Questions About Qualifications

[ProfessorNiceGuy]

My first post

I have been visiting Thailand for a a bit more than a year now and would like to live there a few years. I am a physics / maths teacher with professional qualifications from Holland, speak good english, and would like to ask your experiences on whats the best way for my to live in this beautiful country.

I was looking at visa requirements and stumbled on this web site and hope someone can point me in the right direction. My partner says that he is sure there are many foreigners teaching here ( he is a local in the hotel industry ) and so I am sure there must be some way for us to be together.

Many thanks in advance for any tips

[PeaceBlondie]

Hi, Professor, Nice Guy,

Welcome. Your initial post has been put in the Teaching forum, but if you have other questions about getting visas, migrating to Thailand, etc., please look at the other Forums on ThaiVisa.

Do you have a bachelor or master's degree in science and/or maths? If so, please read the topic here called "Questions about Qualifications."

[ProfessorNiceGuy]

Hi, Professor, Nice Guy,

Welcome. Your initial post has been put in the Teaching forum, but if you have other questions about getting visas, migrating to Thailand, etc., please look at the other Forums on ThaiVisa.

Do you have a bachelor or master's degree in science and/or maths? If so, please read the topic here called "Questions about Qualifications."

Thank you kindly. I have a masters degree, and a teachers qualifcation from Holland. Will check it out. I dont like living off someone elses means, and having financial independance is important to me

[PeaceBlondie]

Anyone who wishes to offer a job to a poster can do so by PM, without offering their services online here. Thank you.

[aussiestyle1983]

The best and easiest place to find work without education degrees are universities, as is the same in most countries. The education degreed teachers are better qualified to teach in schools up to grade 12. People with degrees in other fields can easily find jobs in Uni's as long as they have master degrees in their fields as well. If you have a master degree in any field and a Uni is looking for a teaching in that field, you could easily get that job, thats if you were prepaired to accept the lower pay offered by Uni's. So, if you have a degree in a field other than education, try looking for work in a Uni, however, most good Uni's require a masters degree before you can teach a subjest. An MBA holder or people who hold other master degrees in Buisness would be able to look for jobs teaching buisness subjects at Uni level, for an example.

[Emjay]

Dear reader,

thank you very much for taking the time to read this post.

My name is Mike and I'm 31 years of age.

I'm Scottish, born, raised and educated in The Netherlands.

I've been working in IT for 11/12 years now, mainly first and second line support functions.

I speak english and dutch very good, my german is good and my french is average.

I have good knowledge of english grammar, pronounciation and a wide vocabulary range.

I've been to Thailand four times and I do speak some Thai, I'd love to learn much more.

I have a Thai girlfriend, my future wife, in Bangkok.

I have no degree and no experience in teaching.

I would love to work in Thailand, gain experience and earn enough money to live from,

either in IT or teaching, or a combination.

I adapt quickly and I'm very openminded, willing to learn, positive, social.

I would really appreciate some good advice.

Best regards,

Mike

[Khutan]

...I've been working in IT for 11/12 years now, mainly first and second line support functions....

Mike;

I wish you luck. There are many local people happy to fill 2nd line support roles, so you will need to concentrate on some special skill you kave that is in short demand, also learn some Thai.

Then its a case of waiting and being the right person in the right spot.

Good Luck

[Emjay]

...I've been working in IT for 11/12 years now, mainly first and second line support functions....

Mike;

I wish you luck. There are many local people happy to fill 2nd line support roles, so you will need to concentrate on some special skill you kave that is in short demand, also learn some Thai.

Then its a case of waiting and being the right person in the right spot.

Good Luck

thanks, but actually I was asking about teaching :-)

Any advice on teaching? As I said, no experience.

The work I've done in the past consisted of helping people with

software and hardware related questions and problems.

At the moment I support System Administrators and Resellers (mainly Europe, USA)

globally with their questions and problems regarding RES Powerfuse and Wisdom software.

By the way, I posted this incorrectly, can someone please move this?

[benjeleuk]

Hi

In Thailand a degree in any field is required for the school to be able to obtain a work permit for you. No work permit = no full-time or even part-time job. Some places outside Bangkok will accept a teaching certificate..... and yes, most schools require some teaching experience.

For a list of agencies check out ajarn.com but even agencies nowadays require a minimum of a degree. Remember working for an agency is the pits really. And work conditions are usually the worst...

Without a degree, a teaching certificate and teaching experience it's going to be very tough for you to find a teaching a job in Thailand.

Good luck anyway!

Edited May 13, 2007 by benjeleuk

[benjeleuk]

You're a qualified teacher with real credetials. You'll be snapped up by some school before you even get out of the airport!

