Seminar on Falling Prices and Salaries

If you're an independent, this seminar is not to be missed.  There is a registration fee, but you can charge it as a business expense.  It's definitely worth going to see.  

Falling salaries and prices, increasing competition from web 2.0 technologies and low cost distance learning, a major reform of training law under way: what future for face to face language trainers in France.

Presented by Andrew Wickham

March 6th, 2010

1:00pm to 5:00pm
Venue: Telecom ParisTech

Register here: http://www.tesol-france.org/Wickham10.php
To cover speaker and event costs, there is an exceptional entrance fee for members and non-members: €25

The rise of distance learning and the Blended revolution are having an increasing impact on the traditional language training industry in France, which could be on the eve of a major transformation. Today, face to face training with teachers based in France accounts for 80 to 90% of language training, but if the current trends persist, will distance learning by telephone or visioconference, using "offshore" trainers working in countries where salary costs are much lower, replace face to face training in the coming years? Is e-learning, thanks to Web 2.0 technology and broadband access, finally coming into its own? What are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of distance learning over face to face training? How are traditional training organizations coping? Is the market going to concentrate? What do face to face trainers need to do to stay competitive? With prices and salaries under even greater pressure from the economic crisis, and worsening work conditions, what incentives are there for providing the high level, personalised professional training that many clients say they want today? How will the current reform of training law impact the market in 2010 ? Will the trends currently developing in France spread throughout Europe in the coming years? These are some of the questions that the Linguaid market study set out to find answers to in early 2008. Nearly 2 years later, Andrew Wickham, the writer of the market study report, which was published in Spring 2009, will present the study, which has been updated for 2010, and discuss some of the findings that directly concern trainers. The workshop will be as interactive as possible. This will be followed by an open discussion with participants.

Andrew Wickham began as a language trainer then moved to training management, set up and ran a training company, then moved to project management of industrial blended learning systems. He currently works as a consultant. His specialties include: Designing, building and running large-scale integrated training systems, strategic consultancy, managing language and communication training projects, cross-cultural training for business communication, and communication coaching.

Keep That Envelope!

Another title for this post could be "Excuse me for my lateness Part 2."  On February 9th, I received the first out of the four annual bills I get from the health insurance collector for independents.  The letter was dated 18 January.  Funny.  I looked at the envelope and sure enough, it was sent on February 5th.  Now here's the nutcracker:  the deadline for payment was also February 5th! A check for 225EUR and an angry post-it note later, I sent off my payment hoping they wouldn't charge me any late fees.  But just to be sure, I am keeping that February 5th postmarked envelope in case I have to prove my innocence.  One more little piece of paper to add to my collection of the mistakes made by collectors.

Independents' Day Workshop: March 20th

In March I'll be organizing a second workshop on Going Independent.  With the help of fellow freelancer and partner in crime at TESOL France, Elaine Henry,  we will be speaking about gaining and keeping clients, paperwork and billing issues.

This three-hour workshop will be held at:
Télécom ParisTech
49 rue Vergniaud
75013 Paris

March 20th, 2pm - 5pm.  
http://www.tesol-france.org/index.php

It will be free of charge to TESOL France members, and cost about 10EUR for non-members.
More information on the workshop will follow in future posts.  Come along if you're free!

Time Is Money, Really

A wise woman once told me, "Don't give yourself away for free." *

This is some tough advice to follow - especially in the ELT field. It's tough because this industry is filled with individuals who love their job. They spend hours creating activities, churning out tests, marking exams, meeting with unruly students, having a chat with the director, and quite often not a minute of that time is paid.

For a travailleur indépendant, the weight of time on one's shoulders grows heavier with additional billing, communication with administrators, late payments, the occasional mise en demeure and filing those rice-paper-thin receipts you get from the café next door.

As I say, you have to love this job.

Let's look at it this way:

• The average "vacataire," or temporary teacher in France, at a university gets 33€ Net an hour (see my previous post on "speaking in Net").**
• The average English class is 2 hours a week, so 66€ Net per week for one class.
• The average class size is 20 students (give or take 5).
• In addition to in-class time, the teacher is responsible for:

1. Correcting homework
2. Writing exams
3. Correcting exams
4. Informing the direction of any incidents
5. Carrying out quality control with respect to the student attendance, behavior and participation
6. Attending meetings with the administrators

Some would call this "giving yourself away for free." Others call it "part of the job."

