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Thursday, October 04, 2007

The British Schools, Italy


The British Schools suffer to a lesser extent from the same problem as The British Institutes. Each must be taken on its own merit as standards differ so widely. The Inspector has received reports of the following schools in the group which should be avoided at all costs. Do however remember that some schools in this chain are fantastic, whilst others are the absolute pits but be careful not to tar all the British Schools with the same brush - just be ultra-careful if a school is blacklisted here.
If any school does not deserve to be here please let the Inspector know.

The British School of Avellino
The British School of Caserta
The British School of Livorno
The British School of Lucca
The British School of La Maddelena
The British School of Maglie
The British School of Pavia
The British School of Pisa
The British School of Potenza
The British School of Roma
The British School of Rome
The British School of Vercelli
The British School of Verona


Inspector McHammered of the Lard in Val Ferret, Switzerland


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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so pleased to see this site - Please add British School Vasto. The owner changed my contract - despite being shown e-mails sent to me confirming the terms and conditions. Did not provide the apartment as promised which belonged to a relative (so no cost to her) but stuck me in a hotel room (owned by her husband for 3 months saying the heating didn't work in the apartment - it would be fixed. Got one meal in evening & no place to cook (so I had to eat out which was expensive on the salary). Contracts she had were posponed - so she told me I would have to make up hours over the coming months or not be paid (not the arrangement in the e-mails). With travelling I was expected to work 60 hours a week. When I threatened to leave she moved me into a relatives flat (together with all the relatives possesions) and simply cleared a section in the wardrobe for me (luxury eh!). She told me I had to ask permission to have visitors as it was her sister's flat. (I am not a youngster I am over 40). Obviously this is an abridged version - it was much worse- does it qualify?

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable!! I think it's worthy of an entry all by itself - if not a book!

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

The Inspector has unearthed the following info:
There are a lot of rogue "British Schools" not officially connected with the main lot. Seems like it was once a franchise owned by some shady characters and the franchisee's decided to mutiny. Litigation followed by accusation and counter-accusation ending in a settlement whereby the mutineers paid off the shady franchisor which means that now you can't see the wood for the trees. Some are linked to the original bad lot some are linked to the mutineers and some have gone their own way.
The British School Vasto is not part of the mutineers so could be anything. Any clues anyone?
All the Inspector knows is that all the original shady lot should be burnt at the stake along with some of the mutineers and a fair few of the independents. The British School of Pisa, which is quite a big school seems to have been booted out of the mutineers group.

Anonymous said...

You know that your beloved Saxoncourt do much of the recruitment for British Schools, right? :-P

I have actually worked for the British School of Bari and am glad to see that its two sites aren't blacklisted. The owner is a really decent chap, although it has to be said that the wages are pretty low.

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

Not all The British Schools are bad and only the ones that are The Inspector has heard are dodgy, are actually blacklisted.
It beats me why the good ones don't simply change their name as the "iffy" ones can tarnish the reputation of the good ones.

Anonymous said...

According to your list, looks like one of them might have been trying- are Roma and Rome really two different schools??

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

There are four British Schools in Rome commonly known as "British Schools Roma" hence the listing as both Rome and Roma.

EnglishTeacher365 said...

Ah, Italy! Been there, done it, and still got the scars to prove it. Keep up the good work, 'Inspector'!

Anonymous said...

British Schools Pisa: no contract as promised, less hours than promised and upon insisting on a contract for the permesso di soggiorno, fired and replaced in a gunshot! Though it sounds like I was lucky to be paid at all compared to some of these stories, though it was 100% cash. Dodgy dealings, high staff turnover: steer clear!

Mark Bowman said...

Anonymous comment on Pisa seems irresponsibly vague, grammatically inept as well as being non-attributable. How many British Schools are there in Pisa? Which one is in the frame? Interesting idiom - "Replaced in a gunshot!" Less used instead of fewer. No contract was promised so what's the complaint? With this level of English, lucky to a job teaching English anywhere!

Anonymous said...

will be moving to Rimini - any reasons why the British School Rimini should be on the list of blacklisted schools as I heard it was supposed to be quite good?