Job Discussion Forums

[Pytheas]

Hi,

I was wondering what the working hours realyl are at Chinese Public Schools?

I've worked in Thailand for 5 years and found you pretty much get what the contract says, if it says 22 teaching hours, that's what you work, there may be a few other duties but nothing out the ordinary.

But then a few weeks ago starting thinking of Korea and on investigation found while some schools were genuine there were other people who reported signing 25 teaching hours a week contracts and were working 40+ hours, including 10 hours of after schools classes and other things.

Checking out the China ads I've notice Chinese teaching hours are very short. Some jobs just 12 - 16 teaching hours a week. I was wondering how genuine they are and is there any hidden stuff I should watch out for?

Thanks

[Gamecock]

By public schools do you mean primary and middle schools? Or universities?

Generally in the China the hours are pretty straightforward. Hours USUALLY means classes taught (40-50 min = 1 hour), but you should always inquire about this to make sure. I know in Korea they often say 30 hours in the contract, but as the classes are only 45 minutes they interpret that to mean that actually you have to teach 40 classes or some garbage like that. This trick is not usually pulled in China.

If you are working at a middle school, you are often expected to be at the school 8 hours every day, although you may only be teaching 2-3 classes. At universities you are usually free when you are not teaching even if the hours are very low, although you should always check for "extra" requirements like office hours, English corners, etc.

One of the benefits of teaching in China is that the hours are short (However I notice more and more employers asking for Korean-like hours). The downside is, of course, that salaries are often lower for such positions.

[DosEquisX]

Nope. It's pretty legit, at least with the universities. You get the number of hours offered in the contract.

In my case, I was supposed to have fourteen 45 minute classes, but that was suddenly changed to seven 90 minute classes.

I was surprised to see so few hours myself. Though I do expect it to become a lot like South Korea soonish where you are looking at people who start dancing around and putting BS clauses into your contract even in public schools.

[bythebookie]

I teach 6, 90 minute classes - totaling 9 hours. Two days I have a 1 1/2 hour break at lunch time and so spend only 12 hours a week at my school and I go home.

[Pytheas]

China's suddenly sounding very appealing.

[DosEquisX]

Yeah, if you don't give a damn about money.

[Happy Everyday]

If you teach in China now
the land of chairman mao
you'll never get rich
you son of .. ...


(sung to the tune of you're in the army now)