No movement or even decrease in salaries in last 10+ years

[MRToMRT]

I agree its sad that a country considers a qualified teacher who is teaching their upcoming generations a less than generous wage. 

 

10 years is a long time with no increase, I know what I would do. 

[kingstonkid]

3 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

The problem with the "supply and demand" argument is when you get a good teacher who would like more money but supply and demand Thai style says: "Why would I pay a good teacher more money when I can pay a bad teacher the same?  All we care about is having a foreign person in front of the class and keeping a larger cut of the money."

 

So the good teacher goes elsewhere and the bad teacher comes.  Even if the bad teacher becomes a good teacher, they will then also want to move on. 

 

So either way the class is likely to have a bad teacher based on the level of salary, but the supply and demand argument still says this is fine and no one has any room to complain.

It is the same anywhere.  Go into any business and demand a raise or you are going to quit and you will be shown the door. 

Businesses and remember schools are businesses have limits as to what they will pay employees.  They really7 do not care so much about the prodcut because anyone can do the job.  It may not be the first person they hire to replace you at a cheaper rate but it could be the next one.

 

School directors have only so much money and only care about the bottom line.  To a lot of people and I am starting to think that this is the case in a lot of western countries whether the kids learn or not is secondary.  Government schools are not designed to graduate Einstein's they all go to private schools. Every school in Thailand pays what the market is worth.  If you want to be paid well get your degree improved and if you are good apply at St Joseph convent or at the top schools.

 

Government schools were designed strictly to replace their parents. 

The idea was that we need to teach the children of government employees so that they can replace mom and dad when they retire. 

[ChaiyaTH]

3 hours ago, matchar said:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1279439-before-i-complain/?do=findComment&comment=17761609

 

The OP teaches science and believes the moon landings were faked, and he thinks it's okay to teach students that the Earth is flat.

 

I think I can see the correlation here between teachers' salaries and the quality of some teachers.

 

Unfortunately most schools here prioritise costs over quality of education.

My economy teacher said I have to work until 70 too and there is no way to not pay tax in this world. BTW, he asked a question, because he is curious and thought the landing is fake, which many scientists do. He states clearly he not think earth is flat.

It's people like you, that actually can hurt a child or teenager their development and life, because you would limit all possibilities and judge others without reading.

[ChaiyaTH]

2 hours ago, d4dang said:

Not China. Not during covid. 

Plenty of work in China, just by doing it online and remote. But yeah these lazy people of today expect work to come to them, as if the world owes you. Work for it and results are next.

[problemfarang]

6 hours ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

My salary journey:

1. Nearly 10 years ago, a small thesaban, or municipal school. The lowest level, basically a daycare center - 26, then 28k.

2. A larger, more regular school - 30k

3. Biggest school in a provincial capital - 34k

4. Private school in BKK. Horrible place, only did a year. They were awfully interested in STEM and Elon Musk. Best thing for him to do with them would be blasting them out into space. - 60k

5. Now I've been back out in Issan at a public school for 40k. Took a salary cut, but it was worth regaining my sanity, and no longer dealing with the the daily BKK grind. I've also been teaching online to maintain my previous 60k income.

Well i worked as a marketing & logistics teacher at one of the universities at Khon kaen university. Many years ago. My first years in thailand (now 17 yrs). They paid me 28k + 8k. No salary raise and nothin, not even my workpermit. 

 

Then i moved to another school in khon kaen. Very famous and big. 35k. And again no raise or else...

 

This is where i learned how thai people threat farangs working for them.

 

Then with a help of a friend finally i started a job what im really trained for. Royal thai airforce. Hired by thai government. Starting salary was 100k and raise every month. I was lucky and thnx to my friend. 

 

Teaching in thailand is not a good idea. Thats all i can say

[kingstonkid]

7 hours ago, recom273 said:

Actually, I have been surprised how wages have risen recently.

 

My friends tell me that they are working agency jobs for around 40K, some are non-degree holders and have been avoiding the teachers permit waiver. I still don't think it's enough to compete with inflation, and the added complications from kurusapa. I don't think its enough to encourage me to return. 

 

I see a rise in NNES positions available on fb at still horrendously low figures, and university gigs have always been low paid but with free accommodation and a very light work schedule.

8 years ago I asked a school I was teaching at what they paid for me with a fairly well known agency.  The answer was 75k a month plus they had to use the agencies books.

 

My thought pattern is this Agencies set the amount they are charging the schools and they set the amount they are going topay teachers.  If you are working through an agency donot get mad at the school paying little it is the agency raking in the profits

[zyphodb]

5 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

The problem with the "supply and demand" argument is when you get a good teacher who would like more money but supply and demand Thai style says: "Why would I pay a good teacher more money when I can pay a bad teacher the same?  All we care about is having a foreign person in front of the class and keeping a larger cut of the money."

 

So the good teacher goes elsewhere and the bad teacher comes.  Even if the bad teacher becomes a good teacher, they will then also want to move on. 

 

So either way the class is likely to have a bad teacher based on the level of salary, but the supply and demand argument still says this is fine and no one has any room to complain.

