What's your plan for when your 2nd/3rd waiver expires?

[SlyAnimal]

Subject teachers should have a degree in the subject which they're teaching.

Although if teaching primary school subjects an Education degree would probably be sufficient

I think in NZ most teachers at high school have degrees in the subject they're teaching + a DipTeach.

(Although in Thailand I think Education degrees include a second major in another subject as well, I'm not sure if other countries do this aswell. But it might explain why many Thai English teachers aren't as proficient in English as you'd expect when they say they have a degree in English, since they spent most of the time studying Edu not English).

[brianp0803]

I almost think primary school teachers need a degree in education. Technically not difficult but must have thousands of techniques to control the kids and keep them engaged. Challenging. I admire them.

Subject teachers need qualifications in their subject. Techniques and classroom control still important and additional training useful.

A University lecturei only needs subject matter knowledge to be qualified and students have more responsibility for their own learning.

But with increased education expectations I hope would include salary.

But TCT has their own thoughts and they are in control.

I am taking the path of getting my M. ED at Assumption.

I hope I learn something but also need to conform to the rules of my host country.

[Fullstop]

Although if teaching primary school subjects an Education degree would probably be sufficient

I think if you're teaching the life cycle of a frog and basic arithmetic ... a high school diploma would be sufficient.

[Fullstop]

Ironically...If I had a degree in education...Thailand would be the last place I'd work. Unless I scored a job in an International school paying 70-80k Baht. But 30-40k in a TCT controlled school? Forget it.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Fullstop

[SlyAnimal]

Although if teaching primary school subjects an Education degree would probably be sufficient

I think if you're teaching the life cycle of a frog and basic arithmetic ... a high school diploma would be sufficient.

If you're teaching how to dissect a frog, you should probably have a degree in science or biology.

If you're teaching basic maths a degree in education would definitely help as it teaches you the various different strategies for teaching basic maths to young learners.

If you're teaching English or the English vocabulary related to maths/science then being a native speaker with a TESOL certificate and a "solid" education background should be sufficient (solid to me would mean being proficient in all core school subjects, so perhaps in the top 1/3rd of students or at least the top 50% of students, even if you didn't necessarily proceed to university, as you should have, at least, been a "good" student if you're then going to be a teacher).

[Tony Pepperoni]

I have a Bachelor of Science degree with my major in Education. All my courses on my transcript are EDUCATION courses. Yet MOE thinks that I studied Science ??? I tried to tell them I did not study Science - that is just the title of the degree - I studied Education. My degree is from CUNY New York. Out of their (MOE TCT) ignorance of the word Bachelor of Science I have lost the opportunity at many top paying jobs at International schools. I even signed a contract once with a top school in the past and they took back the contract because I did not have a full Thai License. Because of their ignorance I suffer a big pay cut. Can someone please explain to them what a Bachelor of Science in Education is ! Perhaps I should try a lawsuit to get their attention to this matter.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Tony Pepperoni

[lostinisaan]

I have a Bachelor of Science degree with my major in Education. All my courses on my transcript are EDUCATION courses. Yet MOE thinks that I studied Science ??? I tried to tell them I did not study Science - that is just the title of the degree - I studied Education. My degree is from CUNY New York. Out of their (MOE TCT) ignorance of the word Bachelor of Science I have lost the opportunity at many top paying jobs at International schools. I even signed a contract once with a top school in the past and they took back the contract because I did not have a full Thai License. Because of their ignorance I suffer a big pay cut. Can someone please explain to them what a Bachelor of Science in Education is ! Perhaps I should try a lawsuit to get their attention to this matter.

Or try to find out if the guys from TCT have some expensive race horses. Guess you know the rest......

[brianp0803]

My first though was show them your transcript of education classes.

But I suspect they only care about the degree title.

Does you degree enable you to teach students on New York?

Since you studied education, did you teach in New York?

How long?

[SlyAnimal]

If you have a teacher's license from the USA you can likely show them that and get a full Thai licence (Assuming 1+ years Thai experience & Thsi culture course).

[brianp0803]

I though international schools wanted teachers with international teaching licenses.

