Job Discussion Forums

[MrMrLuckyKhan]

Well, my overall satisfaction while working for IEC ( International Education Centre ) in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia was a little disappointing, for justified reasons I will explain. I fully recognize that no school is perfect, but that doesn't mean that you should have zero expectations. If I were the only teacher that felt this way, I would consider the possibility that maybe it was just me and my personal opinion, which doesn't really reflect the way people think of IEC. However, when the last 6 Western teachers of the 9 employed (of which 5 left earlier than agreed upon, and 2 of those have already expressed their opinions here on Dave's ESL Cafe; use the search function) all leave with sour tastes in their mouths, it's clear to me that I am under no delusions.

I am aware that this is a VERY long review, but I would suggest that anyone planning on working for IEC in Medan should read it thoroughly before accepting any position with them.



HERE IS ALSO SOME ADVICE TO FOLLOW BEFORE ACCEPTING A POSITION FROM ANY SCHOOL, NOT ONLY IEC>>

*GET THE EMAIL ADDRESSES OF AT LEAST 3 CURRENT TEACHERS. EMAIL THEM ALL (EVEN SEND THEM THE SAME EMAIL TOGETHER) AND ASK THEM ABOUT THE SCHOOL, THEIR HOUSING, ETC. IF THE SCHOOL IS UNWILLING TO PROVIDE THE EMAILS OF AT LEAST 3 TEACHERS THAT ARE WILLING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SCHOOL FOR YOU, THE SCHOOL IS PROBABLY HIDING SOMETHING.

*GET ANY AND ALL PROMISES IN WRITING, AND SIGNED BY BOTH THE DIRECTOR AND ACADEMIC COORDINATOR.

*DO A SEARCH FOR THE SCHOOL ON DAVE'S ESL, OR ANY OTHER SITES YOU FIND. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND, AND DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT ANY POSTERS THAT BRING UP THE SCHOOL YOU ARE INQUIRING ABOUT. REMEMBER, IF YOU CAN FIND THEIR POST, THAT MEANS THEY WROTE IT FOR THE PUBLIC TO SEE, AND WILL PROBABLY BE WILLING TO HELP YOU WITH MORE INFORMATION, WHETHER IT'S GOOD OR BAD.




First, I would like to start with the good things about working for IEC.


*We always got paid on time/every time (salaries, that is), even if that involved dealing with getting paid half at a different location and having to jump through small hoops to get it in hand.

*The other teachers that I worked with are truly the best people I have ever worked/lived with, as I would have hand-selected them myself from all over the world.

*The shared housing is truly FREE. Not free of problems, but utilities and such were all paid for by the school.

*You get free flights/boat trips to Penang, Malaysia to do a VISA RUN to get another TOURIST VISA to work on until your WORK VISA gets completed. If you are lucky (which is a matter of opinion), you could get stuck there for an extra week or so while the school works on things they neglected to do before they sent you there the last time to pick up your WORK VISA. This has happened on a few occasions to various teachers.

*You get Saturdays and Sundays off, unless they end up putting you at the sister school, SIA ( Singapore International Academy ), which may have you come in every Saturday morning to plan for the following week. This has happened to a few teachers that were hired for IEC, only to be told after being hired and arriving in Medan, North Sumatra that they actually need to work at SIA and teach toddlers.

*You get SOME of your medical expenses paid for, as long as you are ready to stand your ground and willing to beg and plead what is in your contract.

*You get paid 25.000rp ($2.17) for having to travel to one of the 3 IEC locations to teach classes IF it is a location that you normally don't teach at, for transportation money. It seems that only some teachers would get this while I was teaching there.

*They have free WIFI at the main IEC location!

*The Director is more than willing to help the western teachers get a motorbike at a fair price from his friend, who owns a very nice shop near the main school, which he has done for me and several others. The director is also very helpful when it comes to getting a �cash advance� on your paycheck. He has lent me and several others millions of rupiah and let us pay it back at our convenience out of our paychecks.

*Two of the school locations are within walking distance of two of the teachers' houses.



Here are some of the reasons that I have to say my experience at IEC was somewhat of a letdown.

