Monday 4 August 2014

Island TEFL scam


Philip Dunne
Island TEFL Thailand is a scam and Philip Dunne is a scammer. This article is written primarily for potential investors.  However, trainees who want to get a TEFL certificate also need to beware, as the course he provides will almost certainly fall well short of expectations. For them it is only a partial scam. There are special tabs at the top for more details on each, as well as overviews of Philip Dunne and his company.  For a brief account read below.  Check also under the "Update" tab

First, Island TEFL is not an officially registered company in Thailand, but exists solely on the internet as a web domain.  Its success is primarily the product of skilful marketing and a developed website going back some years.  It certainly has no offices of its own, either in Thailand or USA, and is basically just a one man show, Philip Dunne working from a room somewhere.  He spends most of his time in America, but for a few months of the year comes to Thailand.  Island TEFL rents premises from other schools as and when it needs them, particularly in April and October, its busiest time.  For smaller courses Philip Dunne may use just a hotel or bar.  There's no company in the true sense of the word and it’s certainly not audited.  In fact, it's not an established business in any meaningful sense of the word.   Nevertheless, Philip Dunne sells franchises to innocent victims for sums ranging from $20,000 upwards, even aiming as high as $60,000 sometimes. He then proceeds to systematically trash them on all fronts, particularly if they fail to register quickly.  He aims to put them in breach of contract as early as possible, as a result of which most lose their money completely and probably will not even get any share of the profits.  He may well then threaten them with damages too.  This is the scam.

Trainees may be completely unaware of all this, as usually the trainers Philip Dunne employs are good enough for the job, and even the trainers themselves may not know the full background.  Most trainees will probably get their certificates and jobs, so if you're just looking for a job in Thailand you may be satisfied.  However, more serious students will notice the second rate nature of almost every aspect of the experience.  The premises are an obvious example, usually nowhere near up to the standard in the website pics.  You may also find the teaching practice fails to live up to expectations.  It may just be a few isolated students.  Trainers may not be fully qualified either.  Also the certificates have absolutely no international validity. They are not accredited by any official body.  No good private school will employ you based on this qualification.  However, the certificate will almost certainly be good enough for Thai state schools, where the standard is relatively low.  

Another thing is that the well-advertised partnership with the University of San Diego is purely for placement purposes.  It's not an academic one.  The tie-up has occurred simply because of Philip Dunne’s presence in San Diego.  Finally, most of the non-native speaker trainees (mostly Russians) work on Ed Visas, which is technically illegal.  If you're a native speaker with a degree you'll probably get a proper business visa.  But Russians and others should at least be aware of the risk they are taking.  If they are caught they could get a jail sentence.  It's unlikely that will happen, but it is a possibility they need to be aware of.

For fuller details, click on the tabs at the top.  Some of the information is duplicated on the tabs.