Education First

View Comments

• I been working at EF for almost 3 years. I am an American citizen who lives abroad and yes the pay was really low at 10/USD in the beginning. But since I live in a developing nation, USD goes further here. Overall, EF is an okay company, never had a bad situation with management or the team. Very engaging and yes those bonuses are very hard to get. They always pay on time. Lesson are easy and very repetitive. I work in the FWW section and we are basically the backup to our American counterparts. My only problem now is that the amount of classes have dropped significantly. I went from about 170/hr month in May 2021 to, if I'm lucky 60/hrs this month of October 2021. I open my schedule to all peak hours 7 days a week and still receive very little class. I guess this is a trend with all ESL companies nowadays... It was good while it lasted but it time to move on to a more stable career.

• I was very impressed with everything I read online about Education First and decided to submit an application. They responded quite quickly and arranged an interview time for me. Before we got very far, I was asked to do a speedtest. My Ping needed to be below 10. I wish that would have been posted on their website. I've changed internet providers and still can't get a low number on the Ping....

• I worked there for a few years. I agree the pay is not great. Having said that I had amazing flexibility in my schedule, so if I knew what hours I had free the next week, I could post them and EF would fill them. I didn't experience any toxicity in my 3 years there.

• Speaking from a SA perspective. I have been working for them for almost a year now through their JHB office. Pay is pathetic (R80 an hour) but it goes straight to my bank account and they are very flexible, you can work as much as you want, also grab "subs"(available classes) in your schedule. You only do a week at a time for the schedule. I like the platform very easy and you don't have to prepare. Report time is built in. And you can cancel for load shedding any time (although I have an invertor).

  • Are you still working for Education First? I'm about to start online teaching and I'm wavering between companies. I'm in process with 2 now. I'm still not sure if I'll proceed with both... I know that February is Chinese New Year and that the month is very hard to book.

  • Greetings Heather -
    thank you for your comments about EF, very helpful. I am in the US and am considering this opportunity because I am new to teaching online, but not new to teaching English as a second language. I have about 10 years of experience spread over many years (was a full time teacher for just one year and then worked part-time for many years). I have the required basics of a BA degree and TEFL Certificate (100 hours which was the standard back when I got my training; now I see that 120 is more the standard). I am wondering if you think EF might be a good place for me to begin online teaching in a part-time capacity? I realize the pay is low (website currently states $13.20/25 minute lesson with slight bonus for teaching during peak times +$1.80/session and $2 if no cancelled classes) but I see this as a learning opportunity for me while helping students develop and reach their language goals. Your thoughts about this idea (and/or from others visiting this page) would be appreciated. Thank you!

• I work there and the pay is terrible, I am a qualified ESL teacher, I worked in China for 2 years, I have my 150 hours TEFL certificate as well as a Degree and they pay me to teach at home 5,59 dollars for one 40/45 minute class and 2.79 dollars for a 25 minute class. I am looking for good companies to hire me, Dada hasn’t replied for a whole year (applied last year in Jan), Zebra English replied and said they were impressed by my CV, asked for a video then never replied back (this was last year December) 😭😭😭 EF is not the place to go!

  • Try applying at Zebra, as they are hiring again.

• I worked for them between 2011 until 2013 and they only paid 10 dollars then. Around 2013 they introduced a bonus system that is almost impossible to achieve, and even then it's only $12 if you get a perfect 5 average for the whole month.

  I would describe the experience as very toxic. They also underpaid.

• The starting pay is just 10 USD/hr. Not worth it.

  • Agree NOT WORTH IT They teach adults and for their international freelancers, native speakers, with a degree, teaching exp etc they pay them just $10 per hour. That is below the minimum wage is many English speaking countries. If you are based in the US they pay $12 per hour. Their bonuses are basically non-existent and they have penalties. This school doesn't want real teachers.

• Worked here too. Don't work here. 3 USD for cancelled class on system side (NCC- no class created). Have to wait 13 mins to be assigned class. If you don't have a class, can't sub that time somewhere else. Not worth it.

  Plus must give 2 week advance notice for leave. Nope.