*First, and probably most important, was the frequent burglaries that occur at one of the teachers' house, which is provided by the school and located within the Jemadi Complex, same at the Jemadi IEC. The Jemadi Complex is surrounded by a security wall, which has security officers (paid by IEC) that are there 24/7, who control who goes in and out of the Complex. The security officers are constantly drunk and have been reported to the school on many occasions, but still nothing has been done. Since I started working there in February 2008, there have been about 6 or more break-ins where teachers' things and money have been stolen. (I have also heard that there was yet ANOTHER break-in in the last few weeks! That would mean in January or February 2009.) The only thing the school has ever done to try to stop this is reluctantly changed 2 of the 3 locks that could be used to enter the house. On one occasion when they changed the front lock they swore to the teachers that the new keys where 'uncopyable,' and the only other copy that existed, besides what the teachers themselves had, would stay locked in a safe at the school and only given to office boys and others under close supervision. Then, one of the teachers went to one of the many street stalls that copy keys and got a COPY made for less than a dollar!! Clearly, they could be easily copied by anyone! These break ins have resulted in teachers being robbed of thousands of dollars, which includes cash, women's underwear and several cameras. We finally had a meeting with all the Western teachers and the Director, and his final answer regarding the matter was, 'the school is not responsible for anything.' This decision clearly upset all the teachers (which are all but one teacher who has lived in Medan for several years and has his own house) who live in the housing provided by the school. Considering the fact that many of us have mobile phones, cash, laptops, and digital cameras, this was bad news to hear from the Director. This meeting was around November. This was a big deciding factor for me and some others to leave early. Nobody has been caught red handed for any of the break ins, but it is obvious that the culprits are the security guards/schools maintenance people. It is not a good feeling to know that many of the teachers' personal possessions are likely to be stolen from their locked bedrooms provided by the school, and the school will take no responsibility. The school finally got rid of the maid that cleans that house biweekly because she had been known to take teachers' personal items from the house as well.

*They got rid of the maid (at the teachers' repeated requests and after the teachers just started to refuse to allow her in before the school finally fired her) around September 2007, and by January 2009 the school had still had not provided a replacement. Please realize that we all have a contract with the school that states, "MAID SERVICE WILL BE PAID FOR BY THE EMPLOYER." The teachers at this house had to live without any sort of contractual maid service for about 4 months! These houses are so old and dusty that you can tell if a maid hasn't been there in just a few days. The teachers living at that house were still required to come to work with ironed shirts and pants, and were not even offered any money to get any of it done by themselves, even though this was in our contracts. When asked when the school would ever replace the maid, the school could never give a date when they would get one. I'm not sure, but if you can't find a maid in Medan, Indonesia within 4 months, you MUST not be looking!

*One of the teachers' houses has also been prone to flooding since before I even arrived. Sometime around November the school's teachers' house in the Jemadi Complex flooded again, and this time ruined some books in the teachers' rooms, and I think maybe another digital camera. The school was informed of this, and said they would send someone over the following day to inspect and fix the problem once and for all. They didn't send anyone for several days. Then, a week later another flood happened; this time ruining more items, including a teacher's cellphone, personal artwork, etc. Soon after this is when we had a meeting with the Director and he informed all the teachers that, "the school is not responsible for anything.' Also, because of the leaking roof, one teacher's Mac laptop was damaged by water dripping on the keyboard, and wouldn't turn on. Luckily, they sent it to Mac and they fixed under warranty anyways!

*The gas at one of our teachers' housing provided by the school got the gas turned off for 2 months because IEC didn't pay the bill. After a few weeks with no luck to get it turned back on the school did provide a portable stove to use in the meantime.

*When you accept the job with IEC you are told you will receive a legal/legit working visa (KITAS), but what they forget to tell you is that you will have to work ILLEGALLY for the first few months on a TOURIST VISA while they file to get a WORK VISA for you. Personally, this is not a huge deal to me, but some teachers may find this a problem; and it would also be nice if they just told you this upfront. One teacher (before I arrived) showed up at the Immigration Office in the airport upon arriving in Indonesia for the first time and told them that he was entering the country to work teaching English for IEC. The problem was he was entering on a TOURIST VISA, and the school had forgotten to tell him to lie to Immigration and tell them he was there as a tourist. He had to get the school on the phone to help him out and they eventually let him in.

*They also put in our contracts that if we choose not to live in the housing provided by the school they will give us 450.000rp towards our own housing each month. I lived in the housing provided by the school, so never had to deal with this. But, when one of the teachers (who had already been living in one of the houses provided by IEC for several months) decided to move out and get her own place, we were told that 'our contracts were incorrect and must have been accidentally copied, signed by the director, and given to first year teachers by mistake and that 450.000rp was only given to teachers that are on a 3rd year contract, and that first year teachers are only eligible for 300,000rp housing allowance per month, not the 450.000rp as stated in our contracts.' So, they only gave here 300.000rp.

*The school gives you 10 sick days to use per year. What they forget to tell you (until you get your year-end review) is that using more than 2 days could prevent you from receiving your full performance bonus, which happened to affect some other teachers' bonuses.

*They hired a teacher from Canada who was too young to qualify for the WORK VISA. They hired her while she was still in Canada, and informed her upon arrival in Medan that if she wanted to work for IEC she would have to just work illegally since they couldn't get a WORK VISA for her because of her age. She was only 18 when they hired her from Canada. I don't think they hired her knowing that she would have to work illegally because she was underage, but they should have checked that before she came all the way out to SE Asia.

*Before I even accepted the job, I was told that I (along with all the other Western teachers) would receive FREE Indonesian lessons every week. Being unable to speak Indonesian is Medan can be a huge problem, so I was excited to get them! After I flew there and started teaching I was told that they didn't currently offer any Indonesian classes, but since more new teachers would be arriving within a few weeks, they would start a class then. Fair enough. After many of us reminded the director and academic coordinator almost weekly of their promises, they still failed to give us any lessons, despite their constant reply of, 'we will start one soon.' Unfortunately, it took over 6 months before IEC ever held a single Indonesian class for us, finally given by the academic coordinator. Once they finally did start one, they had 3 weekly classes, and then they kept getting cancelled for one reason or another, and we just gave up on bugging them. It's just one more example of what the school promised me and failed to provide.



