Asean And It'S Side Effects Regarding Working In Thailand

[sirchai]

Hello,

I was just thinking about how it will be for all the foreign teachers when ASEAN will become reality.

Many of us have settled down here, having families etc., living and relying on their salaries.

Could it be possible that most of us will be replaced by guys from the 10 ASEAN nations?

Well, I think there might be some exceptions, but generally speaking, many of us will not be employed in 2015 and afterwards.

Would be nice to know other peoples' opinion regarding any possible changes….

[Geekfreaklover]

Don't quite understand the post.

My understanding is that Thai schools and language centres want foreigners who look caucasian in the classroom. The more blonde hair and blue eyes the better. It is all about appearence. English teachers should appear western.

Or am I missing something somewhere?

[richard10365]

This is a question all foreign teachers should be asking themselves. From what I understand, English teachers should be safe until 2020...in theory.

According to a report by the Bangkok Post in 2010, "Under the ASEAN Economic Community framework, ASEAN members have agreed to pilot a free labour market plan by allowing specialists and professionals in seven fields - medicine, dentistry, nursing, engineering, architecture, natural resources and geographical exploration, and accounting - to work anywhere they like across the region in 2015. The free labour market may eventually expand to cover all fields and levels of jobs."

This means, workers in China can come to look for work in Thailand. They can come here, apply for a job, and work here just like a Thai person can. I don't know yet if they will need a work permit or a tourist visa. All they might need is an ASEAN ID card.

Another report from Indonesia added the tourism sector to the 2015 free labor market plan. Still another report adds IT to that plan in 2015. It seems the free labor market is moving faster than most people realize.

Should you be worried? I think you should. ASEAN +3 includes China, Japan, and South Korea. Imagine how many Chinese there are that can speak English well enough to teach it with less of a salary than what is paid to farangs. 2015 is going to be a turbulent time. You should be doing everything you can to increase your qualifications before 2015 gets here.

Edited May 19, 2012 by richard10365

[Scott]

Are the +3, China, Japan and South Korea, included in the ASEAN agreement regarding work?

Regardless, the majority of Westerners will be in the same position that they are now. You still need the visa and Work Permit.

The need for English will likely increase rather than decrease.

My experience has been that many employers and parents want a white person in the classroom. We have had some excellent Asian candidates--including those born, raised and educated entirely in Western countries--that they either refuse to hire, or will only do so at an "Asian" wage.

[richard10365]

Are the +3, China, Japan and South Korea, included in the ASEAN agreement regarding work?

Regardless, the majority of Westerners will be in the same position that they are now. You still need the visa and Work Permit.

The need for English will likely increase rather than decrease.

My experience has been that many employers and parents want a white person in the classroom. We have had some excellent Asian candidates--including those born, raised and educated entirely in Western countries--that they either refuse to hire, or will only do so at an "Asian" wage.

I'm not 100% positive on that but I leaning towards that conclusion. I agree, most want a white person in the classroom but many already hire teachers from the Philippines to teach English. The situation could be the same with China.

Either way, the labor market in the ASEAN countries will change in 2015. It would be a good idea for people who want to work to make themselves more competitive. Thai's are not the only one's competing for the available jobs in Thailand.

[KhaoNiaw]

I don't think the +3 are part of the agreement.

Opportunities for English teachers could increase but if more qualified teachers are coming in it might weed out some of those at the unqualified end of the scale.

The labour market is not simply going to become an open free-for-all. I believe that to work in a particular sector, you'll have to pass the necessary ASEAN competency qualification e.g. to work as a hotel receptionist or bartender. Even if you have a degree in the field but don't have the ASEAN qualification you won't be able to ply your trade around the region.

[Scott]

Everything I have read has talked about ASEAN, not the + 3 part. China being a part of it would be a BIG deal, although the impact on English teachers would not be too greatly affected, IMO.

I can only provide subjective, anecdotal observations. Last year, due to a significant expansion in student numbers, I had to hire a lot of teachers. The pool of Farang applicants was slightly better than this year. Of those selected interviewed and approved nearly all accepted the job. This year, we were forced to interview more people, with lesser qualifications and accept people in the past which we wouldn't have had to.

Of the non-native speakers,who are subject teachers (mostly Filipinos), last year there were a lot of very, very good teachers. They were well educated, had degrees in education and most were licensed teachers in their home country. Again, nearly all accepted employment. This year, the number of well qualified teachers were fewer and several did not accept an employment offer.

There has been a slight rise in the number of teachers we have had who left the school for greener pastures. These were not disgruntled teachers, but people who simply got a better offer elsewhere. This also includes at least 1 Farang who will go to a village school for a lot less money because he prefers not to live in a big city.

I spoke with the Principal and Director about the my concerns with the pool of applicants and was told that it was to be expected because of the increased need for teachers in gov't schools due to ASEAN.

[Loaded]

Thais need to develop their English skills if they want to compete in ASEAN. I can't see anyone replacing us for a long long time. In fact, the demand is going to increase for foreign English teachers.

