Brunei The End

The End December 2008

After about four or five weeks of the new Principal in  March 2008 I could see the writing on the wall. I decided to ask CfBT for a transfer. I was the first to do so and emailed them. There was no response. This was CfBT’s standard way of dealing with an issue if unsure what to do, do nothing. In this way they mimicked the Bruneian culture which surrounded them.

After a further month of the new regime I decided a transfer would not be enough for me.

The the family were becoming unhappy. Both Sergio and Julie complained  about how boring Brunei was.

All of us became unsettled. Although the children were getting a very good academic schooling at the international school, we could see that the lifestyle of Brunei was not giving the children the life skills they needed to survive in the real world-that is, how to get around,  be independent, earn money etc. Moreover, I was becoming ‘deskilled’ in a dysfunctional professional culture.

tRoger went o Melbourne Univerity and was then offered a place at Cornell. Neither he, nor anybody else was expecting sucha contrast between Brunei and Cornell. He didn't like it.

We were worried that Sergio and Julie might not enjoy being at University outside Australia

I also really wanted to leave Brunei and do something else. However, having applied for dozens of jobs in the past year and getting no response I was not optimistic. In spite of my qualifications and experience my age was counting against me.

Almost as a last resort, I then applied to CfBT’s operations in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. I figured, correctly as it turned out, that since I was already with CfBT I might have a better chance of getting one of these jobs.

But, Singapore were not interested: even though they wanted language advisers and teachers of language they required people to have English Literature in their initial degree! This excluded me –even though I had three Masters degrees and an educational doctorate.

It was this type of blinkered bureaucratic blindness which drove  me to distraction in the end. The bureaucracy just refusedto think outside the box. They will cut off their noses to spite their faces just so that they can play the game of exercising power.  However, I have to admit that i have experienced exactly the same thing in Australia. It is just a matter of extent.

Bombshell!

I had a phone interview for Abu Dhabi and then was waiting to have another one when I was hit by a bombshell.  CFBT  me my name was on the ‘veto’ list of 5  people at the school  whose contract was not going to be renewed at the end of the year by the school.

We were all surprised!

I could not think of anything that remotely resembled an incident in the school which could have accounted for the decision by the Principal not to renew my contract. When I asked CfBt they said  they didn’t know and no reasons had been given. When I pressed them further they just said

“Don’t take it personally –it’s just your turn”

I would have to say that even the jaw of a veteran expat like myself dropped open at this remark.

I was dismayed that such a gratuitous  remark could be made to me after nine years service.

It was like saying to a holocaust victim on entering the gas chamber: 'Don't take it personally'



The fact was cfBt just wanted us all  to go quietly without causing any fuss and that would mean no problem for CFBT.

the reality was CFBt could do nothing. when the MOE said 'Jump! Sfbt could only say 'how High?' they were helpless in a crisis.

this happened a few days before my second interview for Abu Dhabi, and i became quite anxious.

But the interview came and I passed with flying colours!


To my immense relief I was offered an excellent job. It was July, and I still had six months to go at Maktab Sains, and in spite of my anger, I decided not to contest the non-renewal as I knew it would make no difference. For some reason neither she nor the Deputy liked me. It was strange because the Deputy had appraised me a few weeks earlier and given me a glowing verbal report to my face. (However, maybe her written report was different, I don't know)

I did ask Cfbt to find out the reason, but they never got back to me. It might have been my age. I'll never know.

 

Departure in 2008

By the time I left Brunei CfBT had become intimidated by their  client: the Ministry of Education.

Another reason for not contesting the mysterious decision was the fact that experience had taught me that I would be ostracized by my own colleagues once it were known I had been ‘Terminated’.

I had had this happen to me before in Australia and it was one of the ugliest experiences I have ever had. When you are in the firing line, colleagues can be so cowardly and worried about themselves that they avoid you–even if you are an innocent victim of intimidation-in case they become guilty by association in the eyes of the persecuting entity.

Any persecuted minority knows how it feels when  when their own neighbours turn their backs on them out of cowardice.

So, I suffered in silence and told no-one at school.

Interestingly enough when I arrived in Abu Dhabi I got an e-mail from Cfbt saying that the MOE in Brunei had written a letter to them saying that I had not 'signed in' on the last day of school and asking me to provide witnesses as to my whereabouts on that day.

Well.... I was flabbergasted!

Even after nine years in that police state I had not expected such a degree of pettiness.



It was very disappointing after nine years in a very challenging  environment.


Six months after leaving Brunei the new Principal was shunted sideways into the Ministry where she could do less damage.



I suppose I didn’t have very high expectations of CFBT when I arrived. I had been contracting overseas for so many years that I had very few illusions left about what to expect. I regarded them as a recruitment agency-and that is what they did really well. They were efficient enough in what they did-recruiting and helping with accommodation and making sure payments were paid on time.

But when it came to professional support they were powerless. They were powerless to do anything on a teacher’s behalf with regard to the routinely farsical situations encountered at the Ministry or in the schools. Although there were some good ones, the Bruneian Principals were for the most part  inflexible, underprepared, underqualified, and often incompetent and unprofessional. Experienced teachers had to put up with being treated like naughty children most of the time. This they did because most of them, like us,were in Brunei for their children’s sake. We were hostages to our families. I remember applying for a job in Brunei in the 1980s. In those days, Brunei did not hire families. But CfbT knew that once we had our families in the schools, we had to do what we were told by the MOE. CFBt would try to do what they could, but in the end there was no choice. Like it , or leave.

Professional development was perfunctory and non-existent in the early years: foreigners were never sent on courses at the Ministry’s expense. You were regarded as an expendable resource –a slave basically. The arrogance of the Bruneian bureaucrat was legendary.

the main problem was that the they used the wrong curriculum. It was a Cambridge curriculum  designed for native speakers of English. Obviously,  the exam results were going to be dreadful. The Bruneian children were not native speakers. So, what did the MOE do? They blamed the teachers of course. (They also blamed their own students) . CFBT were also blamed as well.  In the end Cambridge sent a delegation to investigate. The result was the exam results improved the next year. We teachers all knew why this was but no-one would say it. The tests had been marked differently. We, the teachers all knew.

This was the final straw on the camels back for me. How Could a University like Cambridge do something so underhand  as  this?

 

 

But, all in all Brunei was a good experience for the family–the children got a good academic education out of it, and enjoyed life there.  Maria also got a good job at ISB. Financially, it was good for us too.

But professionally, apart from the students, most of it was appalling for me; I had to do all my own professional development by  doing a Master’s degree and then doing an educational doctorate.

In the last year or so,  it was a bit like being on death row,  waiting for execution in the Tower of London

In the end I wasn’t decapitated or burned at the stake, but managed to escape! I was at least able to complete my educational doctorate during  my time there.

But, as I was to find out, professionally,  I had indeed been “deskilled”

Julie wanted to leave Brunei. We didn't think she would be happy in a high school in Australia. but she was a year young for University. So, we found a foundation program at Adelaide University which was half high school and half University. She was happy to go there. Sergio enrolled at Adelaide University.

Roger had decided to go to University in Queensland

Maria and Julie had gone to Adelaide in August 2008 . Serge went to stay with a friend in Hong Kong for a few moths and then jojned them in Adelaide

I accepted the job in Abu Dhabi, but stayed on in Brunei for a few months, and headed  to Adelaide for Christmas to join them before going on to Abu Dhabi.