Now ye're talking - to a teacher in Dubai

Mistynight wrote: »

Interesting thread. Thanks for taking the time.
Two quesions:

Would adding a second subject make it easier to find realistic hours at home?

Do you notice the vast inequality in Dubai or is it something that is evident? It’s always put me off the idea of travelling/working there.

Like others have said, the salary seems lower than I would have expected. But it makes sense given the number of teachers heading over annually. Having accommodation taken care of is definitely a huge perk.

Hi, no problem!

It would really depend on the subject, and the part of the country. I have looked into adding another subject, but I can't get a straight answer from the Teaching Council about the modules I'd need to complete (despite multiple emails), and I couldn't take the chance on picking modules on Open University, only to be told by the Teaching Council that they're not going to accept it. It would cost a few grand to add a second subject, and I couldn't commit to that kind of money without having a module list from the Teaching Council in writing.
Funnily enough, my degree used to have an option to take on a second subject, but they took that option away after I was already a good way through my degree. Accordingly to the head of my degree, the Teaching Council told them that "Music teachers didn't need a second subject, because we'd easily get full-time hours if we included all the choirs, concerts and musicals" we also do. The Teaching Council refused to hear otherwise, even though their statement was absolute bull!

In terms of inequality, the rich are very rich over here, and you can see that with some of the shops and yachts that you can see.
There's no homelessness in Dubai - if you don't have a job, or a means to support yourself, you're repatriated back to your country of origin.
Personally I don't think it's that obvious in Dubai, but I tend to stay within my own expat groups, so I'm with people in the same income bracket as me, if that makes sense?
Salaries are higher in "premium" schools. My school is cheaper. The inclusion of accommodation in my package is definitely a huge perk.

vriesmays wrote: »

That's not even the average wage in Ireland. She could have stayed and got a better job in a different area but those who can do while those who can't teach.

I make it a personal policy to not feed the trolls.

Fan of Netflix wrote: »

Yeah I think Irish in particular and all the other languages are in big demand. But I think if the terms (eg lack of hours and lack of permanent position) aren't good enough teachers will keep going to the Middle East.

The one thing I can say I've noticed in Dubai, is that Irish teachers are everywhere - teaching Primary, Secondary Maths, Science, MFL, English, History, Geography, Business, Art, Music etc. We haven't all just moved over with the same subject, we're collectively teaching all of the subjects, and the one thing that keeps coming up, from everyone, is the lack of hours, jobs, and job security back home.
If sustainable long term employment, that's going to give us a decent standard of living, isn't achievable at home, then we have two situations.
We either:
1: Leave teaching altogether, and find a different type of employment in Ireland,
Or
2: Take our teaching degrees somewhere that will give us the hours, even if it does mean breaking our loved ones hearts (and our own) every time we have to go back to the airport to leave home again.
Most teachers I know have wanted to be teachers for years, and have done between 4-6 years worth of degrees to get there. By the time we're qualified, we've been studying nearly as long as it takes to get medical degree!
I've known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was 4 years old. I've known that I wanted to teach Music since I was 8 year old. By the time I was 12, I had the degree I wanted to do fully picked out. I genuinely couldn't imagine having to give it all up and doing something else, but that seems to be what I'd have to do in order to come home, and that shouldn't be the case.

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Quiet possibly. I was referring to foreign languages when I said languages. History was one I was thinking of when I said there's other subjects with over supply.

English definitely has a high supply but there's a high demand too. If you have a useful in demand second subject you will definitely get a lot of hours as an English teacher.

Too many mono subject English teachers though.

I get the point you're trying to make, but who gets to decide which subjects are "useful", and which ones aren't? Not everybody in the world wants to follow a STEM career path, and aren't we supposed to be focusing on STEAM and not STEM these days anyway?

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

For me and for the purposes of this discussion useful is meant as in demand.

Actually to change the subject are there more monosubject teachers in your school than you would expect in a similar Irish school.

There was suggestions sometime ago that having more monosubject teachers would be a good thing for the Irish education system (eventually leading to raising requirements to teach that one subject).
To be honest the reason there's so few monosubject teachers in certain subjects is that there's too many dual subject teachers.

Fair enough.
Apart from Primary school teachers (who obviously teach multiple subjects), every Secondary school teacher in my school teaches one subject only, irrespective of how many subjects they're qualified to teach. That seems to be the norm here, and it was the norm in the school I worked in when I was in the UK too.
It would definitely be interesting to see if there would be a change in the hours available in schools, and the types of contracts being given out, if all teachers in Secondary schools taught one subject only.

p15574 wrote: »

I think it's awful that we educate teachers only for them to have to leave due to lack of full-time permanent positions. But isn't a large part of this due to teachers going to Dubai etc in the first place? Meaning, teachers in permanent positions taking a leave of absence to go to the Middle East, preventing someone else getting that permanent position?