[Scott]

I agree with Loaded and it seems to be happening already.

[KhaoNiaw]

Also to be pedantic, but as we have to deal with this with our students it's perhaps worth pointing out, this is not about when "ASEAN will become reality' - ASEAN is already a reality. What we're talking about here is the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

[somchaismith]

The new MoE ASEAN NES (Native English Speaker) program has already had the rules relaxed for school's employent of foreign teachers. The 10,000 baht monthly NES subsidy and 5,000 baht monthly NNES subsidy has certainly got the ball rolling. Great to see. The TCT was certainly making things very difficult with their FT requirements. It was a very uncordinated effort.

Edited May 20, 2012 by somchaismith

[Plucky]

I think the Filipinos and Chinese will take over.

They are mostly willing to accept lower wages and that's a killer in any industry.

Falang English teachers days are numbered unless at the top private schools.

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[sirchai]

Here's a good one. A teacher from the islands wanted to make a spelling test at an EP grade three level. A half foreign child who was a student there or only a few weeks was asking a serious question, because she couldn't understand if the teacher had said hard or heart. ( As usual)

So she was asking: "Teacher, do you mean the one in your chest, or the opposite of soft? "

A white guy sitting in class doing some printing said: " I guess she meant the one in your chest."

The teacher now very angry: " Now you gave her the answer." Remember it was a spelling test.....

The new MoE ASEAN NES (Native English Speaker) program has already had the rules relaxed for school's employent of foreign teachers. The 10,000 baht monthly NES subsidy and 5,000 baht monthly NNES subsidy has certainly got the ball rolling. Great to see. The TCT was certainly making things very difficult with their FT requirements. It was a very uncordinated effort.

The 10,000 baht program is only running until September, ( sorry, could be wrong) so nobody really knows what Yingluck's Sherpas will do then..

[culicine]

Here's a good one. A teacher from the islands wanted to make a spelling test at an EP grade three level. A half foreign child who was a student there or only a few weeks was asking a serious question, because she couldn't understand if the teacher had said hard or heart. ( As usual)

So she was asking: "Teacher, do you mean the one in your chest, or the opposite of soft? "

A white guy sitting in class doing some printing said: " I guess she meant the one in your chest."

The teacher now very angry: " Now you gave her the answer." Remember it was a spelling test.....

The new MoE ASEAN NES (Native English Speaker) program has already had the rules relaxed for school's employent of foreign teachers. The 10,000 baht monthly NES subsidy and 5,000 baht monthly NNES subsidy has certainly got the ball rolling. Great to see. The TCT was certainly making things very difficult with their FT requirements. It was a very uncordinated effort.

The 10,000 baht program is only running until September, ( sorry, could be wrong) so nobody really knows what Yingluck's Sherpas will do then..

The 10K can't be used for teacher's salaries then - otherwise they can expect a 10K decrease in Sept! Probably used for miscellaneous services / amenities Sounds like another populist waste of money policy to me...

[culicine]

Everything I have read has talked about ASEAN, not the + 3 part. China being a part of it would be a BIG deal, although the impact on English teachers would not be too greatly affected, IMO.

I can only provide subjective, anecdotal observations. Last year, due to a significant expansion in student numbers, I had to hire a lot of teachers. The pool of Farang applicants was slightly better than this year. Of those selected interviewed and approved nearly all accepted the job. This year, we were forced to interview more people, with lesser qualifications and accept people in the past which we wouldn't have had to.

Of the non-native speakers,who are subject teachers (mostly Filipinos), last year there were a lot of very, very good teachers. They were well educated, had degrees in education and most were licensed teachers in their home country. Again, nearly all accepted employment. This year, the number of well qualified teachers were fewer and several did not accept an employment offer.

There has been a slight rise in the number of teachers we have had who left the school for greener pastures. These were not disgruntled teachers, but people who simply got a better offer elsewhere. This also includes at least 1 Farang who will go to a village school for a lot less money because he prefers not to live in a big city.

I spoke with the Principal and Director about the my concerns with the pool of applicants and was told that it was to be expected because of the increased need for teachers in gov't schools due to ASEAN.

We've had a few good philipino teachers in the past - none are employed to teach english though. Most are not up to scratch for teaching higher levels such as M6 literature. Many seem ill-prepared for other high school subjects, such as math / science, especially form M4-M6 level. I was enlightened last week that in the Philippines, they attend university from 16-19 yrs old - they finish high school at 16 y.o. That might go some way to explain my observations. Despite this, some still are quite good teachers. I'd be disinclined to hire a 20 y.o straight out of uni though - some of these M6'ers would eat them alive

[Scott]

It depends on the qualifications of the teacher. We usually hire teachers who have passed the Philippines Teacher's Licensure Examination. They are subject teachers (not English). For upper grades of Mathematics and Science, we have had good luck with Filipino teachers; much better than with Western teachers--which are fairly hard to find. I might add that a number of the upper math and science teachers have been Engineering graduates, rather than education majors.