Question to people that have taught in Thailand

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

Little extras were taken off everybody everybody just because a few selfish losers couldnt be bothered.  For example some would sneak home early or if they had a few hours before the next lesson.  We had one guy who used to go fishing!!  As a result the school locked the gates and wouldnt let anybody leave during school hours....everybody suffered.

Classic......some kid plays up so put the whole class into DT........how to build up an intense feeling of resentment.....

[puchooay]

3 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

addition Thai teachers work almost twice the hours us long noses do and we are paid a lot more.  This can cause unrest among the natives which is why we often had to come in after exams and everything is finished and just sit in our offices while the Thais had their exams.

You may wish to check how much a Thai teacher gets after 20 years of service. "Ajarn3" grades get good money. Add on all the extras like pension and free health care for them and their families, I think you'll find their package walks all over that of most foreign teachers.

 

Work harder? Most schools I have been to gove Thai teachers in the region of 16-18 teaching hours. Add to that, they do go out of school between classes, usually late for gate duty, come to school to sign in then disappear if their first class isn't until 11am. Thai teachers in Thai schools are untouchables and get away with much more than an expat ever could. I'm not moaning. Good luck to them. They do exactly what any expat would do if they thought they would get away with it.

 

A toss up between being a Thai or expat teaching in a Thai school???? No contest.

[stubuzz]

1 hour ago, puchooay said:

You may wish to check how much a Thai teacher gets after 20 years of service. "Ajarn3" grades get good money.

Around 60k

[Scott]

At the schools I am associated with, it's rather simple; you will be fired before the end of your probationary period.  

Although I fully understand your feeling on the extras, this is very cultural and I suspect you will find yourself in a rather difficult situation.   You will get zero respect from the Thai teachers and your relationships with other foreign teachers will suffer when they are left to take up the slack.  

 

 

[MrBiker]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

At the schools I am associated with, it's rather simple; you will be fired before the end of your probationary period.  

Although I fully understand your feeling on the extras, this is very cultural and I suspect you will find yourself in a rather difficult situation.   You will get zero respect from the Thai teachers and your relationships with other foreign teachers will suffer when they are left to take up the slack.  

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I will do what I feel is reasonable and if they want to keep me or not will be up to the school. 

 

My biggest issues are the occasional Saturday activities and the need to be at the desk on the longer 4 hour breaks between classes. Hopefully having all my work done on time and being an excellent in class teacher will allow them to over look some things. 

 

I don't care too much about my relationship with the other teachers. I've been in Thailand long enough and have a decent social network already. I would never let other teachers pick up my slack anyway. I'm very good at time management and efficient at getting my work done.

[puchooay]

9 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Around 60k

Not quite that much. It's in the region of 35k for 20 years service. 

 

 

 

 

[bwpage3]

12 hours ago, MrBiker said:

 

Thanks for the reply. I will do what I feel is reasonable and if they want to keep me or not will be up to the school. 

 

My biggest issues are the occasional Saturday activities and the need to be at the desk on the longer 4 hour breaks between classes. Hopefully having all my work done on time and being an excellent in class teacher will allow them to over look some things. 

 

I don't care too much about my relationship with the other teachers. I've been in Thailand long enough and have a decent social network already. I would never let other teachers pick up my slack anyway. I'm very good at time management and efficient at getting my work done.

You moved all the way to Thailand knowing you would need a teaching job to support yourself.

 

Yet you are reluctant to conform?

 

Not sure what country you are from, however, employees never make their own rules.

 

 

[stubuzz]

9 hours ago, puchooay said:

19 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Around 60k

Not quite that much. It's in the region of 35k for 20 years service. 

 

 

If you can't read Thai, scroll down for the table or use Google translate. The upper and lower salary levels of Thai teachers are given.

 

https://www.kruupdate.com/32770/

[MrBiker]

10 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

You moved all the way to Thailand knowing you would need a teaching job to support yourself.

 

Yet you are reluctant to conform?

 

Not sure what country you are from, however, employees never make their own rules.

 

 

I've been in Thailand for a few years already. I don't need this salary to survive here. It was a mistake to accept this job. I was misinformed by other teachers from the school about what it's really like to work there. I guess different departments have different work culture in this school.

[Salerno]

10 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

You moved all the way to Thailand knowing you would need a teaching job to support yourself.

 

Not the way I read it; the teaching job is purely to get a visa to stay in Thailand very little to do with the money or actually helping the kids. Something far too common IMO.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 6/22/2021 at 7:11 PM, Surelynot said:

teachers being made to stay till 5pm each day....even though their last lesson finished at 3.30pm

My contract says 4:30 pm, but in my office they say I can go at 4, or sometimes even 3:30. Because that's when Thai teachers from other depts start wandering in to chew the fat. They want to get down to their gossiping, which they don't want me being privy to, knowing I know some Thai. Pro tip: learn some Thai. ????????????

