IT GETS AROUND
Got any gossip? Tip off the Taxiwallah: More on that exodus
42% of EFL teaching staff in Al Ain are downing whiteboard markers and leaving according to this. They're not the only ones. A large percentage of faculty from the main higher education institutions are off as well.
It seems that whoever controls the salary budgets are happy to sit back and do nothing about it, confident that there will be an endless supply of high quality teachers willing to work for peanuts. Meanwhile, UAE students' education will suffer.
Unless more money is invested in education- not the buildings, not the computers but your greatest resource of all, human beings, then the future looks bleak for HE in the UAE.
It seems that whoever controls the salary budgets are happy to sit back and do nothing about it, confident that there will be an endless supply of high quality teachers willing to work for peanuts. Meanwhile, UAE students' education will suffer.
Unless more money is invested in education- not the buildings, not the computers but your greatest resource of all, human beings, then the future looks bleak for HE in the UAE.
Labels: exodus
posted by Al Ain Taxi at 5/07/2007 06:59:00 am
9 Comments:
Those numbers seem quite extreme. I would love to see them substantiated. Al Ain rumours tend to be exaggerated.
I know so many people who are leaving that I don't need any substantiation, in fact I think they could be even higher.
AAT: whatever's happening, believe me it's actually good for you and your family. You'll be looking back in relief in just a couple of years, thinking: Heck! I should have left earlier.
This place isn't exactly the best to grow old and retire in.
If you come from a country that has nice weather, an economy that rests on people's hard work and where every human being is treated with respect, then you have something wonderful that the people from this region just don't have.
All the best, wherever you go, and would love to see a continuation of your blogging.
Hi Kochumanavalan,
I'm glad I'm leaving but its tinged with sadness for the students here who deserve so much better. The government here can afford to give them an excellent education but instead it throw money at "superlative projects" while their schools are falling apart at the seams.
It looks like the Al Ain Community blog has gone. Someone has run off with their tail between their legs.
Al Ain blogging rule number one: never mention anyone by name unless they ask you.
I am hearing of more and more escapees, too.
Sad, especially when Sheikh Mo is making bold pronouncements (and putting his hand in his/UAE's pocket).
I have been haggling for a pay rise, too. However, I love it here. So, I don't really have much of a bargaining position. Is that what tends to happen elsewhere? TIOLI Syndrome (Take It Or Leave It)?
If you take an average contract term of 2.5 years - you'd expect a 40 percent turnover. (3 year contract, with a proportion of individuals not making it past probation).
Don't really see much out-of-the ordinary with 42 percent turnover, even if it was correct.
Do I like it? Heck no. It's hard to build a quality program with that kind of turnover.
Am I surprised? No. It seems each year, there's a flurry of wildly speculative posts on this topic.
It seems to me that the UAE is moving forward, and will continue to do so. Sure - it's slow --- but change comes slow, everywhere on the planet.
Sorry to see you going, AAT.
Funny to have just seen this....a job offer came last night for 'Al Ain Zone' working on a project. Very interested in personal perspectives for family of five moving to Al Ain....working in model schools as educational advisor.
Well, in my uni's EFL department we've had (I think) seven teachers leave this year... one to retirement, one because his family was fed up with Dubai, and the rest to take better paying jobs elsewhere (mainly KSA and Doha). OK, so in a department 40 strong it's not 42%, but this is the biggest turnover we've had in a long time.
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