Hi All,
Newbie on this site, and would like to get some reaction, thoughts and feedback on the topic.
Background: I'm a CELTA trainer based in Toronto, Canada. We have had a number of trainees of Far-East and Middle-Eastern background who wanted to know about their prospects as (CELTA) qualified ESL teachers, as well as what they might reasonably expect as they go abroad to teach.
In Toronto people are used to 1st generation immigrants who are struggling with English, and 2nd, even 3rd generation ethnic Canadians who are fully competent in English (and whatever language they use at home). I think most Canadians know not to judge someone's competence in English based on how they look. (I have deliberately skirted the term 'native', as it is fraught with problems in meaning I think.)
At my school we have a number of qualified, non-Caucasian teachers (Asian and black) for our General English classes. Our students come from a wide range of countries and backgrounds. Anecdotally, we've had a handful of requests to change classes because the students would prefer 'a different' teacher - code for 'Canadian', 'Caucasian' (we know this from our student feedback and class-changing procedures, some deduction and some other unofficial channels). With the vast majority of students the ethnicity of their teachers never come up as an issue.
I have two main points I would like to invite everyone to speak to:
1) What is your experience (first-hand; observation, etc.) related to this topic?
2) What caution or advice would you give a newly qualified non-Caucasian teacher who wants to teach in countries where their ethnicity might be an issue?
Thank you very much in advance for your input and ideas!
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That's so sad! It doesn't matter if you are caucasian or non-caucasian , you must be competent. I'm from Brazil and we don't have problems with that... we have teachers of different ethnicities here and that is not a problem.
Advice? I don't have any advice for them. We have have foolish people in everywhere, they just have to look ahead and keeping doing their job. God bless them!
This problem is one that I have seen many times.
I have worked for several different organisations, both locally and internationally owned, in China, and 75-80% of those companies recruit teachers in a prejudiced manner. Some, usually locally owned companies, are very direct (to the point of being rude) about it, and those who are more polite about it but discriminate anyway usually have two reasons/excuses for it: a) It's what the customer wants (usually based entirely on physical appearance). b) It's due to visa regulations (based on passport/citizenship, but flexible if other requirements are met).
There is some truth to both (I have seen customers refuse to take classes due to the teachers appearance).
So people who look 'non caucasian' are at a disadvantage.
Some things to think about, in relation to the matter:
- The companies that don't discriminate are the best ones in general (which means good teachers get good jobs despite the problem).
- Discrimination is by no means based only on appearance of race/ethnicity. I frequently see discrimination based on:
- age
- (potential) accent (ie. some schools hire unqualified teachers from the US over a professional teachers from the UK, and other schools the opposite; often the actual accent doesn't matter, just the belief that there is one.)
- general appearance (ie. how good-looking a person is, or their hair-colour, or weight; etc), and
- work/education backgrounds (eg. PhD holders and ex-business people with no teaching experience are regularly employed over professional teachers from entertainment, hospitality, arts, or labour backgrounds... even mentioning that you worked part-time in a supermarket while at University can harm your job prospects with some companies).
- All of these things are improving year to year.
Things are getting better, but good to be aware of the problems that still exist.I have a feeling that even a reputable organization like the British Council discriminates in its teacher hiring process. They often use the excuse that 'you did not do well in answering the pre-interview or interview questions' to reject non-native applicants. But they're always fairly lenient on the 'native applicants'. The yardstick they use to judge 'native' and 'non-native' applicants is never the same. I really wonder what their Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy is all about.
I would really like to hear anyone with similar experience with the British Council.
TE Team
The British Council has strict procedures in place to make sure that all applicants are treated equally whether they be L1 or L2 speakers and as such the 'yardstick' by which candidates are measured is always exactly the same.
In any selection process one reason an applicant will be turned down is because their performance in an interview was inferior to that of the candidate who got the job.
For more information about the British Council's Equal Opportunities in Employment policy please follow this link:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/teacherrecruitment-policy-equal-opportunit...
or their recruitment process:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/teacherrecruitment-recruitment-policy-our-...
Equality is a strange thing. It is very hard for it to work properly. The "right" that someone should have to work in a facility regardless of origin is basically the same "right" that a person has that wants to switch classrooms. It's called freedom of choice.