Horrible teaching experience
Ratings
Review
The only reason I'm giving EF two stars and not one is because I do really like my students and have come to form nice teacher-student relationships with them. They are the only good thing about EF.
EF itself is a nightmare. Their platform is CONSTANTLY having technical issues, which prevent the teacher from entering the classroom in a timely manner (which we are penalized for) or for being able to effectively teach a lesson when the classroom needs to be reloaded non-stop.
The scheduling is also frustrating. They advertise March and April as being extremely busy, fruitful months, and in the end, teachers are rushing to claim substituted classes, because you can never get enough hours with them.
If a student no-shows a class, you are only paid a small percentage of the time you have to wait for them, even though the hour of your schedule is blocked out still. For example, if a 40-minute lesson no-shows, that one hour of your time that you aren't paid for and that you aren't able to teach. I am certain that the student is still paying for that class, when they no-show, and EF is just pocketing the money instead of paying teachers for their time. It's so disrespectful. And students no-show A LOT, and it seems there are no negative consequences for it.
Another bone to pick is that EF's contract is really vague, but then they use these manipulation and intimidation tactics with teachers. I accidentally forgot to submit a report within 24 hours of a class, and EF started sending me emails to remind me, stating "This could end in the termination of your contract, but we would really like to avoid this." How manipulative and passive aggressive! Then, when you try to reach out to them to find out if your contract is being ended, they don't respond or tell you anything! I've been in limbo for days now wondering if I still have work.
They absolutely have no regard for teachers, but they try to brand themselves as caring about teachers and wanting to be a good place to work. If they can shell out millions to support a cycling team for the Tour de France, they can pay their teachers more and pay us for the full lesson when a student no-shows.
Also, their customer support for teachers is ridiculous. I was being spoken to inappropriately by a student ( a one-off situation that rarely happens), and it made me really uncomfortable. I wrote to EF and told them I didn't want this student to be able to book lessons with me, because he was making inappropriate comments about me. I'm unable to block students or remove them from my schedule without being penalized. EF wrote me back and said that they would block him from booking lessons with me, but that I should "be aware that this is an exception and we don't usually do this." Oh, so you don't usually prevent your teachers from being sexually harassed by students? How nice, EF. Wonderful support you provide there.
Everything about EF has felt like it's been portrayed in one way, and it turns out the opposite. You can make more money on other platforms and not deal with the garbage that EF puts you through. Run, don't walk, away!