Teachers on Strike at British Rego School

Sijia Chen | Dec 10, 2013 9:00 am | 14 comments | 5347 reads

Teachers at Beijing Rego British School (BRBS) went on strike Monday as disputes over pay came to a head. Examinations are on hold and report cards will not be issued with less than a week to go before the end of term on Friday. Families – the few that remain – were told in advance not to send their children to school Monday. 

According to a well-placed source who asked to remain anonymous, teachers and staff were not provided salaries or housing allowances between August and November of this year. BRBS' board and CEO remain unresponsive despite repeated calls and emails from school staff.

Though BRBS staff finally received their pay and housing allowances in November, there is no word on what will happen this month. The school is not officially closed, but it is uncertain what will happen after December 13. Currently, only "two or three teachers" remain.

Despite an optimistic start at the beginning of the academic year, BRBS' initial enrollment of 70 students has shrunk to almost nothing. "All of them are gone," said our source.

In addition, calls to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education – the government department in charge of inspecting and overseeing schools in Beijing – have gone unheeded despite parents "begging" for a representative to visit BRBS.

Parents are reportedly fuming over the latest developments. Those who paid half a year's tuition will almost certainly look to other schools after the term is over, while those who paid for a full year are currently trying to get some of their money back – a possibility that our source believes is very unlikely.

The embattled school has experienced difficulties in the past, struggling with low enrollment and poor visibility. A new Head of School, Philip Billing, joined BRBS at the end of August but ended up leaving less than two months later in mid-October.

The problems faced by BRBS echo those of the Shanghai branch, which is also believed to have refused payments to teachers since August of this year. Furious teachers took to a local forum, Shanghai Expat, complaining that they had been promised payment “month after month” and that the delay had been explained as a result of the payment being made in euros rather than renminbi.

One member of staff at the Shanghai branch claimed that their medical insurance had not been paid since January 2013 while another reported that on November 26, the HR department “sen[t] text messages to the teachers…asking us to come teach today." The school was reportedly being operated by parents “since the Chinese assistants are on strike along with the teachers.”

Other sources in Shanghai suggested that teachers were initially suspended for informing parents about the financial problems at the school. There are also allegations that Principal Vanessa Armstrong fled to her native UK in mid-November due to the ongoing incompetence of, and lack of communication from, the school's owners.

Reported and authored by Sijia Chen and Oscar Holland.

This article originally appeared on the beijing-kids website.

Photo: ell brown (Flickr)

Comments

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Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 13, 2013 11:21am by JW80

Wow, you are quite ridiculous. Calm down.

I am not evaluating the school. I am not working right now, you are not a client.

I am speaking under the topic of this current situation. The situation in which a school only cares about making money, ripping people off and scamming teachers. I said, that I am surprised the Rego situation doesn’t happen all the time considering the amount of fake schools here. Don't you have better things to do than follow people around on your website making snarky comments? In this situation, you are wrong. I know more about most schools in Beijing than you, I guarantee it.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 13, 2013 10:45am by admin
(Reply to a previous comment)

whoa, JW, I stand corrected.

You've made it clear to me that the actual experience of the children and the parents aren't important in evaluating a school's quality.

It's the on-paper credentials and the level of cold, hard cash that expat teachers take home that shows me what a school's all about.

Now I know my daughter had a shitty time and a substandard education.

Thanks man, the veil has been lifted from my pitiful eyes after three years of being blinded by happy children and parents.

What a fool I've been. I just hope its not too late to save my poor child from the devastation of her preschool years.

JW80 wrote:
evaluating and recommending schools is a part of my job. 

Sounds if you don't take actual parent or child experiences into consideration when evaluating schools.

 

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 13, 2013 9:35am by JW80

We aren't talking about the experience of your child. There are kids at Rego who thought it was a great school too. I was referring to the fact that TFLH, as well as a big handful of schools in Beijing are 100% money-making factories. They either buy the international school label or use other names to get through licensing loopholes. Using "Learning House" is easier than using the word "school" in your title when it comes to establishing an educational business entity. Schools like this are owned by wealthy Chinese business people, not educators. They might look nice and fancy but when it comes down to it, the owners would rather buy a new BMW each year than hire experienced teachers. TFLH pays 14,000RMB on average to most of it’s foreign teachers. Beanstalk starts at 13 and Etonkids around 12,000RMB. Compare this to the real international school salaries of 30 to 50,000RMB a month plus benefits and it is pretty clear that the quality of teachers is not even in the same universe.