My first post

I have been visiting Thailand for a a bit more than a year now and would like to live there a few years. I am a physics / maths teacher with professional qualifications from Holland, speak good english, and would like to ask your experiences on whats the best way for my to live in this beautiful country.

I was looking at visa requirements and stumbled on this web site and hope someone can point me in the right direction. My partner says that he is sure there are many foreigners teaching here ( he is a local in the hotel industry ) and so I am sure there must be some way for us to be together.

Many thanks in advance for any tips

[rott]

No teaching experience or degree, ( ''O'' level English a long time ago ), wouid

a TEFL certificate really get me a job?

Any advice appreciated.

[samran]

moved to the teaching section.

[Ijustwannateach]

And merged with Questions About Qualifications.

[Ijustwannateach]

Moved to Questions About Qualifications.

[Ijustwannateach]

Moved to Questions About Qualifications.

You will be in high demand, PNG. However, the fact that you are not a native speaker will close the door to some of the most reputable international schools, as they will insist on native English speakers. There are many other well-paid opportunities for someone with such qualifications, however.

[Soph]

Hey! Im wondering what do do with my summer holidays and just had the idea that maybe I could work in Thailand. Not really a question about quals exactly (I did TEFL for 2 years in Southern Thailand without a degree) more a question on what the job market might be like for a temp with experience for the months of July/August/September, any views on whether people will want to bother with me for such a short time?

Thanks, K

[Ijustwannateach]

Conversations schools and agencies will take anyone, anytime.

[tijnebijn]

I am very pleased to find out that I can find so many useful information in this forum.

Because I am considering to do something useful,and it may be teaching.

Surely I can read all these posts, but I prefer to have first hand advise!

My situation is that I do not have a college degree,so I understand I should go for one.

My option is to do this study oversees(staying in Thailand),by distance homestudy.The only problem is that in the final year I have to teach independently for a year to make my degree,and also conversation classes they organise sometimes.(my native country is the Netherlands and I am 31 years old)

And then there is the toefl which I do not fully understand what I need to do to finish this course,I can do this in Thailand also I guess. My question basically is what I need to do ,or what advise you would give me so I can get started ,no matter how much time it will take me so long I just do not need to travel to my home country to occasionally.Every advise is very welcome and thanks in advance!(by the way my basic Thai and english,especially my pronouncement is for a non native pretty good).

[madthinker]

hello there. although this thread contains a lot of useful information which has helped me immensely, i feel i still need some tailored advice to help me overcome my confusion and doubts about my chances of succeeding as a tefler in thailand.

i am 25 years of age and a native english speaker from the UK.

i have a degree in sociology from the university of the west of england.

i also have some experience in training new staff within a number of working roles in the customer service industry.

in terms of a tefl certificate, and this is my main area of uncertainty, i am planning to take a weekend tefl course which will give me a certificate and 40 hours tefl experience including a grammar module.

with my degree and the training experience i have, will this kind of tefl certification be enough to secure a job in bangkok, preferably with legal paperwork, or is it essential to undertake a month long course, such as a celta?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[canadiangirl]

Hi everyone,

is there a market for mathematics and/or computer science teachers in Thailand? I'm graduating with a Bachelors in Mathematics from a good Canadian university, and (like probably a lot of you :-) I fell in love with Thailand during a recent visit, and would love to work there.

There seems to be a lot of work for English teachers, but I feel really passionate about mathematics, and would love to be able to teach my favorite subject! I'm female, a native English and French speaker. I have a small amount of teaching experience: I taught at a mathematics summer camp for gifted kids (the kids go on to study at Harvard, MIT, etc, pretty top students) and I did some tutoring in math and computer science at my university. I do not, however, have teaching certificate.

As well, if there is a market, does anyone have any idea what the salaries would be like?

I'd be grateful for any info that you might have. :-) Thanks!

[Ijustwannateach]

Tijnebijn,

I have the feeling from your post that you really don't regard going home and studying as an option; nevertheless, it is my first recommendation.

Your English is really not strong enough for you to be any serious competition for any native speaker (with or without a degree) or even the better non-native speakers, so you will be stuck in the lower levels of salary (20-25K) forever, TEFL or no TEFL. Go home and get the degree while you are still young enough to have lots of options.

If this is impossible for some reason, I can only recommend that you do your best to find a study-abroad program that doesn't require a return home, capitalise on your nationality, and work hard to improve your English.

Madthinker,

For the opening level position in Thailand, I think that just about any TEFL certificate is fine. I'm not talking about 50-60K jobs here, though- more along the lines of 25K-30K. After you've had a year or two of experience, the TEFL certification itself will become a moot point for most Thai jobs. It's more important as a first step if you haven't had any experience. If you are planning to teach in countries which dot their eyes and cross their ts a bit more thoroughly in the future, then the CELTA might be a slightly better long-range plan, especially if you will never have had experience teaching in any country other than Thailand. There are no guarantees for any of this, though.