Here are two examples:

Let's say you've just received a 200-word essay for homework from each of your 20 students.

2 hours of face-to-face time that week,
+ 10 minutes per essay (=200mn or 3h20) (incl. reading, corrections and comments on the mark)
________
5h20

66€/5h20 = 12.38€ per class, per week (or 6.19€ / h)

***********************************************
Let's say you have an end-of-term exam coming up. You want to make sure the students are able to demonstrate what they have learned over the entire semester (e.g. ten weeks). Worse: the direction wants the exam to reflect the students' "level" in English.***

The exam takes 2h30 to write:

• 30mn writing the grammar section (the harvest from past work and lessons)
• 30mn writing the vocabulary section (ditto)
  
• 60mn writing the reading section (choosing an article and writing comprehension questions)
• 30mn writing the essay section (choosing a subject for which all the students can provide 200 words worth of content)

The final class of the week is devoted to an exam tutorial. = 2 hours.
Exam Day: Proctoring an exam at a public university is often unpaid. = 2 hours
4h30 for marking 20 exams:

• grammar, vocabulary and reading section = 3mn 30sec per test = 1h10 for 20 tests.
• +3h20 marking 20 essays (see example above)

The Final Tally
2h30 writing the exam
+2h final class (e.g. exam tutorial)
+2h Exam Day
+4h30 marking exams
________________
11 hours

66€ / 11 hours = 6€ per class (or 3€ / h)

In this industry, it's very hard to take that wise woman's advice. Many don't have a choice. Or do they? Where can you fudge the numbers? Writing a shoddy exam? Marking homework without really reading it? Copying an easy-peasy exam from previous years even if it means it doesn't fit the content of the semester? How about not even giving homework assignments? Heck, just skip the exam, won't you?

If this is the case, then I guess we can safely say that you no longer love what you're doing and it is time for you to start considering other options.


Footnotes
*Ok, she should have said "free of charge" but let's not coupe les cheveux en quatre, OK?
**NB: Most public universities won't allow independents to bill them directly; thus the independent is treated like any other vacataire and paid six months after the work is completed (will be a future post, promise).
***This has to be one of the most misinterpreted, misused words in the English language. I have very strong views on language assessments. I agree with Bachman (1990) that there is no such thing as a perfect test that assesses a student's true language level.

3, 2, 1, Charge!

The most common question new independent teachers ask me is: how much should we charge? Before you ask: "what can we charge?" you have to ask: "what do we earn?"

In France many teachers have grown accustomed to earning between 15 and 22€ an hour net.

Frankly, I don't know why anyone "speaks in Brut" (before taxes). Hiring managers at language schools "speak in Brut." Many teachers I know "speak in Brut." At the interview, they give you the Brut hourly wage and hope you don't bring up Net (after taxes). Friends: what's the point of "thinking in Brut" if you don't pocket that sum?

Below, I walk you through how much you are worth as a non-independent and calculate the minimum price you could charge a language school once you become an independent.

• Look at the bottom of one of your monthly Bulletin de Paie (pay stub) at your Net pay (Net a Payer).
• Find your Total Brut pay, in bold.
• Look at the right-hand column. It should be called: Charges Patronales. At the bottom of the column, in bold, you'll find the total charges patronales. This is a tax your employer pays to have you on staff.
• Add the Charges Patronales to the Total Brut.
• Divide the total by the number of hours you worked that month.
• The result is how much you are worth, per hour, for that language establishment.

Let's look at this example.

• One month, as a CDII teacher, I clocked in 41 hours at a language school.
• I was paid 714.82 € Net (17.43€ / hr)
  
• My Brut pay was 918.40 €
• The Charges Patronales was 394.81 €
• 918.40 € + 394.81 € = 1313.21€
• 1313.21€ ÷ 41 hours = 32.03€ / hr
  

Once an independent, I decided to give myself a little raise, wrote a proposal for 35€ / hr and the language school accepted. After the charges and taxes I paid as an independent, I pocketed a bit more than my days as a CDII teacher.

When calculating your hourly rate, it's usually best to be conservative and assume that 37% goes towards charges and taxes. So with the above pay, I made 20€ as an independent instead of 17.43€. That's still pretty low if we calculate the time it takes to do all the paperwork, the billing, the pay chase and the other nitty gritty.

