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Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
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The
school honors my contract when it is in their interest
to do so, but not when it will cost money or inconvenience
to them to do so. |
Contracts
need to be agreed upon in good faith. That does not seem to be
the case in some of the international schools I've worked at.
I have been in situations where in mid-contract the school administration
has decided to rewrite the contract, usually to their benefit.
Also, too many schools are trying to function on the cheap. Schools
are, in a sense, a business and need to be run that way, but
if you want an excellent school you need excellent staff and
faculty.
In the end you will get what you pay for. |
22 |
Since
the contract benefits primarily the owner, the contract is scrupulously
honored. |
22 |
CONTRACT
IGNORED WHEN IT COSTS ANYTHING. |
22 |
They
expect you to honor your contract but feel they don't have to.
They have let people go on a whim. |
They
have been pretty good about honoring it. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
My
school is good, but international teachers are not protected
and there is no point pretending we are. International teachers
do not stay
in a country long enough, and do not have the know how, language
or support to pursue a court case. I have only ever heard of
one embassy who helped teachers and that was in Kuwait during
the 2nd invasion. |
They
honor the contract, but there is a lot more we agree to when
we sign that contract than is written on the two pieces of paper.
*Look at the faculty handbook before signing your contract! (Sub
pay, maternity leave, PD etc.). |
| Contract is honored when it's in the school's best interest to honor it. |
22 |
The
school I'm at now honors it to the letter. It is fair. At my
last school they played with the wording and claimed the translation
was
official. Also, they
changed the handbook over the summer and claimed it was the official
word on everything. Since the old handbook was collected in June,
teachers had little recourse the next year. |
22 |
It
is honored - mostly. |
22Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Yes,
very much so. |
22 |
They
honor it but add amendments that I have to follow--these amendments
were not in my original contract. |
22 |
The
school violates contracts whenever it is convenient. Staff have
been denied benefits that were guaranteed in their contracts. |
Definitely,
it is not honored. Some staff have been dismissed on trumped
up charges. Some of these have been serious, like hitting a child,
but the teacher was just too dark-skinned for the manager's taste.
We sign the contracts but the manager does not give anyone a
copy back. You have to make a fuss to get it and then you are
very unpopular. The contract states that you get holiday pay,
but they are quibbling about it now. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Our
school honors the contract to the letter and is consistent with
every employee. |
22 |
Does
my school honor the contract? Mostly, when it suits them. |
Yes,
although the salary problem remains. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Yes,
they do honor it and have a good history of supporting contracts. |
Honored! |
22 |
Yes
the school honors the contract because the contract doesn't
offer anything. |
22 |
No,
and there are different penalties for breaking contract depending
on when
you tell the school you are leaving. This is
not published anywhere. In the past, people with the same "contract" have
negotiated additional shipping and better housing. |
22 |
Yes,
the school honors everything. I have never experienced a school
which didn't (maybe I'm lucky). Sometimes my school is more policy-driven than personal, but that's much the same anywhere. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
If
our contracts are not honored, then there is no one to turn to.
The recruiting agencies will NEVER assist us! In fact they blackball
us if WE don't honor our contracts. |
Contract
is only adhered to when it is to the benefit of the employers.
Otherwise, Ministry laws apply and we never know what those laws
are. |
22 |
Not sure, because
it was vague. |
22 |
Yes
they honor it. |
22 |
The
school honors the contract but the contract may not reflect national
law. |
I
feel my school honored the contract. It is not until you realize
that the bus drivers are paid more than a teacher that you begin
to wonder!!!! |
22 |
Not
worth even the paper it was written on. |
222Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Honors
it. |
22 |
No.
The school will do as they please and threaten you with being
black balled if you complain. |
22 |
| They honor it to the letter. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Honors
the contract for some and not for others. |
Somewhat.
They were not honest at recruitment and presented a very different
picture. The recruitment picture made the contract seem satisfactory.
The reality makes it poor. I consider this dishonest. Their actions
have confirmed this. |
Usually
the school follows the contract very well. However, the contract
is very sketchy and for good reason. Most all verbal commitments
were not fulfilled. |
I've
never heard of anyone being unhappy at our school because a contract
was not honored. In fact, contract terms for the number of
days a teacher must stay after the last day of school are waived
to help keep teachers happy. Teachers are routinely permitted
to leave the day after the end
of school instead of forced to stay the 3 days the contract requires.
Compassionate leave is given generously (10 weeks for a recent
stillbirth, for example).
