Teachers tell potential colleagues to do their research before UAE move

Warning as pay, living and working conditions and how a school is governed can vary drastically between establishments and education systems, they say.

Teachers are advising prospective expatriate educators thinking of moving to the UAE to “research as much as you can” about the schools they plan to work for.

Differences in pay, living and working conditions and how a school is governed can vary drastically between establishments and education systems, they said.

“I would be very careful and try to research where you are going,” said Helen, a physics teacher who moved to the Emirates from Britain with her husband and two children to work at a public school two years ago. “There are a lot of hidden costs.”

Recruiters said the annual turnover rate at private schools was about 20 per cent, on average, while at some public schools it can run as high as 50 per cent.

One recruiter said reasons for the high number of resignations ranged from teachers not being happy with their housing conditions, to feeling undermined by parents and unfairly treated by management.

“Some schools have a reputation where about two thirds of the staff turn over every year,” said Ash Waheed, senior international consultant for UK-based recruiting firm SeekTeachers.

Mr Waheed said the unique management culture of the region could also lead to conflicts between schools’ administrations and their staff.

“I know some schools that pay extremely well but there is [still] high turnover,” he said.

After working as a teacher in Britain for 12 years, Helen decided to move her family to the UAE. She took a job with a technical high school. Within three months, the school changed the teachers’ contracts so that they could resign only in the month of January.

“I think they did that because quite a lot of people resigned,” said Helen, who asked that only her first name be used because public school teachers are contractually forbidden from speaking to the media without permission. “Having to resign in January, there are not very many job options available for the September start.”

Still, between 100 and 150 teachers left the school’s various campuses this year, according to educators.

Helen said discipline was an issue, and that it was “difficult to impose rules as a teacher”.

Katherine, a teacher who resigned in January after working for three years at a public high school, said she quit the job because there were “a lot of inconsistencies”.

“They’ve changed their HR policy several times. It’s been the most frustrating experience,” she said.

Katherine said many teachers would leave unannounced, never to return. “They’ve had a lot of runners, even in the middle of the year. Teachers just didn’t come back.”

Helen, who this term moved to a new job at an British curriculum school in the capital, said she “didn’t feel valued” in her previous school. “It’s just the lack of respect towards teachers from the management, really,” she said.

When she was interviewed for the job from the UK, she was told she would have to work a few Saturdays, but after her first year, Helen said she was forced to work 15 Saturdays to tutor pupils, “without getting paid”.

“We used to clock in and clock out, and if you were more than five minutes late, they took money off you,” she said. “So, there was no give and take. There was just an atmosphere of no unity.”

Helen resigned in January and finished the term at the school. She said it took three months for her last month’s salary, end of service gratuity and flight allowances totalling Dh80,700 to be paid. She was finally paid this week, she said, but many other teachers who resigned were still waiting for their payments.

Katherine, who is among those who have yet to be paid, said she was “at a loss”. “They now owe 150 of us who resigned last year our end of service, plus flight allowance and our last month’s salary,” she said.

Despite the challenges they have encountered, both Helen and Katherine said they would not dissuade others from coming to the UAE for work.

“We really do love it here, despite the work challenges – we love our lives here,” said Katherine. “Just be cautious of the school you choose and make sure that you do research.”

Helen added: “My children absolutely love it. I do like it here, it was just that particular job that I didn’t enjoy.”