Unfortunately, what you've describe happens at virtually every state school in the country, The students being taught well comes a distant second to money making, and this is encouraged from the top down, as is cheating as far as I can see...

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

It is the same anywhere.  Go into any business and demand a raise or you are going to quit and you will be shown the door. 

Not quite. There are many industries where they would choose to pay a decent wage to attract or keep talent. Education in Thaialnd is particular in that the quality or performance of the staff member often doesn't matter.

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

But yeah these lazy people of today expect work to come to them, as if the world owes you.

It isn't lazy to expect a decent salary in an industry like teaching. Providing you are doing a good job. Particularly if you know how much the school gets from the government per teacher and how much of that actually makes it to the teacher's pocket.

 

Not working evenings and weekends to supplement your income is also not being lazy.

[kingstonkid]

3 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Not quite. There are many industries where they would choose to pay a decent wage to attract or keep talent. Education in Thaialnd is particular in that the quality or performance of the staff member often doesn't matter.

There are rare occurrences however, yo have have realize that schools are told what the pay range for the teacher is defined.  

The deal here is that the good teachers go to better locations.  They realize that there is a limit to what schools will pay.  It is no different than if you were a teacher in the UK, Germany, Canada or the U.S>  as a matter of fact there is no country where teachers are "paid what they are worth".

 

Personally I would rather see them raise the wages of Thai teachers before they do anything with NES.

[matchar]

9 hours ago, ESLTeacher1989 said:

Read my posts again, I NEVEr said I believed the Earth was flat,

 

What I said was- No one here can be 100% sure the Earth is round ........unless you've actually been up into outer orbit seen it with your very own eyes.

 

I or You can be 99% sure its round - with using scientific methodology that is round but never 100% sure. 

 

And as a science teacher I would obviously never teach my students the Earth is flat. 

 

But its always good to question reality. 

 

1) Do Governments Lie so suit their own agendas? Yes all the time.....About the Iraq War, etc 

 

2) Is Science Always The Right Or Correct Answer, No. Just look at the evidence coming out casting a negative light on the vaccines. Search Dr John Campbell on youtube who was an adamant supporter of vaccines no he seems extremely worried

 

3) Do I believe it was possible for NASA to land a huge rover on the Moon in 1969, beam back LIVE footage of the first steps on moon, have a launch vehicle able to rendezvous with the lunar module orbiting at 18,000mph...........

 

In the year 1969, when there's more computing power in your iphone than all the spacecraft of that era...........No........Simple impossible in my view.   Have you even seen the Artemis footage.......they can't even get a continuous live feed...........just low resolution 240p with a few seconds of blurred footage here and there 

It's a fact that the moon landings were real...no matter how much conspiracy theorists like yourself don't want it to be true.

 

As a science teacher you should open your eyes and do more research.

 

During the landings the whole world was watching and the missions were tracked by radar from several countries on the way to the Moon and back.

 

Spacecraft from China, India and Japan have also spotted the Apollo landing sites, providing further independent verification of the landings.

 

https://www.iop.org/explore-physics/moon/how-do-we-know-we-went-to-the-moon#gref

[Scott]

Inflammatory posts criticizing grammar have been removed.  This is an internet forum, it's not a classroom.  Keep it civil, stay on topic or face standing in the corner for a time.

 

[pixelaoffy]

On 12/5/2022 at 4:06 PM, zyphodb said:

Unfortunately, what you've describe happens at virtually every state school in the country, The students being taught well comes a distant second to money making, and this is encouraged from the top down, as is cheating as far as I can see...

absolutely. Thai gov schools are not about "Learning"  its a process. About having fake grades so it can get the money and also get parents to send their kids to this "high achieving school"  its all BS  I'm in the middle of it now at a school in Ayutthaya province 

[markclover]

It's not about good or bad teachers.  The Thai government made a deal with the Filipino government to import Filipino teachers on mass.  Filipino teachers accept very low salaries (10,000-15,000).  As a result, the wages have dropped across the board.

 

''Teacher From The Philippines.'' (nd) From:  https://thepinoyofw.com/thailand-english-teachers/

[BritManToo]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:25 PM, ESLTeacher1989 said:

I wish there were unions or some sort of legislation giving NES Teachers a minimum - lowest starting salary (40k baht, should be the bare minimum in today financial conditions)

Go back and teach in your home country, they pay a lot more.

As others have mentioned, you are competing for work with Africans and Filipinos.

[youreavinalaff]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:56 PM, kingstonkid said:

Personally I would rather see them raise the wages of Thai teachers before they do anything with NES.

And what do you think Thai teachers are paid?

[kingstonkid]

20 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

And what do you think Thai teachers are paid?

The average salary for public schools: $1,000-$1,200

 

More than I thought they were  LAST i HEARD THEY WERE UNDER PAID.

 

The problem though with that number is the average part.

Would like to see that number if you take the big cities out of he picture.

 

Also a lot of the teachers that are still teaching were teaching when people were still using pencils and paper. LOL

[youreavinalaff]

3 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

The average salary for public schools: $1,000-$1,200

 

More than I thought they were  LAST i HEARD THEY WERE UNDER PAID.