[puchooay]

17 hours ago, stubuzz said:

 

If you can't read Thai, scroll down for the table or use Google translate. The upper and lower salary levels of Thai teachers are given.

 

https://www.kruupdate.com/3277

They are maximum salaries after full service.

 

My example was a teacher with 20 years service. The upper levels on your link would be somewhere near to 35 years service.

[MarcelV]

I have to scan my fingerprint every workday twice, before 7.45 and after 16.20. What we do in the meantime isn't really carefully scrutinized, though I doubt no one notices if you leave and return during office hours too many times.

 

Just do your damn job and teach those hours that they assign to you. 20 hours of class is more than enough. I teach only 15 or 16 periods a week and that counts as a FT job already.
No single teacher anywhere does 40 periods. The offtime you're supposed to do your test/lesson planning and your grading, besides the occasional meeting or extracurricular activity.

[kynikoi]

On 6/22/2021 at 6:28 PM, MrBiker said:

Do schools typically let people go in the middle of the term or do they let them finish the contract?

 

Teachers are almost always allowed to finish the contract. In fact, schools suffer teachers this long simply for consistency and classroom stability. They also know the devil they don't know. A teacher really must have created trouble for themself to be let go at term. Fired at the quarter or randomly there were very serious issues.

[kynikoi]

I'd like to put a positive spin on ECs. If you see it as dread and robbing you of personal time that you'd probably be doing nothing productive with anyway that's unfortunate.

 

Managing high quality ECs means working with top students at the school. If you are lucky it might Include other schools. Managing a large event is a plus for your resume. Supervising unique clubs, speaking competitions, etc.

 

Off campus activities bring you into contact with the best schools in your region. You meet Thai HoD from better schools and motivated teachers. This is a great opportunity to network. The Thai teachers will definitely give you their contract info. Drop an email. Come April you have opportunities. I did this some years back. In a twist to the story it wasn't the HoD that I befriended that gave me my next job. It was an HoD from an even better school.

 

In a discussion with her more than a year later she mentioned ... I hired you in ten minutes on the spot. Did you ever wonder why? Of course I did. It was because she was at that competition. I never recalled her despite her student winning first (my student won second). The other HoDs student took third.

 

Teaching can be brutal and thankless. I almost threw in the towel after three years. You just gotta break through.

 

An even nicer ending to the story. I remained in contact with the third place student who had befriended my student at competition. That student went on to get a full scholarship to study pure physics at Chula. My (former) student is studying sciences also at Chula.

 

It's what you make it.

[kynikoi]

On 6/23/2021 at 11:25 AM, puchooay said:

Not quite that much. It's in the region of 35k for 20 years service. 

 

 

 

 

 

The top five secondaries in BKK only hire level 4-5 teachers. That's around almost 50k start I think. There is also semi legitimate money that flows in from alumni associations.

 

Teachers also get good rates on loans for cars and homes.

 

Student trips to Oz and Nz and discount group trips to Europe.

[cyril sneer]

On 6/22/2021 at 5:56 PM, MrBiker said:

What happens to teachers that skip all the other stuff? What is the office culture like here? Am I going to get fired for skipping meetings, duty and not staying at my desk during 3-4 hour gaps in my schedule? 

very difficult to fire you if you already have the work permit, labor laws are on your side

 

from experience, little to nothing happens if you skip the other stuff, just stay quiet and don't ask questions. being in the office for long periods of time most often leads to more unnecessary tasks given, it's best to leave you bag there as suggested by another poster and spend time away, just be sure to return and get seen towards the end of the day

 

thai teachers do the same

 

i'm not sure why people are knocking you for choosing to be a teacher, after saying you are 100% committed to doing the teaching-related tasks

 

there is no limit to what they'll get you doing if you agree to every extra nonsensical task they ask for

[ThaiFelix]

On 6/23/2021 at 12:38 AM, puchooay said:

You may wish to check how much a Thai teacher gets after 20 years of service. "Ajarn3" grades get good money. Add on all the extras like pension and free health care for them and their families, I think you'll find their package walks all over that of most foreign teachers.

 

Work harder? Most schools I have been to gove Thai teachers in the region of 16-18 teaching hours. Add to that, they do go out of school between classes, usually late for gate duty, come to school to sign in then disappear if their first class isn't until 11am. Thai teachers in Thai schools are untouchables and get away with much more than an expat ever could. I'm not moaning. Good luck to them. They do exactly what any expat would do if they thought they would get away with it.

 

A toss up between being a Thai or expat teaching in a Thai school???? No contest.

You must have missed the bit where I stated I can only speak of the organisation I worked for......the biggest I am sure.

[EricTh]

On 6/23/2021 at 6:59 AM, MrBiker said:

 

 

My biggest issues are the occasional Saturday activities and the need to be at the desk on the longer 4 hour breaks between classes. Hopefully having all my work done on time and being an excellent in class teacher will allow them to over look some things. 

 

 

You should be thankful your school even give you such a long break.

