British Council Reviews

Pros

1. Job security (unless you...)

Cons

1. Boring environment try to raise pay

Advice to Senior Management

Bring change

Pros

BC Seoul is VERY well paid in the industry. There is huge amounts of overtime going and the base salary is very nice: up to 750 pounds sterling per month, 2.3 million won local per month, 830,000 rent allowance per month, medical insurance, flights, bonus and tax-free for the first two years. If you're not saving a thousand pounds a month there is something wrong. When you work it out it is like earning 50k in the UK.

Professionally, you will teach on a huge range of courses, thus giving you a beefy CV and coupled with the professional development (CELTYL / TYLEC, DELTA, PGCEi, MA) you'll come out on top. You'll also get very good support from your colleagues

The centre has very good management these days who are responsive and understanding in most cases.

As of now (September 2011) there is a positive atmosphere in all three centres in and around Seoul and people seem to work well together.

Good holiday allowance and from 2012 these can be taken flexibly.

Cons

That said, management seem to promote those already in their 'circle', though this may be a perception amongst the bitter rather than the truth.

Very, very long hours including early morning starts - 7am classes meaning you'll wake up at 5ish.

Advice to Senior Management

They need to remember how hard teachers work and reward with positive comments. Extra work done on top, such as materials writing, is often unrecognised and unpaid.

Pros

Support - as a teacher you never have to deal with complaints or difficult customers beyond an certain point.

Training - colleagues tell me it's not as good as other employers, such as IH - but it's paid.

Atmosphere - depending on the centre (e.g. not Martinez Campos), colleagues are friendly and helpful.

International opportunities - it's relatively easy to move around in the BC.

Career development - I haven't ranked this very highly, as their insistence on the DELTA exam means that some incapable people are promoted, while other very capable people are stuck in monotonous positions. However, if you have this exam, there are decent prospects.

Holidays - very long, about 6 - 9 weeks (although inflexible).

Cons

Rigid hierarchy - see above note on DELTA. There is little to no flexibility within jobs and promotions are very official while unfair.

False transparency - managers usually employ who they want (and know), and make the incredibly lengthy applications fit their foregone choice. This means a lot of time wasted in hopeless applications.

Antisocial timetables/bad contracts - the centres that offer decent timetables tend only to offer short contracts, and those that offer permanent contracts demand antisocial working hours (Friday, Saturday, or both, as well as evenings). Inequalities surrounding contracts are famous both within and outside the BC. Teachers are only registered as working part-time (with preparation time not included), which means they fall short of the threshold for a standard pension.

Managerial attitudes - due to the rigid hierarchy, and since middle managers come exclusively from teaching backgrounds, their attitude towards teachers can be painfully patronising (eliciting the obvious etc.).

Decreasing pay - pay rises always happen in retrospect, and don't meet the real rise in the cost of living, so teachers are proportionally poorer each year.

Advice to Senior Management

Increasingly obsessive attention to the bottom line means that staff are less loyal and committed.

Lengthy internal application process does little to make selection objective. Much time and energy is lost in employees fighting to earn competency points, which does not encourage commitment to the company as a whole, but rather to managers' own career progression.

Teachers are the ones who deal day-to-day with middle managers and know whether they are competent, professional, and discreet. Feedback should be 360º.

Pros

Prestigious name that is recognised/appreciated throughout the world for its traditional "English" professionalism and stiff upper lip

Cons

packed with jobbers who have risen to the dizzy heights of middle-management through absing themselves in the remote hope of being selected for promotion

Advice to Senior Management

Go back to grass roots. Start to think as the management of an independent private company where your ability to compete in the market place is not merely based upon the fact that you're financed by UK plc

Pros

People excellent to work with
Good opportunities in the future likely for permanent staff (though I was only a contractor)
Using leading edge technology
Took me back after travelling for several months, big plus.

Cons

I was only contracting, going permanent was not a easy option.
Money offered was slightly lower than the market rate

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Advice to Senior Management

Enjoyed working here for the 10 months or so I did. Great environment to work in and easy going.

Pros

the culture is friendly, very nice colleagues. Everyone is willing to help out when you bump into a problem. They are open to your ideas.

Cons

Working in providing administrative support can be boring. You may find doing the same stuff day after day and pretty monotonous.

Advice to Senior Management

I think in the british council every employee is pretty much engaged in their roles, the leadership within the organization is alright.

Pros

British Council is a campany who cares about the employees and use careful methods to recruit and rewards the employess when necessary and pays sufficeintly

Cons

some times the management doesnt understand the values of the BC as a result people who work their are dissatisfied

Advice to Senior Management

The Management should be more cautious make sutre that internal customer care at its best so staff members are satisfied

Pros

They pay for your diploma - unfortunately it also one of the only organisations that recognise the diploma.
Opportunity to travel.
Decent holidays

Cons

Awful communication down the chain of command
Full of public school twits
They talk the talk on academic standards but this is rarely enforced.
Two year contracts only - then only an offer to go hourly paid, losing all other benefits for doing the same job.

Advice to Senior Management

Show a little more respect for teachers.