Teaching in Thailand as an older Teacher

[EricTh]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:16 PM, teacherclaire said:

 

 

The retirement at 60 is for Thai teachers. I've met quite a few 60 + year old teachers who didn't have a problem to get their contract renewed because they were professionals. 

Sorry, how do you qualify 'professional' in this case?

[richardperry]

Echo-Engish.com have vacancies.

[stament]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:16 PM, teacherclaire said:

Mulling over whether there is any benefit at my age of getting a PGCE and QTS in England if my shelf life in Thailand is short.  Should I be aiming at primary or secondary school? 

 

   

  Your last sentence says it all. You have no idea about teaching in Thailand.

 

  You're still "young enough" to work as a teacher, but if you don't have the needed qualifications being that old, you might be a dreamer.

 

  Having almost no vital education, but wanting to work for an International school sounds insane to me.

 

  And I'm honest with you after teaching here for a long time with a license. 

 

The retirement at 60 is for Thai teachers. I've met quite a few 60 + year old teachers who didn't have a problem to get their contract renewed because they were professionals. 

You incorrectly assumed I have no idea about teaching in Thailand. 

 

We're you also referring to me when you said having almost no vital education or were you generalising?

 

 

[brewsterbudgen]

IELTS (and other exam preparation) teaching and examining pays quite well, and, as far as I know, has no age restrictions.  

[mommysboy]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:05 AM, stament said:

I've already done some teaching in Thailand and also had some work experience in a primary school in England which I enjoyed very much compared to office work.

 

Teaching is something I actually enjoy. I don't see it as a way of earning a lot of money as I could continue as an accountant but I'm not interested in that. Having said that I want to work for good schools with decent pay.

All to the well and good until you mentioned that!

[bwpage3]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:15 PM, revup said:

I have been working as a chemistry teacher for 16 years. I have a Bachelors (honors), a Ph.D., and a post grad diploma in education from a Thai university. When I turned 60, the Thai university informed me of my impending retirement. Despite all my best efforts, when my contract ended 8 months later, the University did not renew my contract. I received a reasonable compensation given the years worked. The University's school continued to hire me. Overall, I have 50% of my former salary.

The schools contract says I will undergo 'mental assessment' each year before being issued a new contract.

 

I applied for many teaching jobs around BKK during the past 12 months, but as soon as they learn my age, the dialog stops.

Teaching online is an uphill struggle, I have prepared well except that I have not yet had a single student.

I do a little editing through online agencies like Wallis Editing and Edanz. The pay is not great but the work is fairly continuous.

 

One surprisingly negative aspect is the response from co-workers, there are two who feel they have an axe to grind. They are running a passive-aggressive campaign bad mouthing the idea of working with 'retired' teachers. I feel highly vulnerable in my present situation, and their behavior gives me significant anxiety.

There is a lot more sympathy from those in their late 50s.

 

My best advice is to prepare by saving, learning new skills, and looking for several income sources for the future.

Good luck

 

And yet with a PhD you decided teaching in Thailand for all those years was the way to go?

 

I bet in a couple years come retirement time, you regret that you chose that path in life.

 

You could have used your PhD for full-tenor in your own country and got a nice retirement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pilotman]

On 5/7/2020 at 12:48 PM, Neeranam said:

I have no idea why more don't teach online. The secret is to get a  job with few hours to provide your WP. I was getting 120-140k a month extra($30-60/hour) with my supplementary online job. The only reason I kept the school job at 40k was to get Thai Citizenship. 

don't believe a word of that.  Why try to make out that you can make $30 to $60 an hour teaching online when that is patent rubbish?  The average, as you should know, is $10 max $15 an hour with specialist teachers maybe getting up to $30 maximum. Then do the maths on how many hours you need to teach each day to reach 140K a month. Impossible. There is far too much BS on TVF about online teaching and how much you can make. Most of it is fairy tail stuff. 

