Saturday 16 August 2014

As clear as the noonday sun

I am more than happy to present for my readers' approbation another 'recommendation' from HCT faculty in Abu Dhabi. This particular writer has since collected his/her gratuity and wisely moved on, but he/she seems keen that others do not make the same mistake of believing the HCT Bullshit Machine that inhabits the HR and Recruitment Department!

Well, what can I possibly say about the three years of my life that I have wasted working for HCT in Abu Dhabi? I suppose I should start with the positives, so this section will be very short. And my conclusion might raise a few objections too.

My colleagues were, in the main part, the best thing about my time there. They were generally professional, nearly always helpful, and cared about their students. My department was not filled with divas and prima donnas, and only featured a couple of ‘nasties’ and boot-lickers. Moreover, the students could be really great at times, although in general they were not greatly different from most typical Gulf Arab students. However, the negatives far outweighed the positives.

Many of my colleagues appeared to live in genuine fear of the upper management, as it was impossible to know what to expect from them. The senior managers used the fear of being fired as a whip to keep control, and this was backed up by seemingly random sackings. Our department head was generally regarded as a careerist bootlicker, a yes-person, and was treated (and quietly ignored) accordingly. In my department every single teacher was expected to teach way beyond the contracted 20 hours per week, and with so many different sections to teach, it was impossible to maintain the quality.

And regarding the subject of quality, I have to say that I noticed a deterioration in the calibre of the new teachers that arrived during my tenure. This was clearly related to the salary package, which actually underwent a noticeable decline, mostly in terms of reduced housing benefits and school fees allowances. No good teacher with a family would really want to work there now, as there are so many better offers available elsewhere. Now, any sane educator would ask themselves just why such a well-resourced and at one time well-respected college would take such an obviously willing dive southwards in terms of its salary offer. Wouldn’t HCT be keen to retain and recruit the best possible teachers for its students?

And then the answer hit me – like the Arab Spring! The powers that be in the UAE do NOT want top-notch westerners teaching its citizens anymore, as that sort of stuff only leads to the creation of false expectations amongst the people. Democracy? Forget it, Emirati – just stay in your overpaid job and do as you’re told. Enlightenment? That just causes problems, so let’s make sure you’re taught by docile Indians and Philipinos, who will be grateful to work for 10,000 dirhams a month. Yes, that was the reason behind it all the negative changes!

It’s all as clear as the noonday sun now. How sad that I wasted three whole years of my life at HCT in Abu Dhabi before I managed to see it for myself!

Friday 13 June 2014

Look Back in Wonder


The following message dropped into my inbox a couple of weeks back. After a little light editing, I have decided to release it to the wider public, and for the benefit of the global education fraternity.

I would like to write a brief story about my awful experience at HCT.  

In June 2012 I was given little more than two weeks' notice to close down my working life, sell everything I had accumulated over many years, and leave the country. This was because HCT, in their ultimate wisdom, had decided to eliminate my position.  

OK, let's fast forward two years now.  I apply for the same position, and HCT initially start dragging their feet; then they tell me that I have three weeks to get there. Let's keep in mind here that I had applied in June 2013, that they had interviewed me eight months later, and then did not even offer me the position until the third week of March. Yet they wanted me there in April!  

OK, if that was not bad enough,  the salary stated in the letter of offer did not match the salary that was stated in the email!  Ok, please allow me to repeat; the salary mentioned in the offer letter and the email were different!  The email salary was 20% higher than the one in the letter of offer, and guess which one they stated was the correct one?  Yep, it was the lower offer!

When I questioned this with the HR person, SR, she stated that the higher rate was for someone with a PhD. This was of course a lie, and we both knew it. The offer was in fact LESS than I had been making before I'd had to leave, it included no housing, and you could not rent an apartment for what they were giving as housing allowance.  It was MUCH worse, in other words.

Although I sometimes kick myself for not having taken the job, most all of my former colleagues are gone, no doubt having been replaced by lower salaried teachers. In fact, my former director assured me that he would be gone by the end of this semester, as he was being replaced by an Emirati (who may or may not have an education degree).

In closing, reading your blog has kept me strong in my decision to not return to the UAE.  I met many lovely people there, expats and locals that have made my life better, but thank you for your words of encouragement about not working for this organization.

Saturday 17 May 2014

“Run AWAY! AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The following glowing report on HCT came from the following source:
 http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/HCT-Reviews-E384204.htm
You can find many similar reports there!
 
Administration (Current Employee)
 Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 

I have been working at HCT full-time for more than 3 years
ProsA lot of money for new technology.
ConsIf you want to be treated like a human being with employee rights then this is not the place for you.

