Catholic Schools

[Munted]

Anyone know how well Catholic Schools pay, compared to Govt. schools? And conditions. Like paid school and public holidays? Are they generally better resourced than Govt. schools? I have an option of doing a Cert in Catechetical Studies during my degree study. Problem is it doesn't add any points to the degree, and I'm not a believer but if it enhanced job opportunities out there... Would this Cert be worth doing in terms of better money, or conditions or prospects? I don't really want to teach rich brats in International schools.

[Scott]

To the best of my knowledge, they pay about the same as other schools. Depending on the location you may earn a little more or a little less.

[slapout]

Anyone know how well Catholic Schools pay, compared to Govt. schools? And conditions. Like paid school and public holidays? Are they generally better resourced than Govt. schools? I have an option of doing a Cert in Catechetical Studies during my degree study. Problem is it doesn't add any points to the degree, and I'm not a believer but if it enhanced job opportunities out there... Would this Cert be worth doing in terms of better money, or conditions or prospects? I don't really want to teach rich brats in International schools.

I know many families whose children attend International schools who are not rich, myself included, and most of the kids who attend International schools do not come across as brats as per the teachers, but rather as students whose parents want them to receive a better education than is avaliable in the Thai school system. If you are after the big money you need to pick a different vocation. As a side note I would guess any Catholic school would be preceived as a International and probably so registered, there may be exceptions to this as I am not involved with the schools run by Catholics. If a potential employee walked into a interview asking about holidays, pay schedule, and number of brats in the school, I doubt many of the schools, Govt. included would spend too much time on the interview. Good luck on your job search

[PeaceBlondie]

Munted, I know a little about religious education, and about teaching. I can't imagine a nonbeliever enjoying learning how to teach catechism, or enjoying the teaching of it. I have a Christian friend who tutors Protestant non-Thai kids who attend international schools, and it comes easy for her to integrate her lessons into what the kids already believe and understand, such as Bible stories. I have no idea what value the certificate would have to a Catholic school if they knew you weren't a believer. Not that priests and nuns teach all the religious studies, but I assume they prefer good Catholic laypeople, you know?

My teaching of Thai kids in govt. schools showed me that they don't have to be very rich to be brats! And even some of the richer kids were the better students.

[Xangsamhua]

I doubt a certificate in catechetics is going to impress people much in Catholic or any other schools here unless a Catholic school owner or manager believes you are a believer and s/he's looking for more Catholics to match the professed identity of the school. They have Thai people who can teach catechetics and they only want farangs who can teach English well and have acceptable personal habits.

In Thailand, as far as I can gather, there isn't really any system of parish or diocesan schools, though some dioceses do administer some schools. With some exceptions, therefore, Catholic schools are either run by religious orders or by Catholic families. The latter, to my knowledge, are well known in the Catholic community and presumably sincere in their religious beliefs. The schools vary, of course, in quality and in consistency with Catholic ethics, much like Catholic schools elsewhere. Without a central administering authority, however, the potential for inconsistency is greater. I think the Catholic Education Office in Bangkok just provides support materials and in-service for catechetics. It doesn't monitor the quality of Catholic schools in any way.

[Munted]

PB Thanks for your reply - but it could be fun trying to discretely subvert the Catholic / Christian message from inside.

slapout - my experience with govt. schools is that for every year, close to four months were unpaid. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an improvement on that. You would probably be a little naive and stupid if you didn't ask questions of that nature. And as for brats. Govt. schools had a few, but I did observe that the lower the teacher student ratio and the higher the socio-economic background, the more frequently the brats appeared. But I wouldn't want to generalise too much from that.

[PeaceBlondie]

Munted, you bring up an additional interesting point: the number of months that one is paid, working as a teacher in Thailand. My first govt. school paid 9 months; my second govt. school paid 11.5 months, and now it pays 11 months to my replacement who is on his 3rd or 4th year there. As if teachers don't pay 12 months' rent per year! Of course, questions about pay should be asked during the interview, but not up front.

[Munted]

they only want farangs who can teach English well and have acceptable personal habits.

Thanks, I guess we're not talking about Catholic schools having international programs, just English conversation?

And they're just as poorly resourced as govt. schools? I was regularly paying up to 10% of my income on resources when I was in Bangkok, and I wouldn't want to return only to be in the same situation. And the Catholic schools are no more enlightened in teaching methodology than govt. schools? Looks like I'll have to give them a miss.

[Xangsamhua]

they only want farangs who can teach English well and have acceptable personal habits.

Thanks, I guess we're not talking about Catholic schools having international programs, just English conversation?

And they're just as poorly resourced as govt. schools? I was regularly paying up to 10% of my income on resources when I was in Bangkok, and I wouldn't want to return only to be in the same situation. And the Catholic schools are no more enlightened in teaching methodology than govt. schools? Looks like I'll have to give them a miss.

Yes, I was not referring to international schools, but Thai Catholic schools that run a normal Thai curriculum with English as a Foreign language classes or Catholic EP/bilingual schools.

[otherstuff1957]

I've taught at a couple of catholic schools in THailand. As far as I know, none of them are anywhere near International School level in terms of cost or quality of education. Most of them follow the standard Thai MOE cirriculum, except for a few which have EP programs. Pay varies from poor (30K) to pretty good (about 50K).

Most of the students are Buddhists, although there will be a few Catholics and the odd Sikh or Muslim. The religious bits really don't seem to impact the educational quality at all. The only real differences between a Catholic School and a regular school is that you have an occasional Priest wandering around instead of the occasional Monk and the school Director and her sidekicks will be nuns.

Speaking of nuns, while I had fairly positive exeriences with mine (I hardly ever saw them! ), I have heard that some nuns (particularly a Philipina nun who is in charge of the EP program at one large Catholic School) can be really horrible to work for!

Edited July 27, 2007 by otherstuff1957

[Ijustwannateach]

I'd like to remind everyone that off-topic spelling/grammar nazi-ism is not routinely tolerated here. Please don't perpetuate it on this thread. Thanks, and let's get back to Catholic schools (if there's anything more to say).

Personally speaking, I have found schools with any sort of religious affiliation to be low-paid, high in BS factor, and as full of brats as imaginably possible.

"Steven"

[mbkudu]

I sometimes pass by the St. Dominic School on my morning commute, and always wondered who he was. I recently finished reading Voltaire's 'Philosophical Dictionary' and according to him, St. Dominic was a leading figure in the Spanish Inquisition.

It's a small world we all live in.

Edited August 9, 2007 by mbkudu

[Xangsamhua]

I sometimes pass by the St. Dominic School on my morning commute, and always wondered who he was. I recently finished reading Voltaire's 'Philosophical Dictionary' and according to him, St. Dominic was a leading figure in the Spanish Inquisition.

It's a small world we all live in.

There's a couple of St Dominics, but the main one, Dominic Guzman, was a late 12th - early 13th century figure who founded the Order of Preachers to preach against the Cathari and Waldensians in Southern France. They were tasked by the pope with running the Inquisition, which was a pretty dozey affair until Ferdinand and Isabella (Columbus's patrons) gave free rein to the Spanish Dominican Torquemada in the late 15th century.

Current Dominicans are generally regarded as a scholarly bunch. The Angelicum in Rome is a Dominican university dating back to the 16th century.