Observing the unfolding catastrophe in the teaching English as a foreign language (Tefl) industry in Ireland, I have the sensation of a retired sailor seeing his fond old trading ship go down with all hands on deck. It’s time to get the lifeboats out before it’s too late and there’s nothing salvageable left.
Imagine for a moment that you are one of the young Chinese, Brazilian, Italian or French students wooed by clever branding to choose Ireland as a place to learn English. You now find yourself dumped without compensation or aid. Imagine the response of family and friends to your distressed Skype calls home. Imagine when such human interest stories break in the national press of client countries. The cumulative effect is potentially disastrous.
Like many recent humanities graduates, I found the Tefl industry the only one willing to provide me with a stimulating and often enjoyable job commensurate with my qualifications and intelligence. Working in Tefl exposed me to the whole revolving globe of personalities and nationalities, from Cretans to Bhutanese, from Shabak miners to Serbian executives, with all their wisdom and challenges. This was an invaluable character-building life experience for which I am grateful.
Tefl is great job for the young and single, but there’s no prospect of funding a family life on its typical wages. You begin with naivety and enthusiasm, but there is an inevitable parting of ways. The lack of staff retention is a serious block to the professional development in the industry. I know there are many like me who would have stayed on and helped to build it if the conditions were right.
My time in Tefl coincided with the dizziest period of the boom, when the sector experienced ballooning expansion fuelled by large-scale immigration. Visas were issued in the tens of thousands to young people from non-EU countries, in particular young Chinese, allowing them to work here provided they attended a set number of English language lessons every week. This was Tefl’s Klondike moment — and, boy, did the cowboys ride in.
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In an unregulated environment, sharp practices emerged in a damaging minority of cases, laying the basis for the current crisis. So-called schools emerged which were little more than visa-stamping offices. You paid your cash, got your stamp, and that was that. No other lessons necessary. Strong and persistent rumours circulated of one manager who swapped stamps for sexual favours.
From 2005-7, I worked in Ireland’s only state-funded Tefl school in Ballsbridge, Dublin. The centre was run by respected university researchers based in Trinity College. We spent much of our time developing teaching resources which were used by primary and secondary schools all over Ireland and beyond. It was a world-leading centre of educational research. At the very start of the recession, funding was withdrawn. The school building, next to the Ballsbridge Hotel, became a deserted eyesore, a constant reminder of the fate that the nation inflicted upon itself.
The OECD estimates that the global middle class will grow by 2bn by 2030, mainly in Asia and Latin America. Many of these people will need to acquire English. A fraction coming to Ireland would fund thousands of sustainable jobs. But no one’s going to board a sunken ship.
Here’s what Ireland must do to keep its Tefl industry afloat and off the rocks for good. First, and most urgently, cut out the chancers and undo the damage already done. All Irish Tefl schools need to be audited immediately and unsustainable ones brought under emergency state management to avoid further disasters. Dumped students need to be compensated fully and provided with good news stories to bring home to their family, friends and nations.
Then, we need to form a task-force composed of teachers, school managers and education professionals from other sectors to advance the industry at a nationally co-ordinated level. Root out the cowboys and promote the visionaries and the educators.
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And move Tefl beyond reliance on a revolving-door clientele from Spain and Italy by seeking bulk long-term agreements with governments of countries such as Brazil, Mexico and China. These would provide a good deal for students and funding for sustainable teaching careers.
Encourage UCD, DCU, Trinity and other third-level institutions to co-operate in setting up a national English-language teaching campus that will be an international hub of learning and professional development in English-language teaching, live research and materials development.
We need, above all, more of the Norway, and less of the Klondike, in our approach to Tefl. But are Jan O Sullivan, Damien English or anyone else in the steering rooms of government and education able and willing to show true captaincy on this issue?
Dave Lordan is a creative writing teacher and a former employee of a language school