I have been living with my GF in Bangkok for the last 12 months and decided to relocate to Phuket. We have bought a condo which should be finished late 2008.

We are both back in the UK until then.

My gf curently works as a PA at Bangkok university and is hoping to find a similar job on the Island.

I am to young to retire and want to do something that keeps me busy ( dont want to open a bar or run a guest house etc)

I thought about taking a TEFL course and then maybe do some teaching - just part time maybe 20 hours per week.

I dont have a degree as such but have compelted a HND in buiness and Finance many years ago and have bags of experience in the service industry.

My GF is going to an internmediate class here in the UK and I help her in the evenings and she feels i have a good tempremant for teaching.

Now my point.

Having done the TEFL course is it difficult to get work PT?

reccomend places where i can do the course?

any other information would be beenficial

Though i am slowly trawling through this website gathering lots of information any direct advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe you need a degree now to teach English in Thailand - A TEFL certificate isn't enough. Perhaps someone will confirm this for you.

Good luck,

geoffphuket

geoff, if we believe what the TCT says, you will soon need a B.Ed., a PGCE. or the crap required through the TCT itself, to get a license from the TCT. But non-degreed teachers will always teach English in Thailand. There may always be places to let them do so legally. But there on Phuket, you know better than the rest of us. A non-degreed teacher could work at a language centre in Chiang Mai for maybe 260 baht per hour, no work permit, no proper visa, I suppose.

geoff, if we believe what the TCT says, you will soon need a B.Ed., a PGCE. or the crap required through the TCT itself, to get a license from the TCT. But non-degreed teachers will always teach English in Thailand. There may always be places to let them do so legally. But there on Phuket, you know better than the rest of us. A non-degreed teacher could work at a language centre in Chiang Mai for maybe 260 baht per hour, no work permit, no proper visa, I suppose.

That's spot on. There are a couple of local language schools in Phuket that employ pretty much anyone, but the work is not well paid and you'll not get a permit. Chances of you finding a job legally in a school are slim to none.

As PeaceBlondie said the rules are getting stricter as well. You'd have more chance outside the popular resort places in Thailand, but even then you'll probably be working illegally.

Cheers guys much appreciated - wasant looking to teach in mainstream schools anyway but more on the private, language schools.- In terms of legal - I get the impression most teachers who work for extra money do so illegally anyway so not a lot of difference.

Strikes me though that the TEFL schools in Thailand do manage to get people to part with their money to do the course - if 1. they have no degree 2. no chance of finding a legal job.

anyone else have some thoughts please?

Cheers guys much appreciated - wasant looking to teach in mainstream schools anyway but more on the private, language schools.- In terms of legal - I get the impression most teachers who work for extra money do so illegally anyway so not a lot of difference.

Strikes me though that the TEFL schools in Thailand do manage to get people to part with their money to do the course - if 1. they have no degree 2. no chance of finding a legal job.

anyone else have some thoughts please?

I know 3 teachers without degrees who have found work in Chiang Mai within the last 2 months and all 3 now have work permits. PM me and I'll send you the names of the schools - 2 government schools and 1 private school.

The PROPOSALS from the TCT may make it more difficult to teach here but for the last 10 years every year it's the same story. Since I arrived it's been a requirement to have a degree for a work permit anyway but schools, if they want you, can find ways to get you one. Nothing has changed. Maybe people could comment on the proposals when they are enforced (many 'experts' said by last May there would be nobody left in Thailand). At present only the Culture Course is being taken seriously by schools in the North. The only people who know what's really happening work in the Ministy of Education and they change every few months anyway.

There isn't one farang in all of Thailand who really knows what's happening on a national level. Teachers are qualified to talk about their own school or Education office but they know diidlysquat about the bigger picture.

Thanks, Loaded. So, there actually are some Chiang Mai teachers taking the Thai Culture Course? Do the schools pay for it?

Thanks, Loaded. So, there actually are some Chiang Mai teachers taking the Thai Culture Course? Do the schools pay for it?

Hi PB

Last weekend (Friday 25th, Sat 26th and Sun 27th) the Private Schools Association of Thailand organised this 20-hour training at Montfort College for teachers from any private school in the North. I know quite a few people who participated. For some of them the cost of 4,000 THB was shared 50/50 with their school, but others paid the full fee.