Major Education Reviews

Pros

The pay goes in on time.

Cons

1) When I signed my contract, I was told they would give holiday tutoring work and help with income, instead the company are ghosting me despite my contract being valid. 2) Part time teachers work less hour and get paid substantially more than full time teachers who work less hours. Teachers speak, and hearing that part-time in the company is work a lot less hours for more pay is a kick in the teeth. 3) Asking for help with a difficult class resulted in my school manager writing up a negative report of me. No help was offered, no advice beyond "play games", and I was given a horrible review. No help was offered for a difficult class, instead the school manager punished me for seeking helping. 4) Often, the staff won't respond to emails about anything, even simple requests. The main boss is especially bad for this. Whenever I hear "Contact X....." I think "What's the point? She never responds". 5) The lessons don't matter, and being a real teacher lands someone in trouble. Major want people to play games and to act the part, not to run classes and teach English. 6) Some full time teachers get a lot less hours than other teachers for the same pay. Also, some teachers will be asked to ride hours each day all over Saigon to get between schools, and while other teachers won't be asked to substitute at all. And Major don't appreciate teachers who substitute, instead giving them more work, less pay and speaking down to them in emails. 7) The Vietnamese employees in the company don't speak, so asking questions results in a range of information coming up, many contradictory or unhelpful. 8) Teachers are timetabled for "admin time" with which to plan future lessons. This admin time hardly eventuate, most days I was called in to substitute, so I had to do the lesson plans on the weekend, in my own time. I was essentially working 7 days a week, each week, for a company that in the end ghosted me.

Pros

Managed staff and process very good

Cons

Hire more good staff with high salary for them, not low salary with junior to do multi-task

Pros

Good benefits and perks. Internal training is available for teachers during summer time.

Cons

No summer holidays. Training courses are long and sometimes irrelevant .

Pros

- Fellow colleagues are great - PD - Good management - Fair salary

Cons

- Only 8 months per year of work

Pros

Good company, understanding and friendly.

Cons

Delays with work permits and visas due to constant changes by the government.

Pros

Decent salary and the management generally cares about the well-being of all students and staff. Lots of career development opportunities. They encourage teachers to participate in decision-making and implement their own unique ideas in classes.

Cons

Communication is often unclear. There aren't enough educational experts in high positions so some of the big decisions are academically unwise or unethical.

Pros

- The expat staff were all easygoing, friendly, and helpful. - There were company events during special times of the year. - The training was applied and relevant. - Decent presents were always given for special times of the year (teachers day, Christmas, TET)

Cons

- Oftentimes, very short notice was given for requests (passport photos, starting new classes at new campuses), as in 1-6 days on occasion. Company-wide expats complained about this. - Resource quality (sticky balls, slappers good dice, etc.) started to decline in the later years before I stopped working there. Arguably, one could attain these things from stores, but they are harder to find than you might think. I think companies should be responsible for sourcing these things, even if teachers have to buy them.

Pros

**Major is a relatively large 3rd party contractor for public (and some private) schools. Your experience will largely depend on where you are placed and who your assigned manager is.** I had a dream placement, and a horribly incompetent manager. They were willing to negotiate all aspects of contract. All my requests were negotiated and met: location, age group, hours, and wages. I had a far better deal than most of my colleagues. Make of that what you will. Regular evaluations for salary increases. The salary increase percentage is well above average. Great bonus structure too. Upper-management is great and rewards professionalism. Regular social events and functions, they go all out. Surprisingly good. Very friendly. Everyone is fun and bubbly if you're into that sort of thing. This type of behaviour is rewarded. They paid and offered new contracts to part-time teachers during school closures, due to Covid. I cannot stress this enough, they had no obligation to help, but did. They went above and beyond. This is a good illustration of upper-managements ethics compared to how some of their direct competitors handled the Covid situation.

Cons

They do largely rely on happy-go-lucky, unqualified, or non-native teachers. It takes some doing to distance yourself from being treated as such. They do still need "real" teachers to keep the better schools happy, you have to push hard for these positions. Base pay is a joke, welll below average. Negotiate. Middle-management team is extremely unorganised and unprofessional. Lacking in transparency and withholding information is common. There is an "Us Vs Them" dynamic between foreign and local staff. I often felt left in the dark. **Again, this largely depends on your assigned manager, my manager has a reputation for being clueless. This did give me zero support, but also absolute freedom which was a positive** Typical public school job. Keeping clients happy comes before education. Show up with a white face and a smile. The syllabus is weak and you will need to supply more than what is provided, or you better be good at classroom managment and time wasting. It's easy if that's what you are looking for. Lastly, they are very happy to let low-effort teachers half arse everything, and then let hard-working teachers pick up the slack. I did 6 months of full-time when I first started, and was called in to sub at the last minute constantly. It was hell. I moved to part time, and my experience drastically improved provided I had a full schedule.

Pros

Major looks after it's teachers , even though we are going through a pandemic.

Cons

The emergency subbing is not nice and it is not based on a fair schedule.

Pros

Major Education gives you somewhere to stay as soon as you arrive. This is shared accommodation with other teachers, so you instantly get to know a network of different people. Not only that, but the company puts on a lot of social events. I think it's a good job for getting settled into HCMC, and Major are very friendly and helpful when it comes to getting you set up. There isn't much planning and really not much is asked of you. It's quite an easy role, so not bad if it's your first teaching job.

Cons

If chaos and disorganisation puts you on edge then this probably isn't for you. You have to be very flexible. This also probably isn't for you If you want to get some real experience as a teacher. If you've got a CELTA and you're expecting that you'll be able to use some of those techniques, that really isn't the case here. At times it felt more like crowd control. Sometimes it felt like teachers were expected to play the role of entertainer, rather than teacher. It can be chaotic and logic doesn't always seem to prevail when it comes to planning. For example, you may be chosen to teach in a school an hour from where you live but teachers who live really close to that school are sent elsewhere... usually somewhere really difficult for them to get to. Also, there seemed to be no logic when it came to finding substitutes for teachers who were sick. A teacher with a really busy schedule (who has already substituted several times) might be called at 6.30am to go and substitute at a school starting at 7am, whereas a teacher who has very few teaching hours may very rarely be called. Calling in sick was a really big issue, and Major doesn't do enough to follow up on teachers who are constantly calling in sick because they've been out the night before. Sadly other teachers had to pick up the slack for this.