Peter Rodgers is fresh-faced, idealistic, and broke. The 20-year-old British undergraduate spent a large amount of his hard-earned money this summer on a trip to Ukraine, where he expected to volunteer for two months to teach English to underprivileged school children. He never imagined his students would turn out to be high-living housewives who could afford to pay $5 per lesson to a Ukrainian organization for private lessons in their own homes.
'I saw it as basically a holiday and some teaching, and doing a good deed,' said Rodgers. 'But I haven't stood up in front of a class. I'd much rather have taught kids than a fat 35-year-old. It would have been a lot more satisfying.'
Disillusionment is commonplace among young Britons like Rodgers, recruited to teach English in Ukraine by Travellers and Teaching Abroad, two separate organizations that share the same management in both England and Kyiv. The teachers complain that the organizations take advantage of the wanderlust and goodwill of many British students and recent graduates.
Eager to try their hands at teaching but lacking qualifications, Britons sent to Ukraine by the two organizations this year are paying 765 pounds ($1,224) up front for transportation, food, lodgings and a teaching placement. Some say they have been misled by the two organizations, which widely distribute promotional material at British universities and career centers, and have an Internet web site.
'It implied you would be teaching in schools. … Nowhere does it say that you are just free labor,' said Rodgers. Teaching Abroad's brochures do not state the organization is a charity. But in prominent lettering, the brochures ask for 'volunteers' to teach English in Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, India, Ghana and Lithuania.
The brochures also promise to provide food, accommodation, local travel, expert support and 18 hours a week at a 'worthwhile teaching job.' Many of the teachers sent by the organization to Ukraine say they assumed that the latter meant teaching those who could not afford to learn English from paid teachers. They note that the brochures highlight English classes for children and unemployed adults in Moscow and Siberia.
In fact, most students in Kyiv are adults paying Hr 90 ($49) for 12 private lessons with a foreign instructor. The fees go to V and A, Teaching Abroad's agent in Ukraine, which finds placements and accommodations for teachers. Rodgers said that his students were under the impression that the teachers received around $2 per lesson. In reality, teachers recieve no wages at all and are not even reimbursed for their travel expenses to students' homes. Most teachers have been given far less than the promised 18 hours per week of instruction time.
'We came out to teach voluntarily, but someone else is making money from it,' complained another teacher who asked not to be named for fear that her classes might be jeopardized. During a month in Ukraine, she has only given about six lessons.
'What we're all peeved about is the fact that we paid a lot of money which, though we realized it was too much, we thought was going to pay our [host] families,' she said. 'What we've found out is that the money doesn't come to Ukraine at all.'
Teachers are housed with Ukrainian families who also provide their food. Rodgers' host family was paid $70 dollars a month for his food and accommodation, of which Rodgers claimed only $40 came from the offices in Britain of Teaching Abroad, with the remaining $30 paid by V and A. Beyond the food and lodging money and the 150 pound Britain-to-Ukraine bus ticket purchased by Teaching Abroad, it is not clear to Rodgers how the organization has disposed of the 765 pounds he paid it.
Peter Sloane, Teaching Abroad's director in England, said in a telephone interview that teachers in Ukraine, whom he described as 'employed' by the organization, are wrong to say they have been misled. He said Teaching Abroad's promotional literature clearly states that lessons in Ukraine take place in summer camps, schools and private language classes, and that there are no references to underprivileged students.
'There's no suggestion of it. … I think teachers just assume that,' said Sloane.
He declined to discuss how the fees paid by teachers are spent. He said the 'modest sum' paid by teachers would be even larger if V and A did not charge Ukrainian students for lessons.
But minutes later Sloane stated that accomodation and food costs were paid in full from Britain by Teaching Abroad. 'We pay the rent and food and accomodation costs to our agent,' he said.
For his part, V and A Operational Manager Dima Vereschak said his agency does use tuition payments to cover accommodation and food expenses for teachers. He said tuition also goes toward transporting teachers to and from the airport or bus station, although Teaching Abroad's literature quotes extra prices for this service. Vereschak said V and A could not afford to cover local transportation costs incurred by teachers traveling to their lessons in Kyiv.
Sloane said his organization is meeting its obligations in full, and called complaints about how V and A operates in Ukraine irrelevant.
The teachers 'pay for a service; for food, accommodation and placement,' he said. 'If they don't receive any of these things, then they would have cause to complain to us. But the agreement which the local company has with clients is not our concern. The important thing is that everyone provides the service which they promise.'
Sloane said that teachers are welcome to complain to him about short teaching hours.
'If they told us [about the lack of teaching] we would remedy that immediately,' he said. He added that Travellers and Teaching Abroad have successfully operated in Ukraine since 1992, sending several hundred young British teachers. 'They usually have a great time, they like Ukraine,' said Sloane.
Teachers currently in Ukraine discount such claims and say they feel abandoned. The lack of teaching time has proven especially disappointing to those interested in making a career of teaching and who came out looking for experience. 'A reputable firm would have said that there wasn't the demand for teaching in summer and would cut down on supply,' said Rodgers. 'But the people in England just collect the money and send the people out; they don't care if you do any teaching or not.'
Vereschak said that V and A is responsible for providing 12 hours per week of teaching rather than 18, and that teachers would be paid for any additional time over 12 hours. He acknowledged that at present, no teacher has enough enough hours to earn a wage.
He suggested that teachers are always dissatisfied, whether they have too few hours or too many.
'The summer wasn't good for teaching,' he said. 'When I gave 10 hours to teachers they were very angry Р they certainly didn't want 18. But if they don't teach 18 or 12 hours they feel bad.'
Vereschak said that very few teachers have complained of any problems. But teachers told the Post that they have received no support from V and A, and have had to rely on their own resources to find help with problems like getting bus tickets back to England.
'We found a lot of understanding people to help us out,' said one teacher who came to Ukraine with Travellers but also
declined to be named. 'I've had a great time here, but it's no thanks to the company.'
Robert Devney spent several months in Kyiv in 1994 with Teaching Abroad. His discontent, he recalled recently, began upon arrival at the city's main railway station, when a Teaching Abroad employee presented him and other incoming teachers with fraudulent first-class degree certificates from British universities. He said the employee explained that the fake documents would help avoid bureaucratic complications. Devney, who still lives in Kyiv, has kept his as a souvenir.
'I got the impression it was a very shambolic organization,' said Devney. 'I don't think anyone [in my group] would say they were happy with the organization. If you expected any support, you didn't get any.' Back in 1994, Devney's main gripe with Teaching Abroad was that it did not properly supervise the teachers' housing. He recalls that one of his fellow teachers had money stolen by members of his host family.
However, three years ago, all 'employees' in Devney's group were placed in state schools or private language schools, and paid a small salary.
'Now they've realized they [Teachers Abroad] can get away with a bit more,' Devney said, referring to the predicament of the current crop of teachers.
'What I got was a very, very bad deal. What they're getting is exploitation.'