I agree, it is awful that we have to leave the country because of the lack of hours back home. Most of us would love to be able to go home, but the lack of job security is a big factor in preventing that. Unfortunately, this is something that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
As of 2015, teachers covering for those on career break also qualify for CIDs after two years (taken from the ASTI website). Once school's keep the same teacher covering a career break, if the hours are still there in their 3rd consecutive year, they will be made permanent.
I've never had permanency in Ireland, and I've never covered a career break, but as it stands, it is technically possible to be made permanent covering a career break.
One of the main issues there is that there are a lot of schools that are getting rid of teachers after a year or two years, in order to ensure that they won't have to give them CID in their third year.
There aren't as many teachers in the UAE on career break anymore, it's definitely more teachers that can't get hours back home.

Black Swan wrote: »

Are there any distance online teaching opportunities in Dubai (i.e., reside in Ireland and teach online to students in Dubai)?

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any opportunities like that. A lot of teachers already in Dubai tutor children outside of school, so there wouldn't really be a market for it.

Wexy86 wrote: »

What is the cost of living like? As in transport to/from work, electricity, WiFi, etc trying to see if the cost of living cancels out the free accommodation

Dubai is an expensive city to live in.
Taxis in general are much cheaper in Dubai than in Ireland.
You can also fill a tank of petrol in your car for approx. €20 over here.
The cost of renting a car can range anywhere from about €300+ per month. You could buy a car second hand, which in the long run would be cheaper, but it's not something I plan to do at the moment.

The cost of WiFi is eyewateringly expensive, significantly more so than back home.
There are only two companies in Dubai that provide internet for your home (Du and Etisalat), and they are both publicly owned, so they have the monopoly on things.
You can also only buy a package from the company that is installed on your building, so that removes any need for competition among the companies.
I pay €90 a month for my internet package. It also comes with a phone line and a TV box, but I don't use either. However, they won't give me a package for just WiFi, so this is the cheapest one I can get.

My electricity depends on how much air conditioning I use. When I don't use very much, my electricity/sewage/municipality charge is around €85 per month, but in the last few months it's been more than double that, as it's been too hot to not have the air conditioning on pretty much constantly.

finisklin wrote: »

Hiya,


great AMA by the way.


What do you do in your spare time? You referred that you don't really drink so that reduces pub time perhaps.


Have you taken up any new hobbies or developed new skills?


Do you wait to buy your clothes when you go home (Pennys, Dunnes etc.) to save cash or splash out in the dubai mall?


Is your friend network Irish or are there different nationalities in it?

Hi, thanks!

I'd go out for a few drinks, or the odd Dubai Brunch, but it's not something I'd do every weekend.
I tried joining a GAA group last year, to meet more Irish people, and learn a new skill (I never played it at home), but I'm not sporty, and am horrendously uncoordinated, so that didn't work out too well... I'm not sure yet whether I'll go back this year.
It took a while to stop feeling like I had to go out brunching and drinking all weekend every weekend, like the people I met when I first moved over.
I joined a group for quizzes and games nights, so I'd do them at least once a week now. I've made some good friends from there.
I also go to the mall and/or cinema, but that wouldn't be every weekend.
There's a pool in my complex, so I would spend time there as well. Sometimes I go to the beach.

I bought most of my things while I was at home for the Summer, as it works out cheaper.
I'd order the odd few bits online for back home home, and my parents would bring them out if they're visiting.
Dubai has a lot of the shops that we have at home (H&M, M&S, Zara, Next etc.).
I wouldn't splash out at Dubai Mall if I can avoid it. Some of the prices there can be crazy! However, you can get some good deals during the sale periods.
Penney's would make an absolute killing if they opened a store here!

When I first moved over, my friend network was all Irish, as I hung around with the people from my school that had been on my flight. However, I wasn't as much of a partier or as sporty as they were, so I wouldn't hang out with them any more. There wasn't any animosity between us, we just floated in different directions. We're all perfectly civil towards eachother when we bump into each other.
I'm in a bit more of a mixed group now. Off the top of my head, my friends group are a mix of Irish, British, American, Canadian and Serbian. I'm probably forgetting a few of them, so I hope they don't end up seeing this!

