Teachers Licence And The Teachers Council Thailand

[daiwill60]

I have recently been told that I need a Teachers Licence to gain my 1 year Extension Visa and Work Permit.

I am aware that I have to initially apply for a Provisional Teaching Permit, along with a letter form my school requesting 'exception of professional qualification', which will be valid for 2 years, during which I have to complete the various examinations and tests in order to become a fully accepted and eligible teacher within Thailand, and then with the aforementioned permit I will then be allowed a work permit and then with both of these in hand I can finally get my 1 year extension visa ( weird considering i had a work permit for 5 months prior to this month with no app'n for teachers licence , but thats another story ).

Anyway back to point. Does any one have any experience and advice before I visit Teachers Council Thailand?

I am led to believe by the myriad of confusing information segments on their web page, that I need a letter from the school requesting a temporary exemption for 2 years and to also fill in a Teachers licence application form and provide copies of all the usual personal farang documents and countless more photos, along with prove that i have paid the required 500bht at a local Post Office. It is then suggested that I send these forms etc to the Dep't in BKK, yet I have also been advised to hand deliver them as they will get lost or whatever. This is an ok option for me as I need to go to BKK soon anyway.

My questions are, When I get to the offices in BKK:-

1. I presume the offices in Nakhon Ratchasima Road in Dusit are the correct offices to go to?

2. Does anyone know which department I need to go to, when I get there?

3. What is the procedure and how long I can expect it to take?

4. Am I to expect receiving the necessary paperwork that i require for my visa extension and work permit on the day I go there?

As I don't get many opportunities to go to BKK and do not want to keep going for continuous 60 day renewals or border crossings when i really shouldn't need to be doing, I would be grateful for any info / advice on this to ensure minimising any further misinterpretations of the rules and regs.

Thanks Guys

[Mario2008]

Moved to teachin section for better answers.

[eladblum]

Can't answer your questions but, I started working in Phitsanulok last year and the school took care of that for me.

The director himself went to Bangkok and applied for the temporary 2 years licence.

This year, I have to do the test so I've been told. The point is, I don't have a degree.

Anyone got a clue on what should I do?

Am I supposed to apply for the test, fail and then get the temporary licence again? or is there different process for teachers like me?

Edited October 5, 2011 by eladblum

[Scott]

It is my understanding that you need to have a degree to qualify for the taking the examinations.

The examinations are a mechanism to upgrade a regular Bachelor's degree to the equivalent of an Education degree.

The school should make the application for the waiver on your behalf. They are the ones who need to say they want you.

The school will, at a minimum, have to give you the necessary paperwork for the waiver.

[eladblum]

It is my understanding that you need to have a degree to qualify for the taking the examinations.

The examinations are a mechanism to upgrade a regular Bachelor's degree to the equivalent of an Education degree.

So the other option is that the school has to apply again for the temporary one every 2 year?

Will they give up the 4000 baht just like that?

[Scott]

I have no idea about the financial end of it, but sometime back, the rule was that teachers could get 3 waivers, 2 years each. Some of these people should be running out of waivers now.

[daiwill60]

It is my understanding that you need to have a degree to qualify for the taking the examinations.

The examinations are a mechanism to upgrade a regular Bachelor's degree to the equivalent of an Education degree.

So the other option is that the school has to apply again for the temporary one every 2 year?

Will they give up the 4000 baht just like that?

HAHA you are havin a laff aren't you? No school is gonna pay for a farang to do it, as mentioned in another reply they more than likely will do the absolute minimum and send you on your way to BKK at your expense with the letter for temp licence. What happens if you fail? who knows ? depends how desperate they are i guess, and if the teachers council allow you another two years?????

The test and qualification is yours to keep and take with you wherever you go in Thailand, do not let the school you are with keep it, it is yours for keeps or until the next renewal at any rate.

thanks for replies guys

[daiwill60]

I have no idea about the financial end of it, but sometime back, the rule was that teachers could get 3 waivers, 2 years each. Some of these people should be running out of waivers now.

