Crackdown on illegal foreign teachers: Heavy fines and deportation for those without work permits

[Fex Bluse]

On 10/8/2020 at 2:32 PM, muratremix said:

Why they call a pinoy foreigner? Pinoy is a pinoy (filipino) and farang is a westerner. Asians are not farangs, period. 

"Hello Mr. Siiiiiiirrrrrr. Did Siirrrrr drink too much today?" 

[ramr]

On 10/9/2020 at 10:34 PM, 2530Ubon said:

Don’t you mean giving a p*s* poor education to the victims in their classrooms and a disservice to the nation they parasitically thrive off?
 

Would uncertified ‘teachers’ be allowed to teach in the west - NO

 

Don't compare what teacher licensing means and entails in Thailand to the west.  As impacts delivering good education, that process is largely irrelevant and fluff-filled here.  

 

I've seen excellent, committed teachers here without TEFL and/or degrees... and sh**ty teachers with perfect paperwork.  Not having the proper papers in this puppet show administrated by the MOE and others does not automatically mean "p**s poor education."

 

Teacher certification in a Western country/international schools are not what I'm talking about here.

 

Broadly speaking, the Thai educational complex (teachers/admin/govt.) does a far worse "disservice" to the next generation and in a much farther-reaching way than some dilletante backpackers could ever do.

Edited October 11, 2020 by ramr

[Brigand]

I think one of the problems schools have here resulting in not really wanting to bother with work permits is that they have to be more trasnsparent with their tax records/general accounting and so forth if they do, hence the preference of using agency teachers now (as the teachers can be transient too). For many decent schools WPs are not a problem, but for the smaller ones or ones that are just private family businesses it may be more of an issue to be that transparent. Also, it seems these days that being a teacher at a high school or elementary school (basically teaching minors) is a fool's errand with all the nonsense they throw at you from the impossible-to-deal-with Khurusapha government teacher license department to the schools' foot-dragging to get work permits and failing to back-you-up at immigration much, along with all this sort of nonsense being talked about too (crackdowns etc.). From what I gather, it is far less hassel and out of the firing line teaching in tertiary education ... I guess due to the fact that you are not teaching minors.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Brigand

[2530Ubon]

1 hour ago, ramr said:

 

Don't compare what teacher licensing means and entails in Thailand to the west.  As impacts delivering good education, that process is largely irrelevant and fluff-filled here. 

No, it's not irrelevant, it's actually the entire point, which has seemed to have floated right past you. A degree in any field as a bare minimum has been accepted globally as a requirement for teachers. Are the youth of Thailand not entitled to a good education with qualified teachers?

 

I used to be a teacher here (qualified) and i was then promoted to curriculum consultant & teacher trainer for one of the largest teaching agencies here, so i know exactly what goes on behind those school walls, and the types of foreigners teaching in them. I have many horror stories, as i have hired, fired, trained and critically evaluated hundreds of teachers across Thailand. The tales always make for some good bar-stool banter, but it's not that great if your a Thai student - Even they are protesting about (amongst other reasons) the quality, or lack thereof, of their education. Thankfully i got out of teaching and managed to set up a consultancy business online.

 

Put it this way, would you allow a 22 year old with no degree, no qualifications of any kind or experience in education, to teach anything to your children?  Or how about the bar stool brigade that give teaching a shot for a semester (often they run away after collecting the first paycheck, they don't even stick out a 4 month contract). Were your school teachers unqualified and in the country primarily for a holiday? I don't think so.

 

It's time Thailand woke up and moved away from window dressing white farangs gesticulating wildly, screaming to be heard above 50 students crammed in a room (30% of whom are playing with their phones) whilst pointing frequently at a useless flashcard on the board. Bring in standards and smaller class sizes. Encourage critical thinking and move away from learning by rote. So many things could be done. Ensuring that the foreigners employed in schools here are actually qualified to do so is a baby step at best.

Edited October 11, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[AndyFoxy]

11 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Ensuring that the foreigners employed in schools here are actually qualified to do so is a baby step at best.

A baby step. But if they want actual qualified western teachers, they’ll have to up the cash.

[brewsterbudgen]

2 minutes ago, AndyFoxy said:

A baby step. But if they want actual qualified western teachers, they’ll have to up the cash.

To be honest, the salary for a TEFL teacher in the west is not much better than in Thailand, especially for the part-time summer camp teachers.

