The longer I stay here the more I realize this country is unlikely to change. Now I am not saying that old teachers are the best teachers but I know teachers who have been here for 8 or 9 years and all their experience seems to be pushed aside for a younger crop who are to be fair more handsome and maybe have more energy. I have seen some pretty crappy older teachers but some younger teachers were fired from my school recently because they simply did not make the grade.

In this country, so little is changing except possible more money being thrown at the system. This means that more money is siphoned off while the school gets the cheapest teachers they can and they have their drinking money for the month. White teachers trump Filipinos (but I have to say that I find the Filipino accent off) Recently a Filipino was trying to say Asian and she kept on saying “Ajean”. I couldn’t get it. She said it about 10 times - and in the end had to spell it.

Black teachers are trumped by everyone no matter where they come from unless they are superstar. Blond-haired, blue-eyed young teachers trump everyone. Who the hell cares if they can teach? I wonder if the principle and co-teachers lick their lips and wonder what extracurricular activity they may get or maybe he can teach them English “privately”.

Now Thailand is promoting itself as the ASEAN hub. It is always amazing in this country how little changes except the way they promote themselves. Who would come to Thailand and open a business given their poor English skills and their innate ability to blame someone else for the fact they hardly ever learn (and the laws where you cannot own anything).

It is always amazing to me when the teacher gets “too serious” the teacher gets fired and until that is addressed, the country will never change. As long as teachers are simply 'window dressing' to make the school look good no one will take the job seriously. Who cares if they have a degree? They rarely use it anyway right?

It seems agencies have secured their place this year in many schools and making sure the brown envelopes keep on flowing. The cheapest newbies are recruited and thrown into schools. Most of them anyway. Everyone takes their cut. If anything I have found education here to be getting worse. Most kids are out of control, they know they can get teachers fired on whim, and the “best teachers” are those who are fun or enjoy constantly having fun. Blond-haired and blue-eyed teachers are great. When they go home and mummy asks how the new teacher is and they all reply in a rising whined cry of elation. Who could object? As long as the students are happy right?

Marvin

In reply to China: The Promised Land? (Ajarn Postbox 20th September) Disastrous experiences; yes we’ve all had them. My letters have at various times extolled the virtues of China, but like everywhere else, experiences differ. After doing “extensive research” should it really take one eight months to discover one has been working illegally? Again, wouldn’t the same happen to the “colleague” who was arrested in China for working illegally, in much the same way as would happen in Thailand? (Plus the corruption in equal measures).

No country is a promised land. It’s always a good idea to ask to speak to a teacher already in the school before signing a contract and as for -30 degree winters; I take it your research into northern China made you aware of this? If your school was breaking the terms of your contract I take it you did complain to your coordinator or The Foreign Affairs Department? No? You just did a runner?! As for “parents peering through glass windows”, do you realize you’re probably the first white person they’d ever seen? Did you smile at them, or scowl and wonder why they were unfriendly towards you?

Certainly, Thailand is a very much more open and friendly country and the secretive nature of a closed society after decades of communism reflects this, but as in any country, beware the unscrupulous schools/agencies!

So, really you wanted the Thai friendliness, low working hours, no corruption and 50k+, plus free everything? You simply chose the wrong company/location. I have all the stated previous; it’s not all perfect, there are hiccups along the way, (plus the -30 winters); but I worked for longer than a few months in Thailand to discover that, as in every aspect of life, you have to spend more than a few months somewhere. More often than not, most problems are caused by a matter of attitude or lack of understanding and being unable to adapt to various cultures.

James

I love Thailand. in fact I've spent a lot of time there usually in one or two-month stretches. I did my CELTA there and worked for a Thai company for a month or two after getting the certificate. But I'll admit, that's not the same as dealing with 7:30am gate duty year after year, so feel free to take what I say with a small grain of salt. In fact, this letter is not really about Thailand, it's about China. There have been a few letters here suggesting that China is the ESL promised land and that any sensible teacher ought to jump ship and go to China, but my experience of China was nothing short of disastrous. I feel I ought to add my perspective, to add a little balance.

My partner also did his CELTA in Thailand and after careful consideration, we decided that China offered more opportunity than Thailand. The contracts my partner and I signed were great (equivalent of 50,000 baht each a month plus free housing and bonuses) and we did what we thought was extensive research on the city and company.

