Editor;
I hope this letter may be of use to anyone thinking of
teaching English in Thailand. I can personally refute claims of guaranteed
work or assistance to find a job at the end of the courses advertised for
foreigners teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in Thai schools.
Once my course was completed it was thank you bye-bye.
Some courses even claim that you can earn as much as the
cost of the course during training. This confuses me a little because as
many expats, especially bar/restaurant owners will tell you, the Thai
authorities are very strict when it comes to working without a work permit.
There are tales of owners being prosecuted because they were secretly caught
on camera for as little as lifting a cup or glass from a table in their
establishments.
In order to legally teach English in Thailand the first
pre-requisite is that you need to have a university education with a degree
qualification (B.Sc. BA etc). Having this you then need to successfully
complete a TEFL course recognized by the Thai Ministry of Education. Once
this is completed you then need to find a job as a teacher (not so easy as
made out to be) and your prospective employer will issue you with a letter
of intention to employ you.
With these documents you can now apply to the Thai
Ministry of Education for a Teachers License and then apply for a work
permit and working “B” visa. Some schools, but not all, will assist in
this process.
I therefore fail to see how you can earn money as a
trainee teacher, not only because of the legal standpoint but I find it hard
to believe that cash strapped schools are going pay good money for
unqualified trainee teachers.
Giving the benefit of the doubt, let’s say they do have
schools that are willing to pay for inexperienced and as yet qualified
teachers and they somehow wrangle a legal loophole as far as earning money
without a permit is concerned; just how much do their trainees on average
actually make as they never say you definitely will earn while training but
only that you “can”? So if you really can do the course effectively for
free then why not - “Wao” as they say.
However, what are the real prospects of getting a job
after training? Before 3 years ago when I completed my course the Thai
government was talking of putting a native English-speaking teacher in every
government school, as they noticed that Thailand was well behind its SE
Asian neighbours in terms of English speaking proficiency. Unfortunately,
due to money or politics this has never come to be.
Also, there have been many of these TEFL courses
(businesses) set up all over Thailand over the past years and hence churning
out potential candidates every few months and the supply of TEFL teachers
now far outstrips demand. Most of the few jobs available seem to be in the
Bangkok area or bahn nork (remote locations), but there are little in
Chonburi/Pattaya, and due to the oversupply, the schools, rightly so, are
asking for years of experience as well as the qualifications for what they
consider to be a good salary. A foreigner may hope to earn between
20000-50000 baht depending on experience and location compared to 6000-10000
baht for a qualified Thai teacher, so the schools understandably want value
for money.
So we have a “Catch 22” situation for the newly
qualified TEFL teacher - can’t get a job because of lack of experience and
can’t gain experience until you find a job. But heh! don’t let old
cynical me put you off, if you are really determined to teach English and
are not too bothered about the location then carry on, but don’t believe
everything you hear, or even take my word for it. Before you part with your
cash on course fees, check out your prospects first at www.ajarn .com (ajarn
is Thai for teacher/lecturer). I wish I had known of it before I enrolled; I
could have saved the 40000 baht on course fees and books and not bothered.
This website is the best insight into teaching English in Thailand and
advertises nearly all of the teaching vacancies in Thailand.
H. Leslie
PS - I gave up looking for a job a long time ago. But then again maybe I’m
not so determined or willing to leave my luvly Pattaya / golf.