Job Discussion Forums

[jpvanderwerf2001]

This post (entitled "The Only Way is Out") in the Job Information Journal intrigued me:

[GeminiTiger]

Teaching english overseas usually nets a higher income then
local teachers, who make more then the average person.

If your interested in Teaching, can accept the differences
of another culture and earn a higher then average sallary
then the local people, it must be a viable option.

[ContemporaryDog]

It is a worry as I may end up going back to the UK at some point, and tefl work pays absolute peanuts there - one poster on the china forum said he was getting 580 quid a month in London, which wouldn't even cover rent.

I'm thinking about doing a PGCE (teacher training) course as that woul have me covered, 'proper' teaching jobs in the UK don't pay the earth either but at least they are a bit more solid than such tefl posts in the UK.

[ls650]

Bernard sounds old and bitter.

[moonraven]

If you have gotten into the EFL teaching field by virtue of a certificate (read: diploma from a diploma mill), and you aren't going to get at least a Master's degree, then Bernard's depressing scenario has some truth to it. The reality is that you are not a professional educator, and if you decide to return to your home country it is unlikely that you will be able to continue teaching--at least not and make a living at it. You will also not be valued very highly in other countries, so you won't make very good salaries while you're there.

EFL looks good to a lot of folks because it's a way to travel and get paid something for it when all they can do is speak English (in some cases, I have noticed, quite marginally.) It opens opportunities that weren't as plentiful before "globalization"--at least not to folks without formal teacher preparation.

But there is always a catch: "There is no free lunch" is one cliche that applies here. Another is "Everything has its price". It's up to each person to decide wheher he/she is willing to pay the price. In many cases, the price to be paid after a few years of roaming the planet in search of cheap beer and snapshots may seem pretty steep. To others, it may not be.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[ls650]

[denise]

No, I do not believe that it is a dead-end. His comment about TEFL being OK for "young'uns" intrigued me. It may only be cool to travel around, party, live it up, etc., in your 20s, but at 29, I am the youngest teacher on my staff. Maybe once you turn 30 you start caring more about your job than about the partying?

Qualified teachers can move into DoS positions, do teacher training, design materials, etc. Or stay in the classroom and keep teaching.

d

[XXX]

Hey, my overseas experience got me in the door at the High I teach at now. It looks very good on your resume, considering ESL is a growing field here in the states. However, I already had a teaching certificate in another subject. A dead end? NO WAY!

[Aramas]

If, after a few decades of TEFL, a teacher couldn't afford to retire to a nice bungalow on the beach in Thailand, Brazil, India or somesuch place then I would agree. However, that's just not the case.

On the other hand, anyone that thinks they're going to be able to afford a condo in Monaco on a TEFL salary is on drugs. Why would anyone want to do that anyway? If you think your home country is so wonderful then stay there. If you don't then you'll be unable to fit in when you go back anyway.

TEFL is not interchangable with the Chrome Hamster Wheel of Death. It's an alternative - a choice, somewhat like veganism or not owning a television or a car, and choices always have consequences. If one leads an alternative life then why would one require a conventional retirement? Personally I can't imagine anything worse than spending my dotage amongst clapped-out suburban breeders.

[Spinoza]

[extoere]

Spinoza, a "diploma mill," as a wit once described it, is one of those quickie on-the-job-training joints, usually subsidized by government grant for retired journeyman "overseers," which specialize in one-hour instructionals (known to the cognescenti as "quickie courses), favored by ex-Flower Children down to their uppers, in Proper Embouchure, preliminary to evening outings on La Plaza Del Putas. Right, Loon?

cheers,
ex

[justcolleen]

[Sheep-Goats]

He's right, but it's not English teaching that pays such low salaries, it's teaching in general. I would think most people would know this coming into the game.

Yes, there are exceptions here and there, but in the end I wouldn't have a chance to make as much money as my dad makes as a locomotive engineer (train driver) even if I had a PhD, tenure in Japan, and a reasonable number of privates. My holidays would be about the same, working conditions better, and I'd have a higher status, but not quite the same money -- and both positions require a similar amount of experience and training to obtain. There's nothing terribly wrong with the diferences in pay, though -- I get benefits from my job that he doesn't get from his. Few tangible, however.

Oh, and the whole "they pay okay for where you live" thing doesn't hold water. Sure, I could buy a house on Ko Pangan and retire there if I worked in Thailand for the next 30 years. But I could also do that if I worked for 5 or 10 in America in the right job. And in the later case I would be in a much better position to provide for any kids I had, cover any emergencies, provide for sick or elderly parents, form a charity or scholarship fund, etc etc.

The bottom line is that 95% of the TEFL positions out there are a point-blank case of trading security, comfort, and an ability to provide for others in for present enjoyment and adventure. Exceptions to this rule are exceptions to a rule, and in most cases you lose parts of what is desrieable about TEFL to get into those exceptional positions (eg: tenure in Japan means you need a ton of specialized education. working in money jobs in the Middle East means you live in a crap location.)

The basic question is: How much money is enough for you? And, as such, there's really no way to say whether TEFL is a dead-end career or not. For the majority of jobs, however, TEFL work is only suitable outside of short term situations for those who a) intend to never go home again, b) intend to never have children, c) have already purchased their education in the west, d) have their retirement in the west already provided and/or d) are willing to entrench themselves in TEFL as a career, just as you would entrench yourself in any other career.

[Sheep-Goats]