For the last two years the EFL market in Madrid has been challenging to say the least.

There has been a severe shortage of  teachers which has led to many without qualifications and working papers getting work. Another effect has been  teachers suddenly dropping classes  as they are offered 2€/hour extra in the academy down the road etc.etc.

But then the famous “crisis” came along. I’m not sure what it’s like in the rest of Spain but here in Madrid there has been a total turnaround in demand and supply. All of a sudden teachers are in abundant supply as multinationals cut their training budgets and hence their demand for language classes.

Ok, you’re saying, this is all very obvious and to be expected, but I was inspired to write this post thinking more of  those teachers coming to Madrid to look for work. What are the implications of the current situation for incoming teachers?

Firstly, if you are non EU and don’t have working papers for Spain, you are going to find it very difficult to find classes. I’ve received quite a few emails from American teachers already expressing this. However, a large supply of legal teachers available in Madrid is not the only reason why non legals are feeling the pinch. In general the Spanish authorities are tightening up in lots of areas which is making schools take a long hard look at the way they are doing things.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, in the last few months we have had the following:

• A visit from the local police to check our “licencia de actividades”
• An inspection from the Ministerio del Trabajo on the correctness of the baja of a teacher
• A visit from the “Departamento de Consumo” of the Town Hall to make sure (and help us get in order-  what a civilised way of doing things!) that we weren’t in breach of the laws governing consumer rights.
• Calls from company clients to ask for the TCS (the document proving that teachers have had a contract) so they could complete the offical paperwork necessary to claim the Government training subsidy.

The point I’m making here is that SPAIN IS TIGHTENING UP. Recruiting non EU teachers without papers is one of the most serious things that an academy can do. Many are no longer prepared to take the risk, and with the market being as it is at the moment, most academies don’t need to.

Another implication of the effects of the crisis is that in general, in order to be more competitive in the labour market, people improve their skills and qualifications. And this, of course, applies to teachers.

The proliferation of short TEFL courses might be ok for getting you a job when there are lots of classes available. But when there aren’t, no reputable school is going to give a weekend TEFL course a second glance. What we want as a minimum is ALWAYS the full 4 week long TEFL (I’m referring to the full time course here). We have always, and will always want this. Teaching is complex and you are simply not prepared for it properly with a mere weekend’s training.

Economic recessions lead to readjustments. Leaving the emotional side apart, of people losing their jobs and houses etc, recessions are necessary, some would say even good, as they cause economies to strengthen and move forward. I have a couple of friends who are economists and when I ask them about the “crisis”, it always strikes me how calm and fatalistic they are.

So where may we see readjustments in our market?

If the current situation stops non EU teachers comng to Spain, it means they won’t suffer not finding work once they’re here and it prevents schools from being tempted to hire them and running the risk of being prosecuted.

If the current situation encourages new teachers to get a better TEFL qualification, it means we will be sending better  teachers to clients and the quality of the sector in general will improve.

This is what we are crying out for in Madrid - BETTER QUALITY LANGUAGE TRAINING.

And finally, looking at this whole issue from the business side of the school, what implications do we have there?  That’s easy. If there is less demand for classes, those schools who are not offering a good service need to get their finger out and start offering one, otherwise they will go out of business.

What are we talking about again?  - BETTER QUALITY LANGUAGE TRAINING.

Those of us who focus on language training in companies have probably heard the words “sorry we have no budget for training this year” from HR departments many times now.

This happened to us last week on following up a company who had contacted us before Christmas for information.

It just so happens that in the office we have been renting in central Madrid since September, there was some additional space which has just been let to a Human Resources company , (a very appropriate “coincidence”) and who happen to be specialists in managing the training funds of companies. Many of you in Spain reading this will know that I’m talking about what used to be called FORCEM but is now the horribly unattractive sounding “Fundación Tripartita“. - we’ll use the term FORCEM here on in.

The thing is, all companies have access to money for training via the social security contributions they have made on behalf of their employees but many don’t take advantage of these funds for two reasons - either they’re not aware they exist or they believe that to get access and to use them is a bureaucratic nightmare (partly true, remember we are in Spain after all!).

I’m not an expert on this subject by any means and admin details bore me to death, but after a quick meeting with the HR company and their “FORCEM” specialist, I realised that there’s probably a lot of business out there that could be gained by promoting the use of FORCEM funds for language training if we were just to find  collaborative partners who could look after the offical administration.

The best companies to target would be the medium sized ones and upwards, those who have a minimum of 200+ employees. Companies smaller than this are not going to have accrued sufficient funds within a year that could be used effectively for an ongoing training programme. And the amount of subsidy allocated  to each employee for training purposes is only 9€ or 13€ in exceptional cases, so for the company to be able to cover the language school’s tariffs we would also be talking about training to groups.

