I just accepted a job at a government secondary school and they took the standard government contract and deleted the sick and vacation leave, yearly bonus and made their own clauses. It states that if you are sick that they will deduct the day from your salary. Is this normal as I have been working at the Univeresity level and have never seen a school alter the contract.

Bud.. looks like a BF...ing.. Note.. each school is different and has their own view of what is fair with Western teachers.. The part about missing a day and having a deduction is a new twist.. you are allowed sick days with the proper documentation.

Hmm..Are you the first westerner to work at this GOVT school? Because the contracts would originate from a common source and your liason teacher should know what is going on.

Work permit, visa all that should be taken care of by the school. You should not have to pay for your work permit.

Also..what is your policy for the "Provident F...k" I believe you are required to pay into this .. and can collect when you reach the required age.. Forget this jazz about being about to transfer it out to another account..

But.. it is all what you asked for in your interview.. Good Luck.

When I worked for a government high school a few years back, the contract was for 10 1/2 months and they also deducted 1,000 baht a day if you were absent. I'm not surprised they would do this to you. I signed a very vague contract (which was in Thai) that said things like "You will do your duties as Thai teachers do". There is a lot of shafting at schools in Thailand and this can be in private schools and language schools as well. The good thing about many government schools is that they don't expect you to do too much since with the numbers in the class and lack of materials, there isn't much you could do anyway. A lot of the teaching in many schools here is more of a show than actual teaching. You need to look at what's expected of you and weigh that against what you receive (salary/holidays/etc). There are tons of schools out there looking for teachers and if you've had experience at a university you'll have no problem finding another place if this one goes south. Good luck!

Maybe you should be lucky if you even have a contract. At my first school, whose history went back 40 years with foreign teachers, I had a signed contract in my hands for about 45 days. The next three full semesters, there and at a new school across town, I never had a signed contract (although they had me sign blanks!). The first school wouldn't pay for October or April, and then cancelled March as well. At both long-established schools (at least 75 years old, each), there was no help with visa, no work permit, no renewals, no lotsa things, etc. But hey, in that province, that was standard operating procedure.

At many schools here in Bangkok, it's not much better than in the provinces

The funny thing about the last provincial contract I signed in blank, for one year, is that I never got a copy, but they lost track of it, and wouldn't admit that they lost it. No telling if it was ever filled in or signed by the Almighty Director. Finally, there was a misunderstanding about month #12 (or month #10.5 to 11.5), and I challenged them that the official, signed contract guaranteed me 12.0 months of wages. They believed me, and paid me, without anybody having a contract!

Thailand, amaaaaazing Thailand.

Yeah, I think the type of contracts depends on the school. For my contract, I do not get any bonuses but I do have my sick leaves, business leaves and other benefits. I have to pay for my WP for the first year, but for the following year, they pay for the renewal.