I work in a government school in Issan which employs several teachers that do not possess degrees or fake degree certificates. They have work permits, one has been teaching at the school legally for several years and one has recently received their work permit and teaching license. I do not have a degree but the school still offered me employment and a non-imm B visa and are currently in the process of applying for my teachers license. Like many things in Thailand, it is often not a case of what you know but who you know, if the school have connections at the MOE and you are happy to live in the North East where the level of English is extremely low and there is a huge shortage of teachers it is possible to teach legally without a degree. I also know several other schools in this area that are legally employing teachers without degree certificates.

The salary I receive is low in comparison to what many private language institutes or international schools offer, but it is still three times what many Thai teachers are earning in the same school, and I can afford to have a good quality of life here (the cost of living in Issan is also very low). I also have friends legally teaching in Chiang Mai without degrees or fake degrees but I believe it was harder for them to find employment

Raphaella

I've just been reading through the ajarn letters page for the first time, and it seems that the current topic is the 'insulting' wages offered on the site. This is my take on it... As many people have pointed out, we are all free to choose what jobs we apply for, and those of us lucky / well-organised enough to have a teaching degree or plenty of experience can choose to apply only for the better-paid jobs, confident that we'll get offered at least one of them. But those of us who don't yet have experience need to start somewhere, and work up the experience-and-salary ladder. Think about the following:

1) Some of these schools can't afford to pay a lot. Some writers on this site seem to imply that they therefore are insulting foreign teachers. I would argue that we are insulting their school by dismissing their wage offers so callously.

2) There are plenty of foreign teachers who consider 15-20K a reasonable wage. Yes, most of them are not native speakers - so? They need jobs too, and if they are happy with these wages, then so be it. It seems to me to be an insult to them to call their wages 'insulting'.

3) The wages foreigners are paid to teach are higher than most or all of the Thai teachers in the same institution, and yet these Thai teachers are more qualified than almost all of the foreigners, and spend more time at work than the foreigners, too!

4) To those who say they expect a good salary for the years of experience they have, I say well, only go for the higher-paid jobs then. Leave the lower salaries for those trying to get on the ladder. And don't insult those with 'only' a TEFL certificate - for a start, they're not responsible for the child's entire education, just their English classes - if they're not a super-teacher, it's not really earth-shattering.

Secondly, there are a lot of fantastic teachers out there (and over here...) who have no teaching qualifications at all. In short, if you are lucky enough to have choices, make them, and don't look down on those less fortunate.

Lucie

The majority of Thai educators are resistant to change. The Government is pouring bhat after bhat into improving the Thais ability to speak English, but it is not happening much because Thais are resistant to change and there are some farangs who are not serious about teaching in Thailand. Of the sincere farangs, they must deal with unneccessary amounts of dysfunctional behavior from Thai educators. Sure there are some Thai educators who are serious, but they are overpowered bny directors who will not let change happen. Farangs don't know everything about education, but nor do Thais.

Twice I have tried an honest and polite approach to teaching English, but to no good avail. I have asked for information about the school but told that little would come until the start of school. Asked politely for information to help me prepare for a good year but this was denied me and other teachers. We were occasionally asked for our opinion about matters of English, only to be told that "Sabai Sabai" is the way of the school. This means that nothing will change. I have even been told by a Thai teacher that I don't know English, even though it is my first language and I have a BA from a university in the USA. If many Thai educators are fine with Thai English, why is so much money being spent having Native English Speakers teach? It is just a matter of people, farangs and Thais making money from poor Thai tax payers? It's pretty sad.

Paul

I've read so many doom and gloom letters and posts about the perils of being over 50 and a teacher in Thailand. I teach in a provincial private school an hour out of Bangkok. I also run some courses at the local university as well as teaching IELTS preparation courses at a leading academic language school. Total hours 35 per week, total pay 96,000 per month excluding bonuses ( before you say that's too many hours, I used to work 60 hours a week in a high pressure job before I came to Thailand 7 years ago).

