Job Discussion Forums

[korgon]

Hi im currently doing a first year of TEFL in Madrid but next year im thinking about heading off to Thailand, however im not sure if my qualifications are enough.

Im 21 and from England, i have the TESOL certificate and 1 years teaching experience, however I do not have a degree. How big a problem is this for me for finding a job, and what is the reliability of fake degrees and how dangerous is it ?

Thankyou and come visit the spain forum if you like

[laben18]

You need a degree here.

[sigmoid]

[tedkarma]

It is becoming relatively difficult for even experienced, degreed and qualified teachers to get all the paperwork done here. Starting out with a fake degree is probably not the best way to begin a new life overseas.

[renzobenzo1]

MOD EDIT like you give other teachers a bad name and a whole lot of strife.
People in Korea, including myself had to re-submit their degrees 2, 3 even 5 times because people were caught with fake degrees. This was a big hassle and a cost to teachers.

So do us all a favour and go and actually finish a degree first before wven thinking about that idea

[Extraordinary Rendition]

While it's true that the most recent, current, umpteenth revision of the Thai regulations for getting a B visa and work permit, at this moment in time, right now, probably, don't officially give Thai officials discretion, at present, to issue a work permit with your name on it unless you have a degree, last year, and the year before, as I recall, there were advertisements in the Bangkok Post classifieds (a version is available on-line) seeking persons with exactly your credentials, to teach legally, with a work permit, in Thai government schools (through a recruitment agency). It's very difficult to meet the demand for English language instruction in Thailand. Pay is low. Conditions are, well, from what colleagues have told me, primitive in those schools. But if you really want to do it... watch the Bangkok Post classifieds. But they may hire only if you're on the spot...

Which leads me to... I have read in theses forums, and others, and personally witnessed such occurrences, that private schools, self-proclaimed "international schools" and such, hired people without degrees. It used to be that such employees could stay in Thailand indefinitely by making the famous "visa runs". The visa rules have changed, and the employees can no longer stay indefinitely. But it was not unknown for these employers to (gasp!) somehow obtain work permits for non-degreed personnel. I can't say that it still happens, but it would certainly take no leap of the imagination. There is money to be made from parents, western faces are needed...

Furthermore, I haven't versed myself thoroughly in the new visa rules, as I have no need, but it seems like it very well may be possible to stay on a tourist visa, doing visa runs, long enough to get through much of a school year. There is also the possibility of a B visa without the work permit, if the employer wants to run the risk, for example, to get through a short-term crisis of not having a western face...

TIT (This is Thailand), as the saying goes, and many doors will open if you are on the spot, present a good appearance, are well-dressed, polite... You may be very low-paid - 25,000 - 30,000 baht per month, but I have friends without degrees working in Thailand RIGHT NOW, making as much as 45k. (Can you say "overstay"?, "Maximum fine is 30,000 baht"? [I think they raised it from 20,000]).

I'm not recommending any of theses "black" courses of action. Any could land you in a deportation holding cell. But a fake degree is not the way to go, that shows a lack of integrity and is deceitful, MOD EDIT

[Waldorf Salad]

According to this agency MOD EDIT you don't need a degree:

"The rules of the Ministry of Education says you should have a Bachelor Degree in Education or a any Bachelor degree plus a TEFL or something equal.

The SHOULD have rule is not a MUST have rule,so it's all up to the officer at the local Ministry of Education.

MOD EDIT"

[Extraordinary Rendition]

Umpteenth and one revision.

[gusto102]

Thailand has its laws, but there is a huge gray area between the law and reality. I have heard somewhere that prostitution is illegal. Officially you would need a degree in order to get a work permit if you want to teach at a Thai government school. I have however known Thai administrators to pull a few strings for teachers without degrees. I agree with renzobenzo1 though. Thailand has gained a reputation for unqualified f'ed up teachers who have given us all a bad rep. I recently had an interview with an agency in Korea and was told by the recruiter herself that ESL teachers in Thailand had a bad reputation. I wouldn't try the fake degree thing either. I know a guy who used a fake degree to work at a governement school. He had already quit the job a year later and was working at a private language school when it was discovered. The guy was given choice one of which was to leave the country immediately.

[junkmail]

Don't use fake degrees.

Have you tried searching jobs other than teaching English?
A friend of mine is a software engineer in Japan. No degree but there legally earning a lot more than any teacher I know.
Have a look and see what other jobs are available in the land of smiles requiring courses less time consuming than a degree.

[Thwartley]

At various times in Thailand, nothing truly means anything.

The concepts of reality, cause and effect and other notions we take for granted are, often, completely absent from Thai thinking.