Page 41 - ELG1909 Sep Issue 466

COMMENT . FEATURES & COMMENT
OUT

Point OF THE

of View BOX

Rhiannon
Carter Lessons from

“In the last year Teaching English

Online
I earned £16,756. Tariq Harris refl ects on the challenges

It’s an insult.” of the ELTons-winning course: Teaching
and lessons learnt from the latest run

English Online, developed by Cambridge
British EFL teachers are being forced into Assessment English and FutureLearn
poverty argues Rhiannon Carter It is becoming increasingly diffi cult to make ends meet as an ELT teacher in the UK.
The global online tutoring teaching online, social learning
market for English language platforms, such as FutureLearn,
oney in UK ELT industry is bad. And in the last tax year, I earned I am also in the “lucky” position of having £16,175.60. teaching is exploding, with can help fill the gap. Over the
I don’t think this is news to £16,175.60. a permanent contract. Most teachers working It’s insulting. And it’s prolific; my story is not thousands of teachers delivering previous runs of the course,
many of us. Most people in the Due to seasonal fluctuations and some in the UK have all of the stress of low pay unusual. Up and down the country, teachers are online lessons. Although there the rich discussions between
Mindustry have some experience of reduced hours around deadlines for my Delta with the added uncertainty of whether they struggling with this. The resilient ones (or those are some really great examples teachers, both experienced and
the low pay found in private language schools course, this meant that my average take home will even have work next week. This is with the financial safety nets needed to be able to out there, many online lessons new, have been one of the most
around the country. each month was £1,347.97. absolutely unsustainable. risk failing) may be rewarded with a promotion to have no obvious focus on important factors in its success,
In recent years, a number of UK workers’ To put this in context, the average salary in £16,175.60. management, but those positions are few and far language development. and have led to teachers on the
groups and unions have been set up for ELT Edinburgh, where I live, is more than £28,000 In one of its first meetings, ETiS discussed between. Others make it into HE or FE, where the This places a huge course creating communities
teachers. Inspired by the work of Ireland’s a year, according to payscale.com. Some the problem of unpaid work. As is the case in money is significantly better, although the problems responsibility on the role of on other platforms to continue
ELT Advocacy, groups in Manchester, sites have it as a little lower. Living costs are most schools, my pay is calculated according with contracts and hours persist. professional development their discussions.
London and Edinburgh are hoping to equally high: according to home. to the hours that I am in the I’ve got no idea what the solution is. I’m not sure and it is something that we Thirdly, it’s imp ortant
address some of the poor conditions faced co.uk, the average rent for a If I get classroom. My job description, if the problem needs to be fixed at an industry-wide took into consideration when to listen to feedback from
by teachers, including a lack of decent one-bedroom flat in the city sick, I will run however, includes a lot of ELT level, or a national anti-zero-hour-contracts level. developing Teaching English participants and iterate
contracts, unpaid hours and limited is £986pcm. On top of which, work that cannot be done Ideally both. There definitely needs to be an attitude Online. Here are a few lessons each course based on their
professional development. you pay council tax, bills, etc. out of money within those hours but which shift; we need to stop conflating classroom-hours and we’ve learnt from developing feedback. Over three runs,
My involvement with the English Teachers Now, for me, £1,347.97 I am, nevertheless, required working-hours. But beyond the question of “are we the course. the course has changed
in Scotland (ETiS) workers’ group led me is just about enough to live very quickly. to do. This includes marking being paid the minimum wage?”, I’m not sure how to Firstly, it’s important dramatically and included
to interrogate my economic position in the on, and I have little trouble students’ work, preparing lesson fight for pay which reflects the legitimacy of ELT as to get the focus right. more lessons, an increased
ELT industry and, from this, a blog post budgeting for bills, food, and a plans, and sourcing and photocopying a profession. This is an even bigger problem, which Development should focus course length and a new
was formed which started some excellent couple of coffees or dinner out. It must be materials. Given my school has moved away has ties, I believe, to the phenomenon of backpacker on helping teachers build and section on setting up your
conversations online. Here are some emphasised, however, that I’m in the lucky from coursebooks (for pedagogical reasons I teachers and lowest-common-denominator teaching transfer skills into the online business as an online tutor.
thoughts taken from that blog post, and position of both having a partner with a firmly stand behind), our teachers can also ‘methodologies’ being sold as effective teacher environment. Online lessons The technology and needs
others which I have had since its publication. higher salary than mine and no children or add ‘syllabus design’ to the list of activities training. should consider the needs of of teachers are constantly
To introduce myself, I gained my CELTA in dependents. The same pay for a single parent, which our job demands. The tasks ETiS All I know is that I’ve set myself a personal time limit: learners, have clear aims and changing, so any professional
2013, worked in Spain before returning to the or even just a single person, would be much discussed were even more broad: speaking I have one year left of working to pay off my Delta-debt focus, and incorporate best development in this area needs
UK in 2015, and completed the final module more of a struggle. to students during break times about their to my current school. So, I have one year to try to carve practice in methodology. to be updated frequently.
of my Delta in the summer of 2018. That said, having enough to get through work, liaising with colleagues about students’ out some new directions; will it be new direction in ELT, It’s essential that teachers The course, which to date
a month isn’t the same as having enough progress or talking about ways to deal with or a new profession altogether? I’m not sure yet, but see concrete examples of has helped tens of thousands of
UNSPLASH money to relax. I have no savings. The difficult students or classes, queuing for the something has to give. how online teaching can participants, has been a huge
work in practice, so they can

photocopier during busy periods, arguing with
success and we were delighted
savings that I had managed to build up while
working abroad, I ploughed through in my
for adults over 25 is £8.21 an hour. For a 37.5 hour week
really important to empower
Award earlier this year.
students. We calculated that, for every hour’s
first year of more of irregular teaching work your DoS about potential level changes for Editor’s note: The current UK national minimum wage try out new ideas. It’s also to win an ELTons Innovation
back in the UK. If I get sick, I will run out classroom work, about 30 minutes of unseen that is £16,000 per year. £16,175.60 before tax would be teachers to use the technology
of money very quickly. If something happens work is required. This takes an average just nine pence an hour above the legal minimum once available to them effectively, Contact:
to my family and I need to jump on the next 25-hour teaching week up to a 37.5-hour non-teaching hours are factored in. and highlight the differences https://www.futurelearn.com/
plane, my monthly budget will not stretch. working week. and similarities between courses/online-tutoring
If my computer crashes, I will be back on In other words, full-time. ■ Rhiannon Carter is a DELTA-qualified English face-to-face and online
the phone asking to borrow money from my Full-time teaching. A job which demands Language Teacher based in Edinburgh. She has been environments. ■ Tariq Harris is part of
mum and, even as I write that, I realise that an undergraduate degree and a 4-week, teaching for the past 7 years, ever since teaching at a Secondly, because teachers the Digital and New Product
The annual Living Wage in London parental assistance is a resource that many £1,000+ CELTA. A job for which most Belgian summer school while at university. She taught can miss speaking and development team at Cambridge
refl ects the actual costs of living in the people don’t have. schools would like you to have a Diploma for two years in Spain, and then has been in Edinburgh sharing with colleagues when Assessment English.
city. It is currently £19,890. This is incredibly stressful. or a Master’s. ever since.
40 September 2019 editorial@elgazette.com 41