Union Rep Training: June 25/26

Workplace reps are lifeline of a fighting union. Having a rep in your workplace means everyone knows their rights. If issues do come up or someone is facing a disciplinary, having a rep means never facing those issues alone. Not a rep in your workplace? Maybe that person should be you! The TEFL Workers’ Union … Read more

ELT, Colonialism, and Capitalism: TEFL’s Gordian Knot

Image reads: "Another World is Possible" and has the logo of the IWW education workers

The TEFL Workers’ Union was delighted to read Alice Rodgers’ article in the EL Gazette, Can we disentangle TEFL from its colonial past? Alice looks at the myriad of ways that TEFL is inextricably linked to global structures of empire, oppression, and exploitation. Self-perception and reality TEFL views itself as a largely liberalising force for … Read more

Solidarity with British Council Staff

As employers across the globe continue to use the pandemic and the resulting economic crisis to attack working conditions, staff at the British Council are being balloted for strike action by their union, PCS. The dispute centres on the failure of the British Council to properly consult on redundancies as well as threats to privatise … Read more

The British Council and the PCS

The British Council is defining institution within the global ELT industry. With a potential strike looming at the BC, we hear what it was like to work at the BC as well as an analysis of how the current state of the BC fits into a wider shift towards neo-liberal economics. By a former British … Read more

“I got no benefit out of this”: An account of working at Kaplan Pathways

An anonymous former teacher at Kaplan Pathways lays out what it’s like to work under a precarious contract and in the absence of supportive managers. But it doesn’t have to be this way. This is exactly why the TEFL Worker’s Union is organising at Kaplan. We all deserve stable hours permanent contract and a predictable … Read more

“We know our experiences best”: An interview with Tyson Seburn

The TEFL Workers Union is proud to have interviewed Tyson Seburn. Tyson is an English language teacher who has been a consistent voice for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the industry and has even produced a prototype on what a non-heteronormative text book could look like. Check out his work and follow Tyson on Twitter @seburnt Tell … Read more