Yeah, it’s a huge problem here. I’ve also spoken to many Taiwanese people about this and they agree it’s fucked up. Bad cultural habits die hard though. Everyone wants to be a boss and “control” others. I’ve had some of my college students tell me that they want to be a boss. They couldn’t tell me of what though. But, a boss gets to be in charge and then they can set the rules. An adult student of mine even said that a boss has to be strict and you can never trust employees because if you do, they will steal from you and cheat you. I was flabbergasted when she said this.
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If you do need to leave and don’t have a job lined up, you can get a 6 month extension on your ARC so you don’t have to leave during this.
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Can you link a source to verify this?
Thanks for this! That’s what my friends here have told me as well. If circumstances were different, I’d pack up and head to a more professional market. But, I’ll have to stick it out until I can find something different. I love living in Taiwan, but the work culture has killed it for me.
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Me too. It’s more than passive aggressiveness though. It’s political maneuvering to dominate people into submission to prove you have power with passive aggression. Everyone wants to be the boss so they’re given titles that mean nothing and take them seriously to appease bosses. I have four bosses and we’re a tiny school. It has created a toxic environment.
I’m going to call the immigration tomorrow to check. Thanks
I’ve decided I’m out when Corona calms too. Taiwan wont change so I’m not going to be part of the problem. Vietnam and a few other countries have amazing working conditions anyway.
I’ve been teaching for a long time as well. My problems here are that:
A) I’ve never experienced so many behavioral issues at a school. I’ve asked for admin support and have received none. It’s all well documented and I think it comes down to the how the kids were managed in the past, the lack of prep time and the long classes were forced to subject them to.
B) I don’t understand the culture and they know it so they use the culture against me. This creates conflicts. Admittedly I can be fairly direct when problems need solving, but I’ve learned to bite my tongue. I also have let many, many issues go because I know addressing them will cause problems.
C) The level of organization is zero. My manager does as little as possible to help us out. Then when issues arise from their lack of organization, they try to save face by blaming the foreign staff. I’ve now received a warning letter for this. Fun times.
D) I didn’t click with the school when I started and I’m the outsider there. I go in, keep my head down and hope I can leave without some form of conflict. I’ve tried to fix this, but can’t. Its to the point where I’m constantly failing and I don’t know what to do to fix it other than leave.
Wow, your school situation sound much worse than mine. Sorry to hear this.
I guess it’s important to take comfort in knowing you are doing a fantastic job and the students will greatly benefit from your effort.
Not all schools are this bad. Learn from it and work on improving your situation. Start putting out feelers for other options. Lots of schools are looking for teachers and if you sit down with them and tell them what is going on at your current place and that this is not where you want to work, they might be able to work out a deal with you. If they are serious about you, perhaps they’ll include certain clauses in the contract that can reassure you this kind of shit doesn’t happen at their school.
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I teach university, but can relate - there are so many things I love about living in Taiwan, but dealing with the work culture has been huge and constant headache.
When you say they won’t let you go - do you mean they’re not being direct about being unhappy with you, or do you mean you’ve said you want to go and they’re against it?
Good luck to you.
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I think the six month extension to an ARC has been discussed here ad nauseam. Six months is the maximum, they may give shorter terms if you’re asking for time to get a new job. Your situation probably has some bearing on it, but people have said they’ve got six months easily. In these uncertain times, your chances are better.
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Can you link a thread where it’s been discussed ad nauseam then? I searched and couldn’t find one. Thanks!
https://tw.forumosa.com/search?q=arc%20extension
They haven’t been happy with me and are finding passive ways to communicate it. I think they want me to quit instead of dealing with firing me. So every issue has become a big issue and I often don’t receive any support from them.
Sorry to hear this. It sounds like a mismanaged school with the communication conflicts making the situation even more frustrating. Well, if they aren’t going to be direct in firing you, at least you can leave on your own schedule, when you’ve got your next step more sorted? I hope you can find a better situation.
If you’re interested in teaching at a different school with a better workplace culture, message me
Hey, any update to this? Did you leave your job? I’m in the exact same position except instead of weekly it’s daily and with one co-worker making my life hell and it’s only getting worse.
I’m just worried if I find a school, my excuse i left my previous job (In the middle of my first year of teaching, ever) is that I was being bullied by a co-worker and they probably won’t want to hire me.
From what I’m hearing schools are desperate for teachers. This is in the Taoyuan area, so it might be different elsewhere.
Unsolicited advice, but if you allow yourself to get bullied in one workplace there’s no reason why it won’t happen in the next place you work. Don’t let them do it to you. Walk into work tomorrow with an ‘I’m not going to tolerate this’ attitude. The sooner you do it the better.
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There’s also the possibility the co-worker wasn’t a “bully”, but someone frustrated with work-performance issues or maybe some cultural misunderstanding. Yes, there are occasional workplace bullies who delight in tormenting others, but I sometimes wonder about the other side of the story when I read about bad work experiences here.
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