Maybe they wll move to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam etc for less hassle and better pay etc from what I hear and take somewhat with a pinch of salt.

[daiwill60]

Can't answer your questions but, I started working in Phitsanulok last year and the school took care of that for me.

The director himself went to Bangkok and applied for the temporary 2 years licence.

This year, I have to do the test so I've been told. The point is, I don't have a degree.

Anyone got a clue on what should I do?

Am I supposed to apply for the test, fail and then get the temporary licence again? or is there different process for teachers like me?

You were very lucky then if your boss did all that for you.

Did they also pay for the licence?

If you do not hold a degree i suggest you read the Teachers Council Thailand web site of which there is an english version and go to section '" Routes to the Teaching Licence" look at route 2 or 3 to understand your situation. Personally i am surprised you got the temp cert in the first place, as it does state that they require a copy of degree certificate on the list of stuff to bring with you, maybe your boss sweet talked them in the TCT on his much wanted little trip to the bright lights of BKK.

[eladblum]

You were very lucky then if your boss did all that for you.

Did they also pay for the licence?

If you do not hold a degree i suggest you read the Teachers Council Thailand web site of which there is an english version and go to section '" Routes to the Teaching Licence" look at route 2 or 3 to understand your situation. Personally i am surprised you got the temp cert in the first place, as it does state that they require a copy of degree certificate on the list of stuff to bring with you, maybe your boss sweet talked them in the TCT on his much wanted little trip to the bright lights of BKK.

I didn't know that the waiver costs money. I didn't pay. The school said that they get the waiver for because I'm a new teacher. That's exactly what they've told us at the TEFL course: "You don't have to worry about the licence in your first 2 years of teaching"

And seriously, Do those life experience degrees are accepted as a degree when applying for the test?

Edited October 5, 2011 by eladblum

[Scott]

There was a point in time when Life Experience degrees were getting through--as I understand it. I don't think that is the case any longer.

As far as the cost goes, again, I don't know for sure. I remember when I got my TL, it cost me 500 baht. That wasn't a waiver, but the actual license. I only had to pay once.

If there is a cost for the waiver, it is minimal.

[daiwill60]

There was a point in time when Life Experience degrees were getting through--as I understand it. I don't think that is the case any longer.

As far as the cost goes, again, I don't know for sure. I remember when I got my TL, it cost me 500 baht. That wasn't a waiver, but the actual license. I only had to pay once.

If there is a cost for the waiver, it is minimal.

The waiver cost is definitely 500bht now. You download a form off the site, and take to a post office or one of the thai banks, pay 500bht get receipt of payment and take / send with letter of appn for waiver to TCT, along with your appn for teachers licence, at least thats the way it appears to be to me.

[eladblum]

I've checked a bit more and this is what I've been told:

TCT do not check qualifications and degrees until one passes all 4 sections of the Teachers Licence test.

That means I can go and do the test, make sure I fail at least one section and get the temporary licence again.

[Scott]

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

[puchooay]

There was a point in time when Life Experience degrees were getting through--as I understand it. I don't think that is the case any longer.

As far as the cost goes, again, I don't know for sure. I remember when I got my TL, it cost me 500 baht. That wasn't a waiver, but the actual license. I only had to pay once.

If there is a cost for the waiver, it is minimal.

The waiver cost is definitely 500bht now. You download a form off the site, and take to a post office or one of the thai banks, pay 500bht get receipt of payment and take / send with letter of appn for waiver to TCT, along with your appn for teachers licence, at least thats the way it appears to be to me.

Not so, at least not in July this year. I did not have to fill in the form to apply for a licence and as such did not need to pay 500baht.

All I had was the documents from the school, a copy of my education certificates and my passport. I also had to have a copy of my marriage certificate as I am on an O visa.

