Life /
3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]
Can you explain?
Simple - being a tossy little teacher isn't so much about ability but attitude.
Youre quite right - in theory, hiring qualified and more experienced teachers should potentially mean delivering a better service, increasing reputation and eventually profit - on paper it makes sense, in practice it's not always so straight forward.
Gross margins for many smaller, private language schools are invariably tight and what appears to be a relatively small difference in hourly pay between teacher A and teacher B can, in terms of hours over the course of the month multiplied by number of teachers, become a significant sum.
I recently oversaw the recruitment of teaching staff for a language school - I didn't play a role in the interview process but was asked for my input with decision making and this involved meeting the candidates informally.
With 1 more position to fill, the choice was between a well qualified teacher with experience in the skill-sets needed by the school (IELTS) and somebody fresh off the CELTA but with a couple of years previous experience.
After a short chat with each, the choice was clear - the recent CELTA grad was enthusiastic and full of motivation, the teacher who looked better on paper had an attitude which would only cause problems in the staffroom. Hiring the recent grad would obviously cost the school less, but this wasn't the reason the choice was made.