I'm 60 and have never been in so much demand. Am I that special? Not at all. I'm just proactive and do a good job. By the way, at the language school there are four out of the six teachers who are over 60. It certainly helps though that I have a lot of experience coupled with a Masters degree. My advice to the older guys, if you are qualified there is a lot of work. You just have to get out there and sell yourself. if you are armed with just a TEFL, of course you will struggle as you are competing with a veritable army of young good looking and likewise unqualified teachers. One final piece of advice, have your feet firmly placed in at least a couple of camps, that way if one source of your income suddenly dries up you will still be OK.

Rob

I've just completed the Thai Language and Culture Course. Despite all the negative stories I had read before attending the course, I have to say I found it very interesting. I had adopted a very negative attitude towards the Thai education system and Thailand in general. The course has helped me understand the Thai people and their sometimes indifferent ways. Hand-on-heart. I feel that the course has made me a better person and hopefully a better teacher.

Keith Evans

After spending the holiday period looking and applying for jobs, I interviewed last week at a Thai school 30 mins from my home. After the interview I was told I was the best candidate and could I start on the18th May.

OK, here goes. I started today and everything they told me at the interview was a lie. No computer use, no internet, no use at all of copying facilities. All copies for the students have to come from my own pocket. I will be required to teach classes of up to 60 students. 25 contact hours a week. NO books, notebooks or resources, everything is to be made by myself for 25 individual classes, who I see for one hour a week only. Again, from my own pocket!

No contract either! Just paid monthly on their word! Also, after speaking to the other foreign teacher today,who was here last semester, I was told that the guy I replaced was fired on the very last day of last semester and wasn't given his two month holiday pay which was agreed upon when he interviewed.
I know what I need to do and follow suit but why is this getting too difficult? This is not an agency post, it is direct with the school. Seriously, does anybody know of any schools in Bkk that are still looking, that treat their teachers like human beings?

I agree that ajarn.com accepts job ads with ridiculous to insulting wage offers. I also noticed that you are currently trumpeting that you have received over 600 job ads in the last 20 days. Whoopdee-doo. After checking these ads out it seems that for the most part they are not from actual schools but simply more of the same old rip-off agencies offering the same indentured slave wages. We as teachers should boycott these middle man employers, and this website, and apply directly to the schools we wish to work for. Maybe then we can effect a change and accomplish 2 goals;

1. Force these agencies to offer better wages by not responding to their ads.
2. Force ajarn.com to stop accepting these insulting ads and maybe set a minimum wage requirement for advertisers.

This site is mostly for unqualified so called teachers that are only working in Thailand for a non immigrant B visa. I understand that this is a business and you are entitled to make money, but at some point you must develop a conscience and decide if you are only here to make a buck or if you actually wish to better serve your target teacher audience. Remember, without us visiting your website it wont take long for your advertisers to follow. Perhaps you should actually read the majority of letters that you print here and take note of which direction the winds of change are blowing. The only question remaining is whether or not you are impartial enough to print it, or perhaps it doesn't serve your obvious, money hungry agenda.

Glen Travis

I have been visiting Thailand since 1979 and living here permanantly for the past 8 years. I hold a Masters in English and have been coaxed out of retirement to teach here for the past 4 years. I am not a regular visitor to this site, but I must admit that I have checked out the job section on occasion. I have yet to apply for any of the positions posted here as I have always found applying directly to the school I wish to work with has always been more successful for me. But I must agree with most of the people who have posted comments. The wages advertised on here go from ridiculous to downright insulting. I believe this may be for several reasons.

One being that it would appear ajarn.com is designed for people who hold a TEFL certificate. This is not to say that there aren't some very good instructors with this type of certification. To the contrary, I have had the pleasure of working with a few that are truly dedicated and hardworking individuals. One must consider that a TEFL certificate is not a diploma from an institution of higher learning. A three to six month training course is not closely equivalant to the years of sacrifice and study it takes to receive a degree in education. Although it may be enough to find work in a developing country, it is not recognised, and I believe one would be far pressed to find employment, in a native English speaking country. Therein lies the basis for most of the low wages offered by advertisers on your site.

