Tl, dr: IES utnyttjar utländska lärare genom låga löner (upp till 10000 kr mindre än normala löner till svenska lärare) och att de får utföra uppgifter de inte är tränade för.
Kan inte läsa artikeln pga paywall men jag gick själv på en av de första IES skolorna för 10+ år sen. Ofta var de utländska lärarna inte kvar i mer än ett år eller max två. Var en väldig rotation.
Paywall. Posta hela artikeln tack.
**Internationella Engelska Skolan, the free school chain that made its founder nearly a billion kronor, pays its qualified foreign teachers low wages and gives them duties they have not trained for, several teachers who work for the chain have told The Local.**
Six foreign teachers who had worked at or were still working for schools run by Internationella Engelska Skolan (International English School – IES) spoke to The Local about signiNcant discrepancies in salaries between Swedish teachers with local qualiNcations and the foreign teachers who form a large proportion of the company’s staff.
They also said that even as new graduates, they were asked to teach classes of as many as 32 pupils single-handed, and were also asked to teach subjects and age groups they had not been trained for. Two said they had been given multiple administrative jobs without being given extra time to do them.
*“Internationals are severely underpaid in comparison to Swedish teachers. That’s not a secret,”* said a teacher at an IES school in southern Sweden who is leaving their school at the end of this term. *“I started on 25,000 (approximately $2,750), and my friend started on 26,000. The pay is super unfair.”*
On the employee review site Glassdoor, there are more than 20 reviews complaining of “terrible pay” at IES. The average teacher’s salary in Sweden is between 30,000 and 40,000 kronor, although it varies a lot.
With 48 schools in Sweden, IES is one of Sweden’s largest chains of private “free schools”, which are funded by the government but operated independently, often by proNt- making companies.
The schools are facing renewed scrutiny in Sweden as the ruling Social Democrats prepare to campaign in the run-up to next year’s election on a pledge to forbid the owners of free schools from taking out proNts and to force them to use the same queuing system for admissions as municipal schools.
IES came into the spotlight just before Christmas after the chain’s American founder Barbara Bergström gave a combative interview in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, dismissing criticism of her schools as “bullshit”.
She made 918 million kronor when she sold the chain to the Boston-based equity fund TA Associates in 2012. The fund listed the company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 2016 and it was then taken private again last year by the Berlin-based Paradigm Capital. Bergström’s foundation remains a major owner with 18 percent of the shares.
**‘They expect a revolving door’**
The school tends to hire teachers directly at university careers fairs back in their home countries. About half of the group’s 2,300 teachers are educated in English-speaking countries, with 14 percent from the UK and Ireland, 11 percent from the US, 9 percent from Canada and 22 percent from the rest of the world. Some 42 percent of teachers have English as their Nrst language.
As these hires do not know how the Swedish system works, they are not likely to push hard for a better salary, several teachers argued. The school then replaces these teachers with new fresh graduates once they tire of the large class sizes and low salaries.
*“As an international, you’re never told that you can negotiate your pay ever during the meeting. Never,”* the teacher based in southern Sweden said. *“What they’re expecting is a revolving door. They’re expecting people to leave. And that’s how they can get away with paying people so low.”*
Another teacher, who worked in a senior role at one of the schools earlier this decade, conNrmed the pay discrepancy between local and international hires.
*“I’ve seen all the salaries of all the foreign teachers, and they massively underpay the foreign teachers – you’re talking 10,000 kronor differences for people with the same experience,”* the teacher said.
The Swedish Teachers’ Union (Lärarförbundet) said they were aware of the problem.
*“There is a signiNcant number of teachers with temporary employment and very low wages in the company, who are in a weak negotiation position compared to the Swedish teachers,”* Johanna Jaara Åstrand, the union’s chairperson, told The Local. *“The situation is extremely unsatisfying.”*
But she said that because the collective bargaining agreement between the municipalities, private operators, and non-proNt organisations which run Sweden’s schools has not set speciNc wage levels since 1995, it was dikcult to challenge IES’s low starting wages, once foreign teachers have agreed to them.
