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British Council

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British Council reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(2,307 total reviews)
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Ciarán Devane

63% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

British Council has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,307 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The British Council employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the ONG y Organizaciones sin fines de lucro industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
3.0
Sep 15, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Support - as a teacher you never have to deal with complaints or difficult customers beyond an certain point. Training - colleagues tell me it's not as good as other employers, such as IH - but it's paid. Atmosphere - depending on the centre (e.g. not Martinez Campos), colleagues are friendly and helpful. International opportunities - it's relatively easy to move around in the BC. Career development - I haven't ranked this very highly, as their insistence on the DELTA exam means that some incapable people are promoted, while other very capable people are stuck in monotonous positions. However, if you have this exam, there are decent prospects. Holidays - very long, about 6 - 9 weeks (although inflexible).

Cons

Rigid hierarchy - see above note on DELTA. There is little to no flexibility within jobs and promotions are very official while unfair. False transparency - managers usually employ who they want (and know), and make the incredibly lengthy applications fit their foregone choice. This means a lot of time wasted in hopeless applications. Antisocial timetables/bad contracts - the centres that offer decent timetables tend only to offer short contracts, and those that offer permanent contracts demand antisocial working hours (Friday, Saturday, or both, as well as evenings). Inequalities surrounding contracts are famous both within and outside the BC. Teachers are only registered as working part-time (with preparation time not included), which means they fall short of the threshold for a standard pension. Managerial attitudes - due to the rigid hierarchy, and since middle managers come exclusively from teaching backgrounds, their attitude towards teachers can be painfully patronising (eliciting the obvious etc.). Decreasing pay - pay rises always happen in retrospect, and don't meet the real rise in the cost of living, so teachers are proportionally poorer each year.

1.0
Jan 7, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They pay for your diploma - unfortunately it also one of the only organisations that recognise the diploma. Opportunity to travel. Decent holidays

Cons

Awful communication down the chain of command Full of public school twits They talk the talk on academic standards but this is rarely enforced. Two year contracts only - then only an offer to go hourly paid, losing all other benefits for doing the same job.

2.0
Jan 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you have no other options, it's ok. If you are quick enough, you can pick up hours when you need it. They have ok in house trainings and you can develop your IT skills while working here. It's interesting to teach students from around the world.

Cons

1. Very low salary for the UK that hasn't increased for years (13 pounds for 55 minutes group class, 7.5 pounds for 25 min private class). 2. The teacher has no rights and nowhere to complain if things go wrong. 3. If things go wrong with technology, they blame the teacher. For example, I had a problem with the link. When I tried to start the class, the link didn't work. I tried writing support 5 minutes before the class started and only got response from the admin 15 minutes later when they managed to generate the link. I started the class, but was told that I wouldnt be paid for it. Later they agreed to pay for 15 minutes of tha class, which was about 3 pounds. 4. You'd be observed a lot without prior notice and and it could be on the recording of your class which happened a month ago. The observation feedback is quite critical and not really fair.

Viewing 79 - 81 of 2,307 Reviews

Glassdoor has 3,222 British Council reviews submitted anonymously by British Council employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if British Council is right for you.