ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
Jul 17th 2012, 5:45 pm
#46
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,308
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
Hello stirlingsingle.
I was deeply saddenned reading your story.
Unfortunately I am not at all surprised.
There are startling similarities to your story that I have observered on a daily basis working in the lucrative, 'private sector' in the UAE.
IMHO this system is basically a hypocrytical sham run though fear of religion, 'wasta' (wtf?), $$$, oil $$$, and commonplace 'mis-eductation'.
Did I mention fear? Ah yes I did.
Not helped much by the main stream UK media e.g. bikini claden chavs that visit this country (promoted in the Daily Mail etc). They have no idea.
I honestly believe in human kind; 'kind' being the opperative word.
That doesn't work here though, as you have discovered.
Good luck to you; whatever happens, or whatever you decide to do.
I was deeply saddenned reading your story.
Unfortunately I am not at all surprised.
There are startling similarities to your story that I have observered on a daily basis working in the lucrative, 'private sector' in the UAE.
IMHO this system is basically a hypocrytical sham run though fear of religion, 'wasta' (wtf?), $$$, oil $$$, and commonplace 'mis-eductation'.
Did I mention fear? Ah yes I did.
Not helped much by the main stream UK media e.g. bikini claden chavs that visit this country (promoted in the Daily Mail etc). They have no idea.
I honestly believe in human kind; 'kind' being the opperative word.
That doesn't work here though, as you have discovered.
Good luck to you; whatever happens, or whatever you decide to do.
wtf are you on about?
Jul 17th 2012, 5:57 pm
#47
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 51
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
Did you read?
ADEC - Here's the truth.
I WILL STICK TO FACTS.
This posting refers to teachers of Cycle 2 & 3 boys.
The lifestyle is lovely and you can really enjoy yourself in the evenings and weekends, but teaching here is difficult, to say the least.
I have been teaching for twelve years, mainly in Scotland. I have enjoyed a successful career, so far, but good teaching jobs are scarce and promotion is difficult to achieve. With the rising cost of petrol and the government’s attack on teacher’s pensions, I had been struggling, financially. Like many others, I was attracted to ADEC as a lucrative alternative. I had taught in the middle-east for two years, previously, so I had some knowledge of the customs and culture here.
Firstly, the recruitment agency, ‘Teach Away’, in Vancouver, lied to me about the salary and the conditions. They are clearly playing a ‘numbers game’ and just getting as many ‘bodies’ as possible over here. The interviews are a mere formality and they will send anybody that has any kind of teaching qualification, including inexperienced teachers. For the record, I took the job, knowing a little about what to expect and the salary was still pretty good, but not as much as I had been told, initially.
There was a huge meeting, when we arrived in Abu Dhabi and we were promised help and support. To date, there has been none. You are very much on your own and you have to battle against the red tape, bureaucracy and the seemingly vindictive and deliberately obstructive tactics of the ADEC staff, most of who are Emiratis who have had their jobs specially created for them by the Government. They will employ six people to do the job of one and this makes everything so frustrating and long-winded. You have to get a stamp for everything and they often take long breaks, so you often have to wait for hours before you are able to proceed with things that are not even really necessary, they just make it necessary! They do not think ‘outside the box’ and they are stubbornly inflexible. Even the simplest tasks are made into a major fiasco and a new teacher will spend weeks chasing around town to get certificates attested (at great cost, too), visas processed and medical cards obtained etc., etc. This is very stressful.
There was no induction at my school, I was just given a timetable and told to get on with it! Three of us planned the first day’s lessons, not knowing the level of our students, how many there would be or what English they had previously covered. I was not prepared for the riotous rabble that would be waiting to confront me in the classroom. Bottles of water were being thrown across the room, students fought with one another and the noise was deafening. There was barely a student that even acknowledged my presence. That was to be the way for the rest of the year. These boys would rather be doing anything than learning English, which they say they do not need, as they will either become soldiers or policemen.