 

Do you know that the Thai teachers of a private language school only have 5 minutes break before each class from early morning until 5 pm. Then their lunch break is only half and hour and it's all run by a Japanese manager.

 

 

[MrBiker]

31 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

You should be thankful your school even give you such a long break.

 

Do you know that the Thai teachers of a private language school only have 5 minutes break before each class from early morning until 5 pm. Then their lunch break is only half and hour and it's all run by a Japanese manager.

 

 

What does all that have to do with me? 

 

A break on which I'm supposed to be stuck at my desk with no meaningful work to do is not a break, its torment. I'd rather be in the gym or on my bike. 

[MrBiker]

42 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

very difficult to fire you if you already have the work permit, labor laws are on your side

 

from experience, little to nothing happens if you skip the other stuff, just stay quiet and don't ask questions. being in the office for long periods of time most often leads to more unnecessary tasks given, it's best to leave you bag there as suggested by another poster and spend time away, just be sure to return and get seen towards the end of the day

 

thai teachers do the same

 

i'm not sure why people are knocking you for choosing to be a teacher, after saying you are 100% committed to doing the teaching-related tasks

 

there is no limit to what they'll get you doing if you agree to every extra nonsensical task they ask for

 

 

I hope you are correct, specially now with the shortage of western teachers because of covid. Do they really want to get rid of one of the only farang faces in the department. Will see how it all turns out. 

[digbeth]

you can get away with not bein on staff duty if you're a special/guest lecturer at university, Many Thai lecturer do that but I doubt they can get work permit for that post

[puchooay]

7 hours ago, kynikoi said:

 

The top five secondaries in BKK only hire level 4-5 teachers. That's around almost 50k start I think. There is also semi legitimate money that flows in from alumni associations.

 

Teachers also get good rates on loans for cars and homes.

 

Student trips to Oz and Nz and discount group trips to Europe.

I worked for a top 5 secondary school in BKK.

 

I can hereby confirm you are incorrect in your post regarding the grades of teachers.

[kynikoi]

6 hours ago, puchooay said:

I worked for a top 5 secondary school in BKK.

 

I can hereby confirm you are incorrect in your post regarding the grades of teachers.

 

I'm absolutely dying to know which one.

 

But you ditched building on that little win to go up country and make half the salary working with students half as bright. Solid career move there!

 

If I said something was black you'd have to say it was white lol.

[kynikoi]

11 hours ago, MrBiker said:

shortage of western teachers because of covid

 

There is always a shortage of good teachers never a shortage of bad ones. If you look on Ajarn it's the same rubbish salary for the bog-standard teacher.

 

I'll admit there seems to be more urgency in posting jobs (more, faster) but schools and agencies are not offering bad and or inexperienced teachers more money for the same work.

 

Have a look.

[kynikoi]

12 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

leave you bag there

 

Because supervisors who have been teaching for decades are clueless to this childish behavior right?

 

Set up a laptop and water bottle then sneak off. Brilliant until the person returns and returns again. Then same on a different day. Now, it's established you are a do nothing fraud. But hey, don't let that stop you.

 

Come all the way around the world to work and then not do the job you've been hired to. I guess it's better than working a convenience store back home.

[puchooay]

8 hours ago, kynikoi said:

 

I'm absolutely dying to know which one.

 

But you ditched building on that little win to go up country and make half the salary working with students half as bright. Solid career move there!

 

If I said something was black you'd have to say it was white lol.

And here is a classic example of how outdated you are.

 

I left Suan Gularb School to move to my own family home as I was bored of Bangkok. I had a salary of 35k there. My next job, in Buriram, was 32k.

 

Outside of the top 3 classes in each year the standard was pretty much the same.

 

A reasonable career move, a fantastic personal move. Earning good money, living with my wife and young daughter, in our own home, no rent, low cost of living, fantastic flora and fauna, good, pollution free environment, great views, lovely weekend walks on our doorstep, fresh food from the garden, fresh eggs from the chickens.........and so on.

 

It's not all about thinking you are better than others, in better jobs, teaching better students and sticking your head in the sand. Sometimes there are the finer points to consider. Family, home life, giving those less intelligent kids a helping hand, feeling good when the day is out. That, to me, is worth more to that the salary itself.

 

 

[puchooay]

21 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

You must have missed the bit where I stated I can only speak of the organisation I worked for......the biggest I am sure.

I did miss that, sorry.

 

You say you worked for an "organisation". That means you were working for a private school???

 

I was referencing government schools. 

[kynikoi]

1 hour ago, puchooay said:

left Suan Gularb School to move to my own family home as I was bored of Bangkok. I had a salary of 35k there.

 

That's was actually under contract with Sine or BFITS correct? 35k.

 

Suankularb (Wittayalai)

 

Enjoy the chickens.

[puchooay]

6 minutes ago, kynikoi said:

 

That's was actually under contract with Sine or BFITS correct? 35k.

 

Suankularb (Wittayalai)

 

Enjoy the chickens.

No. Prior to the emergence of both of those agencies.