Some of the largest employers of EFL teachers are chains of language schools such as AEON, GEOS and NOVA in Japan, and English First, International House, and Berlitz in a number of countries. These chains often offer a lot of jobs and simplify the work search – but is it worth it? What is it really all about?
Advantages
You may be able to interview at home and arrange a job in advance. You will be dealing with an organization that regularly employs foreigners/native speakers and so probably has at least some structure to facilitate this in place. If the name is well-known you will be able to find out what other people have to say about it more easily; it’s not uncommon for people to find comfort in working for a relatively well-known company.
Disadvantages
You may not be able to count on the same standards and conditions everywhere, especially if local schools are franchises, or if there is uniformity it might not be well-applied to the local situation. Some organizations are more like businesses than schools (as are many smaller name language schools), which can put the teacher in an awkward position. Some people do refer to language school chains as “the McDonalds’ of English schools.”
Putting it in perspective
Sometimes the collective view put forth in various places online is that chains are bad; it is hard to know what to make of these views, even from my more experienced teacher standpoint. I certainly don’t discount the accuracy or truthfulness of the experiences shared by many people, but that just as there is more general information about large, well-known schools or chains, there will also be more negative information. There won’t be 100 (out of 800) frustrated teachers from one independent language school in Prague; there might well be an equivalent proportion, but that information will just not be seen on the same scale.
For more information, google the name of the chain you are interested in, or visit the appropriate country forum at Dave’s ESL Café. Come back to the TEFL Logue for profiles of some of these organizations in the future.
{ 2 comments }
Hi Katie,
I agree with you that many of these chains are no more than businesses, but others are among the most professional organisations in EFL - International House for example.It’s no different from the situation with smaller schools - a lot are cowboys, others (mine for example!) are excellent. But when they’re good, chains have the advantage of being able to draw on a far wider pool of expertise and provide a lot more career opportunities than individual schools.
When you are applying for a job there are several questions you can ask to separate the non-professionals from the professionals :
1. What are the minimum qualifications/level of experience they accept when employing teachers?
2. What qualifications and experience does the DOS (or, in a small school the owner)have? I would expect at least a DELTA plus possibly a Masters.
3. How much guidance and help for new teachers is provided (especially for those fairly new to EFL)and what are the provisions for in-service training - seminars, attendance at conferences etc?
4. How many contact hours a week are considered full-time? Do teachers work split-shifts? How does the pay compare to the local average?
The more impressive the answers to those questions are, the more likely that the organisation is professional.
Sue
Thanks for your comment and advice Sue. I didn’t mean to imply that chains are necessarily bad places to work at all (I suppose the picture I chose may convey that even if my words don’t :)). The question you suggest asking are good ones - and readers can also find a whole host of Questions To Ask At An Interview in the Finding A Job section of the TEFL Logue.
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