For international teaching jobs, Thailand has become extremely popular over the last decade. With every child entitled to a high school education and a population of 67+million people, there is an abundance of opportunity for foreign teachers to teach at Thailand's plethora of schools.
But it isn't just the public school system that draws interest from foreign teachers. The growing number of expats living in Thailand has spawned a large community of international schools offering both U.S and UK syllabuses. These international schools are inhabited by middle-class Thais and the children of retired expats an foreigners located in Thailand for work. International schools generally pay far better than public Thai schools, yet many foreign teachers opt to teach at public schools because it presents more of a challenge and contributes positively to local communities and society at large.
Thailand
However, just recently the government announced plans to recruit a further 300 foreign teachers for pubic schools with salaries matching, and in many cases bettering, the international schools. This announcement proves the government's long-term commitment to funding education and advancing the overall level of spoken and written English among the population.
There is also the option of teaching at language schools, and for some this will present a more exciting prospect in terms of a broader demographic. Language schools house smaller classes and keener students, comprising a mix of young professionals, university students and the Thai partners of foreign residents. Language schools usually offer a slightly higher salary than Thai public schools, but also command a high standard of teaching.
Typically, Thai schools start at 8am and finish around 3pm. Public school class sizes can run to 40 children in some parts of the country, making it difficult for teachers to control classes and pay solid attention to each individual student. In Thailand, there are only two semesters with no mid-term breaks. Teachers can expect to teach around 180 days per year. Term one usually starts in the first week of May and continues until about the first week of October. The second term then starts around the first week of November. There is no Christmas break, yet there is a 3-4 day break for the New Year. Term two finishes either at the end of February or the first week in March. There is then a two month long summer break.
Thailand also offers a number of TEFL training schools where teachers can obtain their teaching qualification. Having a TEFL certificate is compulsory for most Thai schools and language schools, and makes it far easier for foreign teachers to apply for jobs. The standard of TEFL courses in Thailand rival that of the U.S, UK and other western countries, due to the fact that the courses are designed and usually run by western teachers with huge experience of teaching English as a foreign language. Taking a TEFL course in Thailand is far cheaper than the U.S or UK, and on completion teachers are ideally positioned to immediately find work in the local community.
International Teaching Jobs - Thailand
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