Everyone these days is short of time and many companies are short of money in the sense that yes, a lot of budgets have been cut. Workers in many sectors have lost their jobs and those remaining are often having to take on the work of those made redundant. If companies haven’t already got people in admin to mangage the FORCEM paperwork or have found a gestoria to do this, they’re probably not going to have the resources right now to set it up themselves. By approaching these companies and providing this administrative service in addition to  the actual language training, you’rs saving them a lot of pain.

Of course, many very large companies, particularly the multi nationals have their own people to administer the paperwork and regularly use up all their funds as it saves them a huge amount of money each year.

In the case of the company who enquired about our services but then said they had no budget, (although I admit this may be a lie and perhaps they’ve actually selected another provider), it’s obvious they have a NEED for language training which is there to be satisfied.  Satisfying that need by promoting the use of the FORCEM subsidies may be an option.

There’s lots of gloom and doom talk around the recession but at the same time there’s lots of people who are focusing on how we can take advantage of the opportunities that recession provides. Looking for opportunities at the moment and following through on them will make us stronger, it will make us grow and it will mean that when the better times come, we will have acquired new creative ways of thinking and managing our businesses that will lead to even greater success.

I’d be very interested to receive more information on exactly how FORCEM is managed from anyone out there reading this - but just the important bits please, too much detail and jargon would make my eyes glaze over!

I’ve been in Spain a long time now, yet I find it incredible that we (companies and individuals) still get misinformed about very important information and procedures.

I’m thinking in particular of the famous NIE (Número de Identidad Extranjero).

Now at the mention of this, I’m sure lots of you out there (especially in Madrid) are thinking “I’ve got a tale to tell about this one!)

And yes, this topic was debated heatedly at the last meeting of our academy owners networking group. It was discovered that for some of us, our gestorias are saying that if the teacher doesn’t have a NIE number they have to pay 25% income tax as they are regarded as a tourist not a resident, whilst for others, gestorias were processing contracts and appying the normal tax rate of a resident.

According to our gestoria, if a teacher is issued a contract on their passport and will obtain the NIE number within the same fiscal year then there is no problem as we just need everything to be in order when we present the yearly  tax return relating to employees in December. But what if a teacher starts work in October and doesn’t get an appointment for their NIE until February of the following year?  What do we do then?

And what if we give a teacher a contract with the normal rate of income tax as they have their appointment to get their NIE,  but they suddenly disappear? This has happened to us and means that our tax return in December is incorrect as we’ve had a “non resident” working for us at the normal tax rate instead of 25%.

As I write this, teachers phoning for NIE appointments are being given dates in May here in Madrid. If things continue in the same way, recruiting a teacher in February will mean that they will be unable to get their NIE within their contract period. It’s incredible.

Some people have the knack of seeing things really simply and clearly. The lady who works in our admin dept. is such a person. . On relating this whole issue to her, she asked me “Have you ever thought of going to Hacienda directly and asking them what the correct situation is regarding the 25% income tax?”

What a brilliant idea!

So, we went and asked. The person “knowledgeable” about this subject in the tax office we visited, wasn’t available at the time. We left our details and were told they’d get back to us. We’ve contacted them several times and guess what? Two months later we’re still wating for an answer!

¡Viva España!

Well, Christmas is virtually out of the way, although still got Reyes on the 6th January, the festive period here in Spain is never ending….!

I must say, I’ve had a very needed rest over the last couple of weeks and managed to switch off completely, hence no postings up until now. Rest for me at Christmas means going home to Sheffield in the UK to spend time with my parents, sleeping loads and reading nearly all day!! And if I told you what I was reading you would say “Does this woman never switch off?”

I have to say, for me, the best thing about running your own business is that it really pressures you to grow personally and professionally and as I’m a person addicted to change, that suits me down to the ground. I’m always looking for inspiration from web sites for material which will take both my business and my life forward.  As the new year is the time when we traditionally look to the future, I thought I’d insert a short article from one of “those” web sites (http://successmagazine.com) which gives an interesting take on the whole subject of personal development and what we are looking to achieve:

The Miracle of Personal Development

Jim  Rohn

“One day Mr. Shoaff said, “Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”

Since that time I’ve been working on my own personal development. And I must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, “What am I getting?” Instead, you should ask, “What am I becoming?” Getting and becoming are like Siamese twins: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.

I’ve also found that income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle.

If someone hands you a million dollars, you’d better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, “If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before.”

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development. So here’s the great axiom of life:

–TO HAVE MORE THAN YOU’VE GOT, BECOME MORE THAN YOU ARE–

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is:

–UNLESS YOU CHANGE HOW YOU ARE, YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU’VE GOT”

So, let’s get deep as we go into the New Year. Do you like what you are becoming? And if so, is it up to speed with what you want to achieve? Food for thought!