I had originally signed a 14 month contract with IEC (for my convenience based on dates and since my WORK VISA would still be valid until May) instead of the 12 month contract normally signed (or not signed by most Western teachers at IEC or the director). Towards the end of November I started discussions with both the academic coordinator and director about getting out of my contract early since they consistently failed to uphold their end of the contract we BOTH signed (even though I held my end to the highest standard). When I talked to the academic coordinator he agreed to let me out of my contract early, but without paying me my bonus or second half of my airfare ( you normally receive the first half of your negotiated airfare after 6 months, and the second half after 12 months. You have to be ready to negotiate hard because some teachers negationed as much as about $1800USD, while some teachers from the same countries only negotiate a mere $1000). Finally, after having to explain to the director how it is unjust to penalize teachers who break their contracts early because IEC is unable to hold up the school's end of it, he said he would do it if I agreed to work through December since they are extremely busy during the end of the semester. So, he gave me a signed agreement stating that even though I only fulfilled 9 and a half months of our 14 month contract I would still receive the second half of my airfare which is usually given after you complete your 12 months of teaching, I wouldn't have to reimburse the school for the unused portion of my WORK VISA that the teacher usually has to pay for if they decided to leave early, AND I would still be eligible to receive my FULL prorated bonus based on my past performance, which of course I received in full and have a signed receipt for!

I wouldn't say avoid this school at all costs, I just wanted to share with you my personal experience with them. I would avoid this school at all costs if you have to stay in the Jemadi shared housing provided by the school, unless you don't mind the fact that some of your possessions will most likely be stolen and the school will refuse to take any responsibility for, which still happens to this day. My experience at IEC hasn't turned me off of teaching, it's just been a reminder to be very careful when finding schools to teach at. I'm sure there are schools out there that are much worse, so I'm not saying IEC is the most terrible school you could get stuck at, I'm just saying to watch out. Also, this school hires most of their Western teachers who have NO experience, NO degrees/diplomas, NO sort of CELTA/TEFL/TESOL training, and even hire nationalities that don't qualify for Indonesia's WORK VISAS for teachers. So, if you are way under qualified, but would still like to take a swing at teaching and think you can put up with this for a whole year of your life, this is a GREAT opportunity for you to get your foot in the TEFL door!

If you have any questions about my post or anything else with regards to living in Medan, don't hesitate to ask me here OR send me a Private Message.

[manabout_town]

Thanks for that. I saw an advertisement on tefl.com for them but I have read a few other reviews and I think that I will give that place IEC Medan a miss. Things been stolen and visa problems are enough for me to turn my dream into a nightmare. I can handle everything else with regards to bad housing etc.

[manabout_town]

Things just dont seem to change with this school in Medan. They were advertising again recently on another teaching site. I was talking to a Canadian teacher who wrote a review on the eslteachersboard.com and she confirmed that all of this was still going on there when she wrote a reply in April 2010. You would think it would be in the interest of this school to do something about it. Contact the past teachers, sort out their differences, clear out the bad management and attitude among teachers still working there. Obviously they have no interest in doing this, just hoping to attract a few newly qualified teachers with no experience and mess them around too. All I can say is, I feel sorry for the teachers who end up there and can't get out because they are confined to a contract

[bje]

Can't get out because they are confined to a contract? People break contracts every day! Of course one can 'get out'.

[phis]

Many teachers cannot afford the financial penalties that will be imposed if they break contract. These don't go away even if the teacher is in the right and the school is in the wrong. So... NO, they cannot get out... unless they have a bundle of money behind them and don't care about the financial consequences.

[bje]

Having no money saved when working overseas is unwise. What exactly are the penalties for breaking a contract, so that we can ascertain whether 'a bundle of money' is required.

[manabout_town]

I think the most important thing here about this school in Medan is the fact that they have seriously misled teachers with the facts. I have read all the reviews here as well as on the other teacher sites....the only good review by the way was written here by an ex- DOS...it has nothing got to do with bundles of money. ...
##Teachers have flown out there at their own expense## after promises were made in contracts etc...to find no work visa waiting for them as promised, some teachers mentioning the fact of having to wait up to 6 months, personally myself I don't want to end up in an immigration detention centre and being deported because of no work visa. On top of that, personal items stolen from the teachers house's, bad moral and in house bitching between foreign teachers, probably due to having to work there in the first place. Thats a clear sign of bad management. Giving teachers fake return tickets to deceive immigration, I think was also mentioned by that Canadian female teacher on eslteachersboard......
Not all of us have credit cards or rich Daddy's to bail us out of dodgy contracts in far away lands. Some young teachers go out to these places to learn and share about new cultures. I don't think it is their fault that unscrupulous schools like IEC in Medan are willing to take advantage of them....