Cognitive Development Learning Centre Reviews

1. Clueless about education --- It should have tipped me off even during the application process that this centre was run by people who had no background in the education industry. The founders worked as an accountant and a HR personnel before venturing into this business. Of course, this was addressed during the interview. They would assure you that since it’s the coaches who teach and engage with the students, the company values their insights and opinions in the day-to-day run of the learning centre. Knowing that, at least, reassured me that the students’ education aren’t compromised and are closely catered to their needs with the support of the company. Oh boy, was that a complete lie. First of all, the boss will often say things to different people that are unbecoming of an educator. Things like, “education is a privilege, not a right”, “don’t expect other people to teach you things”, and “you guys are new so you don’t have a say on how to run things” are just some of the things my colleagues and I have shared with each other that he has told us. When there are things that he wants to implement and ALL of the academic staff are trying to tell him that it won’t work in the classroom, he still insists on his ideas and ways despite the fact that a) he hasn’t stepped foot in the classroom for 8 years which he frequently mentions, and b) the academic staff are familiar with the student profiles and therefore can give a more accurate opinion on how changes can affect the students. He has claimed that “sometimes I think all of you are against me” when, in fact, the whole academic staff have merely been acting and saying things for the benefit of the students. As an educator, our duty should first and foremost be to the safety and academic welfare of the students. It should NOT be about how this could affect our image in the company, or how much the other staff should listen to me because I hold power in the company. 2. No Training Provided --- Staff are expected to look for their own training and upskill themselves. There are no experienced superiors in the company to give you meaningful advice, supervision, and impart useful strategies in the classroom. 7-day training? It’s basically just your normal company induction programme plus maybe you just get a refresher course of your Psychology course but given by someone unqualified and unsure about what he’s talking about. I’m talking like, he will forget what a word means and will google it right in front of you, or you would have to correct his slides because it was outdated and inappropriate. The Boss can’t provide training because he’s not properly trained himself. My colleagues and I once shared with each other that he has claimed that the way to handle a child that has been having near-always meltdowns in the classroom is to let it happen and even ENCOURAGE it to happen saying, “you must poke poke poke until he has a meltdown so he can get used to it.” It doesn’t take a SPED educator to know that this is inappropriate on so many levels. In fact, as some of us colleagues had been in touch with SPED schools for interviews, one of the SPED educators specifically mentioned that the best way that education centres should approach situations is to work with the mindset of preventing meltdowns and not how to bring kids out of them. Prevention is better than cure. It really doesn’t even take an experienced professional to know this. And yet, the Boss can say this and still believe that he’s qualified to give trainings to fresh grads and staff with no prior experience. 3. Unprofessional --- There were so many instances of unprofessionalism that my colleagues and I have witnessed. The Boss would give you the illusion of knowing what to do by stepping in during times when they hear screaming or crying, but he would never stay the entire way and dip out as soon as he thinks he’s filled his quota of Must Show I’m Involved And I Helped quota for the moment. Often times, situations like those never finish in a minute or two, and especially not after only asking and saying, “What’s wrong? Come come, let’s take a walk. Come come, I’ll give you chocolate.” At this point let me point out that him giving treats to the students in order to stop their meltdowns are a blatant POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT that is seriously just unbelievable and I hope, for his sake, that he’s just unaware that that’s the impending result of his ‘help’. He would also disrupt lessons to call out the coaches/teachers and even use aggressive tone and language in the presence of the students to do so. During one incident, the students even commented, “why he so rude one” and “what’s his problem?” I believe it is your professional responsibility that, even if unhappy, you should maintain a civil demeanour especially in front of others in the workspace and address sensitive information and discussions after allocated contact time with the students. Their parents are not paying the company so the Boss can bring out his staff from the classroom and scold them during the kids’ precious 2 hours of coaching time. And then proceed to talk about something mundane that could have waited until after lessons had ended. There were also times when the Bosses don't even know the students' names and had to ask the staff who is who. The Boss has also displayed various distasteful behaviour and reactions towards his staff giving their resignation letter. Some of which include unnecessarily attacking the staff’s personalities and characteristics (claiming they give up easily, they don’t have a managerial mindset, etc.), gaslighting them by twisting their words and experiences, laughing at the letter given to them, thanking them for resigning, trying to guit ltrip them into extending the notice period past the stated last day of service, etc. Just all around a horrible, stressful, and traumatic experience to even submit your resignation letter. There are plenty more but these are the top 3 that I have that overarches every terrible thing in this company. There’s also blurred out working hours (your 9-7 is never 9-7), expectancy of unpaid OT, mountains of work, zero appreciation or welfare, erratic scheduling, and so on. If what you wanted is the exposure, guidance, and slow ease into the SPED industry, this place unfortunately can't provide that for you in a substantial way. Honestly, I did not and will not even put this on my resume.