I worked in China for eight months of a one-year contract and by God it was a horrible time. In the end we pulled a midnight runner back to Thailand after we discovered that we had been working illegally for the entire time we were there. In addition, a colleague was stopped by police and arrested when his paperwork was found to be not in order and the company we worked for tried to extort a massive fine out of him. They were the ones who faked the paperwork.

That was the final straw, but during the time we worked in China, we had the terms of our contract broken repeatedly. Our apartment was disgusting. We were lied to frequently over the big issues and the small things. They 'forgot' to pay us our full salaries every month and we would have to threaten to leave in order to get our full pay. We were actively discouraged from teaching effectively in favour of looking more entertaining to the parents peering in through glass windows. We were isolated - and they attempted to keep us on a very short leash indeed.

Outside of school problems, my partner had the trots for eight months and I was sick for two consecutive months in minus 30 degree winters. The city was polluted, the food very unhealthy and the people were nowhere near as friendly as Thais. Arriving back in Thailand after our escape was one of the happiest days of my life. People smile at you! When people ask 'where you go?', it tends to be a middle-aged lady wanting to help you out or practice her English, not a policeman asking what the hell you're doing in his country. Basic rules of politness are observed. Oh, it was heaven.

What's the point of all this on a Thai website? Just a warning to think very carefully before you jump. Chinese schools sponsor and own your visa so getting out of a poor situation is not an easy thing to do. For all our problems, our school would cave in and pay us properly whenever we stood our ground. As bad as they were, there are much worse ones out there.

On the bright side, I can highly recommend Vietnam as a place to live and work!

Ange

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Ajarn.com

In reply to previous posts about unqualified teachers and the great and plentiful jobs that are supposedly available - I have to disagree. When I first came to Bangkok in 2009, I had a BA (Hons) English degree and a 120-hour TEFL certificate I went to live in Bangkok and trained on a teaching English to young learners course. My experience is that there are very few jobs available that ask for unqualified teachers. Where do you look for these 'unqualified teacher wanted' job ads? The majority of the jobs I apply for are from ajarn.com and they specifically ask for qualified teachers. From 2009-2011 I lived in Bangkok and the money I was offered wasn't anything to write home about, apart from one international school in Bang Kruai which offered fantastic rates per hour for part-time work on a Saturday. I decided to go back to the UK to study for the PGCE (postgraduate certificate in education) from 2011 to 2012. I am now back in Bangkok with two great paying jobs - both full-time and part-time.

Wendy Williams

In reply to ‘The ABCs of NOT securing a job' (Ajarn Postbox 3rd September 2012) I think potential employers are quite capable of smelling a rat and there are enough candidates out there for them to choose from. I too have a problem with criminal reference checks and to date no one has yet come up with an answer.

Here’s a little background and the question: I’m from the UK and due to our privacy laws it’s impossible to obtain a CRC online, or by a simple phone call as in the U.S. Every job I obtain would require a new check as the usual reply from the employer is that the original CRC is too old and a new one must be obtained. That involves a trip back to the UK, a stay in rented accommodation of up to 40 days, a change of address on documents - and finally the trip back.

Now, who’s going to pay for all that every couple of years? Certainly not me and at this point the employer usually goes very quiet. The whole world does not revolve around the U.S way of doing things and this would simply mean a huge reduction of UK teachers who are already living in Asia. Any suggestions?

James

You've gone to all the trouble of creating a beautifully presented resume and having all of your documents scanned and sent everything through with an outstanding cover letter. And then you dodge simple questions by email or don’t reply at all. If there’s one way of alerting a prospective employer to the smell of a rat, you’re doing a great job if you’re guilty of either or both of the above. There’s no smoke without fire and I think that it’s high time for criminal reference checks to be made a compulsory part of the recruitment process because that will stop you applying for positions altogether. And that will save everyone’s time.

Quick Rant

I'm an English-born South African Citizen. I have never ever throughout my entire life spoke any other language than English. I'm an author of a book on the shelves written in English. Why would Thailand persist that I have to do a TOEIC test before they'll look at my application for a teaching licence. I not only hold the National Teachers Diploma from South Africa but also have a BA Education degree accompanied by 21 years teaching experience in English as a foreign language. I also have a TEFL certificate obtained in Bangkok. Yet they persist that I do this so called TOEIC test that non-native speakers have to do. Could anyone out there please enlighten me in this regard?

