted thread about good times. Reckon I'm young.