The interview was sketchy as the interviewer (the Boss), did not answer my questions directly and would beat around the bush. One example is, Me: What is the salary you are offering after the probation period? Him: There is no guarantee but definitely will increase based on your performance. Me: Is there a range estimate? Him: [defensively disagreeing] There is no specific range, it can go up to thousands. Eventually, I found out they did not increase other previous colleagues' pay as initially discussed. And from his dodgy explanation, I should have known it was trouble. Another example is, Me: I noticed the work timings are not stated in the contract, only the centre’s operating hours. What time is our official working hours because based on the 44 hours work week, it will exceed? Him: We stated operation hours only because we are fluid in work timings. Me: But the classes start at 9am and end at 7pm. Do we need to start earlier or stay later? Him: Let’s not be calculative with the 30 minutes extra. Some days, we have ever allowed our coaches to leave early especially during the holidays. Later I have found out from the previous colleagues that it only happened once in the pre-covid period and ever since they are forced to OT (without pay) to finish work. Although the Boss does casually state not to OT too late, he did not understand the amount of work required by him to complete. Additionally, he would drag people into his office and talk to us for hours without a conclusion, taking away our time to do materials. Hence, the never-ending OT we have to do. Another example is, Me: Will training be provided? Him: Definitely. Me: Has there been any scenarios where children might have meltdowns and how do you approach it? Can you give me an example? Him: You will know when you are with us, don’t worry so much. Everything will be covered, we are professionals. I should have thought of that as red flags and rejected the offer but as a fresh graduate, I overlooked them - rookie mistake. On my first day, he insisted on going through the slides as part of the training plan. There were about 14 slides and he took 5 hours to finish them, only covering the orientation, i.e. mission, values, and vision. This training, a.k.a lectures, was given throughout 3 weeks of my service then. In his slides, there were quite a few misinformations and I had to raise them up with him. As a fresh graduate, most of what I have studied is still retained in my memory. When questioned, he would disagree immediately and tell me I was wrong without any evidence to support his explanation. And that is his idea of training. There was no guidance from any proper professionals catering to special needs children just him and his slides. Another red flag is his qualification. He mentioned he is qualified as he took an Early Childhood course and his company has been with him for 10 years. Little did I know that he barely knew any of the students there and had little to no interactions with them. He has Certification of participation and appreciation up on his wall which he claims is proof for a “qualified” trainer. He claimed he does not have to know the students as he can read everything up. However, whenever he tried to describe the child, he was way off than what I interacted with face-to-face. He tried to change the entire class schedule and wanted a “discussion” with the coaches. However, whenever we raised a potential issue, he would think we were against him and would not listen to any feedback. Even after showing him, his plans were not feasible, he insisted it was possible when he did not see the situation first. With no first-hand experience with children with special needs and with no knowledge of the fundamentals, he does whatever he wants without any considerations. All in all, the Boss works his employees in circles and blames them for not being efficient if it was not done right in his opinion. He tends to take all the credits when all the effort lays on his employees. The turnover rate is high and employee welfare is minimally low.