[2530Ubon]

After tax, a NQT will take home approximately 1,800 GBP - or 72k Baht. 35k is the average for foreign teachers here, so half isn't exactly bad when you look at the cost of living.

source; https://teachlambeth.com/nqt-salary/

[brewsterbudgen]

3 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

After tax, a NQT will take home approximately 1,800 GBP - or 72k Baht. 35k is the average for foreign teachers here, so half isn't exactly bad when you look at the cost of living.

source; https://teachlambeth.com/nqt-salary/

I'm talking about TEFL teachers - just those with a BA and a CELTA or equivalent (like most TEFL teachers in Thailand).  Some recently advertised jobs in the UK were offering 11.00 GBP an hour!

[Kwasaki]

If this people are teaching English properly to kids in schools they shouldn't need permit.

 

OK another Thai one in his wisdom ???? let's bother the English teacher speakers teaching English we don't want the poor learning English. 

[Grapefruit]

On 10/8/2020 at 1:45 PM, gunderhill said:

Nice  lapels you  look a right chump.

No, he doesn't look like "a chump".  His shirt has no lapels, it has a collar and those decorations on his shoulders are epaulettes, not lapels.

[Grapefruit]

On 10/8/2020 at 2:43 PM, Destiny1990 said:

These fake filipino teachers that are thais. Deportation to where?

As morally wrong as some may think it is, is it illegal for a teacher to allow a class to think that he/she is a Filipino?  That's all they are doing!

Edited October 11, 2020 by Grapefruit

[Grapefruit]

On 10/8/2020 at 4:06 PM, Postmaster said:

I think Gunderhill refers to his epulettes.

I think Gunderhill refers to his epaulettes!

Edited October 11, 2020 by Grapefruit

[teacherclaire]

On 10/8/2020 at 7:30 PM, 2530Ubon said:

I knew a guy who worked in a government school. He was a boxer without a degree from the UK. He told me the agency photoshopped a manchester university degree for him. He could hardly string a coherent sentence together

I've seen "degrees" where my dog would know that it's a fake one. There's a SA guy who started at a high school a few moons ago. 

 

He soon had a degree in Philosophy, but he wasn't able to spell it correctly. 

  His first question was: "How do you teach English?"

 

A guy from the same country then asked me what a liquid eraser is in English; they call it plastic, a traffic light, a robot. 

And the insanity continues. Shouldn't the guys from the issuing agency get arrested? 

 

   

[Grapefruit]

On 10/8/2020 at 5:31 PM, worldfun said:

chinese ENGLISH teachers? ????

Where did it refer to Chinese people teaching English here?  The OP refers only to foreign teachers, not the subjects that they may teach.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Grapefruit

[KC 71]

On 10/9/2020 at 9:32 PM, Jester69 said:

Checkout the agency named SINE. They even had a peado as I replaced him ......... thats how i knew and then they just shipped him to another school 

 

Probably still some out there that slipped through the net.More stringent checks on a regular basis would be a good thing.

[teacherclaire]

On 10/9/2020 at 9:32 PM, Jester69 said:

Checkout the agency named SINE. They even had a peado as I replaced him ......... thats how i knew and then they just shipped him to another school 

 

If you are sure that he is, why don't you let the new school know what's wrong with that guy?

 

Looking away doesn't help any potential victims. Anonymously. 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by teacherclaire

[mommysboy]

Why not just make it easier for foreigners to teach in Thailand?  Make them take a recognized test such as IELTS and they're good to go for conversational English.  Not many foreigners are QTS status anyway.

[SupermarineS6B]

Sign of the times eh....... When i first came to Thailand you only taught English when you'd totally ran out of beer tokens and you didn't have the balls to run contraband........  

[Destiny1990]

1 hour ago, Grapefruit said:

As morally wrong as some may think it is, is it illegal for a teacher to allow a class to think that he/she is a Filipino?  That's all they are doing!

It is Illegal cause such schools are misleading these parents for higher school fees.

[AndyFoxy]

1 hour ago, teacherclaire said:

I've seen "degrees" where my dog would know that it's a fake one. There's a SA guy who started at a high school a few moons ago. 

 

He soon had a degree in Philosophy, but he wasn't able to spell it correctly. 

  His first question was: "How do you teach English?"

 

A guy from the same country then asked me what a liquid eraser is in English; they call it plastic, a traffic light, a robot. 