In a future post, I'll go into why time really is money for an independent teacher in France.
But at least you can now look at your Bulletin de Paie with a informed eye and charge full steam ahead.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Like any business, being self-employed has its advantages and disadvantages, pros and cons, good vs. bad, upsides and up-side-downs...

While weighing your do-I-or-don't-I options for going independent in France, consider these:

Professional Advantages

• You can explore unlimited realms of ELT around the world,
  
• You can accept work from almost every language school and company that rings you up,
• You have the freedom to accept other offers, not just in teaching (e.g. materials and test writing),
• You can accept unlimited vacataire offers (being independent IS your employeur principal),
• You can subcontract your freelance friends,
• You develop basic accounting skills.

Financial Advantages

• You have more flexibility with earnings and spending (e.g. fees, investments, etc),
• You can declare up to 50% of your rent as a business expense* not to mention telephone, internet, equipment, etc.,
• Training (e.g. TESOL France membership, attending and speaking at international conferences, etc) is written off as a business expense,
• If you are married, the reduction on income tax spills over onto your spouse.

* 50% with a studio; approx 40% if a 1-bedroom apt. Consult your accountant.

Personal Advantages

• You are your own boss,
• It gives you an edge in your classes especially if you teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP) such as in Business or Finance,
• Your employer goes from being your boss to being your client,
  
• It looks great on your CV,
• You can develop self-promotional skills,
• It will improve your French.

Disadvantages

• It can cause administrative overload, especially in the beginning,
  
• Independents often feel like they're drowning in mail, taxes, estimates, billing, banking issues, etc.,
  
• Dealing with the jargon – in English and in French - can cause migraines,
  
• Technically, you are personally liable for your assets should the business fail or a client calls into question your professional responsibility. *
  

* But last time I checked, teaching English wasn't considered "risky business" ... unless you count teaching the present perfect.

What does it take?

• Extreme patience
• Meticulous organization
• Creativity
• A tough gut
• Determination
• Assertiveness
  
• Functional French
• Pride & a tough ego ... yet: humbleness
• If applicable, a supportive spouse, ideally French speaking

As you weigh these advantages and disadvantages remember: going independent isn't for everyone. But neither are bungee jumping, guerrilla marketing and escargot.

English Teachers in France are "Independent"... Naturally.

The steps for Going Independent are a plenty. Just thinking about it can take a while. The good news is whatever your status, you can start thinking about it today, now, during your lunch break.

Compare:

CDI (Contrat à Durée Indéterminée: long-term contract)
Many schools may offer you a CDI...while many may not. Here are some CDI basics:

• Congés payés (vacations) are covered by your employer
• You receive tickets restaurants, comité d’entreprises, mutuelle, and other “perks”
• You get sick leave and/or maternity leave
• Your employer takes out Social Security
• Your employer should offer professional training (DIF)
• A three-month notice requirement for quitting

CDD (Contrat à Durée Déterminée or fixed-term contracts)
It appears to me that the majority of contracts for teachers in France are CDDs. Most go for 20 hours or 40 hours, then stop. Teachers often get used to juggling more than one CDD at a time (I knew one who juggled a whopping six!)

• You are paid an hourly wage
• Social charges are deducted from your pay slip by your employer
• You may get compensation for transportation. No compensation for meals, equipment, etc.
• Some sick leave

CDII Contract (intermittent unlimited term contract). I've also heard people call this a "vacataire" contract. I call it the "ramen noodles" contract. Basically, it offers the employer an alternative to illegally churning out countless CDD contracts. It offers no perks for the teacher.

• The previous CDD info is the same, except you are guaranteed a handful of hours per year (e.g. 350)
• A three-month notice is usually required if you want to terminate your contract

Independent

• You are responsible for filling your own timetable
• You are responsible for your own vacations
• You are responsible for writing off business-related expenses (lunches, travel)
• While sickness is covered, sick leave isn't. For additional insurance see: la loi Madelin
• You're responsible for your retirement – See: CIPAV
• Professional training is a “business expense”
• No long-term commitment
• Stealing clients is illegal and you can and will be sued under French law

In conclusion: Teachers in France in the continuing education sector are naturally "independent."

All teachers in the aforementioned categories are used to salary variations, looking for clients (or that next 20 to 40-hour gig), variations in demand, juggling different time tables and the joys of French administration.

Apple pies and tarte tintins. Roughly the same ingredients. Only one will turn your life upside down.