This
has little to do with the contract, and everything to do with
the integrity of the principal. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
| It is definitely honored. |
Absolutely
not. They do what they want, forcing leaving staff to exit the
country rather than transferring the visa. This causes the teacher
a lot of work and expense. Also, I usually have to read out the
parts of the contract that are clear to get a benefit that is
simply not given--often they use a stupid excuse when you confront
them with this. |
Our
contract is unfair from the get-go, so it isn't worth a cent
to teachers in the school. Even though enrollment is increasing
and
new teachers are being hired, some who are "not liked" by
the administration have not been re-contracted, with utterly
no justification. |
My
school honors both the spirit and letter of the contract. Teachers
are valued and respected here. |
To
a point, my school "honors" the contract. However,
previous employees were not paid their indemnities in full at
the end of their contracts because they did not know the labor
laws in Kuwait. I am expecting the school to cheat me in my indemnity
calculation. I have a copy of the labor law (have lawyer friends)
and know what I am supposed to receive. Let's see if they "honor" it
for me. |
| No. Later on in the year it was discovered that several aspects of the contract were 1/2 truths. |
Unfortunately,
to the letter despite interview promises. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
While
the school left my contract alone, they substantially changed
the duties in my husband's, twice. The second time lowering both
the
length of the contract and the salary. I signed a contract to
be principal the next year, then found they were searching for
someone
else anyway. |
I
feel that they do honor the contract but they have neglected
to tell us about things such as "severance" which is
standard in this country...so they didn't pay it. Also if they like
you....great. If not....I would be afraid! |
All
schools have been wonderful, except for Abushakra American International
and British Schools. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
| The school honors it. |
It
depends who is running the school. Some people feel they are
above the law and although they may believe they are totally
ethical, the leader is not always familiar with contract language
or really does re-interpret ethical behavior. |
The
current contract isn't worth much. We are not told all the "hidden" contract
issues and they are not outlined in the contract. |
Yes,
although some items were not clear at the job fair such as how
much of the salary was paid in USD versus foreign currency. |
| Teaching hours and class sizes are ignored. |
2Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
Definitely
honored. |
Yes.....completely. |
| I feel that if we didn't insist on the letter of the contract, we would be cheated out of what we should be getting. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
I
was cheated out of a reasonable coordinator stipend because it
was not included in my contract. I was told that because
I signed my contract I had "agreed" to my current coordinator
stipend which I found out was $150/month less than the other coordinators
were paid. |
| They do honor what little is on it. |
| Our contract has been changed/re-interpreted without our input or knowledge...take it or leave it. |
Yes.....so far. I have not
heard or been privy to any inappropriate conduct over contracts
from my current organization.
I do feel that at any time my school can pull a contract
regardless of ethics or rules. The same applies
for us as teachers, & if you really don't like something that much
you can
always walk away. It may be costly but no one owns you and your professionalism. |
| The schools can pretty much do as they like. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
They pay what they say, but you can
be asked to teach anything and do whatever extracurricular activities
with
little or no extra compensation. |
| Two have - one hasn't. |
It does honor
what's on paper for me personally, but I know of other teachers
that have not had their contracts honored. |
Technically the contract
is honored, discrepancy comes in definition of "family housing".
I don't consider an apartment on a busy street where you can't
ride your bikes, no
play area inside, no playground in sight, to be "family housing".
This becomes more important to those who have young children who
stay home in this environment all day. |
| This school seems to honor its contracts and spirit of the contract for the vast majority of the teachers. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
| Generally, it is sufficient to ensure I can't be fired without due cause. |
1. Shipping
allowance was reduced once I was in-country. The school did not
feel obliged to honor the
shipping
allocation in my contract. 2. Actual housing promised is inferior
to housing promised at recruiting fair. |
| The contract is followed to the letter. |
Yes, it does. It has even
been generous with sickness, etc., although this is not happening
as much now. Our salaries are
always paid in full and on time. I am leaving this year and flights
and shipment are all being paid by the school with no problems.
The school
has very occasionally (and in my opinion, rightly) used the contract
to dismiss a teacher, but a teacher has never needed to break a
contract because it is unreasonable or the school did not deliver
what was promised. |
| The contract is basically good, but with room for interpretation. |
My contract
is honored to the letter because I told the school I wanted my
job description spelled out
in the contract before I signed it. Colleagues complain that our
school has not honored their contract to the letter. Jobs
were promised and once teachers arrived in-country there were changes
and
added responsibilities. |
Does
Your School Honor Your Contract? |
In Thailand,
it is a given that in both theory and practice a contract is worth
LESS than the paper
it is written
on. If you are unfairly dismissed you can try to sue, but the legal
system is corrupt and you can expect the school to pay off any
judges as needed. No foreign teacher has ever won in a trial. In
fact, it
only costs several hundred dollars to pay an off-duty cop to make
an annoying former employee disappear, forever. Most schools in
Thailand routinely break contracts because they know the foreigner
is most
likely to just leave or otherwise not fight
it. The foreigner is an outsider and does not have much status
in Thailand under the legal system, at least in practice if not
theory. |
| In reality it isn't worth the paper it is written on. |