# teaching, get a CELTA in Thailand or a PGCE in England



## duncbUK

I have been here in Thailand for 3+ years and been working in a government school for 2+ years. I am looking for a job again and the agencys seem to have a monopoly on the jobs and I refuse to work for some parasitic agent.

To stay here for the long term I think I need a teaching qualification, but resent having to get a CELTA when I have proven through experience I can do the job, and apart from that my Degree and MBA and life experience (in my opinion) are more able to do the job than someone who has (it seems) just bought such a qualification on a beach.

Rant over. A PGCE will cost the best part of £10,000, and a CELTA just a few thousand I think. Will the PGCE really put me a head above the rest, or should I bite the bullet and do the CELTA. Your thoughts please


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## wildfk

PGCE will allow you to teach at international schools (UK curriculum etc) and you will draw a far better salary......there are simply loads of folk wandering around with a CELTA or Trinity with far more experience than you.


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## AnotherMike

Hi. I am a full time Private Maths Tutor in London and would like to teach in Thailand. I have a 1st Class Degree in Maths from Oxford University, but also do not have a formal teaching qualification. 

I am also interested in finding out if this is at all realistic and if so the best way of investigating.


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## wildfk

try the international schools in Thailand - they might take you on.
Do you have any experience of teaching classes?
Working as a single self-employed person is pretty much out of the question - you will need to find an employer.


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## AnotherMike

OK thanks.

I taught briefly at a local school, so know about planning and delivering a lesson to classes - but want to teach my subject, not spend 90% of time dealing with the gross indiscipline that so many schools in the UK are mired in


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## joseph44

AnotherMike said:


> OK thanks.
> 
> I taught briefly at a local school, so know about planning and delivering a lesson to classes - but want to teach my subject, not spend 90% of time dealing with the gross indiscipline that so many schools in the UK are mired in


Indiscipline has 1 major cause:
- the teacher isn't prepared in teaching the young learners and therefore his lessons are often very boring. Lessons should be divers and the concentration-span goes from 10 minutes for a 3 yo to 20 minutes for an adult. For all Thai students counts: games, games and games or learning-by-playing. 

In general, the Thai students are pretty disciplined and can't be compared with the students in the UK. 
Teachers in Thailand earn a lot of respect and on the social ladder, the teacher comes right after the Royal Family and the Buddhist religion-bearers. 

Treat your students with respect, and they will treat you in the same way and better. Forget the aspect of "leveling"; you stand far above the students, and that's the way it should be.


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## wildfk

"I taught briefly at a local school, so know about planning and delivering a lesson to classes " - now I'm suspicious....anyone with teaching experience will tell you that "a short time" is not enough - experience is SOOOO important.
I would recommend you get a PGCE and then apply to the international schools.
I also think you might try to read up on Thai culture especially with regards to education.
THe national system is terrible and the teaching hugely unsatisfactory, but discipline is not the main problem - it is largely the teaching methods.
THings are changing buttery slowly and hindered by government ministers who know nothing about education but still make pronouncements on how people should be educated.


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## AnotherMike

I appreciate your comments.

The relative respect for education and the teaching profession in most Asian countries copmareed to the UK is, of course, one of the attractions of teaching abroad.

However, I'm not going to do a PGCE - issues with timing, finance etc. Also I reckon I got more hands-on classroom teaching experience during my one term in a school than any of the newly qualified PGCE teachers I met. I'm not saying I know it all, far from it, but really don't see much benefit in taking a year out to do it. (Of course I understands that may restrict my options, but there we have it).

Some ill-discipline is certainly related to poor teaching, but children need to have firm boundaries set and without these you are asking for trouble


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## wildfk

AnotherMike said:


> I appreciate your comments.
> 
> The relative respect for education and the teaching profession in most Asian countries copmareed to the UK is, of course, one of the attractions of teaching abroad.
> 
> However, I'm not going to do a PGCE - issues with timing, finance etc. Also I reckon I got more hands-on classroom teaching experience during my one term in a school than any of the newly qualified PGCE teachers I met. I'm not saying I know it all, far from it, but really don't see much benefit in taking a year out to do it. (Of course I understands that may restrict my options, but there we have it).
> 
> Some ill-discipline is certainly related to poor teaching, but children need to have firm boundaries set and without these you are asking for trouble


You claim experience in teaching and yet in the next breath seem to demonstrate that you have little or no knowledge of how children learn etc.
I think you need to train - it looks as if you have little or no real experience and absolutely no knowledge of educational theory.


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## Chiang Mai

I believe only the Trinity or Cambridge TEFL is internationally recognised


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