I have heard some schools recruit from overseas and don't have thai teaching license

[aarontendo]

I have a Bachelor of Science degree with my major in Education. All my courses on my transcript are EDUCATION courses. Yet MOE thinks that I studied Science ??? I tried to tell them I did not study Science - that is just the title of the degree - I studied Education. My degree is from CUNY New York. Out of their (MOE TCT) ignorance of the word Bachelor of Science I have lost the opportunity at many top paying jobs at International schools. I even signed a contract once with a top school in the past and they took back the contract because I did not have a full Thai License. Because of their ignorance I suffer a big pay cut. Can someone please explain to them what a Bachelor of Science in Education is ! Perhaps I should try a lawsuit to get their attention to this matter.

Something about this isn't adding up. You did your bachelor degree in education but didn't get a teaching license for New York? Why not? That would be sufficient for International schools as well as for TCT.

Also, the top schools like to hire folks from their home countries to come here to teach. None of them would have the full thai license, as they still have to do the thai culture course. They would be on waivers much like a lot of us.

[brianp0803]

The PGCEI is not a BA and not a BS.

It is a certificate of post graduate study about education from a recognized school in England. It is 50% of the education needed to be a teacher in England but it accepted by TCT towards waivers and 5 year teaching license.

I would think any degree with education would be ok.

In California, teaching primary is a different license (and skills) from teaching teenagers.

[Credo]

^ Cambodia is possibly just a first stop. Just wanted to get Thailand behind me. China looks OK at the moment too. 70-80k Baht, free apartment etc. <deleted>## Thailand.

The only problem I have regarding teaching in China is that there're too many Chinese people in this country.

I've seen some quality tourists in Chonburi, spitting inside a pool. What bugged me was that my family and i tried to make some rounds.

And i wanna produce more than one child.

You could probably move to the Philippines and teach English.

[Fullstop]

Thank you Thailand. Now I am working 22 hours a week at $20/hour at a well known Lang School in Phnom Penh. That works out to about 52,000 Baht a month. The only "paperwork and hoops" I have to deal with is 10 minutes a year and $283 to renew my yearly visa. Add the fact that everything is cheaper here... I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

[Fullstop]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

^ Cambodia is possibly just a first stop. Just wanted to get Thailand behind me. China looks OK at the moment too. 70-80k Baht, free apartment etc. <deleted>## Thailand.

The only problem I have regarding teaching in China is that there're too many Chinese people in this country.

I've seen some quality tourists in Chonburi, spitting inside a pool. What bugged me was that my family and i tried to make some rounds.

And i wanna produce more than one child. alt=facepalm.gif>

You could probably move to the Philippines and teach English.

Yeah..right........Next!!

[SlyAnimal]

Interesting, some of my wife's friends, have just told me that Krusapa is holding seminars for people who have attempted but not passed all of the licence exams.

Teachers attend the seminars for the exams they didn't pass while they are teaching (so on weekends or during holidays), and are then granted a pass for the exams which were related to the seminar.

This is something Krusapa previously alluded to at the Thai culture course I went to 2 years ago. They said they were thinking about initially offering it to ppl who had attempted the exams, and then eventually to everyone.

The Thai teachers said they thought there are also seminars in English as well as Thai.

They've said the info was on krusapa's website so I'll check + get my wife to check the Thai version sometime in the next few days (am currently away visiting my wife's family).

If anyone else has more information regarding this, please post up details

[SlyAnimal]

Ok this is the page which details the seminars which Thai teachers applied for in January this year and then attended the seminars during April. These seminars have replaced the exams.

They allowed around 1000s of Thai teachers to take the seminars via Various different Thai universities, but it looks like it wasn't open to foreign teachers.

As it's only open to Thai teachers at present, it's the 9x topics which are available, rather than the 4x exam topics foreign teachers would study (The 4x exams were actually each a combination of 2-3 exam topics). If you previously passed an exam, you wouldn't need to attend the associated seminar/seminars.

