Manchester School of English - a Crap Job! with a difference?!

Well, thank God for Sandy's spy network. Without my loose alliance of sinister Teflers, I would never have found out about this double-dodgy outfit, who, according to my top-secret informant, "may even have links to terrorism"!!

Their list of "misdemeanors" is quite lengthy, as you'll see. Previous employees have declared them guilty of...

• Making people redundant without giving proper notice periods, etc.


• Sacking TEN people in two months


• Refusing to pay salaries/wages or invoices


• Being run by Indians who are themselves illegal immigrants


• Having no experience in running language schools - the levels are all mixed up


• Claiming to have an accommodation service where there is none


• Having no accreditation service


• Being a 'front' for other activities - the "school" is just a couple of rooms


• Employing unqualified 'teachers' and having no Director of Studies


• Illegally hiring teachers as self-employed to avoid PAYE tax and NI


• Paying crap wages - eight quid an hour

Yet it gets much worse. Look at this further report from Agent X...

A friend of mine had the misfortune to be employed by them, and their misogynistic treatment of her was pretty poor. The turnover of all the staff seemed high, even though my friend was only there a couple of months. The sacking is not so much the issue, but she was quite simply told she couldn't do the job - the whole thing could have been handled better, with proper notice periods given and outstanding wages of one week paid etc.

As mentioned before, there is no DOS, and the school is run by a couple of Indian immigrants who know nothing about teaching, yet supposedly offer IELTS courses. Interesting factors are: The father is often out of the country for months at a time, mainly in Lahore and Mumbai. He is in fact from Lahore and has no family in India apparently, and hasn't been seen for several months. He is a devout Muslim (not that that means anything of course of itself but when combined with extreme misogynism, it smacks of more to me).

Clearly it's the owners who are the real issue. They are a father and son outfit (both called Ahmed) and the link to terrorism can only be a suspicion in my mind, for otherwise surely the police would have done something. Although the elder seemed very charming on initial meeting, it was really a subterfuge, which soon dropped and he became really sexist - not just sexist jokes, but dangerous and violent stuff, talking about beating wives, pornography, and other distasteful stuff.

Well, they do sound a nice bunch of buggers, don't they!? They were advertising for teachers a couple of months ago, and the following ad tells you all you need to know...

Manchester School of English

English Language Teachers required for:

1. Morning 9am to 1pm

2. or evenings 6pm to 8pm.

*Must have degree plus Tefl/Celta/Tesol Certificate.

*Must be enthusiastic, organised, and have a passion for teaching.

*Native English Speakers only.

*Self Employed position – start pay £8.00 per hour - paid weekly.

To apply please email: info@manchester-english.com

Manchester School of English, 86 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6NG

Tel: 0161-237 1917

website: http://www.manchester-english.com/

So, there you - you'd better whizz your application in extra-pronto, as I imagine there's quite a lot of demand for such a choice plum of a Tefl job. I mean - eight quid an hour! This one's clearly the top of the Tefl tree in Manchester!

Actually, I've already done some preliminary investigations into this bunch of obvious shysters, and I've unearthed a few interesting facts about them. However, I'll keep you buggers in suspense a while longer, and publish the results tomorrow.

Until then, my dears...