Job Discussion Forums

[That Canada Guy]

I was just wondering what people think of the job outlook in China several years from now? Do you think the market will be looking for a cheaper solution to native English speakers, such as Filipinos?

I was just wondering because I read on the Korean board and some people thought Korea may go that way. So I wondered what people's opinions of that would be like for China.

[China.Pete]

"Do you think the [Chinese] market will be looking for a cheaper solution to native English speakers, such as Filipinos?" -- Canada Guy

This has already been going on for a long time now. Evidently some schools will just hire whoever walks in the door. If that doesn't meet their needs, they may decide to work with an agent. This can potentially increase the size of their hiring pool, and may result in their being more selective with respect to country of origin. Of course, those schools that actively recruit FTs themselves can also have specific country requirements. I don't think you can say, however, that such schools necessarily pay better -- typically, a public university will pay everyone about the same. Even those schools that do pay more in an effort to get and retain qualified staff will often hire teachers from second-tier countries (that is, not from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, or New Zealand), quite possibly for lower pay. But I still think that what tends to drive salaries down or cause them to stagnate is not so much competition from second-tier countries as it is the availability of first-tier country FTs who are willing to work for next to nothing, and the failure of schools to differentiate them based on any standard of teaching ability.

[Itsme]

If I want to learn Russian I find someone with the heaviest Russian accent as possible. I don't find a cowboy from the south with a heavy accent.

The same applies with English. If I were a Chinese student I would want a real native English speaker to teach me. Anything else would diminish the value of the teacher in my eyes.

This applies even if the African teacher can speak better English than the American.

It's like buying a computer. I want a new computer even if the perfectly good refurbished computer is $200 less.

[eddy-cool]

[Itsme]

[bradley]

There are enough openings in China for teachers who are native and non-native alike but like anywhere the more professional jobs require more degrees and experience.