I have been very fortunate to have taught English online to a variety of students, particularly with the Preply platform. Coincidentally, I have taught on-and-off with Preply for four years now, and it certainly helped during the pandemic. Fast forward from March 2020, and everyone seems to have jumped on the ‘online teaching bandwagon’ with many international institutions and organisations now singing the praises of how international students are able to connect with international teachers and now the entrance to online education is really now a laptop and a strong internet connection.

My response to an article published by the Guardian about English teachers employed to teach online courses for the British Council

This is in direct contradiction between how I approached the subject of online education during an international conference in Germany with other teacher training educators, and they dismayed online teaching as “not real teaching”. However, there is a growing regard for the skills required to teaching online – we only have to see Cambridge offering the online CELTA course or Nile ELT offering online courses to accommodate the growing need and desire to deliver online language courses.

We only need to look now at the British Council to see how much they have incorporated online English education, with them offering business English or exam preparation courses to potential online students. While this is a positive regarding the recognition deserved for online teaching, there is a growing tendency there to be a contradictory disregard towards those actually delivering online teaching.

In previous weeks, it was reported that many online English teachers recruited to deliver online courses for the British Council have been employed via employment agencies. Surely, if online education has now been regarded as an alternative of in-class teaching, then why would the British Council employ potential English teachers through employment agencies? There could be a range of reasons, but it is certainly a shameful act by an internationally recognised organisation who are admired by English educators and learners around the world to treat their staff like this.

One of the worrying trends in recent times, of course, is the precarious nature of teaching online. Despite many organisations relying upon more and more teachers to deliver online lessons, it still is considered an industry where educators could be exploited. In case of the British Council, many English teachers are required to demonstrate professional development by completing various courses, the DELTA, a young learner extension certificate, online teaching courses organised by Nile or FutureLearner. Having teachers dedicated to the profession to the degree where individuals are taking their own time out to enhance the delivery of content for the benefit of the students, then the question asked is “Are online English teachers remunerated accordingly?”. The answer, as highlighted by the article, is a solid “No”.

Every online English teacher working for the British Council is paid the same regardless their qualifications. Thus, you could have a highly qualified teacher with both in-class and online teaching experience, along with various qualifications to match, and then you could have a newly certified English teacher with little to no experience, with both being paid the same – £13 per class hour for group classes, or £7.50 for a 30 minute one-to-one lesson. When you consider how much individuals have invested in their career, the rates offered are highly offensive. Even more so when the British Council distant themselves from online English teachers by getting them employed through agencies.

If the British Council were to review their operations for their online teaching, it would be recommended that staff be treated respectfully and remunerated based on their qualifications and experience. There is some transferable skills that experienced teachers can draw upon, but further skills are necessary to teach successful online lessons. Finally, employ teachers directly, offer regular online lessons and offer the same opportunities to those that are working in different countries. The clear disparity between online and in-class teaching lower morale with an undercurrent of disregard towards those that are working as online teachers.

More Information

The original article from The Guardian is available to read and the TEFL Workers’ Union offers further information about the current events.