[bwpage3]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:42 PM, BobbyL said:

That definitely isn't true. I earn considerably more here annually teaching in an international school than I did when I was teaching in England. 

The average Public School Teacher salary in the United States is $58,090 as of May 28, 2020, but the range typically falls between $50,710 and $67,059

 

Are you making considerably more than those figures in Thailand?

 

I seriously doubt it.

 

PS What will your retirement look like?

[bwpage3]

On 5/6/2020 at 12:05 AM, stament said:

I've already done some teaching in Thailand and also had some work experience in a primary school in England which I enjoyed very much compared to office work.

 

Teaching is something I actually enjoy. I don't see it as a way of earning a lot of money as I could continue as an accountant but I'm not interested in that. Having said that I want to work for good schools with decent pay.

What exactly do you consider decent pay?

[BobbyL]

5 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

The average Public School Teacher salary in the United States is $58,090 as of May 28, 2020, but the range typically falls between $50,710 and $67,059

 

Are you making considerably more than those figures in Thailand?

 

I seriously doubt it.

 

PS What will your retirement look like?

I have no idea about teacher salaries in the US. When I left teaching in the UK I was only on 26,000GBP annually. That was with a few years of experience. 

 

At a good international school in Bangkok I am on more than that annually on just my salary. Then you add in a monthly housing allowance, annual flight allowance and contract bonuses and that means I earn considerably more than I did in the UK over the course of a year. Factor in living costs, mortgage costs etc and that amount becomes even more. 

 

I am probably 30+ years away from retirement so I don't know that now. Currently I pay into an international school teachers pension plan and the voluntary national insurance contributions to HMRC. 

 

If a decent TEFL salary in Bangkok is approx 50k, there are a good number of international schools paying three times that amount. I have a friend who has recently moved to one of the newer international schools in Bangkok, his salary is 130k plus a 30k housing allowance just as a class teacher.  

[bermondburi]

Currently earning 200k+ a month, free house, no bills, free car, free gas, flight allowance, yearly bonus. 

 

Finish work at 12 every day, 3 day weekend every 4 weeks. I love my job. 

 

Only have an unrelated degree and a TESOL. 

 

Left Thailand 8 years ago because I wanted to get ahead and I knew I was never going to do that in Thailand. 

 

If I ever teach in Thailand again it will be too supplement my income, not as my sole income. 

[faraday]

Re post #40

 

160k a month for teaching in BKK?

 

Think your 'friend' is pulling your leg

 

@BobbyL

[BobbyL]

6 hours ago, faraday said:

Re post #40

 

160k a month for teaching in BKK?

 

Think your 'friend' is pulling your leg

 

@BobbyL

I think you clearly don't know international school teacher salaries. The average salary that was posted by FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools in Asia) for their 2019 information pack was 120,000 / month. Places like NIST or ISB pay well over 150,000 / month. 

 

We can't name schools on here, however the international school located right next to Thong Lor BTS are one of the very few that publish their teacher pay scale online if you Google it. Have at look at that as that is generally what the better international schools pay and is similar to where I work. 

 

If you can't be bothered to Google the school, they are basically paying around 135,000 / month straight off the boat. 

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

5 hours ago, BobbyL said:

I think you clearly don't know international school teacher salaries. The average salary that was posted by FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools in Asia) for their 2019 information pack was 120,000 / month. Places like NIST or ISB pay well over 150,000 / month. 

 

We can't name schools on here, however the international school located right next to Thong Lor BTS are one of the very few that publish their teacher pay scale online if you Google it. Have at look at that as that is generally what the better international schools pay and is similar to where I work. 

 

If you can't be bothered to Google the school, they are basically paying around 135,000 / month straight off the boat. 

 

Where on their homepage do you find these data - under 'downloads'? Sorry, but can't find it... 

[BobbyL]

23 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

 

Where on their homepage do you find these data - under 'downloads'? Sorry, but can't find it... 

Google the name of the school and 'teacher salary' and they have their 2020/2021 teacher handbook which has the pay scale in it.