 

The problem though with that number is the average part.

Would like to see that number if you take the big cities out of he picture.

 

Also a lot of the teachers that are still teaching were teaching when people were still using pencils and paper. LOL

Taking out the bigger cities would not make any difference. Government school salaries are nationwide.

 

Most teachers will retire at a similar level so long as the length of service is the same and they gave passed "Ajarn 3". That will be 40k+ baht a month. When you add in their free healthcare, for them and family, cheap loans and a very good pension scheme, they do very well.

 

Also add that they have more flexibility to arrive late, leave early, take long lunch breaks and get paid days off. They are better off than foreign teachers by a long way.

[SuperSilverHaze]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:55 PM, MRToMRT said:

I agree its sad that a country considers a qualified teacher who is teaching their upcoming generations a less than generous wage. 

 

10 years is a long time with no increase, I know what I would do. 

Obviously not qualified if no pay raise in ten years.

 

I increased my pay 150% over nine years.

 

I know what I'd do too!! Stop working at that school, get off my lazy ass, retrain and get a real job.

 

Remember that Thai teachers are making somewhere around 30 to b40,000 depending on where they are in their careers.

 

I find that most people think that they're qualified do so simply because they've been teaching a number of years. In reality, they are fairly incompetent and really have no idea how to deliver a learning experience in the classroom. Probably lack a work ethic as well.

[SuperSilverHaze]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:31 PM, youreavinalaff said:

more flexibility to arrive late, leave early, take long lunch breaks and get paid days off. They are better off than foreign teachers by a long way.

I've always found Thai teachers work much harder than foreign teachers. It's never even been a question.

 

While I agree about the perks, I disagree on their free time. I've always found that the school over utilizes Thai teachers and drags them into everything. The grading periods end of term Thai teachers far more involved

[SuperSilverHaze]

On 3/2/2023 at 2:05 PM, youreavinalaff said:

And what do you think Thai teachers are paid?

9-55k depending

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

I've always found Thai teachers work much harder than foreign teachers. It's never even been a question.

 

While I agree about the perks, I disagree on their free time. I've always found that the school over utilizes Thai teachers and drags them into everything. The grading periods end of term Thai teachers far more involved

Most of the Thai teachers in my school teach either art, PE, Thai language or social. No, they don't work harder than the foreign teachers in terms of teaching and lesson preparation. To make up for that they end up having to do plenty of bs jobs like lunch duty or some other paperwork or endless meetings. This is a private school btw. Without the foreign teachers, there would be no school. 

[youreavinalaff]

7 hours ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

9-55k depending

In Thai government schools the starting salary is 15k.

[youreavinalaff]

7 hours ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

I've always found Thai teachers work much harder than foreign teachers. It's never even been a question.

 

While I agree about the perks, I disagree on their free time. I've always found that the school over utilizes Thai teachers and drags them into everything. The grading periods end of term Thai teachers far more involved

Gate duty. I was told must be there at 7:30. Thai teachers turn up about 7:55. Must stay at school until 16:30. I'm the only one there. Must stay 2 weeks after students have gone for holidays. I'm the only one there. Can only be out of the office for 1 hour for lunch. About 3 of us there. 

 

This type of thing happened at many government schools I worked at across my 23 year teaching career.

 

Private schools slightly different.

[aarontendo]

I really don't know why but it is funny to see people here talking about these salaries.  Fellas, if you're working for a public school and whining about salaries then you seriously need your head examined.  Those jobs always pay foreigners badly.  I suppose one can get into an EP or private school to move up a wee bit.  The reality is those jobs aren't unionized, and they'll never really raise your salaries for more experience.  Why should they?  There's always some fresh of the boat boy willing to stay in Thailand to get his you-know-what wet and accept low wages.

 

Get qualified and move into better positions.  This is the way.  I did the 40k baht for a year and moved on.  People who have been doing this gig for 10 years here and still can't break free of those jobs confuse the hell out of me.

[Drumbuie]

On 12/4/2022 at 10:06 PM, ESLTeacher1989 said:

true but UK minimum wage has increased from £5 an hour to £10 an hour for over 25's over the last 5-10 years

And it's still nowhere near enough to live on because rents are sky high ( if you can find somewhere to rent at all, that is), utilities are almost unaffordable, petrol is twice the price, and food prices have shot up since Brexit. A quarter of the UK's children now live in poverty and schools in England are falling apart.

Count your blessings. 

[pixelaoffy]

5 hours ago, Drumbuie said:

And it's still nowhere near enough to live on because rents are sky high ( if you can find somewhere to rent at all, that is), utilities are almost unaffordable, petrol is twice the price, and food prices have shot up since Brexit. A quarter of the UK's children now live in poverty and schools in England are falling apart.

Count your blessings. 

Poverty? UK doesnt know what poverty is. Go to SE Asian countries where there is no welfare then you will see poverty.

[GarryP]

I quit teaching English 30 years ago. At that time I was earning Baht 35k/month. Salaries have stagnated in that profession for years in Thailand. Luckily I changed profession, otherwise I would never have been able to save for a decent retirement.