If you work in the ELT industry, you may have heard that teachers are underpaid, or that they are not given enough hours, or that preparation time is not compensated. While these statements certainly don’t represent 100% of teachers of English to speakers of other languages around the globe, they are true.
In Berlin I used to work for a really nice quaint school called [XXXXXXX]*. It was women owned and managed, everybody was nice, and the vibe was great. The Director of Studies was very welcoming and helpful, and the admin who managed class assignment, paperwork and whatnot was truly great. Every email I got from the school was usually followed by my saying, “it’s such a pleasure to work at a place where people are valued”.
But as most small businesses, the owners succumbed to the power and reach of a much bigger school chain and sold [XXXXXXX]*. We were all assured that nothing was going to change, but I had seen enough of the industry to know that change was underway, whether they themselves knew it or not.
Management slowly started being replaced. The nice admin was the first to go. It was such a loss. Then procedures changed and became much more bureaucratic and impersonal. Not long after that, our DOS left. Soon after, I decided to leave as well. Working for this new version of the school had stopped making sense. As a ‘zero-hour freelancer’, leaving was no big deal, so I informed the people who needed to be informed, prepared a transition plan and shared detailed documentation of my groups and content covered.
A week after my last day, I was surprised by a nasty email from the new DOS asking why I hadn’t shown up to teach “my class”. I was quite taken aback; after all the emails I had sent making sure all information was clear and complete for whoever was going to take over from me, it was clear that they had little control over their staff and processes. This whole thing made me feel glad I had decided to leave the school.
A couple of weeks later, I received another rude email from the school. This new admin was contacting me to inform me that the rate I was being paid for business English classes was too high, and, based on what online teachers where charging, they were going to start paying me 30% less. They wanted to know whether I’d accept those terms or leave.
I can’t even begin to express how indignant that made me. First of all, they were reaching out to me seemingly oblivious to the fact that I hadn’t been working with them for over a month. Second of all, they thought they could just cut down 30% of the hourly wage of a teacher supposedly under contract (freelance contract, but still).
This was the first time I had ever seen anything as callous and greedy, downright disrespectful. What about the teachers whose income relied on those wages?
Turns out that most of those who used to work for the original [XXXXXXX]* ended up leaving at some point. Needless to say there’s no love lost there.
Fun fact, when I first moved to Berlin, I started taking German classes at their (the big “evil school”) headquarters. I didn’t last long because I thought teachers invested little in preparation and in teaching approaches. Classes often revolved around the teacher going over the book, putting us in ‘breakout rooms’ (these classes were online) and never even checking to see our progress. Now that I know how they treat their teachers and staff, I can’t say that I am surprised by the quality of the classes they offer.
If a school wants to deliver excellence, they have to invest in excellence. They should pay teachers well, provide ongoing professional development, provide support and guidance.
It really is a shame that ELT professionals are so undervalued and, frequently, not treated with respect. Most of the teachers I know have a Bachelor’s degree, hold a teaching certificate, sometimes even a master’s, and continue to invest in professional development.
And it really makes me sad to think that so many amazing people and professionals find themselves looking for different types of jobs because they can’t make ends meet on an ELT income.
*[XXXXXXX] School name redacted.
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