Learning Jungle Reviews

- Only one upper grade class of Grade 3. (No classes for students under grade 3) - No upper management in the education field (Top priority is profits not student achievement) - Advertisement says that the teachers... "meet and often exceed the necessary qualifications required for licensed childcare centres; with each room having a qualified E.C.E. (Early Childhood Educator). " The truth was that only 1 of the 4 teachers was ECE or a Canadian certified teacher or who simply smoke was a native English speaker (They did not all have the necessary and experience to be leading a class of over 28 Kindergarten students with 3 staff that speak minimal English. - Eminent threats with the labour ministry to lock us up if we left our contract. (3 different employees) - Eminent threats of paying over $10,000 USD for breaking a contract that is vagued and only protects them. (4 employees) - They can/will fire you for any questions that they seem inappropriate. - Will be fired if you ask for a smaller than 31 class size for Grade 1 - Will be fired if you ask about the School's REAL accreditation.

- decisions are made by an administrative team with no educational qualifications. Priorities include operational efficiency and attracting customers (parents) - not the interests of the children. Decisions are never made based on best practices or research in the field of education. - cold, hierarchical management structure with no trust for or investment in employees- though located right down the hall, you are prohibited from approaching the owner-operators without going through chain-of-command. There is an inefficient and bureaucratic procedure governing every workplace task. - not all foreign teachers have home country certification and most have little prior teaching experience. Virtually 100% foreign teacher turnover from year-to-year. - communication between teachers and parents is tightly monitored and regulated (e.g., you're not allowed to send notes home without office approval) - ECE class sizes can exceed 30 students (all ELLs) in extremely limited space. - the foreign teachers are excused during parts of the day to accomplish administrative tasks, which is convenient for the teacher but means the children's primary English models are the classroom assistants, some of whose English proficiency is elementary at best. - children are herded into the next grade level with limited concern for their English proficiency, maturity level or academic performance - primary driver is age. - "library" has no librarian and is stocked with Reading A-Z books printed from a laser printer, textbooks are unauthorized copies, very few books around the school in general - little investment in literacy-based tools. - The Khmer assistant teachers, mainly young, unmarried women, perform the vast majority of management, school-home coordination and organizational tasks, including needing to substitute for teachers, but are severely underpaid and un-respected for the work they do. I felt complicit in workplace exploitation. - no policies in place to address suspected child abuse at home, no formal relationships with diagnostic and treatment specialists for managing learning and behavioral disorders.