Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow

Rubbish, What are these people earning now??? 3000zl lol

Depending on what his rent costs him, it is entirely feasible. I would not say it is feasible if I hadn't managed to do so myself. It really depends on what a person does with their time.

I think people, in this case esl teachers, accept such low wages here is due in large part to the Polish Managerial Mentality. Negotiations are impossible with someone who has this mentality.

If I want more money, they say "no."
I say but "you've raised your tuition costs for 3 years in a row."
They say "so?"
I say "if you get to make more then I get to make more."
They say "no."
I say "I'll leave with out a raise."
They say "ok." So I leave and then I hear about how hard it is for the owner or management to find "good people" and they feel "betrayed" I left them- WTF?

It seems owners are doing a very good job of taking the money and are getting ready to run. I've only worked for one school that gave raises and have never heard of someone getting a raise unless they took on new duties, which is like getting a raise but not exactly (another matter). A lot of teachers don't want to or dont know to or aren't confident enough to attract their own students. Couple these things together and you get quite a few young people accepting very low wages.

Oh, I've made the point about inflation and the school increasing their takings but it's not for you to see any of that in their eyes. The prices of some goods have almost doubled yet the salaries stay the same. They don't care about you. McDonalds English, McDonalds mentality.

Yeah, I think it should be more well-known amongst prospective students as to what percentage of a month's tuition goes into: rent; staff salary; teacher salary; owner's bank account. I think they'd be surprised and it would affect the market (but that's speculation, nothing more).

I know one clown who has made a habit out of changing the school name every three years or so - he changes the name, uses the line of 'we're a new school, we can't pay much' and makes a killing.


I love this mentality - it's especially fun to play it the other way round and to ask for something ridiculous. I had one discussion with a school (with nice people, but obviously from the same school of thought) - I asked for 70zl an hour and refused to budge, even when they said that they only charge 70zl an hour for private classes. I didn't need the work, and it was all just fun for me - but it was fun seeing them deal with someone who clearly had the upper hand.

Mind you, I negotiated a new contract with a school - they asked what I wanted and what my dream (but realistic) salary was, I gave them both figures, and they've found a way to match it. Unbelievable, but the responsibility and workload is pretty large, too.

Really? So you were there 10 years ago? LMAO

I have been in Krakow since 1995 and it hurts to see people offering 20PLN for a 60 minute lesson on Gumtree being as I offered 40PLN back in 1998 and everything was 5 times cheaper. The city is overflowing with natives, alot of them inexperienced "teachers" offering conversation lessons only. Still, I find Krakow to be a place to make money, people respect experience and if you build a reputation then your name will travel. I have not worked in a school for 5 years, I do my own thing now and find it to be more profitable. I opened my own company and found it has opened many doors. Alot of people complain about the costs (tax and medical) but I found that raising the price of lessons took care of that. It took me about 2 years to learn Polish and I think alot of people want a native who also speaks Polish. I have no idea how much other teachers earn because I do not know many natives these days (most of the people I hung out with left Poland long ago) but I can say I bring home 5500-7000 a month. However, it seems I still save the same as I did 10 years ago!

Do you also count summer months?


Exactly.

Actually, summers for the last few years have been pretty good. When I first came over here I used to save some cash up in the spring just in case I needed some money in the summer, but nowadays I really work my butt off during the summer months. Of course people take vacations but I also find some people have more time in the summer for lessons. I feel bad taking a vacation because the lost cash, I still have that mentality of take the lessons while you can. I guess that all in all you make as much money as you want to work. Is it still considered summer now? Because some people are still on vacation and I had 6 lessons today. December has traditionally been the worst month for me, for understandable reasons, Polish people take time off before and after the Christmas holiday.

You are really hardworking. I must take a break in summer after a tiring school year.


When younger, I had this feeling too, but I relaxed with age. :):):)


Exactly. December is shiettie. I like March and October - most fruitful. :):):):) But exhausting too.

Seems like wheaton is a man with the exact same opinions and experiences as me, before I left the teaching game in Krk. For me charging the rates I did for 60min private lessons it took a long time, many years even and many stubbed toes trying to get through certain doors. But people charging 20pln per lesson never really bothered me. In that game you get what you pay for ;)

Language schools always cream off their lucrative share on top of whatever the student pays to learn English. If you are a 'true professional', and well qualified teacher, then you are selling yourself short by working for these language schools, for that sort of salary. Until teachers begin to show these schools that they can't rip off teachers as they have been used to doing for years, then nothing will change. Language schools are basically parasites living off the labours of their teaching staff. I challenge you to prove me wrong! Ask your Language School principal what their personal qualifications are...TEFL and other. You will be amazed!

It's worse than that. Most private language schools are thinly veiled plans to not teach their students as little as possible.

Bear in mind that it is much easier to work for a school and let someone else deal with the hassle of finding clients, getting paid, etc etc. I know a couple of people who work for 40zl an hour in one school, simply because they're guaranteed x amount of hours every year and don't have any hassle whatsoever.


