Teacher Immunity in English Language Institutes and Public Schools: EFL Teachers’ Perception in Focus

The teacher, his instructional method, and indeed his characteristics are considered to be the decisive factors for the success or failure of education. The current study was carried out to determine the Iranian EFL teachers’ perception of immunity in their occupational contexts, that is, in English language institutes and public schools. To achieve this objective, one hundred EFL teachers teaching in public schools (N = 50) and language institutes (N = 50) in Isfahan were selected through convenience sampling to participate in this study. Then, the Teachers’ Immunity Level questionnaire was administered to them, and they were interviewed as well. The teachers were asked about their perception of immunity in their own occupational setting. All the teachers working in language institutes believed that teachers in these educational centers are suffering from low levels of job immunity. The teachers were also asked about the reasons underlying the high and low levels of job immunity in these two educational contexts. The teachers in language institutes believed that the dearth of monitoring by the government, the large number of unemployed educated people, employers’ greed, and the lowering value of education in society are among the most important reasons underlying this catastrophe in language institutes. These findings can have some implications for the decision makers in the Iranian Ministry of Education to provide language institutes with more support and attention with an eye to eliminating the mentioned problems.