SCHOOLS AND RECRUITERS REVIEWS
· Previous · Next Return to Index › York School of English, Krakow
Anon - 2010-08-24

Don't, don't, don't work here!!!

I worked at this school and it is one of the worst and most unprofessional schools I have ever seen in my life.

It has a good reputation and a nice looking website, but it is terrible.

The director is a 60 something crabby old woman who likes to tell people how much experience she has. If only it were true.

Outdated methodology, native speaker's are treated as performing monkeys and rigid syllabi all avail here. You only get paid for what you work, no holiday payments at all (and there are many, many Public holidays in Poland). The bonus system is best described as arbitrary - sometimes people don't get a bonus for no apparent reason.

Support for staff is minimal. A new teacher asked for help with a class of almost uncontrollable kids, and promptly had his hours reduced to a bare minimum, before being sacked without a reference. Even people who survived working there don't get references.

There is a strange system of payments in operation. You get paid based on lesson duration, which changes according to the number of students in a class. Trouble is, this is all in small print in the contracts the students sign, so usually the teacher has to explain that what the students thought to be a 90 minute class is now a 45 minute class.

Last year, a whopping 6 (of 8 initially hired) natives quit. I quit too, the director loves to hire more teachers than necessary and then take hours off existing teachers. So, my 32 hours of teaching time at the start of the year was soon reduced to 18 hours. I should have been paid 3800 PLN per month but was getting about 2200 PLN - a huge difference. Wages are often inaccurate, but it is so difficult to check because you get paid about 4 different rates (based on lesson duration).

If you have already signed a contract, don't worry. They are in no way enforcible. My advice is to leave now. The contracts say that teachers are guaranteed 28 hours per week (teaching hours) - balls. If you complain, you get fobbed off or told that you will be sacked. I've met few natives who have genuinely been happy working there. I can put you in contact with at least 10 other teachers who share my view.

Don't say you haven't been warned!
· Previous · Next Return to Index › York School of English, Krakow





Go to another board -