That would require some sort of cooperation between teachers. Not gonna happen.


Bit harsh, especially as some schools do a fantastic job of looking after the teachers. Some don't, sure - but not all.


Depends if you're a socialist or capitalist, surely?


In all fairness, I'd rather work for someone who had a business degree than a teaching degree - business types tend to be able to make sure that the teachers are paid. I've known quite a few schools run by Poles who had English degrees - and they tended to be utterly crap.

You haven't been in Poland long, have you? Stick around and you'll see that running a private language school isn't as easy as you might think. Sure, there are lots of cowboy outfits everywhere in the world, but it's up to you to find the good ones. Don't rubbish the whole sector. There are very many good people running good schools in Poland.

Exactly, there is always gonna be a new crop of likely teachers from whatever country that will work for peanuts just for a job in Krk.

You do know that what you wrote means that they do exactly the opposite of what you actually meant.

It's hard to do a good job - I know one school director who does a great job, but he is dedicated, takes the time to care about the students and really, really puts a lot of effort into hiring people. He actually rejected the best teacher I know!


I know....4 good school directors. Plenty of useless ones too, mind.

I even know one woman who owns a franchise for a certain chain - and she actually ordered the "training" guy never to ever come back to her school after he acted like a cocky prick to the girls working there.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm pleased that it won't happen. It leaves the market wide open for those who have got the initiative to find their own students.

There is one little point though - it's lonely. If you've had a hard day, or if you get sick - it's your responsibility to sort things out. You can't have a whine to some fellow teachers, or convince the director to give you a couple of days off and let him/her deal with rescheduling classes - you've got to deal with it on your own.

Don't forget, a good school will look after you.

Absolutely! So if you're not up to dealing with life's little problems yourself, get somebody to 'molly-coddle' and pamper you until you're mature enough to deal with them.

that is false.
The majority are in it to exploit all their employees as much as possible, they wouldn't care if their clients were being taught to juggle in class so long as people pay and don't complain.

Is your name Patrick?

No. Sorry but you don't know what you are talking about. How many schools have you worked in?

How many schools have I had the displeasure of working for in Poland?
7 or 8 in 5 cities.
Some for the summer and some over semesters. Some at the school and some on a freelance basis and not one of the owners or managers ever came close to looking out for their staff beyond the superficial and that includes any of the DOS.

It always came down to who and how could they exploit.


That is false.

I worked for a school in Germany and it was professional and well run. I have worked for schools in the UK and they were poorly run.

But I've been in Poland since 2001 with some breaks here and there.

If your name in Patrick then I know someone looking for you.

I've already told you that my name isn't Patrick.


You certainly get around. I've found that if you stay in one place, do a good job and agree terms before you start, then a mutually beneficial arrangement can be reached.

As I said in an earlier post, of course there are bad schools everywhere, no doubt in Germany too. These schools are businesses, first and foremost, so of course they want the most work for as little outlay as possible. What annoys me is the franchise operations, where you get any Tom, Dick or Harry with no experience in the field opening schools. These are the worst.

Got- 6 of those years have been in one place.
I suppose my issue has always been residency, directors have known I've less autonomy than EU residents and the law restricted me on establishing my own business so despite doing an excellent job and receiving excellent responses from students, I continually found myself being taken advantage of whenever my guard was down. I've agreed to terms many times in advance but you and I both know those contracts are worthless without exception and subject to change at the whim of management.

And yes, once you bring in Tom Dick or Harry (in whatever working capacity) with sfa for experience and working for beer money while they look for a cheap lay in Poland, it got worse. Students and business clients complained about them but directors simply didn't listen because that was more money in their pockets and DOS tried to poo-poo any complaints because the DOS's in Poland do not bite the hand that feeds them.

What law prevents you from establishing your own(legal) business in Poland? One can establish a business anywhere in the world, it s called freedom of Trade

In Poland only people from certain countries can operate as a dzielnosc gospodarcza and for some purposes running any other kind of business activity is not economically viable (as all of your competitors are running as dzielnosc gospodarcza).

Do you specialise in giving advice on topics that you know nothing about?

Well as it was explained to me through a lawyer, at the time non e.u. and non americans were restricted on setting up their own Polish business.

I enquired into it in 2003 then again later in 2005 then later in 2007 and every time there was some complication with my nationality or how long I had or hadn't been in the country, etc, etc. Hey, if you're right and I'm wrong then fair enough but none of the legal sources I consulted seemed to share your views at the time.

Now I am not restricted.

Anyhow to justify this as being on topic to the overzealous mods, I think residency status has an affect on wages.

If Poland is a part of the European community and you are an investor in a legal business i don't see why you were told in 2007 that there were some restrictions .

If the incompetent lawyers you contacted told you that nonsense, you should have asked them the name and reference of the exact law preventing you from settling your own business in Poland.

As far as i am concerned i have never heard of such restricted laws in Poland.(check with investinpoland Website)