Teaching Waiver from Kurusapha for Anuban teacher, or not?

[Cloudsgirl]

A friend from my country has just arrived in Thailand. She has many years as a kindergarten teacher, but does not hold a degree. She has been employed by an agency who were under the impression that being employed by them, and teaching kindergarten, exempts her from the teaching licence waiver (thus, she can teach at a kindergarten without this document). Her passport is currently being held by an immigration office in the South, where the officials are unaware of such a 'rule' / 'law'. I'm also curious about this as I am a kindergarten teacher too and about to apply for my licence. My circumstances are different to hers though as I am hired directly at a school.

Does anybody on the forum know about this rule / law?

[Loaded]

The 'agency' may also be a non-formal school so they are exempt from TCT license requirements. However, immigration may disagree as she is subcontracted to a formal school. Then, it depends on the job description and location in the wp and the non-formal school's relationship with that immigration office.

[casualbiker]

Just checked kindergartens come under OBEC remit ie : khurusapha. You need waivers .. you need a degree to get the waiver!

Your friend COULD be listed as a teaching assistant. Thereby not requiring the license or waiver.

[mrwebb8825]

you might want to direct your friend here: http://site.ksp.or.th/download.php?site=englishsite&SiteMenuID=29&Sys_Page=1&Sys_PageSize=20

and she can download the information and possibly show it to immigration.

[casualbiker]

you might want to direct your friend here: http://site.ksp.or.th/download.php?site=englishsite&SiteMenuID=29&Sys_Page=1&Sys_PageSize=20

and she can download the information and possibly show it to immigration.

Ok. I'm confused, where does it say anything about NOT needing a bachelors degree?

[Cloudsgirl]

Yes, I saw something on a document in Songkhla that looked official and said that. Anyhow, thanks for the link. I'll pass it on to her.

[casualbiker]

If you look quickly the wording can be confusing .. if no bachelors in education, then experience AND a standard degree

[White Tiger]

Cloudsgirl - shocked to hear that your friend's passport is being held by immigration. Not sure what grounds they have for doing that. Hope your friend gets it back quickly.

Your friend will need it for dealings with other authorities in Thailand. (For example, if my memory serves me right the teachers council of Thailand will need a copy of the passport, or the ID page of the passport, before they will consider any application for an exemption from the teacher's licence).

Hope your friend is able to resolve her issue about obtaining exemption from the teacher's licence.

[007cableguy]

Ca. C

[mikecat]

Yes, kindergarten teachers need a degree. However, teaching assistants do not if they have appropriate experience and education. This of course is open to interpratation and the whims of the local departments of Labour and Immigration. I must say that it is highly unusual for immigration to be holding anyones passport.

[SlyAnimal]

Why did she goto immigration?

e.g. If she wanted to extend her visa, she needs to have her work permit first, and if she has a work permit, then the DoL has signed off that she's able to work in the roles specified. Thus immigration can then deny her a visa extension if she fails their checks and balances, but I'm pretty sure they can't ping her for working when she's not supposed to, when the government agency who decides that, has already given her a WP.

If she went to Immigration, without a WP, and said "Hey I've been working at this school for the past 3 months, and now I want to extend my visa based on working there", then she'd be admitting to working without a work permit. Normally they are actually fine with this, and just tell people that they need their WP first, since they understand how useless schools are with paperwork, but government officials are always looking for additional sources of income, so you never know.

As far as her getting a teaching licence waiver, from memory there is a clause from Krusapa stipulating that people with relevant experience can potentially obtain a waiver for certain roles. So if she shows her experience from working in Kindergartens in the USA, she might be eligible under this category (You'll probably need to search out the specifics for it though, I remember one of the roles listed was librarians and a few other roles). It's a special exception which I assume was aimed at allowing foreigners who's home country doesn't require bachelor degrees for x role, with years experience there, to work in Thailand (Or perhaps as an excuse to grandfather in some of the existing foreigners who had been legally working without degrees in Thailand prior to the regulation changes).