The site + PDF files are in Thai, but if you show them to your school they can likely start a discussion with Krusapa on when they will open this up to foreign teachers. I've also emailed Krusapa but I don't really expect an answer, let alone a comprehensive one.

http://upload.ksp.or.th/ksptraining/index_th.php

[LecheHombre]

I once thought like the posters here like Yooyung, who really *want* to do everything by the book.

...But that time has passed. Outside of international schools in Bangkok, this new system will be a train wreck. A hundred thousand baht for the cheapest option, to get "qualified" for a 30k monthly salary job. And most (not all, but most) of those options are of very dubious utility anywhere outside of Thailand. Even ignoring those issues, the other problem remains that the TCT keeps moving the damn goalposts. I've known lots of people who wanted to "go by the book" and fly right in each of the 3-4 "crackdowns" in the past ~10 years that I've been here, and today all they have to show for their hoop-jumping is worthless pieces of paper with obsolete TCT and MOE certifications stamped on them. Not to mention having spent up to hundreds of thousands of baht and countless hours to obtain those now-worthless pieces of paper.

At the same time, I'm basically tied to being here. Wife (which sorts out the visa aspect of the issue for me) and kid. So, "greener pastures" isn't a real good option for me.

That leaves me with the gray-area solution. The school where I have taught for the past 5 years wants me to continue teaching there. I want to keep teaching there. I think I do a good job. I think that the students learn (much) more under my instruction than they would under a fresh off the boat rubber-stamp first waiver no experience dude. In the town where I live, out of pretty close to a hundred foreign teachers in various schools around town that I've known in my time here, only *2* have been native English speakers with a degree in Education. And both of those guys panned out worse than Joe Average backpacker -- Ed. degree people usually have high expectations that simply are not met by the reality of a Govt. Thai school so they burn out really fast.

So I want to stay, the school wants to keep me, and I'm a better option than anybody else they are realistically likely to find. When the time comes, I'll give them an ultimatum: I want to stay, I think you want me to stay. So, you do whatever it takes to make that happen with the local labor office regarding my Work Permit. But know that I'm not jumping through any hoops for the TCT. If that means that my contract lists me as a "English language instructor" instead of the T-word, I'm fine with that (as long as my salary stays the same). Hell, my contract can say that I'm a "language consultant", "English expert", or "helper monkey" as long as the labor office signs off on it and my salary stays the same.

If the school balks at that... Well, I've got some other options. But I really don't think that this situation will continue TOO much longer, because I feel like eventually the train is going to jump the tracks and make the madness of this all quite glaringly obvious. When that happens, to save face nothing will officially change... while quietly Immigration, Labor offices, and the TCT will be told to stop enforcing everything. On the other hand, I've been expecting that to happen any time now for the past year or so, and it hasn't happened yet. So I guess things are going to have to get worse before they get better. But the "good" news is that I'm quite confident that things are definitely going to get worse. Yay!

[culicine]

Although if teaching primary school subjects an Education degree would probably be sufficient

I think if you're teaching the life cycle of a frog and basic arithmetic ... a high school diploma would be sufficient.

High school diplomas don't offer much in the way of child psychology, behavioral management and pedagogy. The content is a secondary issue.

[Fullstop]

Although if teaching primary school subjects an Education degree would probably be sufficient

I think if you're teaching the life cycle of a frog and basic arithmetic ... a high school diploma would be sufficient.

High school diplomas don't offer much in the way of child psychology, behavioral management and pedagogy. The content is a secondary issue.

You mean all that stuff the Thai teachers implement on a daily basis?

[brianp0803]

The younger the student then the more important the methodology.

Should a mature 9th grade students be allowed to work as a primary school teacher? He knows the content

I don't think arithmetic is part of the course of study for an educatuon degree.

A university degree demonstrates an ability of discipline, self teaching and higher learning.

Most countries require educatuon degrees teaching methodology for students through grade 12.

University teachers require higher subject competency.

Due to lack of supply of qualified NES teachers; less qualified teachers have been allowed to teach.

I might be able to get a job teaching in America without an education degree, but would be required to enroll in an education degree program.

Many people with no money and no education are complaining why Thailand doesn't make life easier for them.

We are guests here.

We have no birthright to be here.

