Job Discussion Forums

[Moma]

Hello, I’m not planning on retiring just yet. I live in Europe with my Malaysian wife, and my pension calculators show I can retire at age 67 here or much earlier in Malaysia if I also do some part-time teaching there.

Things change, but visas and accommodation are dealt with. I’m just conscious that I’ve never really seen an older, e.g. 60+, western teacher in Malaysia. Maybe this is for visa reasons, which wouldn’t apply in my case, or employers don’t want older teachers. Any thoughts? Any older teachers now in Malaysia to prove me wrong?

[KayuJati]

I taught in Malaysia for 16 years at the college level.

I was told that 60 was the cutoff age for hiring foreign teachers. My contract was not renewed for my 13th year at one college because I had already been at that college for 12 years and there was a 10-year rule. (It took the Ministry of Eduction a couple of years to realize that years 11 and 12 were greater than 10. ) I was not yet 60, but had been told by two different schools that they would not be able to renew me beyond 60 had I remained in Malaysia.

There are probably some foreigners over the age of 60 still teaching, but I suspect that they have been at their schools for quite a while and the school skates the rules to keep them. (Or the Ministry still hasn't figured out that 61, 62, 63, and etc. is greater than 60.)

I think it would be hard to get hired at a new place once at or over 60.

Part-time teaching might be possible but you would need government permission and many schools don't like the hassle of dealing with that. A retirement visa allows up to 20 hours of work each week, but it requires petitioning the government and showing that a local could not do the task instead.

Beware the anecdoters.