Canadiangirl,

The market is strong, both for female teachers and for math and science teachers; however, the best jobs will want to see not only a couple of years experience teaching already, but a couple of years experience teaching in Thailand already. Hard to get by here without paying some dues. That said, your being female helps a lot and probably could catapult you up a position or two in the hiring process; you could probably find yourself in a 50k (baht per month) job without too much trouble. But you need to be here, interviewing, now. Or wait for next year.

Good luck, all three of you.

"Steven"

[canadiangirl]

Canadiangirl,

The market is strong, both for female teachers and for math and science teachers; however, the best jobs will want to see not only a couple of years experience teaching already, but a couple of years experience teaching in Thailand already. Hard to get by here without paying some dues. That said, your being female helps a lot and probably could catapult you up a position or two in the hiring process; you could probably find yourself in a 50k (baht per month) job without too much trouble. But you need to be here, interviewing, now. Or wait for next year.

Good luck, all three of you.

"Steven"

Thank you for your helpful reply! I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few more questions. Unfortunately, I can't get to Thailand before mid-August at the earliest. (I'm taking one last summer course here, and then I'm done my degree.) The Thai school year starts mid-May, if I'm not mistaken. Am I completely out of the running to teach in a good school if I arrive in early September? (When I was in Thailand last year, I saw lots of ads for teachers, even coming up into August, so I assumed that schools were always hiring. But I guess a good school would probably try to line up its teacher well ahead of time, and would try to keep them!) Do the international schools also follow a May start to their year? (Here in Canada, the school year begins in September). Would you seriously recommend waiting until next year before coming if I can't be there for the start of the Thai school year? If I really just want to come in August, is there any other work to be had in the meantime?

thank you for all your help! :-)

[Ijustwannateach]

Canadian Girl,

It's my pleasure.

Without an actual Ed. degree to your name plus a teacher's license for whatever counts as your province/region/state (not sure exactly how it works in your part of Canada), you don't really have a prayer to teach at the kind of schools that start in September, not fresh out of school with no teaching experience at all. Those folks want serious credentials (in teaching as well as in math) plus experience, ideally, and pay the kind of salaries that usually can get those folks. That's not to say that someone on the ground doesn't occasionally get lucky, but that person would still need some serious experience. That's not you.

As for the other schools... it's possible that a position at a good school could open in September- if, for instance, someone died, quit, or went insane- or some other extremity occurred. I wouldn't count on it though, and the kind of schools which are hiring in August typically aren't the best. But I wouldn't worry about it that much, because no one really gets a good first teaching job in Thailand anyway, and if you're already planning for it you won't be that disappointed when it doesn't work out. Are you sure you wouldn't rather try for Japan first? It's really a lot better for a beginner.

Anyway, if you're dead set on Thailand, the next moderately good opportunity for hiring is the end of October, because government schools have a break then and someone's always quitting or changing jobs. It's not as good as April/May, but it is an opportunity. Please be aware that schools are *unlikely* to hire in September, because they don't want to pay you for the October break- so you'd better bank on getting hired in August or being able financially to survive until the beginning of November (your first paycheck if you start working in October). Please also be aware that there are a large number of schools (especially the private schools that call themselves "international" but are really lower-quality babysitting centres for rich brats) which have gotten into the bad habit of hiring most of their foreign teachers on a rotating basis, letting them go at the end of every term (cheaper than paying for vacations, you see). The government is beginning to cause some trouble for such schools, but most of them are too dimwitted and shortsighted to see that this is happening, and most likely will continue this bad behavior until it burns them back (alliterative, ain't I). If you suspect this might be the case where you're being hired, ask about the longevity of various foreign teachers there.

All of these things are covered in detail in various other threads- suggest you start by reading this entire thread and by reading all the recommended links in the post I made on it at about page 12-13 or so (can't remember exactly).

"Steven"

[tijnebijn]

Thanks 'Ijustwannateach' ,for your sincere response .Actually I do understand that my writing skills are far from acceptable to be any player in the market.I think we non native speakers have the habit of half English/ half American way of making ourselves understandable.But I can assure you that my pronouncement is really much better,I can speak 5 languages. Rather I do understand if I want to work in this area I should only offer quality,and this may be to complicated,like you pointed out.I was also thinking that Tourism would suit me,if I can get my degree in this sector,which will be more easy for me,do you think there is a good market to get a job in Thailand?

