September 5th, 2009
Tuning into TEFL optimism
It’s been some time since I’ve written a post related to the language training sector in Madrid so I thought it was time to remedy the situation before my TEFL readers completely abandon my blog!
The beginning of a new academic year is always unsettling for everyone, especially for teacherswho anxiously wait for timetables to get confirmed, but this year seems to be flowing really well. All our company clients are confiming to restart classes, we have new clients on board and the best bit of all is the quality of teacher profiles that we’re seeing. There seems to be a boyancy in the market that is reflected in all areas;my contacts in the sector are saying the same.
Teachers are applying who are properly qualified, with exceptional experience and it appears that the tightening up of “illegal” teachers, (those without working papers) has had an effect as we rarely receive CVs from teachers without papers now.
Are we at last seeing the start of a period where more participants in this market are taking it serously? I hope so. Even the clients are getting in on the act and CARING about the profile of teachers who are assigned to their classes. This is great news.
Or perhaps our school is seeing the fruits of the long term investment in a humane and professional culture which ultimately attracts the type of client and teacher we want to work with?
Although many of the teachers this post could be dedicated to won’t read this, I would like to say thank you for your professional applications and communication, and to your dedication to improving your skills which ultimately raises the reputation of our profession.
One tip I would like to give to teachers still looking for work - if your CV hasn’t had a response from a school you’re keen to work with, send it again - even though I myself organise the CVs I receive into appropriate electronic files, it’s often about timing. If I’m running out of available teachers so decide to do another round of interviews and several CVs land in my inbox that day, it’s often those teachers who will be contacted for interview.
And be assertive; follow up with a phone call. We receive so many CVs that some slip through the net. A quick chat on the phone may be just what is needed to make the difference between getting invited to interview or not. It doesn’t always work, but you have nothing to lose.
Here’s to a great year in English language training! I won’t be around much longer as I make my move to Business Coaching but it would be very satisfying to leave with the feeling of “we did it”; we survived the recession, we came out the other side stronger, more positive than ever before and with an improved skill set all round.
Just curious Janice (and we may have covered this in previous discussions), but does your school offer classes for children and if you do, are your teachers qualified for it?
Simple curiosity really, as September always brings about my anti-kids teaching vein.
Comment by Troy — September 6, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
Great post, Janice. I like reading your blog a lot. Now you mention that academies want teachers who are qualified, but that still remains to be seen because at the end f the day, and in a crunch, many academies still rely on backpackers because the ualified teachers already have their schedule full. Shawn
Comment by Shawn — September 6, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
Troy,
I have to say I write more from my position of Head of our company class division, kids are not really my cup of tea either, and I know that it’s more difficult to get well qualified kids teachers. In fact, being well qualified is only half battle, if kids teachers haven’t got a particular presence and authority they often aren’t successful.
Having said all that, on our academy side it’s also flowing well and despite the school being out of the centre of Madrid we have mangaged to get enough good kids profile teachers to cover our initial needs.
Having said that, in our academy it’s also “flowing”well and we have managed to get some excellent teachers profiles to teach Young Learnersvdespite the academy being outside the city centre.
Comment by Janice — September 6, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Shawn,
I agree with your point and I think it will always be the case in this sector. However, I believe that as the market matures the schools who do this regularly will be recognised more and more which won’t serve them well in the long term.
Comment by Janice — September 6, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
Janice,
Great point. Thanks for responding. Well, with my case, and many other well qualified teachers here, by us being on a student visa, many either don’t know how to or refuse to work with it. It gets better. When I tell academies what the Ministry of Education and Science does, by taking out 15% and reporting it to Hacienda, they get frazzled and either don’t write back or tell me it’s a sticky situation for them, which I know it isn’t. So, academies are loosing great teachers by not keeping themselves informed abot this possibility as well. I still say that backpackers are here to stay and won’t go anywhere at all. The market can mature al that it wants, but as long as there are academies out there who only care about saving money and getting teachers at a low cost, they will survive because it’s the Human Resources department that knows nothing about language teahing methodology or what makes a good language teacher in general. I am being very realistic on these two points. Shawn
Comment by Shawn — September 6, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
I’ve recently come across your excellent blog, following a link to http://www.windsor-idiomas.com/business-by-janice/?p=60 posted on the ELT World Discussion forum.
I’m glad to hear that things are improving in the Madrid area.
Sadly I don’t see the same improvements here. Alicante is a much smaller city and I daresay there are fewer businesses with an international profile. Alicante has also been highly dependent on tourism and construction, and so the recent economic crisis has
hit harder than other, larger cities with more diversity in their business sector.
Comment by chris sollett — September 30, 2009 @ 9:01 am