[Scott]

The school where I work pay for the cost of the waiver. The TL, however, they do not pay for. The TL is the property of the teacher, and it goes with you when you leave. The waiver allows that particular school to employ you. One is for them; the other other for you.

[eladblum]

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

So, I talked to my supervisor and showed her that I can't apply for the test unless I have a degree and gave her the requirements for the temporary licence.

She came back to after reading some papers in thai and told me that the school will provide me a letter from the director about the reasons of employment and teaching experience.

"And then we send it to Bangkok, right?" I said.

"No. You register for the test online and you take the letter with you when you go to do the exam." she said.

Edited October 7, 2011 by eladblum

[daiwill60]

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

Same here Scott, good advice given.

People who try to be dodgy usually find themselves in dodgier situations than this they try to dodge, eventually!!!

[eladblum]

Same here Scott, good advice given.

People who try to be dodgy usually find themselves in dodgier situations than this they try to dodge, eventually!!!

So what would you suggest to a guy like me where the school tells me to lie on the application form so I can do the test, and get the waiver.

[a99az]

This is so messed up! I am in my second year in a government school in the north of Thailand. The school have said they want me to stay, they have said that they love the way I teach etc etc. They asked me to take the teaching license so that they can keep me on at the school next year (year three). I have said no thanks, I will not pay the 80,000 tb (almost a quarter of a years salary) for a license that is only good for Thailand so that they can keep me on, "stuff that".

Now they have said that I will be offered a new contract for year 3 (2012) without having to obtain a Thai teaching license!!!! What a load of bol...... when will the nob heads at the MoE except that, if you can teach and the school needs your expertise, maybe you should be able to continue teaching.

.

[daiwill60]

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

So, I talked to my supervisor and showed her that I can't apply for the test unless I have a degree and gave her the requirements for the temporary licence.

She came back to after reading some papers in thai and told me that the school will provide me a letter from the director about the reasons of employment and teaching experience.

"And then we send it to Bangkok, right?" I said.

"No. You register for the test online and you take the letter with you when you go to do the exam." she said.

No No No, You read the section on the web site ''Provisional teaching Permit'' and the requirements to get your 2 year provisional exemption certificate.

After reading this, you will then require your school to provide a letter or the filled in written in thai form on the website entitled EXAMPLE.

When you have this / these signed by the school director, you can take this form, along with YOUR DEGREE CERTIFICATE and your passport, employment contract and 1 inch photo of yourself (without sunglasses) and evidence you have paid 500bht fee at a post office or the named bank ( form also on website), to apply to do the tests.

This wil give you a two year provisional licence during which you first do your Thai cultural awareness course. At the same time you take this form, you also hand in your TCT KS01 Teachers Licence Appn form (and the mass of paperwork required for that form as well) to the TCT, that you have paid 500 bt to register for at your post office.

Following your visit to TCT with the forms, you wil begin to do your Thai awareness course, and having completed that course successfully, you can renew for 2 more years and begin on the professional teaching licence course. If you do at least one unit from this course in the following 2 years you can get renewals, and this goes on like this each two year period. However, if you cannot show you have made efforts to do some of these courses during each two year period, you will not get a following renewal.

The reason they are doing this is to ensure that people do have proper accredited degrees, as originally stated and required to teach in Thai schools, however many people have slipped through the net over the years, as demand outweghed supply, especially away from Bangkok and more popular areas, such as Issan etc. The are now beginning to tighten up, whether it is suddenly the new Gov't or what, I do not know, but it is happenning, and that is it.

And TEFL Teaching course sites, based here or online, make it all sound so easy don't they? Well maybe it was for a while !!!! maybe it will be again, who knows come the revolution??

Maybe you could try Laos or Cambodia or somewhere if you don't have a degree or you have a dodgy Khosan Rd Degree, as I think for the foreseeable at least, things are going to get a lot tougher regarding this issue, even for true degree holders, and for quite a while, as the Reds don't like farangs, as you will clearly work out from the love expressed in return by farangs posting on this site and similar sites. Some of us are tied somewhat.