Students consistently misbehave dreadfully and they constantly talk and shout in Arabic, throw things around the room, fight and come and go, as they wish. There are always interruptions from students visiting from other classes. They just turn up at the door, walk in and begin loud conversations with their friends, taking no notice of the teacher, whatsoever. Getting the students into class is also a difficult one. They arrive and leave whenever they like and you cannot do a thing about it. One student told me (he was one of the few that could string more than a few English words together) that the reason for the bad behaviour is that they are flogged mercilessly by the Arabic teachers, so they see the 10 English lessons per week at 'down-time' and they know we cannot understand them, so they can say what they like. Classes are ‘bedlam’, and it is impossible to even think about trying to teach the students. The best that we all manage is to write stuff on the board for them to (hopefully) copy. When the siege is over, you might get 45 minutes respite until the next ‘battle’. The western EMTs (English Medium Teachers- formerly known as LTs or Licensed Teachers) teach between 25-30 periods per week and our Arabic counterparts teach anything between 12 and 22. I have 30, including a Grade 7 class, which we are not supposed to be teaching.
They all cheat, too. The majority of students copy from the better students, who collaborate willingly. Exams, too, are a farce - if a student gets a bad mark, the Principal, or one of his lackeys, will order you to 'up' their mark. Exams are a ‘cheat-fest’ with crib sheets and answer sheets being passed around, quite openly. One teacher even completed his son’s English exam, passing it on to him before the exam had finished. The students will harangue and hassle you, at the end of each term, pleading with you to give them high marks, even when some of them have hardly done any work the whole term.
The School Management is often hostile towards westerners and they can transfer you or sack you at the drop of a hat. My Principal hardly speaks any English and he conducts all business with me in Arabic, with a translator. He makes no effort to be friendly and it’s pretty obvious that he would rather none of us westerners be there. My HoF is a nice guy, but he’s a complete amateur. He could not organise a piss up in a brewery. He’s always the last teacher to arrive and always the first to leave. Oh, and his command of the English language is very poor. He’s Head of the English Faculty!
You are made to feel very small.
A western teacher will always be blamed for bad behaviour and it is never the students' fault. The management will believe an Arab student rather than a western teacher, always. I have never had an issue with behaviour management, ever, but this is different. The social workers, in the school, sit drinking coffee most of the day and they rarely support the teachers. They usually sit drinking with the students and blame the western teacher, never the student. There is a great deal of racism involved, and I am not exaggerating. We had cameras installed in our classrooms from March. The Principal sits watching us struggle and never comes in to support us, but he is watching US and not the students.
Resources are virtually non-existent and you have to make up your own. Support from the PPP in the school has been amateurish, to say the least. Everyone in the PPP seems to be feathering their own nests or covering their backsides. They are not interested.
I have friends here who were sacked, by e-mail, with five weeks of the academic year left! None of them had any warning! When confronted by my friend, his principal lied to him, saying that ADEC had sacked him. It was later discovered, after much digging and to-ing and fro-ing, that it was the Principal. Principals have 100% say in whom they employ and who they sack. This particular principal is thirty-five years old, deeply pious and religious and has never taught a class in his life. Let's hope my friends can find jobs before the next academic year. My friends were not paid their full salaries & gratuities, their furniture allowance being deducted from their final pay, without any discussion or warning. The banks have also held on to their final payments (government policy, apparently) – I hope that they eventually get their money. Some teachers have done 'moonlight flits' and they just disappear in the night - having taken money for furniture allowance and unpaid bank loans. I do not condone that - it is dishonest and unforgiveable - but I can understand why they want to escape.
We were also promised a pay rise, after one year’s service. This was written in our contracts. However, we were told, around December, that we would not be receiving a pay rise due to austerity measures. Later, it was revealed that all Emirati public sector workers were to receive a 100% pay increase, by order of the ruler and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the UAE. Austerity?
Everything looks rosy on the outside, they are great at dressing things up and papering over the cracks, but the whole lot is rotten from the top down. No-one will admit that the whole curriculum is totally inaccessible to the students and they carry on, fudging marks and cheating. The whole business of ‘educational reform’ in Abu Dhabi is a sham. The whole thing is bogus and I’ve heard whispers that the fellows at the top do not want the reform to work, for reasons that I am not prepared to discuss here.
If you read the daily press releases from ADEC, you might be fooled by this duplicitous and untruthful organization. I still have a year on my contract and I will be back in September - only because I honour my contracts and I need the money. I am dreading it, but I will endeavour to complete one more year. I will need re-training and possibly some kind of therapy after this awful experience. The money is good and Abu Dhabi is a great place and I have many great friends and colleagues here, but I shall not be sad to leave in a year's time - if I last.
This has been an interesting experience and one that I do not ever care to repeat. It is NOT teaching. If you are a teacher with integrity and honesty, or you are faint-hearted, this is not the job for you. BEWARE!
ADEC - Here's the truth.
I WILL STICK TO FACTS.
