Hi, I totally empathise with your story. Indeed, your story sounds very familiar. Unfortunaltely, this mental cruelty and bullying, yes bullying is the best word, is all pervasive in the ESL industry, especialy within language schools. Some of the worst offenders are language centres that use the names of Universities and operate on the same campus. Something i worked out long ago is that sooner or later someone will do something that is mean spirited and nasty just because they can, and they are lacking any sense of morality. Bullying can occur in training courses or indeed once you get a job. It can happen for a myriad of perverse and unsavoury reasons. It can be an issue of gender, or ageism, ethnicity, or feeling threatened. In this industry if you actually enjoy teaching or are good at what you do you will pose a threat intended or unintended to some insecure, cowardly, and unethical person, and I use the term loosely. I know that is healthy to talkl about it, and i want you to know there are many others who share your pain, and it is okay to express it. Unfortunatley, in this industry, and it matters not the reputation of the school, there is no protection for teachers, and no form of redress.

Unscrupulous directors, principals, teachers can cause all manner of pain for other teachers. Some of the rationale behind this unprofessional and unethical behavior stems out of as i said, feeling threatened, and wanted to control others. This is a very competitive industry, and there is a lot of brinkmanship and one up man ship going on. Everything can become an allegory, and so you would be wise to keep your own counsel and that means trusting no-one. As you said or alluded to, that to be able to teach with autonomy is very hard.

People, feel threatened by new ideas instead of embracing them when they come along. There are many champions out there, don't get me wrong but often they are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution, ie:losing their jobs, losing hours or these monsters spreading rumours about them.

Casual teachers are particularly vulnerable as they have no means of redress and are subjected to hubris and arrogance anlagous to being stuck in one of those southern american towns where even the sheriff is corrupt. They end up very depressed and suffer from teacher burn out. They start to question their own integrity and in some cases clinical depression even suicide results. This is a very serious problem, and yet it has become a taboo subject, and those who suffer are often dismissed by others who are also victims afraid to acknowledge the problem, and may even be affronted by its existence.

So, the first thing we need to do is to acknowledge the problem and inject more collegiality and congeniality back into the industry. If teachers would take care of each other, the benefits for learners would be enormous Unfortunately, teachers are pit against each other, under the old maxim of divide and conquer something horrobily machevalian about it really. We exist in a vacuum most of the time, in what is a darwinian world where only the strongest can survive.

I paint a grim picture not based on any machinations, but the grim reality of life in an unregulated industry. Money, perception and politics rule the day. There is evidence of this by several entries or bloggs on this site, and you do not have to look too long before you will see others facing similiar problems. You matter, and teachers who have been abused matter.

Soldier on comrad and I hope that will the passage of time things will change. Keep speaking out, and maintain your principalled stand. Yes, it is important to move on and not be trapped in the negativities of this world, but bullies should not cower our will to teach. Nothing is for free we have to work for it = Aung San suu kyi.