Angela Killian

There are 4 types of schools in Thailand for foreign teachers which I have outlined below based on my experience.

1-      Language Schools

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in any subject + TEFL certificate

How to apply: You can either walk-in to these schools, call or email to apply. Some may even have online applications.

What will you teach?: English language only

Salary: Around 300 THB per hour, but it’s difficult to obtain enough hours per week at one school to make a decent living. As a result, many language teachers work at multiple schools.

Work schedule: You will be assigned classes to teach which could range from 30 – 90 minutes. Typically language schools are open later in the evening than regular schools. Some language schools are open until 10:00pm so you can expect to work late if required. It’s rare that you will teach back-to-back classes in one day.

Who are the students?: You may be teaching a full class or one-on-one. Ages will vary depending on English level. Some students may not even be Thai and some will be adults in different walks of life.

Who are your colleagues?: All admin staff will be Thai and the teachers will be foreign obviously. Some language schools offer other languages, such as French, German and Thai in which case the teacher will be a native speaker.

Other Info: Typically you follow the school’s lesson plan and use their text books. The facilities are usually pretty good (air con, desks, white board, supplies). Students pay to attend these language courses and they are in addition to regular schooling. It’s important to make these courses fun and exciting since they take place after regular school and / or on the weekend.

2-      Government Schools

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in any subject + TEFL certificate

How to apply: It’s best to go through a third party company such as ECC. www.eccthai.com

What will you teach?: English language only and obligatory crowd control

Salary: Around 300 THB per hour, but it’s difficult to obtain enough hours per week at one school to make a decent living. As a result, many language teachers work at multiple schools.

Work schedule: Schools are open around 8:00am until 3:00pm or 4:00pm. You will not be teaching the entire day though. From my experience, each class received English class 1 or 2 times per week for 1 hour.

Who are the students?: Thai nationals divided by age / grade level. It is required by Thai law that students attending government schools speak fluent Thai. You may encounter some Burmese or other nationality students who speak Thai, but this is rare.

Who are your colleagues?: All Thai teachers, unless you are lucky enough to have another English teacher at the school. In that case, the teacher will be foreign. However, you can expect to be the only foreign teacher in the government school and will be there mainly “for show”. Local parents are always pleased to see foreign teachers at the government school because of the illusion that their child is receiving the best possible education. Despite what your TEFL course tells you, you will NEED to know some key Thai phrases in order to get the children to behave. “Sit down” and “Shut up” worked wonders for me personally.

Other Info: The school will not have any concrete lesson plan, text books or supplies for you to follow, although they might make suggestions. These schools are obviously funded by the Thai government. However, parents are required to buy their kids’ uniforms and school supplies which results in lack of supplies. Most Thai families with extra money choose to send their kids to private or international schools because the education is much better. I was told the government schools are funded up to grade 12, but you can see the decline in students as the grade level gets higher. Many kids drop out at a young age to help with the family business and while it is required by law to stay in school, it is widely unenforced.

I highly suggest working at a government school if you are seeking an authentic experience. The things you see will be startling, but you will get a glimpse of how many Thai people grow up which will allow you to grasp the culture better than other expats.

3-      Private Schools

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in any subject + TEFL certificate

How to apply: You can either walk-in to these schools, call or email to apply. Some may even have online applications.

What will you teach?: English language only and obligatory crowd control

Salary: 30,000 – 50,000 THB per month depending on school and experience.

Work schedule: Schools are open around 8:00am until 3:00pm or 4:00pm. You will not be teaching the entire day though.

Who are the students?: Thai nationals divided by age / grade level. It is required by Thai law that students attending government schools speak fluent Thai. You may encounter some Burmese or other nationality students who speak Thai, but this is rare.

Who are your colleagues?: Thai and foreigners

Other Info: The working environment at a private school will be much better than that of a government school, but it will vary greatly depending on the school itself. Most will have air con in the classrooms and basic supplies. Remember, parents PAY for their children to attend these schools, so you will probably have more support than the government schools.

4-      International Schools

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree or higher in education and / or subject that you will be teaching.

How to apply: You can either walk-in to these schools, call or email to apply. Some may even have online applications.

What will you teach?: All subjects

Salary: 80,000 – 150,000 THB per month

Work schedule: Schools are open around 8:00am until 3:00pm or 4:00pm. You will not be teaching the entire day though.

Who are the students?: Thai nationals divided by age / grade level. It is required by Thai law that students attending government schools speak fluent Thai. You may encounter some Burmese or other nationality students who speak Thai, but this is rare.

Who are your colleagues?: Admin positions will be filled by Thai people, but most of the other teachers will be foreign.

Other Info: These are proper primary and secondary schools and usually operate on the British curriculum. The working environment at these schools is superb and many of the students will be foreign. The tuition to these schools is typically around 800,000 – 1 million THB per year so you will be teaching privileged students.