They do not respect expertise, education, contributions, ethics or hard work. They do not care how important you think you are. They do not care how many publications you have. If you say one wrong thing, to one wrong person, you are out. Period. And you have NO employee rights and no recourse.

They are actually now cutting employee benefits. The new housing allowance isn't enough to get a shady dump in the wrong part of town for your family.

They lie about how great HCT is doing. It is all propaganda. In reality teachers are on mandatory overtime (as much as 25 hours face-to-face contact time per week). Nobody is allowed any money for professional development opportunities externally. Students are allowed to skip classes or turn in work at such low quality the teacher does not even know how to grade it. Students cheat on papers and exams and teachers are not allowed to fail them. Students do 10% of the work that would be required in the equivalent course in the UK or Canada. HCT shows the accrediting committees all the fancy course outlines and technology. The accrediting committee needs to just test graduates and they will then see the truth: students do not actually learn anything.

Technology implementation is done contrary to every single project management guide on the planet. There are no usability studies. No pilots. Stakeholders are not included in key decisions. Stakeholders do not receive any communication. And teachers must implement the latest technology change quickly or risk losing their job. They change technology on teachers every year or two. Today it is this device. Then tomorrow another one. Teachers are stressed as they keep having to revise all their curriculum for the latest technology change they are required to use.

There are NO chances for advancement. The job you come for is all you will have. You will never get promoted. They will dump more and more responsibility and duties on you but never give you a new title or pay raise. There are no pay raises. Ever. Never. Right now they are firing people and hiring them back for a lower salary and with less benefits (Yes. Really. Remember: no employee rights). The social disparities and racism are rampant on top of that.

It is a culture of fear and negative morale. I would not let my dog work here. This place is toxic. The second I can leave I will. Everyone is madly searching for jobs elsewhere.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
 

Tuesday 22 April 2014

In defense of HCT - that teacher finally writes!

My stance on working at HCT? Well, it’s a pretty good doss, provided you don’t take it at all seriously. So, in contrast to all the whingers on this blog, I would like to offer a positive voice on teaching at HCT, and reveal a hidden opportunity.

Firstly, if you really want to make a difference to the system of education at HCT, you can start just by introducing a few of the elementary features of what is normally believed to be ‘good teaching practice’. Although many of the students behave like naughty school kids, with their typical disruptive and disrespectful behaviour, this actually offers immense scope for professional development. For example, many of my students enjoyed asking stupid questions, scraping their chairs loudly on the floor, and falling into exaggerated fits of coughing whenever I opened my mouth to speak. Addressing these issues means that I can write a paper about the application of a wide range of motivational techniques – often when I am supposed to be teaching!

Another example of the students' exemplary application was the fact that they were often keen to sit there doing nothing, except chatting with their friends and toying with their mobiles. This general reluctance to write anything, except on the desk, sometimes meant that the class was carried out in the traditional oral manner that the students felt most comfortable with. Again, this problem offered another opportunity for activating  the theory-practice dichotomy, and especially for the advocacy of not imposing text-based Western approaches to learning. Moreover, as many of my male students would constantly leave the classroom to chat with their friends, and others would randomly enter the classroom whenever they felt the need to speak with a classmate, this underlined the fact that they assigned an inverted sense of importance to formal Western notions of discipline, clearly prioritising the local culture. In most cases, the students failed even to bring along their course books and pens, again illustrating their attachment to the traditional oral methods of the transferral of knowledge.

Even the fact that many HCT teachers live in fear of complaints from students, together with the sure knowledge that the college management will not support them, means that a professional development opportunity presents itself once more. In fact, I am currently considering writing a paper regarding the crucial aspect of how teachers can preserve their integrity in a Gulf teaching environment without having to assert any of the approved attendance, discipline and homework policies, out of the very real fear that the students will complain and the teacher’s employment be terminated. However, this one might be a little more difficult than I first envisaged!

So, the moral here is: if you’re prepared to come and work at HCT, come prepared to do some research!

Tuesday 1 April 2014

HCT Pay Out in Full - Blog to Close!

Yes, I am extremely happy to report that HCT have paid out the sum of almost $40,000 to secure the closure of this blog. This sum represents the gratuities that were denied to three former employees who were dismissed on false charges.

As a result of the above settlement, this blog will be closing down very soon, in accordance with the promise made to the HCT senior management. Certain postings will also be removed from the Dave's ESL Cafe website.

I would like to give my thanks to all the supporters of this blog - and its detractors - for their time and attention over the past years. Together, we have managed to prove that persistence does indeed work, and that the choking fumes of negative (but true) publicity can be used to positive effect.