And the insanity continues. Shouldn't the guys from the issuing agency get arrested? 

 

   

I know a guy who has worked at a school for 22 years and is now the Head of English. No degree.....just a forged photocopy.

[LazySlipper]

On 10/8/2020 at 7:27 PM, teacherclaire said:

Not necessarily. Some agencies hire anybody, then create a teacher's profile for the school,  all with fancy degrees and other lies.

 

It's a vast market, and most of these guys from agencies do make big money. 

 

  Schools are often unaware that these teachers are neither holding a degree nor having any teaching experience. 

 

Anything to substantiate this?

Been working here for almost 20 years so I've seen quite a few schools in my years here... never saw a teacher from an agency make more than 30k in a school ... well sometimes 35k... Most of the time the schools skim off 10-15 k off the salary offered by the gvt and they don't even pay vacations.

 

I see you are very active in almost anything that has to do with teaching here on TV and much of it is less than accurate. I don't bother pointing it out, but it seems you are a new teacher here and maybe you should sit back and get some experience before making yourself seem knowledgeable about education in Thailand...

 

 

 

[cyril sneer]

On 10/9/2020 at 9:32 PM, Jester69 said:

Checkout the agency named SINE. They even had a peado as I replaced him ......... thats how i knew and then they just shipped him to another school 

 

brave of you to name the company, hopefully you have a VPN 555

[Bezdomny]

 

 

Kick out all NES who pretend to be English teachers.  That why Thailand is sinking further every year on the EF English Proficiency Index.  BA in irrelevant field and two Mondays one Tuesday TEFL course doesn't make you language teachers. Only in Asia you can get job if you and NES and white without any competence.  Some facts:

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1570042/thai-english-proficiency-drops

 

Top countries on the EF English Proficiency Index dont hire incompetent NES, but  people with actual degree in English language. Anything more to add?

https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/

Edited October 11, 2020 by Bezdomny

[heist]

7 minutes ago, Bezdomny said:

Top countries on the EF English Proficiency Index dont hire incompetent NES, but  people with actual degree in English language. Anything more to add?

 

Yep, I think it's a great idea but please extend it to Thai English teachers too. 

[2530Ubon]

7 minutes ago, Bezdomny said:

 

Top countries on the EF English Proficiency Index dont hire incompetent NES, but  people with actual degree in English language. Anything more to add?

https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/

Agree whole heartedly, anything more to add - yes, kick out all the NNES teachers too!

[Neeranam]

On 10/8/2020 at 1:32 PM, muratremix said:

Why they call a pinoy foreigner? Pinoy is a pinoy (filipino) and farang is a westerner. Asians are not farangs, period. 

Pinoy is a foreigner. Full stop. About time they kicked them out; they are the cause of the lower wages these days for native-speaking teachers. 

[Neeranam]

23 minutes ago, Bezdomny said:

Kick out all NES who pretend to be English teachers. 

I pretended to be an English teacher for 20 years and fooled everyone ???? 

[Blumpie]

We english talk well here.  It make us feel great.  

We money make well here.  Let stay us say I!  

[Disparate Dan]

I hev bin teachin Inglish in Tailand now for more than 20 yeers and noone has ever kweried my kwalifications. Im not even from the pHilipnnes, which I carnt spell, but from Ingerland where the Inglish come from.

Seeriusly, I hav lifed here for more than 20 yeers and known many many teechers, but no more than a couple of them have cared a tuppeny damn about teechin – they are only wurried about there “beer vouchers”, as some one said, and/or about getting sum sort of visa that will keep them in LoS (sorry, LoS) for anuther few munths.

Also, many yeers ago, I paid for school lesuns for my sun, who was taut by a Filipino, and it wosnt any kind of English I recognise.

 

ps I am from UK with a degree in linguistics. English teaching in Thailand is a total disgrace, blame shared about equally by authorities and (most of) those who claim to teach. “Pay peanuts and get monkeys”?

 

sorry, I think I spelled 'LoS' wrong.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Disparate Dan
correct LoS

[Neeranam]

53 minutes ago, Disparate Dan said:

ps I am from UK with a degree in linguistics. English teaching in Thailand is a total disgrace, blame shared about equally by authorities and (most of) those who claim to teach. “Pay peanuts and get monkeys”?

You forgot the article 'the' before UK.