Everyone knows that a huge amount of the work that goes into teaching happens outside the classroom. In most areas of education, teachers are given paid preparation and admin time. This is rarely the case in TEFL and it’s certainly not the case for online teachers at the British Council. Below, our members at the … Read more

Time and again, the promises of online teaching schools fail to materialise. If we want to make things better, we need to hold online schools to account. And that will take a movement of teachers, for teachers.  The reality of online teaching Whether we call it the gig economy, Uberfication, or platform-based learning, the move … Read more

This year saw the TEFL Workers’ Union continue to grow, campaign, and win. We’ve continued to hold ELT bosses to account, and shown that when we fight we win.  Don’t mess with the union! 2023 saw a string of public victories for our union, alongside groups of workers raising issues of pay and conditions collectively. … Read more

The TEFL Workers’ Union is glad to present this special report on the successful union drive and early negotiations of the BC teachers in Taiwan. If you work at the BC anywhere in the world, drop us a line at [email protected]. If you’re UK-based, we’ve got your back. If you’re in another part of the … Read more

“I don’t want to feel terrified about losing my job because of saying something a manager doesn’t agree with – especially now I am pregnant.” The British Council is probably the single largest player in the global language teaching industry. On top of running its own schools and accrediting other schools, the BC also runs … Read more

Following an intense two-and-a-half year campaign by the TEFL Workers’ Union, an English language teacher has won a historic £22k payout at employment tribunal. Mike Long had been employed by Bournemouth-based United World School of English for almost 20 years when it changed ownership. Mike soon fell victim to a drastically increased workload and pressure … Read more