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Don Wood
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Language Schools/Agents.
Abuse of work permits explained. To work in a government or private school as a teacher requires a degree.To work in a language school does not require a degree. The language school gets a work permit that only allows the language instructor to work in the language school. The language school then tells the language instructor that it is okay to work anywhere. This is a lie. The work permit only allows someone to work at the address written in the work permit. The address is of course written in Thai. The language school then sends the language instructor off to work in a government or private school. This is illegal, so the language instructor by default, is uninsured. Work permits do allow for a second place of employment but if it is in a government or private school the teacher is required to have a degree. This type of work permit scam is becoming more common and tourist "teachers" are targeted because they are usually unaware of the laws involving work permits and qualification requirements. Maybe if labor office officials bothered to check government and private school teacher's work permits at their place of work it might stop this abuse. Still, it would only be the fake foreign "teacher" getting caught and not the dodgy scamming language school owner. Last year a fake foreign teacher slipped on some wet tiles in a government school during the rainy season and badly broke his leg. He thought he was insured. He was mistaken.
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Awareness might discourage some of them. Then again maybe not...
I am not an English teacher. I just know a lot of them. Some of the stories I have heard are shocking. The qualified ones rarely stay long in the public school system.
As far as I am aware you don't need a TEFL to be an English teacher. Fairly sure it's not a legal requirement in Thailand. I do have business interests here related to education so I have had to read up on the law. It was a long time ago and things change,so I may be wrong.
@ hyku1147
Sad but true. I no longer have business dealings with the public school sector because of this.
Please note the use of the word almost. It is possible to do business here without being party to corruption. It just takes a lot of determination and diplomacy. Sadly it is very often a deal breaker, though.
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Fake TELF Scam.
This is the entry point for most unqualified foreign 'teachers' in Thailand. An agent recruits you online and sells you a TEFL course and a job placement. The TEFL course rarely contains 120 hours of English grammar tuition. Any recognized TEFL course should be grammar based. These fake TEFL courses are not recognized in any other country.
Dodgy Agents.
Agents then place the unprepared 'teacher' in a school. They pay low wages to the 'teacher' and kick backs to the school. The agent obtains a work permit and visa for the 'teacher'.
Best not to ask how they do this. Corruption permeates almost everything in Thailand.These unprepared 'teachers' rarely know anything about Thai labor laws and often end up breaking laws unwittingly. These 'teachers' are illegal and part of a scam that could be considered visa slavery. Quit your job lose your visa. Stand up against exploitation get fired and lose your visa. Upset the wrong person get fired lose your visa. Don't break the law for the school or agent get fired lose your visa.
The schools
They don't care about the students so why would they care about a fake foreign teacher? They just take the kick backs and use the 'teacher' to make more money by charging the students for English camps etc. Tourist 'teachers' come and go and the scam keeps rolling on.
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Thais pretending to be Filipino foreign language teachers is widespread, Thai media
in Thailand News
Posted
Now lots of dodgy agencies that recruit unqualified "teachers" are posting that they are accredited by the MOE. Is the MOE aware of this ? Are they really trying to legitimize these corrupt schools and agencies ?
Would someone please clarify how these agencies obtain these so called accreditation's ? Maybe someone from the MOE would like to comment ? ;-)