This posting refers to teachers of Cycle 2 & 3 boys.
The lifestyle is lovely and you can really enjoy yourself in the evenings and weekends, but teaching here is difficult, to say the least.
I have been teaching for twelve years, mainly in Scotland. I have enjoyed a successful career, so far, but good teaching jobs are scarce and promotion is difficult to achieve. With the rising cost of petrol and the government’s attack on teacher’s pensions, I had been struggling, financially. Like many others, I was attracted to ADEC as a lucrative alternative. I had taught in the middle-east for two years, previously, so I had some knowledge of the customs and culture here.
Firstly, the recruitment agency, ‘Teach Away’, in Vancouver, lied to me about the salary and the conditions. They are clearly playing a ‘numbers game’ and just getting as many ‘bodies’ as possible over here. The interviews are a mere formality and they will send anybody that has any kind of teaching qualification, including inexperienced teachers. For the record, I took the job, knowing a little about what to expect and the salary was still pretty good, but not as much as I had been told, initially.
There was a huge meeting, when we arrived in Abu Dhabi and we were promised help and support. To date, there has been none. You are very much on your own and you have to battle against the red tape, bureaucracy and the seemingly vindictive and deliberately obstructive tactics of the ADEC staff, most of who are Emiratis who have had their jobs specially created for them by the Government. They will employ six people to do the job of one and this makes everything so frustrating and long-winded. You have to get a stamp for everything and they often take long breaks, so you often have to wait for hours before you are able to proceed with things that are not even really necessary, they just make it necessary! They do not think ‘outside the box’ and they are stubbornly inflexible. Even the simplest tasks are made into a major fiasco and a new teacher will spend weeks chasing around town to get certificates attested (at great cost, too), visas processed and medical cards obtained etc., etc. This is very stressful.
There was no induction at my school, I was just given a timetable and told to get on with it! Three of us planned the first day’s lessons, not knowing the level of our students, how many there would be or what English they had previously covered. I was not prepared for the riotous rabble that would be waiting to confront me in the classroom. Bottles of water were being thrown across the room, students fought with one another and the noise was deafening. There was barely a student that even acknowledged my presence. That was to be the way for the rest of the year. These boys would rather be doing anything than learning English, which they say they do not need, as they will either become soldiers or policemen.
Students consistently misbehave dreadfully and they constantly talk and shout in Arabic, throw things around the room, fight and come and go, as they wish. There are always interruptions from students visiting from other classes. They just turn up at the door, walk in and begin loud conversations with their friends, taking no notice of the teacher, whatsoever. Getting the students into class is also a difficult one. They arrive and leave whenever they like and you cannot do a thing about it. One student told me (he was one of the few that could string more than a few English words together) that the reason for the bad behaviour is that they are flogged mercilessly by the Arabic teachers, so they see the 10 English lessons per week at 'down-time' and they know we cannot understand them, so they can say what they like. Classes are ‘bedlam’, and it is impossible to even think about trying to teach the students. The best that we all manage is to write stuff on the board for them to (hopefully) copy. When the siege is over, you might get 45 minutes respite until the next ‘battle’. The western EMTs (English Medium Teachers- formerly known as LTs or Licensed Teachers) teach between 25-30 periods per week and our Arabic counterparts teach anything between 12 and 22. I have 30, including a Grade 7 class, which we are not supposed to be teaching.
They all cheat, too. The majority of students copy from the better students, who collaborate willingly. Exams, too, are a farce - if a student gets a bad mark, the Principal, or one of his lackeys, will order you to 'up' their mark. Exams are a ‘cheat-fest’ with crib sheets and answer sheets being passed around, quite openly. One teacher even completed his son’s English exam, passing it on to him before the exam had finished. The students will harangue and hassle you, at the end of each term, pleading with you to give them high marks, even when some of them have hardly done any work the whole term.
The School Management is often hostile towards westerners and they can transfer you or sack you at the drop of a hat. My Principal hardly speaks any English and he conducts all business with me in Arabic, with a translator. He makes no effort to be friendly and it’s pretty obvious that he would rather none of us westerners be there. My HoF is a nice guy, but he’s a complete amateur. He could not organise a piss up in a brewery. He’s always the last teacher to arrive and always the first to leave. Oh, and his command of the English language is very poor. He’s Head of the English Faculty!
You are made to feel very small.
