| Q |
Rico, welcome. As many
ajarn.com regulars will know, the concept of a website on which teachers can
lodge complaints and post warnings against certain schools is not a
completely new thing. We had no fewer than three re-incarnations of the
Thaischoolwatch website and they all failed. Where do you think TSW went
wrong? |
| A |
First off, I never viewed the old Thaischoolwatch
projects while they were ongoing. I really can't say why they failed. I did
try to view the site a few times, but I needed to create an account before
being able to view posts. I baulked at needing to give personal information
just to view a site. In a sense that made it a private place. Being a
private place where "farangs go to bad mouth schools" might have contributed
to its failure, but I really don't know. |
| Q |
You seem to be very
passionate about the web having this kind of site. As a sort of
double-headed question, why do you feel so strongly about this and secondly,
why are you the man for the job? |
| A |
I really think, and have for quite awhile, that
teachers need to have the same tools that management has. I have taught in
several countries and have always felt that this kind of site was needed.
Teachers in just about every country have unions. TEFL teachers do not have
a union and in many countries we do not enjoy the right to collectively
state our grievances. TeflWatch will never be a union, it doesn't intend to
be, rather it is a place for teachers to gather together to air their
grievances.
In Korea, they have hagwon(tefl institutes) owner associations. In Thailand,
owners/directors of schools are known to communicate with each other on many
educational issues. I'm not knocking it, in fact I think teachers, students
and owners all win from these associations and I think owners, students and
teachers will win with TeflWatch. |
| Q |
You can see straight away that
www.teflwatch.org has a fairly strict moderation policy. How difficult was
it to recruit a good set of moderators? |
| A |
It wasn't difficult to recruit my moderators. I asked
for volunteers and vetted volunteers based on their posts on Ajarn.Com and
elsewhere, and I contacted fellow teachers who I have a lot of respect for.
I think I found a good team of moderators with good judgment. |
| Q |
What codes of conduct, if any, have the
moderators been told to follow? |
| A |
TeflWatch Moderators have been given a lot of leeway in
moderating. I selected the moderators because I trust their judgment. I came
up with some rules and ask the moderators to use their best judgment in
enforcing them. I support my moderators 100% in any action they take. |
| Q |
Rather than concentrate on just
problems facing teachers in Thailand, you’ve decided to go global and add
sections for other areas of the world. What was your thinking behind that? |
| A |
TEFL teachers are transient in nature, we might teach
in Taiwan then on to Thailand, Japan or the Middle East. I want one place
where teachers can talk about their bad and good experiences in whatever
country they are fleeing from or returning to. Right now, it takes a lot of
effort just to find out where the grey-lists are for many countries. I hope
to change that.
The second reason why we are global is that I do not want a site that
focuses on bad experiences in just one country. There are enough bad
experiences to go around. I don't want anyone to think that my site has
anything against any particular country. Any user can post about any school,
anywhere, even in the US of A. |
| Q |
It may be just a gut feeling but I can
see the Taiwan and Korea sections getting quite busy (laughs) |
| A |
Yeah, I hope so. I think there are enough bad stories
from those places and if I can get people sharing them, all the better.
People are more likely to post if they see others posting. I want forums to
represent the reality of the TEFL world rather than an unbalanced tilt
towards Thailand or any other country. |
| Q |
Do you think that strict moderation
will eventually drive many would-be posters away? |
| A |
I sure hope it scares away the trolls. Seriously, a
legitimate poster has every reason to post on TeflWatch. They will share
their experience with hundreds and hopefully thousands of TEFL teachers
throughout the world. |
| Q |
One of the worries about running this
kind of board has to be threats of legal action if a particular school
doesn’t like what they read. Surely the board isn’t worth sleepless nights? |
| A |
Firstly, no board is worth a single sleepless night. I
am surprised that I haven't yet received any threats, legal or otherwise,
but I know they are coming. TeflWatch is owned by a US company and is hosted
in the US. Legal action against the company could be started in any country
in the world, but enforcement of a judgment against a US company would have
to be done where the company's assets are, the US. If a Thai, Taiwanese or
Korean school would like to go to all of that trouble, then I will assist
them in any way possible. |
| Q |
Apparently one of the Thai owners at a
school heavily featured and criticized on the old Thaischoolwatch site,
burst into tears when she saw what had been posted about her business. Will
the number of bosses you upset perhaps be a measure of your success? |
| A |
I feel a little sad hearing that question. I would hope
that no one would find anything to cry about on TeflWatch. If a school is
characterized as being bad then it is time for the school to make
constructive changes. Not only does a school owner know that they have
problems in their schools, they know exactly what the problems are. If they
posted, I'll bet they could get a lot of tips on how to improve their
school, and isn't improving their school what all school owners want to do?
That is how I measure success, how many schools try to change themselves for
the better. |
| Q |
Seriously though, will
the site force schools to look at themselves and look at the way they treat
foreign staff and then make necessary changes? |
| A |
Maybe, but I doubt it. Most schools will continue to do
exactly as they have done before, but at least teachers will be wise to the
tricks that the schools uses. If a few schools make constructive changes
then, well, that's a lot more than I can say about the status quo |
| Q |
Some teachers aren’t
happy no matter where they work though? |
| A |
You can say that again. Chronic complainers are easy
enough to spot. They complain about not having their tea on time,
complaining about the ink in the whiteboard markers, you name it, they will
complain about it. If I see a post like that, I feel sympathy for the school
owners, really. That said, those teachers still have the right to air their
grievances. |
| Q |
It’s a broad question
but what problems do you see cropping up as the site gets bigger and
receives more and more traffic? |
| A |
The biggest problem might well be the teachers who come
over, make a single post about their experiences and then leave. Follow-ups
usually give a lot of useful information and is the main reason why we use a
forum for TeflWatch. Giving users a reason to come back and take a look at
posts will be the biggest problem facing this site as it becomes bigger.
|
| Q |
Do you think you’ll
make money from the site? I mean, is that in your scheme of things? |
| A |
Not really, but I know if marketed correctly, there is
money to be made.
I have google ads on the forum and I make a few cents per click, enough to
maybe pay hosting. Our main page will morph into a static list of schools to
watch out for and while I may put ads on it, the forum will always, at the
most, have google ads. I registered this as a .org because I wanted it clear
that money wasn't my objective. |
| Q |
The Thailand section
is bound to be the busiest. I think we all know that. Does that mean more
teachers get shafted here than in any other country where TEFL is an
occupation? |
| A |
Back in 2000, if you looked on the
web, there were very few complaints about Thai schools. Lately, the number
of complaints have went through the roof. It's not because Thai schools have
all of a sudden become bad, rather teachers have decided to post on the net
about things they would have normally talked about only at an expat pub, if
at all.
Thailand has a large number of internet savvy teachers, ex-teachers, and
wannabe teachers. With this sheer volume, it is not suprising that a few get
shafted and with probably the best TEFL teaching website in the world to
organize them, it is not surprising that TEFL teachers in Thailand like to
make their voices heard. |
| Q |
Best of luck with the
project anyway. What advice would you give to a teacher who would like to
warn others about a rogue employer but is hesitant to post their account on
the site? |
| A |
My advice is to send me an email at
admin@teflwatch.org and make it as anonymous as they like and I will
personally post the report. Their personal details will always remain
confidential. |