Sometimes wish I'd stayed in the UK now, NAH only Joking, I would truly miss the fun and shenanigans.

Amazing Thailand

[a99az]

I've checked a bit more and this is what I've been told:

TCT do not check qualifications and degrees until one passes all 4 sections of the Teachers Licence test.

That means I can go and do the test, make sure I fail at least one section and get the temporary licence again.

This is called a cash cow. It has nothing to do with improving the quality of teaching by foreign teachers, teaching in Thailand. Think about it, would you give someone an exemption for a pilots license for two years? Then after two years ask them to sit a test? But hell why not it's only education, not exactly going to kill some one is it?

Teacher to young student: "What would you like to be when you grow up? Student: "a pilot."

[daiwill60]

This is so messed up! I am in my second year in a government school in the north of Thailand. The school have said they want me to stay, they have said that they love the way I teach etc etc. They asked me to take the teaching license so that they can keep me on at the school next year (year three). I have said no thanks, I will not pay the 80,000 tb (almost a quarter of a years salary) for a license that is only good for Thailand so that they can keep me on, "stuff that".

Now they have said that I will be offered a new contract for year 3 (2012) without having to obtain a Thai teaching license!!!! What a load of bol...... when will the nob heads at the MoE except that, if you can teach and the school needs your expertise, maybe you should be able to continue teaching.

.

Sorry haven t dug far enough yet , but where do you get 80.000 bht figure from, because i am having trouble getting my school to even cough up the 500 bht.

Tonight I was told by one boss that they are currently advertising and taking on new teachers 'with visa, permit and licence assisatnce' , to replace a farang teacher who walked a while back . I asked what is this assistance being offered, because if it resembles what i have recieved, then they are wasting there time, as i have had to push to get all the paperwork together and get everything back in order for myself to go to Bangkok next week and start the teacher licence ball rolling, all at my expense . The reply i got was the teachers licence is your s you pay , i said fair enough but whart about all previus tiems i have gone to immigratino anfd had to kkep paying all the 60 day, rather than free 90 day renewals on visa extension cock ups, cant the school or University even offer some recompense. I got the reply that farang teachers get paid more any way, thats why we also pay and nobody on admin really wants to go out of the way to help. I also dont get housing / living allowance as i live with my my wife in our home , where other farang teachers do get it in other schools, yet they advertise to new teachers that are single that they will pay accommodation <deleted>, when confronted admin shrugs shoulders basically and gripes do not get sorted up the chain or even mentioned i daresay. No wonder people have had enough and are departing for other SE asian places .

[Scott]

I think an earlier poster is talking about the cost of taking either courses or the exams (80,000 baht). Not the cost of TL, per se.

The tightening of the regulations probably has little to do with politics directly. The TL is issued by the Teacher's Council and that's been around for a while. Before that, it was up to the rules and regulations of the MOE, Ministry of Labor and immigration and depended a lot on the existing relationship between the school and those two agencies. Some schools could have gotten Daffy Duck through the process and others couldn't have gotten Einstein through.

Most, but not all, schools will provide assistance for those who have the non-immigrant visa and can get a work permit. If not, the employee is usually on his/her own to get the requisite visa renewal.

My suggestion is to start getting yourself legal now. When the whole licensing fiasco began, I know one teacher who started getting his degree on-line. Since that time, he's managed to slowly, but surely complete his work and is now fully legal.

Another, who had completed 3 years of University has done nothing. He's now run out of options for renewing tourist visas and will likely find himself in dire staits in the next few months.

My advice is start working toward legal employment now.

[jt936]

Do we have to pay the 500 baht license application fee at the post office, or can we pay when we apply at the TCT?

Thanks.

Edited October 8, 2011 by jt936