Karenne on The Industry- Interview Part Three
An Interview with Karenne of Kalinago English, part 3
What are your predictions for the future of TEFL?
Difficult.
There are radical changes going on in education, in general, globally. The TEFL industry will either catch up on some of these shifts or someone else will.
By that, in particular, I am referring to the edu-social-networking sites who are actually run purely by marketers and business people who have no idea how languages are learned: but have a critical mass of global members.
It is very difficult to predict how quickly the internet and computer ownership will spread across the globe, so it’s difficult to say for how much longer textbooks will be used.
I wouldn’t put it at more than 10 – 15 years though.
In terms of teaching, well, I hope for more professionalism –that’s not so much a prediction as a wish.
How can TEFL teachers improve their pay, conditions, job security, status etc?
What a person is paid is a choice like all other choices in life.
My clients don’t question my knowledge of teaching English – or my IT knowledge and I am paid well because I am worth what I charge.
TEFL teachers can improve their lot by simply becoming specialists, in any niche of English but also, in things like using technology effectively: before the institutes are able to react.
At the moment so few provide real training in this area – clearly watching over their budgets – so a little time spent in self-training or a good financial investment with experts – could easily give anyone a competitive edge.
An example, you know the Ning I set up for us bloggers to talk to each other – well, the learning that came from creating that, coupled with the blog I write for students (currently being reformatted and relaunched) led to me getting an enormous contract, beating out 3 language institutions despite me being a small trader: through the Ning for my new client, I am able to provide a way for students to communicate with each other and continue learning outside the classroom.
As a result I didn’t have to pitch at a lower price (the opposite, I was the 2nd highest bid) my proposal aimed for quality over well, let’s face it, the type of teachers the institutes could provide to this sector: teachers with little experience in IT or those way too afraid to try out turning on a data projector.
Arrogant of me? No. If you are the expert in the room, you can always ask for more money.
Many in ELT shoot themselves in the foot. In their need for job security, they accept the low salaries offered. The bother of specializing, the time it does take to read and practice and develop is seemingly too much, they’d rather grab another beer.
But sitting in the pub whingeing about not making money is a fool’s game.
If TEFL teachers want to improve their pay, then they simply have to improve their game: they have to take themselves seriously and be professional.
Would you join a TEFL union if you had the choice? How about paying into a TEFL legal fund?
Depends on who was running it.
Unions can be such stagnant and ineffective beasts when they’re run by idealists and volunteers.
The right people in charge who have a good understanding of what it costs to run a business (because some teachers aren’t aware that electricity, rent and taxes have to be paid which is why they can’t earn 100% of the fees charged) and a good working knowledge of the market (because too many institutes take advantage of teacher’s charitable natures and rob them blindly) coupled with the power and weight to carry out the changes that need to be made – then yes, gladly.
Tell me where to sign-up.
Regarding the TEFL legal fund… it should be run as a foundation perhaps, funded by one of the certifying body of language institutions themselves.
What do you think that IATEFL, TESOL and other teaching associations should be campaigning? If so, what should their main focus be on?
The above. Clever questions, how tricky of you to lead me here, Alex – I know you , Sara Hannam, Marxist ELF and quite a few others have been thinking quite deeply about these issues.
What should they be campaigning?
Professionalism, first.
Not just in terms of making sure teachers are certified in teaching, eliminating the “I have doubly majored in philosophy and marketing so of course I have the skills to teach English to little children” or the “I’m bored of sitting at home knitting so maybe I’ll just go teach a CEO how to give a powerpoint presentation despite the fact the only office I have visited in the last 20 years was my husband’s auditing home-office and I have no idea what a meeting even looks like” type of teachers.
Of course, then, professionalism in the business of certifications for teaching will also need to be looked into, getting rid of those who inevitably are just about making yet more money – because, ha, anyone can learn how to teach English in a weekend.
In my not so very humble opinion, part of the problem is that:
A community which works together, functionally, must be fully supportive of the members and must also be able to take care of its own.
It cannot be only words on a page, it cannot be made up of loosely connected individuals casually contributing, gathering and networking, can not just be about our educational development but should also have an actionable charter dedicated to making the quality of our lives better.
The associations should take on much more cleaning-up responsibility – such as the legal fund you mentioned, the professionalism I call for, the global battle cry for better pay for all TEFL teachers, Non Native equality with the Native English Speakers – however this does require both marketing and money.
And work.
Whenever you have an organization or an association run by mainly idealistic volunteers (10 years in non-profit work, me) and sorry to be so blunt, including ambitious persons looking for personal career development rather than having a real commitment to the industry, rather than with “employees” paid to put charters forward, then it will never ever achieve the level of power to cause effective change because it will constantly be in debt to those who give the money to exist in the first place.
If a good chunk of the funding to host conferences comes from ELT publishers, monolithic institutions or certifying bodies, then it simply has no option but to keep them happy, providing time and space, no matter what level of quality is given in return.
It must dance to the tune of its devils.
If an association wants to be independent of such influence (or even just create a balance in the voices) then it must attract more paying members or solicit more funding from within the existing membership list.
I mean let’s face it, what percentage of TEFL teachers, globally, belong to a teaching association, either locally or internationally?
Why do you have to pay separate fees to local and international associations – why are they not linked?
How do you convince more members to join such associations when many teachers think that they are mostly about catering to their sponsors and can clearly see that they are not unified global bodies?
How on earth do you convince people to pay more for their membership?
Something really worth paying for must be offered.