Perhaps ajarn should stop accepting these "crappy job ads." But of course as Donald points out, "It's a business", and you have a right to be paid for your time.
So what can one do? I further agree with Donald's point that we shouldn't shoot the messenger but instead we should take our complaints to the source. Perhaps if we as instructors went one step further and refused to apply for or accept these low paying jobs the advertisers would be forced to offer higher wages. But of course, therein lies the rub. I must agree with Dan on his point about supply and demand. How can we possibly expect unity from a large segment of, "so called teachers", that are willing to work for, "nothing more than a non immigrant-B"?

Thank you for providing this space for myself, and others, to air our opinions. If nothing else ajarn.com gives us a place to find and consider other points of view. In closing I would like to take one parting shot at all the complainers out there. Thailand is my adopted home. I love this country and her people. It is not perfect and there are many things that must change, but I hope to live out the few years I have left here. We must all take responsibility for the choices we make including the wages we agree to work for. The last time I checked, other than those in incarceration, nobody is forced to stay here. Flights leave daily for all points of the globe. If this country is not to your liking you can leave any time you choose. In other words... "If you can't take the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen."

Marcus

I was sad to see this go, as I was about to ask to be placed on it again, but I agree with your decision, Phil, for why it was abandoned. I was one of the first teachers to use the feature, and I notified you immediately after securing work. But over time, as many teachers began to be placed on the section, I had to wonder how many of them were not finding work, and how many of them had, but didn't give a hoot to let you know. Now my suspicions of the latter are confirmed. But here's an idea. Perhaps you can resurrect the section, but make it a pay-based thing - an advertisement for teachers looking for work. And like your ads that schools place which expire in 20 days (I believe), you can put an expiration date on these too, maybe about 30 days.

Whattya think? Can we pay to place ourselves in the section? (Keep the rate reasonable as we are out-of-work teachers who once earned diddly squat because we are in Thailand)

Phil says - "Thanks a lot Ronald for the kind words. I was very sad to see the 'teachers looking for work' section of the site go too. I started it because one day a young teacher with a Thai wife and baby sent me a heartbreaking e-mail to say he couldn't find work and had no way to support his family. And that's how the Teachers Looking for Work section came about. And within a few days, that teacher got a job offer and started work. I knew I was on to something. I knew there were a lot of teachers out there who could do with the extra help.

However - and I'm sorry to repeat what you have already said or implied - but teachers on that list were just not keeping their promises and letting me know when they had found work. Not everyone on the list was guilty - but most were. And before long the section became nothing more than a stale list of teachers, who in most cases were not actively seeking employment. Unfortunately I didn't have time to go chasing each teacher and ascertaining their current work status. I relied on the teachers staying in touch and keeping me informed. And most of them let me down.

I'm really not interested in charging teachers to put their details up there Ron. It just doesn't seem right. Perhaps a 500 baht donation to my favorite soi dog charity might work though?

Ronald

Overall the teacher's salaries (for foreign teachers) is a joke and becoming more ridiculous by the day. I also agree this site provides lots of valuable information to many foreign teachers here/coming here to teach. The fact is I am sure you do not contact all the newspapers, TV & radio stations every time you read, see or hear something stupid from the media. The point I'm trying to make is that this site, as with all other forms of media, have the right to earn a profit from their business and earn a salary for their labor as well as for their employees, just like you and me have the right to do the same. The one cool thing I really like is that we do not have to work for these ridiculous salaries, visit these websites, read these newspapers etc. That's right - we all have choices. Why not contact the ridiculous employer offering these stupid, low and ridiculous salaries and tell them what you really think of them and tell them what they can do with their funny farm? Don't shoot the messenger. Take your complaint to the source.

Donald Patnaude