Let's start with the fact that the purpose of an interview isn't only for an employer to get to know you; it's for you to get to know the employer. So after being initially intrigued by what I read about the French American Academy on its website and seeing an opening listed for a 4th/5th-grade teacher, I applied and was interviewed by Skype in September 2020.
However, I quickly encountered several red flags that soured me on the school and pretty much led me to want to end things right then and there. Most of it came down to the fact that the principal/director, who had a pretty exhaustive list of questions for me (including how low of a salary I was willing to accept, which he seemed to prioritize above all else), was unable or unwilling to answer even the most basic questions I had for HIM, such as:
⦁ How did this position suddenly become available less than a month into a new school year? (He claimed it wasn't at all unusual for them to still be filling core teaching positions several weeks into a new school year. Really???)
⦁ How long did the previous teacher have this position, and why did that person leave? (Once again, he evaded the question and repeated the claim that having unfilled positions several weeks into a new school year was nothing unusual. If true, does this not say something about how chaotically the school itself is run?)
⦁ Do all your teachers have the supplies they need to do the job, or do many of them end up paying for supplies out of their own pockets? (After several tries, the best I could get from him was a vague assurance to the effect that "our teachers have everything they need." Umm, okay.)
⦁ Are teachers able to photocopy lesson plan materials as needed and when needed, or do you limit how many copies they can make and require them to submit their photocopy requests in advance? (If you're a teacher, then you know why this is important. To the interviewer's credit, he did at least answer me directly on this point: He said teachers are restricted to a copy count of 300 per month. I responded by pointing out that at that rate, over a four-week period, a teacher with a single class of 20 students would be limited to less than one copy per student per day; for teachers with larger class sizes or multiple sections, it would be even less. The interviewer then started arguing with me and claiming this limit was more than reasonable, but I had no interest in getting sucked into a debate with him about what was "reasonable." For me, the mere existence of such a limit raised a more fundamental question about the school's priorities about education vs. padding their bottom line by nickeling and diming teachers on copies and other supplies. Ask yourself this: Do you think the school administration has copy count limits placed on them? In almost all cases, the answer to that is a resounding "no." Yet teachers — the ones doing the actual work of education — do.)
⦁ What is the salary range for this position? (I countered with this question after the interviewer kept pressing me as to how low I would go; he expected me to answer his question yet pointedly refused to answer mine.)
I'm sure my annoyance showed by the end of the interview, which is just as well since I already knew by that point that I had no interest in working here anyway. Overall, I was left with the impression that this school is first and foremost a moneymaker for the people running it, who seem to have limited professional background in education themselves yet masquerade as progressive, idealistic do-gooders who just want to share the joys of French culture.
The sad part is that newly minted teachers, who tend to be idealistic by nature, often fall for this malarkey and end up getting taken advantage of by money-hungry poseurs who lowball and guilt-trip them into working for peanuts because it's "for the children."
My advice is not to fall for it and not to be fooled by this or any other school's "nonprofit" status (which doesn't keep the people who run it from pocketing the lion's share of the money taken in; it just means the school doesn't pay taxes on it). Most importantly, if they try to squeeze you on salary, hold your ground and put it back on them by insisting they first tell you the salary range they've allocated for the position. If they won't be upfront with you about this, then they're not dealing in good faith and you don't want to work for them anyway.