*“This model has worked well for teachers in Sweden, as a result of the short supply and high demand for teachers during the past 20 years,”* said Jaara Åstrand.
*“A lot of teachers with Swedish teaching licences were able to Nnd other employers who valued them more and quit their jobs at IES. The international teachers already at the school do not have the same opportunity. This has led to a huge wage gap,”* she said.
It is dikcult, however, for unions in Sweden to argue that the wage gap is discriminatory, as IES can claim that the pay was set by the free market, and freely agreed to by the teachers. Foreign citizens are also not in themselves a group protected by anti-discrimination legislation.
**Younger teaching staff**
IES told The Local that its starting salaries for new international hires had increased in the last few years but put the low average down to the fact that 66 percent of IES teachers are under 40, compared with 32 percent of teachers in Sweden on average.
*“IES teaching staff are younger than the Swedish national average and a signiNcant part of our international teachers come to Sweden straight from university, all of which is relected in their salary,”* said Robin Kirk Johansson, head of education at IES. *“When looking at national salary statistics, we are on par for most age groups.”*
All IES contracts follow national and local union agreements, she added, including annual salary revision. The company has signed a collective bargaining agreement through the Almega employers’ organisation.
Jaara Åstrand said that as her union found it dikcult to challenge IES practices in employment courts, it had concentrated on trying to inform graduate teachers abroad of the need to negotiate a decent starting wage.
People with no previous knowledge of the Swedish labour market are often unaware of just how crucial it is compared to many other countries to negotiate a good entry salary, with future annual raises usually being limited to small percentage increases negotiated by the unions. Once in Sweden, the only way they can substantially boost their earnings is to move to a new employer.
The Swedish Teachers’ Union has set up a web page, informing potential international recruits of salaries in Sweden.
*“The right moment to reach an agreement regarding your salary is before signing your employment contract,”* the website warns applicants. *“Your initial salary with an employer is crucial for your future salary development with that employer.”*
6 comments
[removed]
Tl, dr: IES utnyttjar utländska lärare genom låga löner (upp till 10000 kr mindre än normala löner till svenska lärare) och att de får utföra uppgifter de inte är tränade för.
Kan inte läsa artikeln pga paywall men jag gick själv på en av de första IES skolorna för 10+ år sen. Ofta var de utländska lärarna inte kvar i mer än ett år eller max två. Var en väldig rotation.
Paywall. Posta hela artikeln tack.
**Internationella Engelska Skolan, the free school chain that made its founder nearly a billion kronor, pays its qualified foreign teachers low wages and gives them duties they have not trained for, several teachers who work for the chain have told The Local.**
Six foreign teachers who had worked at or were still working for schools run by Internationella Engelska Skolan (International English School – IES) spoke to The Local about signiNcant discrepancies in salaries between Swedish teachers with local qualiNcations and the foreign teachers who form a large proportion of the company’s staff.
They also said that even as new graduates, they were asked to teach classes of as many as 32 pupils single-handed, and were also asked to teach subjects and age groups they had not been trained for. Two said they had been given multiple administrative jobs without being given extra time to do them.
*“Internationals are severely underpaid in comparison to Swedish teachers. That’s not a secret,”* said a teacher at an IES school in southern Sweden who is leaving their school at the end of this term. *“I started on 25,000 (approximately $2,750), and my friend started on 26,000. The pay is super unfair.”*
On the employee review site Glassdoor, there are more than 20 reviews complaining of “terrible pay” at IES. The average teacher’s salary in Sweden is between 30,000 and 40,000 kronor, although it varies a lot.
With 48 schools in Sweden, IES is one of Sweden’s largest chains of private “free schools”, which are funded by the government but operated independently, often by proNt- making companies.
The schools are facing renewed scrutiny in Sweden as the ruling Social Democrats prepare to campaign in the run-up to next year’s election on a pledge to forbid the owners of free schools from taking out proNts and to force them to use the same queuing system for admissions as municipal schools.