Rob

I would like to share my experience as I feel it needs to be shared. I do not have a college degree and I have moved gracefully from one great job to the next great job. I currently work at a top international school in Bangkok and make 60k amonth with a housing allowance thrown in. Some teachers make around 70-100k here with the same housing allowance and other benefits. I have more of an assistant teacher role with the school and support teachers in the classroom. Work permits and visas have never been an issue. The school simply just takes care of it. I'm tired of all this negative feedback about problems for unqualified teachers. This is Thailand. If the school likes you, they will easily find a way to make any government or immigration issues non-existent for you.

I also teach private students on Sunday for three hours at 1,000 baht an hour - so add about 12,000 per month to the 60,000 baht I get from the school.

1. My advice is to apply for the top jobs at the best schools and be professional, well-dressed, clean shaven. And always have a good attitude.
2. Always provide a reference letter from previous employers you have worked for - especially any teaching gigs.
3. Remember to do your homework on the school via the internet and make sure you have a basic understanding of the schools ideas and philosophies before an interview ie: mission statement on website, principal message or any interviews you can find from the principal online by searching his or her name, community involvement, news feeds from the school etc etc....
4. Always make a follow up call to the school or person you sent the CV too and make sure they were able to open your documents from your CV and proceed to respectfully request a time in thier schedule for an interview.
5. After the interview send a follow-up thank you email first thing next morning so you are on their mind with a polite and professional thank you to all persons that were at the interview.

I have also found that voluntary work is held in high regard so it always helps to have this in your arsenal as I have an eุxtensive service record here. Forget any salary around the 30K mark unless you just have to take something or just don't care about money. But you deserve more than that!

Ajarn says - you've done well for yourself Richard, no doubt about that. But there will always be the odd person who finds themself in the right place at the right time and takes advantage of a rare opportunity. It certainly sounds like that was the case with your 'international school opening'. I'm not going to let one man's good fortune change my current opinion that it's getting much tougher here for those teachers without degrees.

richard

I have just been reading about the changes to the law for unqualified teachers and thought i might give my opinion....as an unqualified teacher. I've only had about two years experience teaching in Thailand and I lived in Bangkok from late 2008 to mid-2010. In my limited experience it was surprisingly easy to find employment without a degree.

When I moved to Bangkok in 2008 all I had was a college diploma and a 40 hour TEFL certificate. My first port of call was the agencies, all of which offered me numerous positions across the country. Then I went to the language centres, again the most important thing to them seemed to be my appearance (im 25, blonde haired, blue eyed), which was kind of disconcerning, but i wasnt about to complain.

Throughout my time in Thailand I worked in numerous jobs, a semester here, a semester there and for most of them no paperwork was ever done. I worked in a primary school for one full academic year. They managed to get me a visa, work permit no questions asked.

Ive not been in Thailand since 2010, and after reading a bit on ajarn.com, teaching does certainly sound like a much harder thing to get into now. By contrast however, I have a large number of friends in Thailand, teaching English, without a degree. The general consensus from them is that there is a shedload of work out there at the moment and they've had very few problems in finding employment.

I had messaged one friend saying i was heading to Bangkok later this year to do a TEFL CELTA with one of the well known agencies. his reply was: "Lot's of work over here, but choose the school carefully....don't even bother with a TEFL certificate."

When he said "choose the school carefully" it kind of made me think about how few qualified teachers must be available to these schools if unqualified teachers can just pick and choose where they want to work? Personally I don't think that the situation in Thailand will really change for a number of years. Thai schools will always find a way around whatever regulations are put in place.

I am still heading to Bangkok to study the CELTA after which I'm studying for a bachelor's degree at one of the universities in Bangkok commencing in October. I am absolutely certain that i will still be able to work alongside my studies and have a relatively comfortable lifestyle. So maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is impossible for me to work out there now, but I seriously doubt it.

Ajarn.com says - the question is Rob, is there the 'right work' for unqualified teachers? Or are unqualified teachers getting the stuff no one else in their right mind would want to do - and probably for good reason.

Rob