Any information would be appreciated.  With all the complaints on here it seems like a class action suit would be appropriate.  This is, after all, a country of law and justice.  Or should be. If there is any interest I will open an email account and you can show interest by sending me a brief note about your 'used, abused or shafted' story.  Show your interest by responding briefly to this post.  In a month, if it gets to ten I think we should talk to a lawyer.

I think a lot of false information is given to OTT teachers during the interview.

I think that too many schools are using OTT teachers and then wishing them well in four years.

I think that because OTT teachers are paid much less than QTS teachers that they are being exploited.

I think that not much is done for supporting OTT teachers after being employed.

I think the system may have been set up for the express purpose of exploitation

I think that SMT disregard issues of OTT.

I think OTT are too often given the very worst forms and duties.

But this is just my personal experience. 

There is no recourse for groups of people who have been harmed by the same incident, product, law, policy, etc.?  Now I know why they put the '24 people killed on this road in the last three years' sign is about.  Don't have to fix the dangerour road! 

OTT are recruited with the proviso that no British resident is available (or willing) to fill the job.  By this it is apparent that OTT teachers are not exactly given the sweetest positions.

ummm I forgot what else you were talking about... no memory at all.

Instead of fixing the schools so that British people will be eager to be teachers.... Lets just put up an ad for OTT!  AHAH! 

Not only "no memory at all" but also

................no answers to 2 moderately straight forward questions.

To repeat one of my original points, one of the ways in which you can recognise "abroad" is "it is different from home" which can also be expressed as "it is not the same as home".

E.g. no class actions; neither for dodgy  pharmaceutical products, nor for dodgy hiring policies nor even for dodgy roads. 

The OTT qualification system is an absolute nightmare. I am progressing towards QTS status & my experience has been pretty negative so far. I really dislike the fact that I have to prove I can teach, prove I can manage a classroom & prove that my qualifications are real. The fact that I've been teaching for nearly 10 years, the fact that my school in the UK has not only retained me for the last 3 years but have also promoted me to a position of responsibility seem to mean nothing. I feel humiliated that I have observers in lessons almost every other day, I feel insulted when I receive one sentence replies from my appraiser to requests for information or guidance and I feel frustrated that my day-to-day teaching is suffering because I spend so much time writing up pointless reflections that exist only to tick a box on an equally pointless form.

But.

I love teaching in the UK, I want to carry on teaching in the UK for at least the next year or so and I understand the need to ensure that all teachers reach the required professional standards of the job. I just don't feel that the OTT qualification process I am working through is the right way to achieve that requirement. Surely a close check of my professional qualifications from back home in NZ, a review of my performance management profile from my employer and a one-off visit from an outside appraiser is enough. Still, I guess that wouldn't create enough jobs for the jobs-worth pedants who seem to have designed and administered this pointless exercise in humiliation and glorified box-ticking.

And.

At least I can consider myself pretty lucky; I've found a provider to appraise me - and if worse comes to worse I can always head home or try my luck teaching somewhere else around the world. I guess the best thing to do is keep your head, keep your mouth shout, get through it and count yourself lucky when it's over.