Brainworks Total Learning Academy

The person I interviewed with was the foreigner you mentioned, who is a the co-owner, I believe. He certainly didn't hide his anger or creepiness behind anything in my interview. I'm sort of grateful he didn't, to be honest, as I've never seen more overt red flags during an interview before.

Hi all,

I worked for Brainworks Total School, the secondary school branch near Zawana junction, for a year, 2015-16. It has been the worst school I have been so far.

The students are adorable, cant complain about them, but the school staff is terrible. I cant say they are bad people but really overstressed and unproffesional. The worst is the Human Resources Manager at that time, Mr Bob Albright I think was his name. He is the responsible to hire and "attend" the western teachers. Yes, you have read well, for other international teachers, Chinese and Indians, they have other people.

They treat you, and pay you, differently according to your demands and nationality. It doesnt matter how well qualified you are, or your motivation with the students. What matters is how demanding you are and where you are coming from. For example, you wont get paid in the same way if you are Bristish than if you are Italian. You wont be housed in the same kind of conditions if you are a Western teacher than if you are Chinese. I saw some people without any university degree or teaching experience getting better conditions than other who did have them. Needless to say that this situation creates certain degree of mistrust, resentment and arrogance among teachers.

Furthermore, the management staff is generally rude and abusive with the school workers. I cant blame them, it is the system they are used to, but it doesnt excuse them in my opinion to treat us disrespectfully.

Dont expect help to get accomodated: they will just throw you in a house with other teachers, and if something in the house is broken, be patient. It can take months. If you complain about it, you will see the consequences.

Dont expect to work with qualified or passionate teachers. At Brainworks what matters is the appearance that everything goes well and the economical benefits they get from the students. So, if you want to get paid by the end of the months and get no trouble, you just need to follow their instruction like a sheep and give no complaints.

On Thursdays they have the school assembly where the students have to sing and kind of pray. For me that is brainwashing. The students cant refused to take part on that, neither the teachers. Sometimes they will ask you to attend ceremonies or events out of your work schedule.

About money issues, last time I was there, the Myanmar teachers were getting around 300-500$, Indians got 800-1100$, and Westerners 1500-2000$. For Indians and Westerners, the school must provide free accomodation, with water, electricity and gas included. Dont expect to get internet, they tell you to get your own internet phone card.

For me, the money you get is good, but it is not enough for the conditions you are asked to work with. I was getting 250$ in a previous school in Africa, and it was worthier. So, check your priorities before you decide to sign contract with Brainworks Total School.

Cheers

ZawGyi wrote:

Best International School In Yangon

Hi Dear,
May I know the fees of preschool for my child.

Thanks and Best Regards
Win Aung

I worked here last year. The school has suffered at the hands of a cretin, no doubt. A pilac of the first order, Mr. Bob. If he had a brain he would be dangerous. That is not to say he was not a danger to any Western staff working in his radar scope. He is a nasty bitof work, a racist and a misogynist,  and would do you over without qualm. Rumour has it he will not be back since he left in April. Total halfwits like him gravitate to positions of power outside of Western culture. Well, let's face it, the cruelest of people naturally gravitate to power. But in Asia I see much pudendum bloom where they would die at home.
This school has the best intentions. Yes, business first, but the quality of the education is at the heart of this now international school, and the Myanmamr staff are proud to be part of the establishing of this committed educational enterprise. Their own children are graduating from here to international standards.
I only left because my plans don't include staying here forever.
I would gladly come back if it suited my  purpose.
I recommend this school if yuo are committed to kids education and are up for putting in the effort for doing a good job.

angelinaflorina wrote:

I worked here last year. The school has suffered at the hands of a cretin, no doubt. A pilac of the first order, Mr. Bob. If he had a brain he would be dangerous. That is not to say he was not a danger to any Western staff working in his radar scope. He is a nasty bitof work, a racist and a misogynist,  and would do you over without qualm. Rumour has it he will not be back since he left in April. Total halfwits like him gravitate to positions of power outside of Western culture. Well, let's face it, the cruelest of people naturally gravitate to power. But in Asia I see much pudendum bloom where they would die at home.
This school has the best intentions. Yes, business first, but the quality of the education is at the heart of this now international school, and the Myanmamr staff are proud to be part of the establishing of this committed educational enterprise. Their own children are graduating from here to international standards.
I only left because my plans don't include staying here forever.
I would gladly come back if it suited my  purpose.
I recommend this school if yuo are committed to kids education and are up for putting in the effort for doing a good job.

angelinaflorina, are you by any chance from Romania? If so, can I message you with some questions about the school?