More than a magazine subscription and good/bad workshops: it must offer to take care of its internationally certified professional members no matter what corner of the globe they are currently living in – medically, legally, provide insurances against disasters and aid getting out of them.
It must campaign on important issues, shake-up in the industry when it needs a good shake: we TEFL teachers drive globalization, we deserve the recognition of any industry making such a global impact.
It is only when these issues appear on the agenda of the TEFL teaching associations that any of these changes have any hope of occurring.
Who is your favourite blogger?
You are, Alex. Thanks for giving and teaching me so much over the last years. Now get your butt in BELTfree and help your community.
Tags: Interviews
October 16th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I agree that courses will probably look very diffferent in 10 or 15 years. My prediction though would be that the huge increase in learners and the continued lack of adequate training of teachers will mean a greater market for standardised language courses of which continually improving textbooks will be an element.
It’s a process of change, not a sudden moment when we’ll all throw textbooks out the window. The following are all happening as we speak (or Tweet as the case may be):
The development of courses is becoming increasingly based on communication between publishers who listen to the market and the teachers in the markets. This communication has become the primary factor in determining the nature and content of courses should ‘be’.
Courses themselves are becoming more interactive, web-linked and incorporate more digital content. Textbooks are becoming just an element in courses which are increasingly offering support through a variety of intra-course and inter-user features.
Course developers are well aware of the limitations as well as the benefits of a global product and courses are getting more local support. I believe this is called Glocalisation. I also believe it combines the best of both worlds.
Karenne’s remarks about our beerier colleagues might be the reason there’s still a lot of life left in the textbook. ‘Flop-and-go’ is the term used to describe books that work well without any preparation and all the factors mentioned above are actually increasing the Flop-and-goability of textbooks.
Good teachers have always understood that a course is not the be all and end all of their teaching but can be a useful and integrated point of departure. Courses in the future will be more interesting and better integrated with the world around and involve whatever the technology is at that time. That’s what language teaching has always done.
I suspect at that stage ‘Karenne’ will have become a digital entity beamed around the world directly to our implanted memory chips! I hope when that day comes, the teacher formerly known as Karenne is enjoying a beer somewhere nice, possibly even with some of her less-motivated friends. My bet is that she will be. Cheers!
October 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I liked this part the best…. it’s all very well complaining about being ripped off, but when so many English teachers world wide are hired for nothing other than their mother tongue then they are being paid what they deserve. If you want better treatment, earn it!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Hmmm, is that just one step from “Rather than striking, the miners should’ve just put their redundancy money into training as IT consultants”, i.e. “Get on your bike”. When bankers and other managers are paid a small fortune just for going to a good school and having good hair, I hardly think demanding a living wage for English teachers is too much
To put it another way, rewards for doing a good job are all very well and good, but I’m not too happy with a sink or swim TEFL world where non exceptional teachers couldn’t even afford the university education that their children would need to become TEFL teachers themselves
October 17th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Yes and no Alex. I know that many of us got our break with no experience and no qualifications, and I know that short contracts, under-employment and poor working conditions are not uncommon. Be honest for a moment… there are crappy schools and crappy teachers who deserve each other. The miners were risking their lives on a daily basis to fuel a nation until Thatcher decided entire communities needed to be broken to establish her political power. Those people had no choice and were treated shamefully. Is it really an apposite comparison?
October 17th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Yup, Pat – I’ll be in a hammock one of these days, sipping away at my Carib beer… ah, I wish.
Thanks, Darren… Alex, the miners?
Come on, you know what the average staff room looks like. So, so, many teachers just whinge – to each other – my god, what can possibly come out of that? I am for a TEFL union: if it’s a good one rather than a bunch of idealistic volunteers whingeing in a giant staffroom!
K
October 18th, 2009 at 7:55 am
A goody hearty contribution to the debate on teachers’ pay and professionalism from Karenne. Unfortunately, whilst Karenne is a wonderfully dynamic professional carving out a niche for herself in TEFL she is having less effect than other dynamic people. Take, for instance, Bruce Veldhuisen, who Alex so graciously interviewed on this site: http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/teaching-abroad/bruce-velhuisen-tefl-international-interview/
Now I don’t want to enter a debate of what went on in what taxi, or how much a certain website is paid. What I want to say is that Alex’s interview showed Bruce to be unfit to head an international organisation for teacher training. Now Bruce is enjoying considerable success with his “non-profit” organisation and the consequences of this are two-fold:
There is pressure to compete economically with Bruce’s company
There are more and more “qualified” teachers looking for work
These two factors have a downward pull on the industry. Whilst it is true that certain institutions, like universities, pay teachers better, the pay would be even better (like actually good) without this downward pull. The “profession” has shown itself incapable of dealing with the likes of Bruce because it is not much better.
So, in reply to Darren, I would say yes “crappy schools deserve crappy teachers” but ask do crappy hospitals deserve crappy doctors crappy nurses or crappy private cleaning companies? Don’t we have to think of the service user, how we can create a better organisation capable of guaranteeing quality teaching? Such an organisation, as Darren recognises, would be in total contrast to the organisation which gave us all, or most of us, our start in teaching.
It would have to rip up the current system of self-regulating bodies, it would have to (big deep breath) end the four week training course- go get teaching” model inherrited from International House.
We as rank and file teachers have transformed ourselves in the classroom,, we have shown ourselves ever willing to learn (we have had to!!) unfortunately the professional organisations which imprison us have failed to learn anything for over 50 years.
As Tracy Chapman would say: “We’re talking about a revoluion”.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Scary, isn’t it?
October 26th, 2009 at 10:50 am
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