Locating a Teaching Job in Prague

You probably chose Caledonian School baecuse of their job guarantee. However, Caledonian School in Prague should be avoided for the following reasons:1. THEY LIE ON THE WEBSITE ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU WILL MAKE: They claim that you will earn between 15,000czk and 20,000czk per month on their website. However, given the rate of pay (178czk per teaching hour, which they don’t tell you until you get to Prague), it is actually impossible to even earn 15,000, the low end, with the 20 teaching hours they guarantee you. In addition, they do not protect you against student cancellations, so if your students cancel, and they often do, you are left with much less. For example, a teacher I knew worked over 30 teaching hours a week and ended up with an average of only 13,000czk at the end of each month, which is much less than people working the register at Tesco make and is simply not a living wage. This is disgraceful considering that some companies pay 1,000czk for a 90 minute lesson.2. THEY DO NOT HONOR THEIR CONTRACTS: Recently they decided to cut their teacher’s pay by 5% and cancel the yearly bonus of 2% pay increase. They got around the legally binding contracts with their employees by essentially forcing teachers, who rely on them for visas and live paycheck to paycheck, to sign a new contract.3. THEY LIE ABOUT THE NUMBER OF HOURS YOU WILL BE TEACHING: The truth is that though you only work 20 teaching hours , you will be running all over the city without being paid for it. In truth you will be working more than full time baecuse you will have to travel an average of 45 minutes to an hour between each lesson. Many of your lessons will begin before 8am and end well after 5pm, plus travel time.5: THEY LIE ABOUT VISA SUPPORT: They bring people from abroad to the Czech Republic, often through the TEFL program, offering a promise of visa support. However, it is illegal to enter the Czech Republic on a tourist visa and then apply for a work visa. You must apply from your home country. They get around this by paying off the foreign police or getting people they know at the embassy to bend the rules. The problem with this is that it’s not 100% effective, and every so often a whole group of people applying for their visas are sent home under threat of deportation when their 3 month tourist stay runs out. These unlucky teachers have the additional joy of potentially being banned from Europe for 3 years for overstaying their visas and working illegally.6. THEY LIE ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE: They are required by law to provide you with health insurance. They promise that they provide it as a part of their benefits package. However, what they call insurance is a system of repayment where you must pay for your medical expenses out of your own pocket and hope that the school will pay you back. This insurance does not include dental, ongoing conditions, or preventative care. Plus, you can only go to one remote hospital’s emergency room. As the law requires you to have real insurance, you must show proof of it when you apply for your visa. Again, Caledonian finds people who will bend the rules for them, which doesn’t always work.7. THEY USE A LOOPHOLE IN THE LAW TO DEPRIVE YOU OF BENEFITS: They are registered as a UK company, which means that they can get around giving you the benefits that all people in the Czech Republic enjoy by law, like holiday time and benefit credits for meals, etc. I’ve never spoken to a happy teacher at Caledonian School. In Prague they have a reputation for being the worst school to work for. Most teachers leave within the first year, which is in the school’s best interest, since they make so much money off of their TEFL course owing to the job guarantee. This is unfortunate baecuse the TEFL certificate that you receive from Caledonian is not as well respected as most other programs (i.e. CELTA).If you are coming to Prague to teach or to take a TEFL course, please research other schools. There are better options.

Some language schools in Europe just don’t recognise qualifications or give you much credit for them. The degree and TEFL certificate is becoming just too common and Language schools are treating a lot of teachers like expendable items, and not even people who want the career of teaching. Why is that? Partly because of financial crisis and partly because of a saturation of teachers in Prague. These factors are played up really well by language schools, as it really is a money-making profit-maximizing business for them. As for teachers, the wage has become really low in the recent years, while schools are increasing their profits.

James Cook Languages (JCL) are a typical example of this. They are based in Prague. They treat teachers as expendable items, who must follow a flawed system of extensive bureacracy. James Cook only benefit for themselves, their own internal staff and senior teachers – and never the regular teachers who are treated like expendable and worthless things. It is a private members club for their internal staff, and the teachers are always exploited, degraded and left to feel like shi*t. They use false advertising to recruit new teachers. The major problem with James Cook, is that their principle in Teaching English are far too clinical and ‘scientific’. They treat the subject with excessive force and brutality. They don’t actually treat the subject of English language as an ‘art’ form, which is what is really is. They only consider their ‘own’ approach, and not other proven techniques. Also, they are heavily clouded in an extensive bureaucracy and so much unnecessary administration.

Language schools like James Cook are focussing all their energy on making money for themselves but never offering the teachers a real job with real career benefits. Internal staff are unapproachable and rude, often barking like dogs when you need their help, especially librarian and course administration staff. Senior teachers are also pathetic at James Cook and over-rated. Again, there is false advertising about them. Not only do they never support you, but they are highly cynical and scrutinizing about teachers – especially Tina Nottle, Laura Gilbert, John Thorburn. James Cook like to use a mentoring system with Senior Teachers, but the support is pathetic with their cynical and unhelpful attitude. They spend a lot of money on their useless senior teachers – paying them inflated salaries, while they sit back and give you a useless support. HR staff have no or little idea of how teachers are really feeling. They do not communicate in a professional manner and always give a lack of support. Teachers never have a voice or identity to express concerns. HR staff at James Cook do not realise the importance of teachers for their company. They only react to the concerns of their clients and discard teachers as insignificant and expendable items. The HR manager, Zuzanna Gogova, is a racist woman with this stupid mentality at James Cook, just being a total inconsiderate waste.

James Cook like to employ a racist and communist outlook on their recruitment. Larger agencies like James Cook are focussing purely on themselves instead of the teachers who actually work for them and make the business ‘happen’. Teachers never have a voice or identity to express concerns. Why is that..? It is because James Cook believe they have the greatest perfect model that works for them to make money…..but sadly not for teachers to enjoy teaching.