Just have a look at TFLH website, read the teacher bios. Here are some actual quotes:

“Has a BA in Business Administration”
“Is a newcomer to kindergarten teaching”
“He graduated with a Bachelor of Administration”
“a bachelor’s degree in Business Studies”
“a Bachelor’s degree in Biology”
“a Master’s degree in Wildlife Management”
“graduating from Canterbury Christ Church with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration”
“he joined a real estate company, which is where the base of his work experience has been”

These are not teachers, they are lost expats.

I’m sorry to have hit a nerve and mentioned a school that you clearly like. But there is nothing I am saying which is not true. Sorry, Michael, evaluating and recommending schools is a part of my job.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 12, 2013 12:53pm by admin
(Reply to a previous comment)

JW80 wrote:
Because you sent you child there you know what's going on behind the scenes?

yeah, in fact i did.

That's because for three years I interacted quite literally every single school day with my child's teachers, over the course of 3 classrooms as she got older. Most of her teachers are still there, so there's a strong indication that the place is not a mess.

My daughter didn't feel "squashed" at all. She loved it as did her peers and most of the parents who had their children there.

In fact in a very relaxed environment she was better prepared in math, English and Chinese than many of her first grade peers.

Was it perfect? Far from it. I love to gripe just as much as the next concerned parent, and I'm not surprised to hear there's disgruntled teachers, just like there are in probably every school. Thing is that I didn't happen to run into any of them in 3 years, with the possible exception of one of the foreign teachers she had for part of one year who left abruptly (but was replaced by someone my daughter and her friends really loved).

Anyhow the the proof is in the pudding: my daughter loved it, learned a lot both academically and in terms of virtues in a free-form, low stress environment, and to my knowledge virtually every parent that had kids in my daughter's class felt pretty much the same way.

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 12, 2013 11:12am by JW80
(Reply to a previous comment)
admin wrote:

Geez, you're painting with a pretty broad brush there.

Having sent my child to the Family Learning House for 3 years and knowing several families still there, I can tell you that there's very little shenanigans going on there as you suggest

Because you sent you child there you know what's going on behind the scenes?

I know 4 people who currently work/have worked there both Chinese and foreigners. The place is a mess internally. No English syllabus or curriculum and zero qualified foreign teachers. It's very pretty and they have some real Montessori teachers but they do not qualify for Montessori certification because they have half-assed the program by trying to squash English language, Chinese language, Virtues programs and other subjects in there.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 11, 2013 9:27am by britomart
(Reply to a previous comment)
Morpheus747 wrote:

the reason is, oh seasoned rookie to china, that chinese will continue to lie in order to keep the peace. its disguisting. They just flat out lie about pay, knowing full well that they cannot pay. They try to get every last hour of continuing operations, while the teachers continue to work and fend for their lives for bill payment. I have seen this personally happen in business as well here. The conclusion: China is a broke country morally.

Yes, this I know. I was asking not as a "rookie to China", but truly puzzled that these teachers wouldn't know that "China is a broke country morally", and that lies are standard procedure. Whenever a salary is delayed more than a week, that's a Major Red Flag That Something Is Majorly Wrong. Yeah, the kids really are the victims here, but when I've had this happen personally or advised friends who've been in this situation, the teachers' refusal to work as soon as pay is delayed is actually the best thing for all concerned. It forces the situation to come to a head quickly, so the kids/parents can get out if possible and head somewhere else before too much of the semester is lost. Continuing to be patient and teach without pay--even for the sake of the kids--is, in the long run, doing the kids a disservice, because eventually that sense of duty to the children will have to give way to the I-can't-pay-my-rent-buy-food. And when that happens, everyone will be too far into the semester to have any good options: the teachers will be left struggling to find other employment that's halfway decent, as all good teaching positions are generally gone by then, and the kids will be left mid-semester with no way to jump into another school. They'll be behind by a semester or even a year, if they can't find another school that will take them. Teachers shouldn't boycott after three months of no pay; they should start making some significant noise after a week, and then boycott after one month. The no-pay-no-work is especially important with newly-opened schools like this, since usually the owners who've started it have not planned for the inevitable financial strain of the first year. It's that first year in which owners/administrators start to panic when they realize just what a mess they've gotten themselves into... and teachers' salaries are usually the first thing to go.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 11, 2013 8:53am by admin
(Reply to a previous comment)

