Frequently Asked Questions

Q.   What are the advantages of doing relief work through JANCO?

A.   When you sign up with JANCO, by sending us only one CV, you have access to relief work at over 20 institutions. It is very difficult to obtain this coverage by sending out your CV to individual institutions where it may never even reach the person who engages relief staff.

Q.   How much work is there?

A.   TESOL teaching in Australia is seasonal. In general, more classes run in the second half of the year, peaking as students try to reach the English level required for tertiary and secondary entry. More work is generally available from September to February.

Q.   Can you guarantee a certain amount of work?

A.   The irregular nature of relief work makes it difficult for us to predict, let alone guarantee, work allocations. However, there are teachers who have remained on our list for up to two years because they can get sufficient work through JANCO to accommodate their other interests.

Q.   Can I get evening work through JANCO?

A.   Unfortunately our client base is in the full-time ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) market which means that currently all our classes are in the daytime. On occasion, JANCO has requests for private tuition which can be evening or weekend work. However, this is not our core business and is rare.

Q.   Should I sign up if what I really want is a full-time job?

A.   Yes. By working as a relief teacher you will gain access to a range of institutions some of which you will not reach by personal contact. All schools are different! You can find out which ones have an organisational culture which suits your style. Often JANCO teachers who impress will be offered contracts with our client institutions.

Q.   What happens if I'm offered work at a JANCO college? My contract requires me to deal exclusively with JANCO.

A.   If a client institution asks you privately to transfer to them, they save the cost of advertising, interviewing and demonstration lessons. They get a tried and tested teacher they really like and who knows their system. JANCO charges a fee to the institution to transfer you to their payroll since all the initial recruitment costs are borne by us. For this reason we require you to negotiate all work with our client institutions through JANCO.

Q.   Why does JANCO recommend an ABN?

A.   If you work for JANCO as a consultant rather than an employee, our administrative costs are lower. For this reason we always give priority to teachers with ABNs and place them at the top of the availability list.

Q.   Apart from work priority are there advantages for me in having an ABN?

A.   Like many areas of work, TESOL teaching is becoming increasingly casualised. Many JANCO teachers have some part-time work in schools not registered with JANCO or in a range of other jobs where they work alongside teaching. If you fill in a tax file declaration form you can only claim a tax free allowance from one employer. This means you pay additional tax for every other job you do and you will have to wait until the end of the tax year to claim it back.

With an ABN you work as a consultant, you are not stopped tax and you charge GST on your services. This way you keep your tax through the year and can invest it. It's better than the ATO earning interest on your money!

The interest you earn will compensate you for additional outgoings you must pay for yourself under this arrangement.

Q.   If I'm called up for a job and I refuse it what happens?

A.   Basically nothing! JANCO's system exists to allow flexible working arrangements for teachers. If you refuse work (occasionally) you will not be put lower on the availability list. It does help however, to email us if your availability changes. Then we won't wake you up unnecessarily!

Q.   I'm only available two days a week. Will this affect my work allocation?

A.   No. Many JANCO teachers have limited availability.

Q.   I'm studying and my work availability changes every week depending on workloads and assignments. Can I still register?

A.   JANCO can accommodate you as long as we receive regular email updates as your availability changes. Many of our teachers are studying and find JANCO is the best way for them to obtain teaching work.