GEOS Goes Bankrupt

[Sashimister]

GEOS, one of Japan's largest English conversation school chains with around 400 schools filed for bankrupcy just a few minutes ago. Not that I'm surprised, I thought to let JFers know as many members always seem to be discussing teaching English in Japan, (even including mere dribbling tourists!).

[Tsuwabuki]

I feel sorry for the teachers, including one here in Fukuchiyama, but good riddance! GEOS has a terrible track record in regards to labour disputes, and stonewalls both union activities and even court or Labour Board imposed injunctions.

[jesselt]

I wonder what they were doing that caused them to go bankrupt...

Just another reason why people should stick with JET. The Japanese government probably isn't going to file for bankruptcy any time soon.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by jesselt

I wonder what they were doing that caused them to go bankrupt...

Just another reason why people should stick with JET. The Japanese government probably isn't going to file for bankruptcy any time soon.

They wouldn't need to. They could just jettison the ALTs and drop the program. They already have in Kobe, more or less. Over 70 ALT places reduced to about 20. Never mind that their admissions process is now a bloated whale of nonsense.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Columbine

They wouldn't need to. They could just jettison the ALTs and drop the program. They already have in Kobe, more or less. Over 70 ALT places reduced to about 20. Never mind that their admissions process is now a bloated whale of nonsense.

Not going bankrupt, but the number of students has dropped and schools are closing. They are also realizing after so many years that just having college degree does not a teacher make.

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by MMM

Not going bankrupt, but the number of students has dropped and schools are closing. They are also realizing after so many years that just having college degree does not a teacher make.

Exactly. Unlike my small little dispatch "company" (really just one guy who negotiates with the BOE). We've all been here between two and five years, with no plans to leave, and with good teaching evaluations, and some of us had previous teaching experience.

It does matter who you hire. Gee, I wonder why.

[WeeFugu]

I believe it is bankruptcy is it not?

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20...00546-san-soci

Translated:
GEOS English major (Tokyo) on Monday announced the start bankruptcy proceedings. Management and preservation of property order received from the Tokyo District Court on Sept. 20. According to the provisional administrator net debt is about 75 billion yen in the end of March this year.

[Nathan]

Although it did get me over to Japan for a few years, I believe the entire eikaiwa industry itself is a sham. Lack of qualified teachers, lack of actual educational material, etc.

From my brief experience, most of the people who took eikaiwa (and only eikaiwa) classes did not improve their ability, or their improvement was marginal. They would have been much better off taking a course from an actual certified instructor.

[WeeFugu]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Although it did get me over to Japan for a few years, I believe the entire eikaiwa industry itself is a sham. Lack of qualified teachers, lack of actual educational material, etc.

From my brief experience, most of the people who took eikaiwa (and only eikaiwa) classes did not improve their ability, or their improvement was marginal. They would have been much better off taking a course from an actual certified instructor.

100% agree, and I also used Eikaiwa to get over there. I moved over to ALT after that, where I felt I made a much bigger impact as I was in charge of what was getting taught. I worked for a certain British English school that will be unnamed, and they were simply awful. Though, I met my wife there. Yes that is right...I am a teacher who pulled one of his students, but for the record...her course was finished, so it was kosher! Hehe.

[Sangetsu]

I am very familiar with Geos, I have a few friends who work there (one of my GF's friends was Geos' top manager in Japan), and we hooked up for drinks last night after the big Geos meeting in Nihonbashi.

The problems with Geos had nothing to do with the quality of the teaching, as far as conversation schools go, Geos probably has the best teaching method and texts of them all. Geos' problem was it's management style and high overhead costs.

Geos managers had to endure incredible pressure to enroll new students, renew old students, and do what they can to meet the school's goal each month. The head office calls every day and questions managers about their progress and their plans for the day. As a result of this pressure, managers typically quit after 2 to 3 months. Typically, about 4 of 10 Geos schools have no manager, which makes enrolling and renewing students difficult. Added to this was the high cost of the administration. Though most of the individual schools have been earning a profit, it has not been sufficient to cover the admin costs.

Late last year Geos finally changed some policies, tried to keep a manager in each and every school, and revenue increased. Unfortunately, a few months ago the company which owns the Geos schools in Australia went bankrupt. Even though the company running the schools was an Australian entity, the bankruptcy damaged Geos' credit, making financing their operations through the year impossible.

As things stand now, a company called G Communications has purchased Geos. Of the remaining 320 Geos schools, about 100 will be closed. The remaining schools will reopen on Friday, with all staff now working for G Communications.

G Communications is the same company which bought out Nova after their bankruptcy. From all that I hear, Gcomm seems to have a better management style and business strategy, and will probably be a better company to work for than Geos.