A western teacher will always be blamed for bad behaviour and it is never the students' fault. The management will believe an Arab student rather than a western teacher, always. I have never had an issue with behaviour management, ever, but this is different. The social workers, in the school, sit drinking coffee most of the day and they rarely support the teachers. They usually sit drinking with the students and blame the western teacher, never the student. There is a great deal of racism involved, and I am not exaggerating. We had cameras installed in our classrooms from March. The Principal sits watching us struggle and never comes in to support us, but he is watching US and not the students.
Resources are virtually non-existent and you have to make up your own. Support from the PPP in the school has been amateurish, to say the least. Everyone in the PPP seems to be feathering their own nests or covering their backsides. They are not interested.
I have friends here who were sacked, by e-mail, with five weeks of the academic year left! None of them had any warning! When confronted by my friend, his principal lied to him, saying that ADEC had sacked him. It was later discovered, after much digging and to-ing and fro-ing, that it was the Principal. Principals have 100% say in whom they employ and who they sack. This particular principal is thirty-five years old, deeply pious and religious and has never taught a class in his life. Let's hope my friends can find jobs before the next academic year. My friends were not paid their full salaries & gratuities, their furniture allowance being deducted from their final pay, without any discussion or warning. The banks have also held on to their final payments (government policy, apparently) – I hope that they eventually get their money. Some teachers have done 'moonlight flits' and they just disappear in the night - having taken money for furniture allowance and unpaid bank loans. I do not condone that - it is dishonest and unforgiveable - but I can understand why they want to escape.
We were also promised a pay rise, after one year’s service. This was written in our contracts. However, we were told, around December, that we would not be receiving a pay rise due to austerity measures. Later, it was revealed that all Emirati public sector workers were to receive a 100% pay increase, by order of the ruler and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the UAE. Austerity?
Everything looks rosy on the outside, they are great at dressing things up and papering over the cracks, but the whole lot is rotten from the top down. No-one will admit that the whole curriculum is totally inaccessible to the students and they carry on, fudging marks and cheating. The whole business of ‘educational reform’ in Abu Dhabi is a sham. The whole thing is bogus and I’ve heard whispers that the fellows at the top do not want the reform to work, for reasons that I am not prepared to discuss here.
If you read the daily press releases from ADEC, you might be fooled by this duplicitous and untruthful organization. I still have a year on my contract and I will be back in September - only because I honour my contracts and I need the money. I am dreading it, but I will endeavour to complete one more year. I will need re-training and possibly some kind of therapy after this awful experience. The money is good and Abu Dhabi is a great place and I have many great friends and colleagues here, but I shall not be sad to leave in a year's time - if I last.
This has been an interesting experience and one that I do not ever care to repeat. It is NOT teaching. If you are a teacher with integrity and honesty, or you are faint-hearted, this is not the job for you. BEWARE!
Jul 17th 2012, 6:01 pm
#48
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,308
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
congratulations on your ability to cut & paste...
Jul 17th 2012, 8:38 pm
#52
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 263
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
Jul 18th 2012, 7:39 am
#53
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,370
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
I just had an American friend leave his teaching job here.
The opening post was pretty much exactly what he said teaching local Arabs. He got to the stage where he would simply show English films to get their attention and hopefully get them to ask questions.
Such was his experience here that he never wishes to return. Sounds dreaful but it also explains why a lot of them behave the way they do.
N.
The opening post was pretty much exactly what he said teaching local Arabs. He got to the stage where he would simply show English films to get their attention and hopefully get them to ask questions.
Such was his experience here that he never wishes to return. Sounds dreaful but it also explains why a lot of them behave the way they do.
N.
Jul 19th 2012, 8:02 am
#54
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,370
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
N.
Jul 19th 2012, 8:05 am
#55
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,370
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
All those bikini clad chavs visiting the UAE (sponsored by the Daily Mail!?) are responsible for the elements of local culture which are not so pleasant.
I love how they always find ways to blame us for everything....anyway I am busy washing my bikini (Burberry pattern of course) to comment further.
N.
I love how they always find ways to blame us for everything....anyway I am busy washing my bikini (Burberry pattern of course) to comment further.
N.
Jul 19th 2012, 10:37 am
#57
Bored liberal
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Over there ----->
Posts: 13,713
Jul 19th 2012, 11:23 am
#59
Bored liberal
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Over there ----->
Posts: 13,713
Jul 19th 2012, 5:08 pm
#60
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 51
Re: ADEC, beware! The truth at last.
Fortnum n Masons?