FIVE TYPES OF EXPLOITATION IN A LANGUAGE SCHOOL

FIVE TYPES OF EXPLOITATION IN A LANGUAGE SCHOOL

I’ve recently become interested in drilling down into the power structures that exist within the typical language school. What I find interesting is the way the exploitation works on different levels and between different groups. Nobody is entirely innocent.

1 EXPLOITATION OF LEARNERS BY THE SCHOOL

Language schools monetise the desire to learn. They convert dreams into cash. They do this by selling a “product” to learners in the form of studying a coursebook accompanied with a language tour guide teacher. This teacher is often inexperienced and incapable of delivering any real progress. Learners have little to no say over what or how they are learning and instead must adapt themselves to the pace and content of the coursebook. You could call this learning theatre. The learners pay to sit in the audience.

2 EXPLOITATION OF TEACHERS BY THE SCHOOL

Ununionised staff, sometimes on zero hours contracts will be employed to teach. However, the teachers earn only a small amount of what learners are prepared to pay for the teaching. The typical language school has the mentality that TEFL teachers are ten-a-penny and very easily replaceable. Morale will often be poor and turnover will be high. There will be little to no respect for teacher experience, judgement or authority.

3 EXPLOITATION OF OWNERS BY THE ADMIN STAFF

The leaders of the school will exploit the ignorance of language school owners with zero academic background or knowledge. The DOS or ADOS will set themselves as the experts in how to run the school and the owners will buy into whatever they are being spun. The higher up staff will always act in the interest of protecting their positions and salaries so they will protect the school against learners and teachers at all times. Very often, these staff will regards learners and teachers as the enemy.

4 EXPLOITATION OF THE SCHOOL BY THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

The school will be exploited by the EFL publishing industry by being forced to buy large quantities of coursebooks on a regular basis. This is despite the fact that you could teach learners without coursebooks in a better way. However, that requires people of considerable talent and they tend not to come cheap.

5 EXPLOITATION OF THE SCHOOL BY THE TEACHER

I get the school to pay me to do research. I regard each cohort of learners I get as a new research group and I use them to learn more about person-centred teaching practice. I share none of the insights I gain about teaching with anybody at the school but my teaching practice improves exponentially for the benefit of future learners. In addition to this, the school provides me with a live case study in how to get education completely wrong which is hugely beneficial from a professional development viewpoint.