Thread: Teaching Qual Reqs ( split from Teaching without a degree)

That brings up a point about teachers in Australia. How many of them only have three-year degrees or three years at teacher's college?

Oh, if we're counting undergraduate semester hours, I've got what you would earn in 5.5 years of 'full time attendance' if you passed them all. Two majors, two minors, and three semester hours of 'philosophy of PE." My daughter almost got majors in science, math and education, but skipped the math. We both have a BA from a liberal arts/humanities university.

Which brings up still yet another point: teachers in Texas are not just certified to teach because they took education course; they are also certified/licensed to teach specific subjects and grade levels. My daughter is certified for K-12 science.

In Australia, can any education major teach just any old subject?

^ Excellent post

Taz, does everybody in Launceston and Hobart post that well?

Great post. Go pick yourself an apple, teacher.

Originally Posted by PeaceBlondie

In a perfect world that may not exist in most developed countries, all teachers in public and private schools and universities would hold an advanced degree in pedagogy (like an M.Ed.) and also an advanced degree in their teaching field. Dream on, doesn't happen; there is hardly a country that can fill their teaching ranks with such fantasies (and only the majority of those M.Ed-MS combos are great teachers anyway).

Pure pedagogy isn't enough. Pure subject knowledge isn't enough. But can we stick to Thailand? Even if the Thais won't listen to us, could we agree among ourselves that some strata of levels need to be differentiated, paid accordingly, and hired accordingly.

a) White-faced Caucasian native speaker of English with a TEFL, no degree - is suitable for show-and-tell White-monkey conversational communication courses throughout Thailand, and can be paid 20K to 30K.

b) Fluent speaker of English, with a bachelor's degree in any subject other than pedagogy/education, plus a TEFL - is suitable for teaching English, and can be paid 30K to 50K.

c) Fluent speaker of English, with a degree in a specific field (not pedagogy/education) plus a TEFL - is suitable for teaching that specific field, and can be paid 35K to 60K.

d) Fluent speaker of English, with a teacher's degree such as B.Ed., AND certified training or experience in a specific field, but no TEFL - is suitable for teaching in a school that thinks they need such teachers with such quals, at whatever rate that school feels like paying. But don't let an English major teach physics, advanced calculus, engineering, or even sociology.

e) Poor speaker of English with a Ph.D. in a specific field - can teach that specific field anywhere, for 26K at a rajabat.

Does that mean I have to refund 70% of my wages, PB? :sad:

Originally Posted by kenkannif

Originally Posted by tazmanian

Well it looks like it's already been well said by Bangkok Phil and KenKaniff (even though we've fallen out in the past!)

I hate it when I don't know who a poster is

Me falling out with someone? Surely not!

But a bloody good post and I'll be agreeing with you on everything in future

Yeh Ken it was long time back when I used to post under my real name (Greg). It was a debate on ECC and it turned out you, sir, were right and I was wrong :-)

Originally Posted by geo

How does this effect the professional ESL teacher? Well, you can see where the average salary stays in Thailand. Short-time, ok. Long-time..?

And yet some of you 'experts' continue to say no problem, it may be hard, but can do...

No wonder, ESL teachers do not make enough money...

The cost of living is cheap, the weather warm, plenty of willing young things. Thailand is a retirement/alternative life choice for so many intelligent and educated folks. How many folks do you hear of dreaming of settling in Korea, Japan or any other of the other countries hungry for English language teachers? The Thais have got an edge in.
Just look here for examples most of these folks are probably good teachers, degreed or not.
It's simply a matter of Supply and demand. Thailand is one of the most desirable destinations for folks wishing for extended travel or an alternative to their life in the west. You can survive, quite well, on 30,000 a month.
A truly good teacher will inspire his students to learn. By what ever means. Charm, confidence and knowledge, in short; charisma, will do more to educate and inspire than any sheepskin.
Yep, there are those unprofessional and unmotivated slackers moving from teaching job to teaching job some even find that niche where they go unnoticed. Many with degrees some without.
Sadly, Thailand will always bring the slackers and ne'r-do-wells it has that reputation in the western world. "I'm gonna to move to Thailand and teach English" (and the livin' is easy!) Heard, all to often. Degreed or not they come. If they love it (teaching) and/or care about the quality of their own work their students will be benefitted. Too often I've heard, "I've got a degree, i'll get a job" without one whit of desire to really work with the students.
A good course in TEFL with preparation on Thai student culture will go alot further in producing quality teachers than any degree in marketing, engineering or even English lit.

Marmite, if you are possibly under-qualified by the standard of professional paper, don't take a pay cut - keep raising your price! I shouldn't have posted an upper limit to those salaries. If you're lucky enough as a salaried teacher or an independent tutor to have a good appreciative boss or clientele who pay double the going rate, good on you.

Rates are so low that there should be no ceilings. Now I'll go edit my post.

FriscoFrankie, I didn't know there were pubs and taverns full of slackers who sat around saying, "I failed here, so I'll just go to Thailand because it's well known that any jerk can get a job there, teaching English." But word does get around in certain circles.