re: Cambridge Program in Yinghua International School, Tianjin, China

Staff are treated unfairly. Here are a few examples.

1. Failure to notify all staff of amended starting date. All staff had been informed that school was to start on 18th of August 2014 for the new school year. However, as this starting date was not approved by the local government, the school had to start the year on 1st of September in alignment with all other schools. The school’s administration failed to notify several staff of the amended starting date. As a consequence, three staff members arrived at school before 18th of August and had little option but to stay and wait (for two weeks) since they all travelled vast distances to Tianjin and were not offered any recompense for their unnecessary inconvenience and loss of time with family.

2. Breach of Contract towards foreign staff re insurance. Social Insurance had not been bought for any of the foreign staff which is a breach of the contract. Social Insurance Benefit has been clearly stated in the contract with foreign teachers. The reason for such breach of the contract may be due to the fact that the school has to pay 3700 RMB per month for each foreign staff and it is simply avoiding the cost.

With regards to a second insurance called Commercial Insurance, the school purchased the policy for foreign staff at the end of March 2015 (7 months late) which is another breach of the contract because the policy should have been purchased when staff contract took effect, back in August 2014.

3. Unfair dismissal. A foreign teacher was fired from Cambridge Program about two months after the school started. He was informed on a Sunday by a phone call that he was fired and on the following day a new replacement teacher was already at his desk. His personal belongings from his desk in the office had been put in a plastic bag. This teacher had never been talked to by the management concerning his teaching or any other matter and therefore believed everything was going fine. There was no sign of this happening before the Sunday whatsoever. It was so sudden and unbelievable that all the other foreign teachers were shocked and felt concerned that they may also lose their jobs as well. These teachers worry and stress was evident when four people appeared in the office on the same day for job interview one week later.

4. Academic Principal Zhang (head of the Cambridge Program) has stooped to anything (including talking about teachers behind their backs, constantly telling lies, playing politics and incredulously, forging documents in an attempt to substantiate his lies) . This has naturally had an adverse effect on staff morale and in general, the Cambridge Program does not provide a nice and comfortable environment to work in, especially as you feel that you may be back stabbed at any moment or that something you said is to be used against you. This all stems from a lack of professionalism from the Academic Principal who seems out of his depth in his current role.