Wow, I applied to this school - and was offered a position - years ago. I turned it down, and am thankful I did after reading some of these posts (randomly, I decided to see if I could find anything out, as there was little to no salvageable info at the time).

Outside of being a potential dystopian nightmare, I suppose it might be fine for some : )

All of the reviews I have read through are true. The good, the bad, and the ugly. As a recent former Teacher at Brainworks I would like to add my personal account.

The staff housing is a beautiful modern condo building. All flats are fully furnished, clean, and have modern appliances. Washer and dryers are available and all utilities are paid. The housing itself is a big draw to working at Brainworks. Yangon has very high rental prices and often requires 6 months of payment up front. For this reason, the staff housing is a wonderful perk and many teachers happily choose to live there.

However, living at the company provided housing ensures that you will be kept on a tight leash. The "security guards" are often rude, racist, and intrusive. They are posted at the front of the building to watch as Teachers come and go, and keep a log that they write the times you are in and out. The guards have been instructed to ask where you are going and to alert school management if you come home either very late, or the following morning. They listen to all conversations you have around them, harass you constantly as you enter and exit the building, and can be extraordinarily rude to any guests that you bring home. It makes for a tense atmosphere when you enter and exit the building. No overnight guests are permitted. Except, that's not always the case. To clarify, female teachers are never allowed over night guests. Male teachers are allowed over night guests. The guards happily accept bribes to make certain rules go away. The corruption is ridiculous.

The cleaning crew has been instructed to spy on all teachers, keeping tabs of what they have in their apartment and alerting school management to anything they deem problematic. The issues stemming from the company housing are absolute nonsense, and could easily go away if the school management treated teachers with a shred of dignity and respect. Many teachers have left Brainworks due to the difficult living situation the school management has unnecessarily created. 

In a nutshell, accept the $200 housing stipend and never step foot in the hell that is this condo tower. You will most likely have to spend more than that each month for your own flat. However, the freedom and peace of mind will be worth it.

As far as teaching, you are given complete autonomy over the curriculum and respective classrooms. Management hardly oversees any teachers and shows little to no interest in what is going on in the classroom. This lack of oversight may sound great on paper but can be quite troublesome. Firstly, the majority of teachers hired by Brainworks do not have a background in education and could use direction while on the job. (Brainworks has hired English teachers who have not graduated from High school, a sad and troublesome fact). There are no concrete learning objectives articulated by the school and so you end up with a questionably managed, structure less  class with no clear direction. When you are scarcely overseen and not working towards any clear goals it's easy to become complacent. It's a common sight to see bumbling English teachers with no idea on what or how they are supposed to be teaching.

Another flaw of management is how they conduct performance evaluations. Evaluation take the form of a ten minute "model class." Ten minutes. Let me repeat, ten minutes. Management will decide on which teachers receive a contract for the next year on a ten minute walk through of your class.

Part 2

To continue with the "walk throughs." The walk throughs involve faculty of the school (i.e. head teachers, head of schools, level coordinator) coming in to your classroom once per year for the ten minutes. The issue is that this is a model class that is hardly a representation of how a typical lesson is is run. The first and most obvious reason was that the students would act considerably more well behaved when faculty and strangers are in to observe the class with a serious tone. This creates a false illusion to how the children and teacher behave. Often times the teacher has little to no control and the children run amok. Secondly, the walk through classes were scheduled well in advance so it was possible to rehearse the content to ensure a high score on the day of the evaluation. A fix for this would be for the coordinator and school administration to take a more active interest in what the teaches are doing for the other 99% of the time in the classroom.

The local Burmese teachers are phenomenal and extremely talented, capable teachers. They have constant training's and continuing education.  It was always a strange thing that the foreign English teachers receive little to no oversight and zero training on the curriculum. Then again, it's a for profit school and no doubt they just want foreign English teachers to tout and collect high fees by advertising an "International School."

To be honest, the school would do much better if they simply got rid of the foreign teachers and kept the capable Burmese teachers and administration. After all these years they still don't quite know how to handle international staff and have continuing, severe problems with them. The biggest problem being that they put highly incapable, immature, un educated western staff in positions of power simply because they're foreign. 

Brainworks is a fine school to work for if you keep your head down, never go to the main branch in Thingangyun township, don't live at company housing, and keep all communication with administration to email form. You will learn a lot about teaching from the capable, wonderfully talented Burmese teachers.

Beware though, all of the bad and ugly reviews are also very true. Go to Brainworks with your eyes wide open, and perhaps an exit plan if things get a bit troublesome. No doubt there are better, more welcoming, and well run schools in Myanmar.

Brainworks is ridiculously easy to get a job at as they do no background checking or oversight of new hires resumes and skills set. Just don't live at the company housing, you'll be in complete hell if you do.