Teachers Holiday Entitlement

[BOOKEMDANO]

Just wanna throw a question out there for you teachers here in Thailand

I'm interested in finding out the holiday/vacation allowance per year set by your school. Wherever it be a government school or an international one. Do the numer of "paid" days differ compared to that of a more prestigious school v's a government school in the sticks, or is there an industry standard set by the Thai labout law with regards to "paid/unpaid" holidays..

Also whilst on the subject of entiltlement do you get sick pay from your school ?

[DragonQuest]

Great question , I would like to know also^^ Paticularly what the thai law dictates.

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

The Labor Protection Act of 1998 (Labor Protection Act.pdf) does not specify the minimum number of days of annual sick/personal leave which must be offered by an employer. It does require 13 paid days of holiday leave, and 6 days of vacation leave after completing 1 year of employment.

My school, government school, gives the paid holidays, 10 days paid vacation and 5 days paid sick leave. Until last year, we gave 15 days of paid sick leave, but we had a teacher abuse that policy by taking 3 sick leaves consecutively (one with doctor certification) and was found to be home-tutoring during his disability. He was terminated. In the case of a verified extended disability, the school gives up to 30 days of paid sick leave (maximum allowed by the code). I broke my leg last year and was given 30 days paid, and so was another teacher who suffered a stroke.

[otherstuff1957]

I work at a private (Bilingual) school. Here are our paid days off:

3 weeks off in October, 1 week + at New Years, 3 weeks in April and all the usual holidays.

5 days off for business leave (usually Visa & WP stuff). 10 or 15 days (I don't really remember) for sick leave.

[BOOKEMDANO]

I work at a private (Bilingual) school. Here are our paid days off:

3 weeks off in October, 1 week + at New Years, 3 weeks in April and all the usual holidays.

5 days off for business leave (usually Visa & WP stuff). 10 or 15 days (I don't really remember) for sick leave.

Thats more like it, so in a typical year lets use your information as an example here.

7 weeks for schools term breaks.

I read somewhere 16 days are taken for public holidays here per year. (governement pending)

And lets say 2 weeks per year for sick leave.

Just casting my mind back to my job in the UK, and what the government issues as a statutary holiday entiltelment there is 24 or 26 days !! Your getting 50+ days and paid sick leave.

[Scott]

I also work for a private, bilingual school. We get 10 days paid sick leave, a break in October of 2 to 3 weeks (depending on several factors). We get 2 weeks between the end of the academic year and summer school and another 2 weeks at the end of summer school and the start of the regular school term. Once a person has a non-immigrant B visa there is no deduction of time off for visa or work permit matters. The school takes care of this. The time it takes to go out of Thailand and get the visa is taken off sick leave.

We also have to only work every other summer school session, so every other year you get an extended holiday.

[Phatcharanan]

International in Bangkok. 2 months in summer June-August. 24 days in December/January 2 weeks Easter and 18 days October all paid, plus Thai stat holidays (most of which coincide with our own hols so in effect its not 12 days) and 5 personal days. Full sick pay for 30 days, then 75% for the next 30.

Edited April 25, 2009 by Phatcharanan

[culicine]

I calculated I roughly get 75 days holiday in total (including Thai pubvlic holidays). Note that for at least 4 weekes in the year we must be at school when students are not (2 in March, one in May and one in October).

Compared to teaching in Australia I just looked at teaching in Western Australia - at least 87 days holiday (actually 3 months vacation). You are only there about 4 days a year when students are not. Their vacation times is the same as yours. Good superannuation fund and number of sickness days too. Not that all of that would be "holiday time", as you would probnably have lesson plans to write anyway haha.

[culicine]

International in Bangkok. 2 months in summer June-August. 24 days in December/January 2 weeks Easter and 18 days October all paid, plus Thai stat holidays (most of which coincide with our own hols so in effect its not 12 days) and 5 personal days. Full sick pay for 30 days, then 75% for the next 30.

hey mate do you need a maths teacher? Sounds like you have a good deal there...

Edited April 26, 2009 by culicine

[BHA83]

Government school just outside Bangkok. No sick pay, no holiday pay except for national hols! Job taken via agency hence no government perks. Love the school, students and teachers . Hate agents!

[Phatcharanan]

International in Bangkok. 2 months in summer June-August. 24 days in December/January 2 weeks Easter and 18 days October all paid, plus Thai stat holidays (most of which coincide with our own hols so in effect its not 12 days) and 5 personal days. Full sick pay for 30 days, then 75% for the next 30.

hey mate do you need a maths teacher? Sounds like you have a good deal there...

I am a Math teacher. They are looking for Science and IT teachers right now but you will need to have a DfES number.

[unforgiven]

I work at a private (Bilingual) school. Here are our paid days off:

3 weeks off in October, 1 week + at New Years, 3 weeks in April and all the usual holidays.

5 days off for business leave (usually Visa & WP stuff). 10 or 15 days (I don't really remember) for sick leave.

I thought every school had their own holiday details that were in the contract?

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

I thought every school had their own holiday details that were in the contract?

