Ukraine, TEFL and the Politics of War and ‘Extremism’ What can a charity football match teach us about about UK foreign policy and domestic policies like Prevent? Quite a lot it turns out. In the article below, a member and activist with the TEFL Workers’ Union looks into the unspoken politics of a charity football … Read more
Introduction to series The Teaching English as a Foreign Language industry can be broadly categorised into 3 areas; TEFL, ESOL and EAP. But what do these acronyms mean? How does each differ from the other, if at all? What does this mean for the teachers delivering these courses? And for campaign organising? In a series … Read more
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
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 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
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