Edmonton Islamic Academy

•  Admin constantly try to micromanage teachers, asking them to change grades because parents complain and fudge final marks to get a student enough credits

•  Admin has no understanding of reasonable assessment; they want at least one summarize assessment a week at the high school level

•  Admin will blindside teachers by calling a meeting only hours ahead of time, and even worse, hosting events that teachers and students are obligated to attend but announcing those events only the day before when you and your class have been preparing for an activity or assessment for weeks

•  Admin give no warning switching up classes. They will assign teachers to teach random subjects a week in advance and leave the teacher in crunch mode trying to design an entire term plan in a few days.

•  IT does not fix things in a timely manner; at times I have waited over 3 months for a computer to be fixed, meanwhile trying to teach around it. At other times, requests have gone completely ignored and were never fixed the entire school year.

•  The work environment is incredibly cliquey and petty. There is a clear line drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims, and then even further between Arabs and non-Arabs. Good luck being placed in any administrative position, or even being respected as a long-term staff, if you’re not Muslim and Arab.

•  Parents are out of control. They demand meetings with admin to complain about teachers, and admin pull you from prep time and out-of-work hours to sit through these meetings and waste your time.

•  Students have huge behavioral issues. Never have I worked at a school where students are so disrespectful to all staff. Think entitled, rich private school kid that breaks things, yells at teachers, bombards you with emails and texts, and suffers no consequences. There is no real consequence for them, and admin has no desire to change this despite repeated complaints from staff because even the most rowdy of kids pay tuition.

•  Printers literally never work. And if they do work, they are out of paper. Be prepared to spend a chunk of change on printing at home if you plan to work here.

•  Teachers lose breaks and spares all the time to cross-cover for an absent teacher, rather than admin hiring a sub. Even worse, I’ve heard from several staff that their classes didn’t even get covered and all the kids just skipped and left the school for that block.

•  Admin is obsessed with this idea of 8-4. They will hound you for arriving late (email every time you scan in even a minute late) and reprimand you for leaving before 4. We are salaried, not hourly staff. All teachers work outside of 8-4 marking, planning, and prepping. And yet, admin are obsessed with teachers remaining at school from 8-4 as if we are paid by the hour and not performing extra labour at home for this job.

•  Huge problem with homophobia, ableism, and racism at that school. Kids constantly throwing around slurs, ignoring teachers who tell them to stop, and admin doesn’t see it as a real problem so they don’t enact consequences. 

•  Meetings are always scheduled for the last 15-30 minutes before the end of the day (4:00) so that they can force staff to stay longer. These meetings regularly go for hours longer beyond 4:00 because admin loves to hear themselves talk.

•  Meetings are constant. At least on whole school meeting a week (15-20 min), and one grade section meeting a week (30min-2hrs). Plus meetings every day that staff are pulled into because admin wants to entertain the complaints of an entitled student or delusional parent.

•  Admin’s idea of avoiding plagiarism is taking ideas and just rewording them, which they have said specifically to students. Anyone who has been to university knows that taking an idea uncredited is plagiarism, whether you reword it or not.

•  While other schools are updating their libraries to include modern works of Black, Indigenous, and authors of colour, this school relies on class sets of books by old dead white people. Any deviation from that is grounds for reprimand.

•  Admin are totally unresponsive to email and text. You are forced to visit them in person, along with the lineup of 20 other staff and students who’ve been trying to contact them for a week.

•  The school has absolutely no mental health supports for kids. The counsellor has no strategies except to tell kids to read the Qur’an more. Students with real depression and anxiety are lectured by admin that at least they aren’t being bombed in Palestine, as if that solves everything for a 14-year-old with suicidal thoughts.

•  Very little support for kids with learning disabilities. They have some EA’s who do their work the best they can, but the school is so disorganized and last-minute with everything that kids with disabilities are largely falling through the cracks. Admin clearly misunderstands the purpose and use of IPPs and are only in it for the funding. The school does not promote a culture of accommodation and differentiation. Instead, you’re told to assign 0’s and that those kids won’t make it to dash one courses next year.

