Job Discussion Forums

[JRJohn]

I am an experienced and qualified tefl teacher. Last year I taught in the far east. I will be teaching in Oxford in July, and I have a holiday in Madrid at the start of August, and then I go back to Asia.
But teaching in Spain? Is it really possible for me to teach there ?
I went to Madrid to teach soon after I had left university. This was years ago. I had an excellent social life, there were moments of pure joy. Speaking Spanish fluently helped. But teaching there was not viable after the first little while. It was chaotic and there were frequent cancellations. So it became more about holiday and travel.
Some years ago, after a successful period in Poland, I suspended my disbelief and took a job near Plaza de Callao. School was open right through August, and they had found a flat for me. The flat was great. They promised me a permanent contract, which never came. But I did get to teach inside the school, and for 6 weeks it was okay financially. But a teacher warned me that I could not plan ahead at all because there was no telling who would come to class. No linguistic goals, so the students were short-changed.
Then the smirky boss told me that I wasn't capturing enough students so I had to go. I would get a good reference, because I was punctual and prepared my lessons professionally and well. At first I blamed myself, for lacking charm, but then I smelled a rat(even more so now because I later successfully taught Spanish kids in the U.K.). I soon found that several teachers were being dismissed and that many people were on part-time hours with no contracts. So no social security to be paid.
The other year, at a summer course in England, a teacher told me that an experienced couple she knew had gone to Madrid, opened a can of worms "and couldn't get to Saudi Arabia quick enough!" It was that bad.
So what I want to know is this? Is it really possible to get a sustainable teaching job in Spain? What about outside Madrid? I know only a FEW people were successful. I could very easily go to a well-paying location in Asia or the middle east, and save up money, and come to Spain later. But I wouldn't want to spend all that money subsidising a bad employer.
I would like to hear your opinions on teaching in Spain. Why does no one offer a contract up front?
What do people in the 15-M movement think of this?

[Moore]

Yes, it's possible to make a living here.

It's not easy: flakey schools, equally flakey students, contracts that aren't worth the paper they're written on, cr*ppy agency-style schools with no support etc. etc. ...it's a terrible shame, something should be done, but it's not going to change any time soon, unfortunately.

That said, it's a truly great place to live.

The best option is to get a foothold by doing a bit of academy work, then focus on getting private classes as quickly as possible: they pay better and are more reliable. A lot of teachers here work hard and make 2000 euros a month (over 9 months) so it's really not so bad.

Summer work is almost non existent (by summer I mean classes basically shut down between mid-July and mid-September, with a few exceptions here and there), so you have to go do summer camp, or just take a long (unpaid) holiday.

Conditions really are quite harsh compared to other countries, but it's a superb place.




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[pr455]