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TEFLChina Teahouse: Job issues: Contracts
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Negotiating employment terms?
Although officially not required anymore, Chinese universities are still following the old distinction between foreign experts and foreign teachers.
An expert is someone with an advanced degree and academic rank at a foreign university. Contracts for experts generally provide round trip air fare, housing, medical, a salary and a few extras like a certain level of respect. Teachers usually do not get air fare, a slightly lower salary, housing but perhaps not as many rooms as an expert if facilities are limited at the university and medical on the same terms as other employees of the university. In some places you also get some group travel -- trips conducted by and paid for by your Foreign Affairs Office. Teachers usually have more teaching hours 12-16 per week than experts 8-10 per week.
In terms of teaching load, if you have writing courses, you should teach fewer hours as reading student papers is time-consuming. Teachers are more likely to be given speaking or oral English courses which does not require as much out-of-class time.
As I said in an earlier message, there is not much negotiating. You could agree to a contract for one term and then see what the situation is in Shanghai before signing on for the second semester. This is the only way to gain some leverage. You will basically be offered the same contract as others in your category.
I have stayed in the Chinese Textile University Guest House and it is very nice. I do not know if their foreign teachers live there. Your housing is a real benefit in a place like Shanghai where housing is expensive. My guess is that facilities are good.
There is money in Shanghai so your department may be in a position to supplement the salary you get from the FAO, but this depends on how entrepreneurial your department is. It might mean teaching additional courses under contracts your department has with corporations. You generally can't work this out ahead of time. You have to talk about it once you get there. The other option is to supplement your income by working for one of the many, many training companies in Shanghai. These pay better than the universities, but again, you have to be there to make arrangements.
How my university contract worked out
My two year experience at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) in Guangzhou is probably similar to that of thousands of foreigners who come to teach in China every year.
I came here in 1996 with a MA TESL and less than one year of teaching experience.
Salary
The MA TESL (could have been in anything) got me RMB 2500 a month. 2200
is average for MA holders and what I'll be getting next year in Beijing, but
Guangdong province is more affluent and I guess I got lucky (it was not something
I negotiated). I was paid in advance on about the third of each month.
I received salary September through July 15, including paid winter break holiday
(about four weeks around January and February). Plus RMB 2200 annual travel
allowance. No pay for summer holiday, July 15 to August 30.
Housing
Provided free of charge on campus. Washing machine, air conditioner, refrigerator,
TV, bathroom, tiny kitchen. All 8 foreign teachers on my campus have their own
two room apartment in the foreign teachers building. (Some schools provide two
rooms only to Masters degree holders, and single rooms to Bachelors degree holders.)
Air fair
One round trip ticket each year, from Guangzhou to my home town in USA (San
Francisco). I had to buy it myself first, and was fully reimbursed, half in
October and the other half, after completion of my contract, in July.
Class hours
Twelve 50-minute hours per week (each hour includes a 10 minute break). This
is less than a part time job anywhere else, and pays less too ;-) But my life
is about people, not money. Maybe I'm a little nutty? It's 4:00 AM and I'm writing
this for you for free. TEFL-China, and TESL-L for that matter, happen because
people care about each other. I guess I work 50 hours a week, but only 12 in
the classroom.
Class size
20 to 25 students per class, x 6 classes (135 students all together), one two-hour
meeting per class per week.
Annual contract
I renewed for a second year in 1997. The campus is in a suburb and I want to
live in a city. So I've decided to live in Beijing next year. Besides, the lack
of academic support has left me professionally lonely. I don't like being a
one man band. So I'm working on a contract (and relationship) with Central University
of Finance and Economics in Beijing for the coming fall/spring year. The salary
offered is RMB 2200 a month (compared to my current 2500/m). Clearly I'm after
something other than money. Just what that might be I'd love to talk about --
there is another subject for other emails and cups of tea when our paths cross!
FAO
My Foreign Affairs Officers (FAO) have been great. They take good care of me
when I tell them I need help. They also arranged and paid for one half-day touring
excursion locally each semester for all the foreign teachers together.
Academic support
Very little. The merger between the two universities which joined to form GDUFS
in 1996 has eroded the academic climate, the climate is stagnant, the students
are disappointed and so am I. I discovered freedom to struggle as best I could
with classroom culture shock and uninteresting conversational English texts.
Functions of American English Cambridge University Press (pirated copies
of the China edition), assigned for four of the classes turned out to be the
most usable text. Lots of the instructions are in Chinese though. So I didn't
really figure out how to use the book effectively until my second year. I've
supplemented with games and activities from Klippel's Keep Talking, Cambridge
University Press (buy it abroad, it is not available in China), and other communicative
activity books from ALTA - USA Phone 1-800-ALTAESL.
And of course, Students!
My students have a wide range of English proficiencies, often within one class.
They are bright young go getters. The teacher centered classroom culture has
taken some getting around. It tends to call on me to know everything, say everything,
and be everything. I am none of that of course. Turning the students on their
own excellent intellects in twos, threes, and fours, has saved me enormous face.
I'm happy to have shared my time with them. I hope they feel the same. there
is some sadness that I'll be moving to Beijing. So maybe something's been going
right. I'm still striving for magic and I'm happy when they are happily talking
in English with each other.
Quality educational institutions take generations to develop. Help wanted :-) find jobs at Dave's ESL Cafe Jobs Offered board (search it for "China" or "city/region of your choice") -- http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/wwwboard4/wwwboard.html
All the best,
Contracts with universities
On the subject of contracts Carol Griessen writes:
<< as someone who has never been to China before, I don't think I would
know what to do if things went wrong. Who exactly can teachers turn to if their
employers start changing the contract, or going back on agreements? >>
I agree with Roger that relationships are more important than the details of the contract. I think you can be confident that your employers will honor their contract with you as they understand it. The problem is that there are many practical matters that are not covered by the contract and it is subject to interpretation.
I have seen many westerners try to negotiate for better terms in their contracts with the Foreign Affairs Office. This is usually futile. It is much smarter to pay attention to your relationships with the FAO staff, housing staff, department colleagues and students. If their reports about you are good, you will be treated well.
Be aware that universities are state run enterprises and as such they are having the same financial troubles as other state run enterprises. They are often not getting increases in their budgets from the central, provincial or local governments, and they have not yet learned how to raise money from other sources. As a result the tendency is to try to cut expenses where they can.
If you feel you are being underpaid, find out what other foreign teachers with similar credentials and similar experience are earning in your area. If your salary is similar to theirs - also benefits and housing conditions - then you won't have much luck getting more through the Foreign Affairs Office. Your best bet in that case is to discuss the problem with colleagues in your department. Often the department is running for-pay courses as well as the regular curriculum. They might give you some extra hours for extra pay out of their departmental budget. You can also discuss your teaching load with them if you think it is excessive. If you are doing a good job and cooperating with them, they have ways of taking care of your needs. Again, these relationships are critical.
If you have a disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Office, don't become demanding or confrontational. Discuss the matter with your department or others on campus with whom you have a relationship. Ask them what they think. Ask them to discuss the issue with the FAO on your behalf. This is the Chinese way of settling disputes while maintaining harmony in relationships. You will be highly regarded if you handle things in this way rather than getting into a debate with the FAO about what is or is not fair.
My experience is that the Foreign Experts Bureau can play an advisory role, but I doubt that they can get your local FAO to do what you think they should do.
Good luck
Linell Davis, Nanjing University