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I see the teaching union rabble are rousing again over here threatening strike action, ‘demanding’ this and that but never ‘giving’ anything. Are there teaching unions over there?

Which one? There are three teaching unions - the INTO, ASTI, & TUI. If the unions actually banded together on the main issues and then went looking for a better deal on behalf of teachers, then I might be more inclined to believe that anything would actually happen. But usually they end up breaking ranks, and nobody gets a decent deal out of it. They just keep been bending over backwards for the Dept. of Education and Teaching Council to do whatever they want.

I very much resent the tone of "oh the teachers are at it 'demanding' things". It comes across as "why don't they just shut up and put up with it. They should be grateful that we even pay them at all". Not the first time I've heard that actual sentence either.
Teachers give more than enough as it is. Terms & conditions, pay, job security, and funding for schools have been decimated over the last decade. It's about bloody time we actually get something back for all that we've had to give and conceed!
And that's not me being 'entitled'. We know when we go into teaching that we're never going to be rich. But we are highly qualified professionals, who are treated worse than dog sh*t by a lot of the public. We can't plan for our futures because most of us don't know if we'll even have a job next year. A lot of us still live at home with our parents (if we're lucky enough), because we can't afford to rent (never mind the pipe dream of applying for a mortgage!). I don't think it's unreasonable to want to be able to move into somewhere of our own and not spend the rest of our lives living with our parents! I don't think it's unreasonable to want to be comfortable, and not be constantly stressed and worried about how we're going to afford to pay our bills, or what we're going to do if an unexpected expense comes up. I don't think it's unreasonable to want fair remuneration for the work we do. It's not a 9-4 job. Most teachers are in school an hour before school starts, and and hour or two after school ends. We take work home with us every night (school holidays included) so that the students aren't left waiting for work back. We come into school during midterms and dedicate hours after school to give extra classes to exam years. I don't think it's unfair for us to want to be able to afford to heat the school in the depths of Winter, to have smaller class sizes so that we can focus more on each individual student, and to have the funds from the Dept. of Education so that we can have up to date resources to actually teach the kids in the first place!
The Teaching unions give/conceed more than anyone should have to, to the Dept. of Education and Teaching Council. It's about time that some of the "demands" as you've phrased them, are actually met. But I won't hold my breath.
No teacher wants to miss class time with their students if it's unavoidable, but it seems that the only time anyone actually starts listening is when parents are going to be inconvenienced by school closures. Not that teachers ever get much support for wanting decent conditions for themselves and their students. Usually it's just used as another stick to beat us with.
Funnily enough, everybody (rightly) supports the nurses when they strike for better conditions, but the very idea of teachers striking for better conditions is met by a lot of people with nothing short of absolute rage. People seem to forget that we all had the same CAO form.

No, there are no teaching unions in the UAE.

finisklin wrote: »

Hi again,

I have been to Dubai before and it strikes me as a completely different reality to probably anywhere else in the world.

The opulence of the hotels, food, cars and luxury available is so far removed from anything I have experienced previous.

How do you stay grounded because it's just not real or couched in any Irish or perhaps western world reality?

Also, for those within your group that are saving, how much would they expect to put away every month/year? 60-70% of their income?

For those saving for a house or whatever when they move back home, how committed are they? Or do they let their hair down and go nuts in the dubai mall every pay day?

Dubai is absolutely not real life, and I don't try to pretend that it is. Whenever I see something extravagant, I usually end up messaging my family back home going "you won't believe what I saw today!". I have no expectations that I should be buying any of those extravagant things.
I think it's easier for me to stay grounded because I'm living and working here. I wouldn't have any need to stay in a hotel, because I have my own accommodation. I can't afford the luxury cars, so they're not even on my radar. The food is amazing, but I wouldn't be going out for it every day, so it's a nice treat when I do. I like to window shop when I go by some of the very expensive shops in the Malls, but it's usually in a jokey "if I ever won the lotto" way.
I'm not sure how much the people in my friend group are saving. Money isn't a topic that would naturally come up. There's absolutely no way that a single person living in Dubai would be able to save 60-70% of their income per month. It might be slightly more realistic for couples that move over, to live off one wage, and save the other one.
I was really bad at saving last year, but I'm trying to be more disciplined this year. I'm sending 20% of my wages home at the moment, because I'll need to book my flights home for Christmas next month. When I have that sorted, I'll be able to save a bit more.
I could not afford to blow my wages in the Mall on pay day. I might be getting a good deal with accomodation, but I still have bills to pay!