IES came into the spotlight just before Christmas after the chain’s American founder Barbara Bergström gave a combative interview in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, dismissing criticism of her schools as “bullshit”.
She made 918 million kronor when she sold the chain to the Boston-based equity fund TA Associates in 2012. The fund listed the company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 2016 and it was then taken private again last year by the Berlin-based Paradigm Capital. Bergström’s foundation remains a major owner with 18 percent of the shares.
**‘They expect a revolving door’**
The school tends to hire teachers directly at university careers fairs back in their home countries. About half of the group’s 2,300 teachers are educated in English-speaking countries, with 14 percent from the UK and Ireland, 11 percent from the US, 9 percent from Canada and 22 percent from the rest of the world. Some 42 percent of teachers have English as their Nrst language.
As these hires do not know how the Swedish system works, they are not likely to push hard for a better salary, several teachers argued. The school then replaces these teachers with new fresh graduates once they tire of the large class sizes and low salaries.
*“As an international, you’re never told that you can negotiate your pay ever during the meeting. Never,”* the teacher based in southern Sweden said. *“What they’re expecting is a revolving door. They’re expecting people to leave. And that’s how they can get away with paying people so low.”*
Another teacher, who worked in a senior role at one of the schools earlier this decade, conNrmed the pay discrepancy between local and international hires.
*“I’ve seen all the salaries of all the foreign teachers, and they massively underpay the foreign teachers – you’re talking 10,000 kronor differences for people with the same experience,”* the teacher said.
The Swedish Teachers’ Union (Lärarförbundet) said they were aware of the problem.
*“There is a signiNcant number of teachers with temporary employment and very low wages in the company, who are in a weak negotiation position compared to the Swedish teachers,”* Johanna Jaara Åstrand, the union’s chairperson, told The Local. *“The situation is extremely unsatisfying.”*
But she said that because the collective bargaining agreement between the municipalities, private operators, and non-proNt organisations which run Sweden’s schools has not set speciNc wage levels since 1995, it was dikcult to challenge IES’s low starting wages, once foreign teachers have agreed to them.
*“This model has worked well for teachers in Sweden, as a result of the short supply and high demand for teachers during the past 20 years,”* said Jaara Åstrand.
*“A lot of teachers with Swedish teaching licences were able to Nnd other employers who valued them more and quit their jobs at IES. The international teachers already at the school do not have the same opportunity. This has led to a huge wage gap,”* she said.
It is dikcult, however, for unions in Sweden to argue that the wage gap is discriminatory, as IES can claim that the pay was set by the free market, and freely agreed to by the teachers. Foreign citizens are also not in themselves a group protected by anti-discrimination legislation.
**Younger teaching staff**
IES told The Local that its starting salaries for new international hires had increased in the last few years but put the low average down to the fact that 66 percent of IES teachers are under 40, compared with 32 percent of teachers in Sweden on average.
*“IES teaching staff are younger than the Swedish national average and a signiNcant part of our international teachers come to Sweden straight from university, all of which is relected in their salary,”* said Robin Kirk Johansson, head of education at IES. *“When looking at national salary statistics, we are on par for most age groups.”*
All IES contracts follow national and local union agreements, she added, including annual salary revision. The company has signed a collective bargaining agreement through the Almega employers’ organisation.
Jaara Åstrand said that as her union found it dikcult to challenge IES practices in employment courts, it had concentrated on trying to inform graduate teachers abroad of the need to negotiate a decent starting wage.
People with no previous knowledge of the Swedish labour market are often unaware of just how crucial it is compared to many other countries to negotiate a good entry salary, with future annual raises usually being limited to small percentage increases negotiated by the unions. Once in Sweden, the only way they can substantially boost their earnings is to move to a new employer.
The Swedish Teachers’ Union has set up a web page, informing potential international recruits of salaries in Sweden.
*“The right moment to reach an agreement regarding your salary is before signing your employment contract,”* the website warns applicants. *“Your initial salary with an employer is crucial for your future salary development with that employer.”*
u/ElectricityPleaseNo
Här kan du trolla mer!