I rather don't want to spend abroad too much for now,because I have a Thai family and my children need my attention(my wife is running the business).My personal qualities for sure are my language skills(but not on university level) and the ability to give something extra with whatever I do.

I just will focus on abroad studying ,and thank you very much for your recommendations and honoust answers,it is just the way it is.I do appreciate that.

[brianinbangkok]

Hi Tijnebijn,

Thailand is actually a very hard country for you to emigrate to, please read some of the postings in the visa section.

Thailand is a lot less attractive to a foreigner then many other countries in Asia due to the tight laws regarding foreigners staying here and working here.

Unlike Holland you will always be severely restricted in your work options and will always need a work permit here and these are getting harder and harder to get here.

Even just being allowed to stay here in periods that you are out of works is a problem here !

You will, unlike a foreigner who comes to live in Holland, never be just be like a Thai guy (even after 6 or more years).

Fact you are from Holland makes things worse as your school credentials are unknown here unlike those from UK and USA.

The Thai now ask for a BA degree university level for new teacher workpermits , so what would that be in Holland?

As far as I can tell, Thai friends of mine had a Thai BA and then went to study for a master's degree in Holland at a HTS (higher technical school).

So seems as a Thai BA is equal to a Dutch MTS level (mid level tech school).

However the Thai speak of university grade, none of your Dutch credentials have the word “University” printed on them...

In Holland as you know the only school that's got that printed on the degree is one you graduate from as a PHD with the right to put drs in front of your name.

Now you think that's a small problem

Well it's NOT a small problem in Thailand, forget about explaining this sort of stuff to Thai immigration or work permit officials, you setting yourself up for a lot of trouble if you intend to come and work and live in Thailand permanently.

So as far as me finding a teaching job here, hehe I do not have a chance even if I am a UK citizen because of my Dutch Credentials.

And remember you need a new workpermit every time you change your job !

So its not a once in a life thing .....

Please correct me if I am wrong “Ijustwanttoteach”

Brian

Edited May 25, 2007 by brianinbangkok

[tijnebijn]

Thanks Brian for your thoughts on my situation.Actually I do live in Thailand for 8 years already now.

I know and understand the bureaucratic system makes it for us non native English speakers hard to come by.

I assume you are Dutch also ,because of you knowledge of the Dutch school system.

So actually I have already BA credentials ,when compared with Thailand.It is even been told to me by some friends back in Holland,who have a PHD,that the Dutch education level is much harder to graduate at then for example The US and even slightly the Uk.

But they will probably will not agree with that.

About the Thai situation,it is how it is,there is not much more to say about it.When I decided several years ago to come here, I did not realise ot even think to do something ,until now.Do not understand me wrong,I can (until now) manage myself through the business of my wife(Thai),but thinking about the future I thought I wanted to be useful with something,and also enjoy.Teaching could be that option.But clearly my English ,even with a Dutch BA,will not be enough.Not that I do not believe it is not possible,but bigger chance when it gets to complicated it will not give me any pleasure anymore ,what is the most important for me(besides the paycheck).

Also what you stated that many other jobs are not possible just because we are foreigner,even when I have Thai kids and wife,I know it is not fair ,but what can we do about it......

That's why I asked some questions to people who are working in this sector,and I understand it will not be easy rather complicated.The most I would like is probably tourism(besides teaching),for what I understand what we 'farang'can do and not do,maybe again not possible.So if I understand this right I should consider some other options like getting my degree first and try to find a job from outside to be legal inside .

Thanks for your time and we will see how far we can go.

Martijn.

[brianinbangkok]

Hi Martijn,

No I am half english / half dutch

I am a UK national but did all eduction in Holland when my family moved to Holland.

I understand you have never actually worked in Thailand then ?

In that case you will need things like police report from Holland , get all your school papers stamped in groningen and at the dutch foreign affairs office otherwise the Thai may not issue a workpermit to you.

I already had translated the school papers in english (same layout as the diploma) and put BA degree on it as suggested by my friend who was already in Thailand working for the same company as I was going to join.

He also had a MTS background , so I just followed his advise and explained Thai BA is same as MTS and this was accepted at the Foreign Ministery >>> This then gives you proof of having a BA in Thailand.

Edited May 28, 2007 by brianinbangkok

[ajannick]

HI All, Just a quick question:

Does the MOE or WP department accept BSc degrees as I keep hearing on this thread that they will ask for a BA. As mentioned in the title I also have TEFL and TESOL certificates.

Many Thanks

Nick.

[Neeranam]

An BSc is acceptable.

What TESOL do you have? They are not all recognised.

I have the London Trinity which is accepted, being the best.

[ajannick]

The TESOL certificate was a year long module I took as an option in my final year to refresh me before I started to teach again. The TEFL was done in Bangkok through T & T.