There's nepotism and favouritism everywhere here. Throughout the school year, you lose your breaks because admin doesn't have proper indoor recess supervision schedule, so teachers have to supervise their own class so teachers don't get enough breaks, not even a bathroom break. There are times when you can't even go to the washroom until the end of the school day. There's a lot of micromanagement from admin. You could get observed on a daily basis and feel like a child. The school doesn't get funded for special needs students, there's a real lack of resources and never enough teacher assistants. Most times, there's never enough paper. We always ran out of paper and the photocopiers are always broken and doesn't get fixed for 1-3 weeks, so teachers have to print at home, use their own ink, paper, staples, laminate, hole puncher, etc. Class sizes are maxed out between 24-28 students. Teachers always get blamed for everything and there's always finger pointing from admin to teachers so you can already imagine  that admin throws their teachers under the bus countless times. You could lose your spare/break if it lands on prayer time. It's hard to find subs, there's never enough subs. There were times when teacher assistants were used to supervise classes without any Alberta-certified teacher present, then, they pull out other teachers from their spares/breaks to cover blocks of the absent teacher either because they're trying to save money or they can't find any subs. It's an Islamic school but the school culture doesn't feel Islamic at all, instead it feels worse than the public school. Admin creates too many events all throughout the year, leaving the teachers too fatigued, too exhausted, too overworked. A lot of times, they will schedule events during report card season, or schedule several school-wide events all in the same month. There are times when you'll be treated unfairly, unjustly, and sometimes, admin can make you feel uneducated, unprofessional, undervalued, and unappreciated because they never fail to criticize everything wrong that you're doing, and never acknowledge you for the good ones, they nitpick a lot. There are several people whom they've hired as teachers who don't possess appropriate or proper credentials to be teaching in the first place. This has been the worst job experience of my entire life! If you love yourself and you value your time and you care for your mental health, then don't work for the Edmonton Islamic Academy, you'd be doing yourself a favour. Do it for your physical and mental health. Trust me, you don't want to work here.

Unless you're a Muslim or planning to convert, don't bother. There are no opportunities to stay at this school long-term or climb the ranks unless you're Muslim. Although they claim they are open to hiring non-Muslims, in practice non-Muslim teachers are ostracized in the school by students, parents, and worst of all other staff and admin. 

The school has no mentorship system at all, though they claim to in their job postings. Teachers basically get thrown into teaching with no support.

Computers are completely broken down. Technology can't be relied on for teaching, and even if you call IT it will take them months to fix.

Admin always sides with parents, never with teachers. Get ready to take the fall for every mistake admin makes.

Students are terribly behaved, and I've worked in literal behaviour classrooms that are streamed outside of integrated classes. These kids have no respect for teachers at all, even less if you're not Muslim, and even less if you're not a man.

Admin loves to host overly-long meetings at least twice a week, taking out of prep and marking time. Even though they expect you to complete at least one summative assessment a week and finish marking assessments within 5 days.

This school is a nightmare. Just avoid it if you can. There are a million schools who actually respect their staff and try to help you succeed, instead of laying of 50+ staff in one school year and harassing you for more work even months after you've been laid off.

A safe and welcoming environment that empowers teachers to create and cultivate the best learning environment for their students.

Support and encouragement are never ending. A great place to teach and learn.

PD is available and Staff Appreciation is hosted every year by the Board.

Learning is constructed within the framework of inquiry. Opportunities to learn from specialists in the secondary school are available to the elementary teachers. 

A strong U of A student teaching program is in place. 

Parent/student/teacher triangular relationships are nurtured and promoted.

School's Mission/Vision are widely accepted, promoted, and acted upon by all stakeholders.

1500 students who are working towards intellectual growth and spiritual mindfulness.

Assessment is ongoing. Students are encouraged to find inner motivation for learning and to participate actively in their learning process.

An ambitious sports program with several teams competing at city-wide competitions.

Students travel to New York and China for Model UN competitions.

EIA has a partnership with Westlake Academy in Texas that includes student exchange programs.

A beautiful campus with state of the art STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) learning space.

Excellent leadership team.

The work starts at 8:00 am. I normally have assignments to do during the day. I prepare my tools and the paint for the required places to be painted. Emergency happens sometimes, so we have to work accordingly. The management was working towards to finish the school before the students come back. We have good co-workers who understand the type of the job and provide help whenever needed.
The hardest part of the job was during the presence of the students with all the paint around. We have to be careful, and our signs were always around to caution them.
The most enjoyable part of the job was when I finish the required assignment and see the work done perfectly and get the appreciation from the board.

I enjoyed working here as a sub for a few years. It has amazingly kind staff, hardworking students, and a great Islamic culture. 

At this school, the following was offered/observed: daily prayer (duhur), Friday prayer, Quran & Arabic & Islamic studies classes, Ramadan shifted schedule, Eid celebration and 3 days off from school, Islamic conduct class, modest hijab and abayah uniform, and daily morning athkaar/supplication. 

It was an absolute pleasure and a blessing working here. Alhamdulillaah. 

The management is very unprofessional to deal with. They say opposite to what they do. During my job interview, the principal was talking about irrelevant stuff, never ask me about my teaching style or anything related to the job I'm applying for.
Politics plays a big role in the school. The teachers are overloaded.
If you think to apply for a job in Islamic Academy School, please think again.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Amazing atmosphere, respectful and very helpful staff

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I work as a substitute teacher there which does not come with many responsibilities as the home room teacher (no planning or marking), so it is stress-free to work there

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
respectful, supportive, highly Islamic

Working at EIA was a very memorable experience,  I learnt so much from my peers, parents and students during my time at the academy. I highly recommend to anyone seeking employment to apply at the academy. The staff, admin and students were incredible and respectful 

lovely environment, the kids are great and the times are convenient but its hard to live off the salary because of the short shifts one day per week especially if you love spending money

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