Job Discussion Forums

[nicolemoffat]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping some of you will be able to help me here, I'm wanting to know whether or not I'm able to legally teach in China without a degree.
I seem to get a mixed range of results when I look on various sites, a lot are saying that a degree is required and that you cannot legally work without one. Some are saying that certain cities require degrees but some don't and some say that if you're the right fit some schools will overlook the absence of a degree.. 😥

I am a 24yr old from New Zealand, have a TESOL certificate and have experience teaching English to a refugee family here in NZ. I'm planning to travel to China with my partner who has a degree but no TESOL certificate.

If anyone is able to help steer me in the right direction or point me to a useful webite I would be extremely grateful!
Thanks in advance!!

[nomad soul]

[suphanburi]

[BruceLeeWannaBe]

[plumpy nut]

It would be very unproductive to get a degree just to teach in China. Public schools in Taiwan and I think Hong Kong require a license from your own country. In Korea you need teaching experience and a degree. You have to shoot for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea or Japan or else entering the ESL field is no longer tenable. Some teachers like Brunei, you would have to have experience for that place as well and a degree and be lucky. Brunei is small.

[murray1978]

There are heaps of threads similar to this question that clearly state that it is illegal to teach without a degree. It is up to you if you want to take the risk but be warned that there may be a chance that you get caught. If you do, you won't get any support from your consulate.

You may be able to find work illegally at a school but they could refuse to pay you due to not having a legal work visa.

[lugubregondola]

/quote
You used to be able to use a fake degree and you could bypass everything. But now the law requires you authenticate or certify your degree



I just want to ask one thing. Are you willing to get a bachelors degree just to teach in China? Or any other asian country?[/quote]You can just get a fake degree authenticated instead if you really want in the uk as some notaries just stamp degrees without checking their authenticity for some reason i can't understand. Most check with the uni but some don't.

[Spelunker]

@bruceleewannabe:

[lugubregondola]

spelunker please read my post above yours. That's what people with fake degrees would/will do. Use a notary who doesn't check and just stamps the degree you take to him. Saudi check you have what you say you have. they don't trust notaries obviously. Korea also ask you what uni and degree you have and the uni's website and phone number AFTEr you get your visa number so you might not get away with it in these two countries. China though I dunno if they check themselves. Just getting it stamped at the Chinese consulate doesn't suthenticate the degree unless they phone up and checn and then that means they don't trust the notaries either

[Chroniclesoffreedom]

The most important thing the OP should learn anyway is what social compromises and limitations he has. Every foreigner thinking about going abroad should learn that no matter how long they stay in Asia they will never truly belong.

I don't want to talk too much about that in this thread since this topic is about degrees. So while I may be bringing this up I am however not trying to shift the focus of the conversation. But to the OP reading this, please do your research on the social compromises we have. Social segregation, being kept at arms length, and always being viewed upon with suspicion. Just in a nutsell.

You definitely want to be aware of these facts before you come.

Anyway when you use a fake degree and get it apostilled, stamped or whatever, won't you get into some legal trouble if they do contact your university to verify? I mean, if you live in the UK and get an apostille for your degree there, and if the apostille service contacts your university and they have no record of you, I'd certainly expect the police to show up at your door. Or am I wrong?

[lugubregondola]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

[lugubregondola]

Sounds like your department of state will regulate the US notaries too like the Foreign office does in the UK. what does the US dept of state do then once the notaries have stamped the degree? all they do is check the notaries otherwise what's the point of the notary if the US department of state check the degree? They haven't got time to do all that to thousands of degree holders. The Chinese consulate just stamp the apostilled and notarised degree so they aren't really checking anything unless they call up the uni.

[nomad soul]

[lugubregondola]