School breaks are not usually in the contract, but vacation time and sick leave are. Holidays may or may not be in the contract. My school gives the usual paid holidays but there are often changes, year to year, depending when the holidays fall. The same goes for school breaks, which are usually 3 weeks in October and about 6 weeks in April-May. Edited April 27, 2009 by zaphodbeeblebrox

[hill16]

I work in a private language school and my holidays are as follows:

10 days paid vacation

Paid Block Leave over the Christmas - New Year period when the school is closed (the number of a days varies year by year)

13 paid Thai Public Holidays

Interesting that this thread is open as I have a liitle rant, if you will permit me. 31 December 2009 is counted as one of my 13 per contract Thai Public Holidays and as part of our Block Leave even though Block Leave is a time when the school is closed anyway for that period. In effect, this reduces our number of Public Holidays to 12 whereas in the contract I am entitled to 13. Also, this year, one of our 13 Thai Public Holidays is Christmas Day! I may be an idiot but I don't believe that Christmas Day is a Thai Public Holiday. It should be part of Block Leave, if anything, as it was last year.

The problem for me is that when I raised these issues with my employer I was basically told to like it or leave. This attitude came as quite a surprise given my previous dealings with my employer and quite frankly it disgusts me. I am living in Thailand on an extension of stay based on this employment. I also have a wife and son to support so I can't just leave the employment which would mean having to cancel my visa on my last day of employment as things stand as well as all the complications surrounding getting a new visa etc

I know that some of you will probably advise me to leave but it's not that simple as I have already mentioned. Another thing is that I really enjoy working for my school and I don't want to leave. What I want is for my employer to perhaps consider that the holidays should be amended. I think I will have an opportunity to discuss this with my employer personally next week so any advice on how to approach this would be helpful. I feel that it will also be necessary to highlight my displeasure with their attitude and point out that I am not not a poor labourer from Myanmar who can be hushed up by these veiled threats and that employees who feel they have valid issues should be given an opportunity to discuss these. This may appear insignificant to some of you but what happens if next year my employer decides on a 20% pay cut? Should we then like it or leave too?

Kind regards and I look forward to your advice.

Hill16

Edited April 28, 2009 by hill16

[Ijustwannateach]

In my experience, trying to negotiate with Thai managers who have the 'take it or leave it' attitude is counter-productive. The only way to improve your conditions *is* actually to leave, as difficult as that can be. Good luck.

[culicine]

International in Bangkok. 2 months in summer June-August. 24 days in December/January 2 weeks Easter and 18 days October all paid, plus Thai stat holidays (most of which coincide with our own hols so in effect its not 12 days) and 5 personal days. Full sick pay for 30 days, then 75% for the next 30.

hey mate do you need a maths teacher? Sounds like you have a good deal there...

I am a Math teacher. They are looking for Science and IT teachers right now but you will need to have a DfES number.

Oh it sounds like a British curriculum school. I finished my teaching qualification in Thailand -I qualified to teach in NSW, Australia..hence no DfES number! Your school is only accepting British-qualified teachers?

[BlackArtemis]

When I taught at a Govt school in Chiang Mai, I got off 25 or so days in Oct and mid March to early May. Normal Buddhist holidays (not Christmas Day).

All in all about 2.5 months of paid vacation where we were not required to be act school meetings, let alone in the country. I would visit home in october each year and come back to a payment in my bank account.

35 kids in my class 3hrs teaching a day at school 8-3:30 and only 1-2 weekend meetings a year other than sportsday, not too bad

[blindinbothears]

I work at a private Catholic school in Nakhon Pathom province. We get 3-4 weeks in October, 10 weeks for inter-semester break, March-May. 10-11 days over Christmas and New Year period. We obviously receive all Thai governmental and Buddhist days off, also. It's nice that the school is Catholic but 90% of the students are Buddhist. We get double the holidays. Unfortunately Easter falls in the middle of the inter-semester break otherwise I'm sure that would be another week! All of these holidays are fully paid, BTW.

In terms of sick pay, we are entitled to 7 days fully paid sick leave. After that it depends how many lessons you miss as to how much you are deducted from your salary.

I think we get a pretty good deal.

[skybluestu]

I work at a private Catholic school in Nakhon Pathom province. We get 3-4 weeks in October, 10 weeks for inter-semester break, March-May. 10-11 days over Christmas and New Year period. We obviously receive all Thai governmental and Buddhist days off, also. It's nice that the school is Catholic but 90% of the students are Buddhist. We get double the holidays. Unfortunately Easter falls in the middle of the inter-semester break otherwise I'm sure that would be another week! All of these holidays are fully paid, BTW.

In terms of sick pay, we are entitled to 7 days fully paid sick leave. After that it depends how many lessons you miss as to how much you are deducted from your salary.

I think we get a pretty good deal.

Pretty much exactly the same as what we get at my school (also a private catholic school). 3 weeks off in Oct, 8 weeks March-Apr, 7-8 days at Christmas and also 1 week off in July this year plus the usual Thai/Buddhist holidays and all fully paid. Not sure re sick pay but I had around 5 days off sick last year and got paid for them, don't know the limit for sick pay, sorry.

Edited May 24, 2009 by skybluestu