Job Discussion Forums

[Lack]

Just be handsome/beautiful. That's the only qualification you really need.

I've seen non-native English speakers (who made lots mistakes and had heavy accents) with no experiences, degrees, or other qualifications get jobs and even be paid the same and favored over superior teachers who are native speakers, degree-holding, and experienced with TEFLs (but who were not physically attractive.)

Just be handsome.

[jas5sk]

Depending on where you work, the best qualification is your ability to sucker Chinese parents out of their money. Chinese parents care about the marketing more than the quality of education their children are getting. China has few laws in place when it comes to who they can hire and the laws that are in place can be circumvented for the right price. It's still very much the wild wild west, so just show up accordingly.

[The_Kong]

[jas5sk]

[Voyeur]

Even when dealing strictly with the letter of the law the answer seems to be complex. It is unclear to me whether all laws and regulations are provincial, or whether there are also some national--and even city--laws that are also at play. Perhaps they even contradict one another, in which case to be 'safe' one would have to meet the stricter standard.

[Wo Dong]

So many people dance around this issue and from my point of view it seems pretty black and white to me as SAFEA has standardized the five mandatory requirements and the only deviation I see is that some provinces demand police certificates and others do not.

http://open.salon.com/blog/china_business_central/2014/09/07/new_china_foreign_employee_teacher_requirements_now_strict

I see many users say each city is different but none of them have posted any links to cite a source of this info which to me amounts to only a rumor unless something can be posted as a source, especially when the post is coming from someone who left China years ago. I have been here teaching since 2010 and see things getting more controlled than ever before when it comes to foreign employees of any kind.

SAFEA and all the embassies are very up-front and direct about legal requirements to teach in China (as the OP specified) yet, there are still dozens of recruiters, and even TEFL/TESOL company reps telling people they don't need a university degree to teach in China. This deception is just plain rude and misleading decent newbies who just want an honest job in China.

[Capt Lugwash]

Such a pity the author of that article is illiterate.

[The_Kong]