Job Discussion Forums

[Hoosier]

I'm curious if anyone else has tried to get their non-HK qualifications assessed by HKCAA, which is now the new requirement when applying for teacher registration with EMB. For both Permitted Teacher and Registered Teacher applications, all new teachers must pay $2,190 to HKCAA for assessment.

I didn't get my report till a month later, even though they said in all their documents that an assessment report will be ready within 15 days. Then EMB found the assessment insufficient, as it made no mention of what's the local comparison of my foreign teaching qualifications. Then I went back to HKCAA and told them what EMB said. I was first informed that the transcripts and information I've provided is insufficient for assessment. They claimed they need detailed syllabus and curriculum before they can properly assessed those teaching qualifications. Then they said they will contact the institutions I studied directly to obtain more information.

Finally, I got a letter last week saying that they've sought more information from the insitutions but their conclusion is that my foreign teaching qualifications are not even equivalent to the QKT. I got in touch with the schools. One of them was completely baffled, since no one from HKCAA contacted any of their staff at all. The other school forwarded me the email from HKCAA, which asked only two questions. One, are the teacher training courses I took academic courses and two, whether the course in pre-school management is designed for managerial staff. That was the extent of HKCAA's investigations. It's certainly an easy way to earn $2,190!

Does anyone have a similar experience? Is there a higher authority where I can lodge a formal complaint? I've written to HKCAA about my concerns but they've chosen to ignore me altogether.

[shmeagain]

Try this: http://www.ombudsman.gov.hk/english/link_02_about.html

If it works, let us know.

[Hoosier]

I've spoken to the Office the Ombudsman. Unfortunately, as HKCAA is a non-governmental organization, I cannot make any complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman. I've also asked them if there are any other agency whom I can take my complaint to. The answer is they don't know and therefore are unable to help me.

I find it hard to believe that an agency can get away with doing things like that.

So new teachers, beware! Unless your school is willing to bear the cost, you will have to pay HK$2,190 to have your foreign qualifications assessed before you apply for Permitted Teacher/Registered Teacher with EMB. And don't forget to dig out your middle school/high school transcripts. They will ask for the originial documents from way back into your educational history.

[well-travelled]

There has been some discussion recently about the matter of teacher registration on one of the NET discussion groups on Yahoo. I�ve copied the link to the relevant EMB site below:

http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=268&langno=1

It appears that schools can apply to employ an �Unregistered Teacher� � although that may depend upon your particular situation.

NETs empoyed in government schools do not have to register. NETs in aided schools are supposed to register but some have opted to sign the �Unregistered Teacher� form and avoid the bureaucratic hassles.

With regard to the NET scheme, EMB demands strict proof of teachers� experience & qualifications before they can be accepted as NETs, which means that all NETs working in Hong Kong have already been accredited by EMB. So teacher registration (if insisted on by EMB) should, in a sensible world, be a mere formality.

Instead, we have the absurd situation where EMB sends teachers it has already accredited to the HKCAA to be accredited again. EMB itself is known for its bureaucratic rigidity, but HKCAA is even worse in that it often seems not to approve certain people (people with BAs, MAs etc..) who are already teaching in HK schools because they do not have copies of their high school certificates from 25 years ago!! And we teachers are meant to pay over HK$2000 for the privilege of being messed around to no good purpose.

Totally ludicrous!!

well-travelled

[shmeagain]

So what about going to the ombudsman and saying that the EMB (which is govn.) is using a company which is causing it to be incompetent and inefficient?

Any lawyers out there with some big Latin words to describe this?

[Netminder]

The other NET in my school has been here for 8 years and has never registered. No one has threatened him with expulsion from Hong Kong or threatened him with removal.

The teacher registration is a red herring- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Poeple getting in a flap over it are doing so at their own peril; I am told by people in the know that if it were important, you would be chased down for it.

The only people who seem to get upset about it is other new NETs who take it far too seriously.

[well-travelled]

Probably true - but you're in a government school where you & your colleague don't need to register, so the problem doesn't really arise.

NETs in aided schools are supposed to register, but I guess that depends on how insistent the school is. One or two people have been caught out and ended up at the HKCAA ....

Best for those in aided schools, if they are pressured by the school admin, to insist on signing the 'Unregistered Teacher' form to avoid the hassles with the HKCAA.

It would be interesting to learn why Hoosier had to register as a teacher. Perhaps he is a Primary NET where the situation may be different???

well-travelled

[Hoosier]

Actually, my school apply for Permitted Teacher status for all new teachers (just trying to be law-abiding residents and all that jazz). I had started the process a little earlier than the rest. All of us have to go through the "straight & narrow path" of HKCAA even though we are only applying for Permitted Teacher status.

Another interesting situation with HKCAA. A check from our school ain't good enough. So the school administrator had to carry a wad of cash to their office to pay for our assessments. Some of my colleagues had to ask their families back home to dig out their middle school graduation certificates and DHL them over here. Of course, we argued that hey, if we had studied and graduated from our respective colleges, wouldn't it be logical to assume that we have graduated from high school?

One of my friends had just signed on as a NET teacher and arrived in HK a month ago. Her contract states that she has to bear the cost of getting her foreign qualifications assessed by HKCAA in order to be registered as a teacher in EMB!

[munasa]

What happens if HKCAA does not acredit a foreign (NET) teacher's qualifications?

[once again]

It is possible to send copies of your certificates along with your application for teacher registration/permited teacher status without going through HKCAA. Although on the forms it says you should send an assesment by HKCAA, the EMB will accept without it and make a decision on their own. I guess you must have a good reason for not going the HKCAA, such as not having certificates from 25 years ago, but it seems it is not an absolute neccesity to involve the HKCAA. The EMB themselves stated this to a recent query.

[well-travelled]

Well I know someone who submitted the Teacher Registration form to EMB and had it returned with a note attached saying her qualifications needed to be assessed by the HKCAA before she could be registered.

And there are over 2000 good reasons for someone not wishing to have anything to do with the HKCAA.

well-travelled

[once again]

Well I am glad you know somebody who had the forms returned. If you wish to take that as the absolute rule, then please do so. I was just trying to helpful. I know for a fact that this is not always the case, but I am happy if your example becomes the universal rule, which makes it a lot easier for those that approach the EMB directly.

You may also bear in mind the comments above about teacher registration being a red herring.

[well-travelled]

I apologise for appearing so curt in my response; it wasn't intentional.

I suspect there are no universal rules and it probably all comes down to whose desk at EMB headquarters the form happens to land upon on a given morning.

Which, of course, is not the way it should be, but...........

In fact, the teacher in question has 'filed' the returned form away and forgotten about it ...

But ultimately it is nonsensical that the qualifications of NETs are scrutinised closely by the EMB and then the same NETs are asked by the same EMB to go through the process again with the HKCAA - and to pay over HK$2000 for the privilege - even if the process can, by those in the know, be avoided.

well-travelled

[Henry_Cowell]

Well, I guess Transvaal/ZeroHero/Ludwig/Bertrand has not yet reappeared in a new incarnation. If he had, he would be spouting pompous pronouncements on this very thread.