Job Discussion Forums

[tw]

Got this e-mail from a middle school in Jiangsu. In fact, it was sent twice.

[abusalam4]

They say "Bachelor" after "High School".
So, it should be clear. Or do you want to be counting peas?
They are somtimes not quite precise - the main thing is you understand their message?

[eslstudies]

Do your homework. There are hundreds of jobs advertised that clearly do not require a degree. Look at the Owen Buckland homepage alone.
So, if all this is illegal, who's stopping it?

[Comfy Chair]

[shenyanggerry]

It's like everywhere else. They take the highest qualification they can get.

Usually Canadian universities require at least a masters, preferably a doctorate. During my TESL Certificate course I had one course 'prof' with only a BA. Qualified CALL teachers are few and far between.

[Brian Caulfield]

TW . When I got my ESL degree at McGill 15 years ago there were many students like you who did the progam after being in Asia . They got the B.A in EDucation in less than a year . With your experience and background they will probably rush you thru also . It is the one thing about Canadian universities . If you know the material they don't make you dilly dally around studying things you already know.

[james s]

...

[jeffinflorida]

I've worked with several teachers in the university level and at mills who had only a HS diploma. their skin was sooo white, that seems all that matters.

[kingmalka]

[Anda]

Okay I work in Jiangsu and yes they ask for a four year degree but in fact will take what they can get; but a hundred and ten hour English teaching certificate seems to be a must but having said that they will arrange for you to sit that (do the course). But their are always going to be schools that got a rather useless Newbie at some stage and these places will be after someone up front with experiance plus the right paperwork.

[bearcanada]

I am not very familiar with the supply and demand within the school system generally, but is it possible that the huge apparent discrepancy between stated demand (in terms of qualifications) and existing supply (in terms of unqualified teachers hired to fill the posts), is due to a lack of adequate supply?

If I advertise for a secretary with 10 years' experience, but the only applicants are people with less than 3 years, it's that or nothing for me.

Is it possible that the standards here are in fact for teachers with appropriate qualifications but that there are too few of these available? If so, maybe the schools then just hire anyone who can speak the language because it's that or nothing.

If the schools simply cannot find adequately-qualified teachers, they're faced with cancelling all the classes. I know. They could also double or triple the salaries, but that won't happen today.

The reason I ask is that this business of hiring any white face may not be caused by stupidity or apathy or disdain for rules or disrespect for educational quality. It may just be that they can't find what they want, and believe that anything is better than nothing.

We see enough posts on this board about flakes and psychos being hired, and that surely wouldn't happen by choice, would it? I read in one of the local newspapers that China, especially now with the Olympics and the World's Fair coming, is short of something like 200,000 fluent English speakers and teachers. In this context, it's not surprising that some schools, especially the private ones (who might well get only the left-overs) won't even bother asking for a degree......

.

[AussieGuyInChina]

[vikuk]

[Anda]

The low end for public schools in Jiangsu is 3,000 RMB for 16 hours but many schools offer extra hours.


Volunteers work for less than this that much I know.

[jamesmollo]

you can get around the degree requirement with experience. hands on experience is worth far much more than a b.a in an unrelated field.