JW80 wrote:

Totally shocked... that this doesn’t happen every single day in China. With the amount of fake "International" schools here which are 100% owned by Chinese business people with no background in education, I can't believe there aren't more strikes. I'm looking at you Beanstalk, Etonkids, Family Learning House, BIS etc etc. Having done the circuit of fake schools, I have seen this type of situation happen over and over. Broken promises, unpaid salaries and teachers employed under false pretenses.

Geez, you're painting with a pretty broad brush there.

Having sent my child to the Family Learning House for 3 years and knowing several families still there, I can tell you that there's very little shenanigans going on there as you suggest

 

 

 

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 11, 2013 8:02am by JW80

Totally shocked...

that this doesn’t happen every single day in China. With the amount of fake "International" schools here which are 100% owned by Chinese business people with no background in education, I can't believe there aren't more strikes. I'm looking at you Beanstalk, Etonkids, Family Learning House, BIS etc etc. Having done the circuit of fake schools, I have seen this type of situation happen over and over. Broken promises, unpaid salaries and teachers employed under false pretenses.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 11, 2013 6:22am by admin
(Reply to a previous comment)

TheSword wrote:

The Tsui brothers, owners of the Beijing Rego School, are liars and crooks. They stole roughly RMB 7 million from a non-profit organization that was supporting NGOs in China. Do not send your kids to the Beijing Rego British School.

 

 

those are very serious accusations -- can you provide some sort of evidence that this is the case? Otherwise this borders on the libelous

 

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 10, 2013 11:18pm by TheSword

The Tsui brothers, owners of the Beijing Rego School, are liars and crooks. They stole roughly RMB 7 million from a non-profit organization that was supporting NGOs in China. Do not send your kids to the Beijing Rego British School.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 10, 2013 1:18pm by troublemaninbeijing
(Reply to a previous comment)
admin wrote:

Let's not forget that some teachers are doing it (gulp) not for the glorious salary but out of geniune passion for teaching and because they care about their students.

I'm not in their shoes (nor have I been) but if I were a teacher I'd have a hard time just walking out on the students in the middle of a semester ... if there are any innocents in all of this, it's the kids in the class.

Boom! You hit the nail on the head. At the end of the day, for many teachers, the kids come first. They'd continue to work for the sake of the children despite what's going on behind the scenes.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 10, 2013 11:03am by admin

Let's not forget that some teachers are doing it (gulp) not for the glorious salary but out of geniune passion for teaching and because they care about their students.

I'm not in their shoes (nor have I been) but if I were a teacher I'd have a hard time just walking out on the students in the middle of a semester ... if there are any innocents in all of this, it's the kids in the class.

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 10, 2013 10:54am by Morpheus747

the reason is, oh seasoned rookie to china, that chinese will continue to lie in order to keep the peace. its disguisting. They just flat out lie about pay, knowing full well that they cannot pay. They try to get every last hour of continuing operations, while the teachers continue to work and fend for their lives for bill payment. I have seen this personally happen in business as well here. The conclusion: China is a broke country morally.

Re: Teachers on Strike at British Rego School
Posted Dec 10, 2013 10:12am by britomart

I am curious to know why the teachers continued to teach from August to November without salaries. If there is no pay, there should be no work. I've found that schools and businesses here have a way of finding the weakest, most understanding employees and then making them suffer for the organization's financial woes. The "less understanding employees", those that refuse to continue working beyond a reasonable delay in payment (reasonable being anything under a week, in my opinion), will generally find their payment is suddenly available.

The key is always how those "less understanding" employees present their refusal to work--no visible anger, because if you show anger, you've lost--but rather a calm, reasonable explanation that if salaries cannot be provided, then work cannot be provided... and then you stick to that explanation no matter what arguments are thrown at you. There is no room for "understanding" when salaries are delayed indefinitely, especially not in this country.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)