Edited November 12, 2014 by brianp0803

[aidenai]

I've known lots of people who wanted to "go by the book" and fly right in each of the 3-4 "crackdowns" in the past ~10 years that I've been here, and today all they have to show for their hoop-jumping is worthless pieces of paper with obsolete TCT and MOE certifications stamped on them. Not to mention having spent up to hundreds of thousands of baht and countless hours to obtain those now-worthless pieces of paper.

At the same time, I'm basically tied to being here. Wife (which sorts out the visa aspect of the issue for me) and kid. So, "greener pastures" isn't a real good option for me.

Like you, I've been here for more than 10 years and like you I have a wife and children in Thailand. However, for 6+ years, foreign teachers in Thailand had the opportunity to sit the TCT professional knowledge tests. I took my chances and sat them. Time after time as they weren't easy to pass. Finally I passed them all and got my teacher license.

How many times did you sit the tests, LecheHombre?

[mitsubishi]

Thank you Thailand. Now I am working 22 hours a week at $20/hour at a well known Lang School in Phnom Penh. That works out to about 52,000 Baht a month. The only "paperwork and hoops" I have to deal with is 10 minutes a year and $283 to renew my yearly visa. Add the fact that everything is cheaper here... I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

Enjoy Cambodia, you wouldn't catch me dead in the dump of a country run by a scuzzy dictator.

[Fullstop]

Thank you Thailand. Now I am working 22 hours a week at $20/hour at a well known Lang School in Phnom Penh. That works out to about 52,000 Baht a month. The only "paperwork and hoops" I have to deal with is 10 minutes a year and $283 to renew my yearly visa. Add the fact that everything is cheaper here... I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

Enjoy Cambodia, you wouldn't catch me dead in the dump of a country run by a scuzzy dictator.

Thank you for that predictable nugget of internet hearsay. Have you even been here? Right now I am sitting in a very comfortable little apartment in the middle of a very pleasant city. So far life has been free and easy here. Phnom Penh is a fun little town. Everything I need is easily available. And all I need to do "hoop jumping" wise is to spend 10 minutes and $283 dollars once a year to extend my visa.

Hun Sen a "scuzzy dictator"? Wouldn't know. Don't care. Has zero impact on daily life here. Which happens to be good.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Fullstop

[LecheHombre]

I've known lots of people who wanted to "go by the book" and fly right in each of the 3-4 "crackdowns" in the past ~10 years that I've been here, and today all they have to show for their hoop-jumping is worthless pieces of paper with obsolete TCT and MOE certifications stamped on them. Not to mention having spent up to hundreds of thousands of baht and countless hours to obtain those now-worthless pieces of paper.

At the same time, I'm basically tied to being here. Wife (which sorts out the visa aspect of the issue for me) and kid. So, "greener pastures" isn't a real good option for me.

Like you, I've been here for more than 10 years and like you I have a wife and children in Thailand. However, for 6+ years, foreign teachers in Thailand had the opportunity to sit the TCT professional knowledge tests. I took my chances and sat them. Time after time as they weren't easy to pass. Finally I passed them all and got my teacher license.

How many times did you sit the tests, LecheHombre?

I'm glad that route worked out for you -- genuinely, I mean it!

For me, I didn't ever sign up for even one of the tests for a combination of reasons (or at least, excuses that I can at least justify to myself):

A) I don't live close to any of the testing centers (Chiang Mai or Bangkok, right?), so in addition to the cost of the tests, I'd have to pay travel expenses. Plus opportunity costs for being away from home and therefore good supplemental income tutoring sessions. Not a huge thing, but it adds up.

B ) I heard very bad things about the pass rates. What I read and heard suggested that the 2nd test (dealing with IT / tech use in the classroom?) was fairly doable, but all the other tests had pathetic pass rates. In the meantime, I was seeing the English portions of the yearly O-Net tests and having firsthand evidence that the TCT/MoE is completely incompetent when it comes to writing sensible English tests (seriously, the amount of O-Net questions that have ALL correct or NO correct answers is staggering). That didn't give me much confidence that the professional knowledge tests would be any better.

C) I had 2 waivers at my previous and first place of employment. Then I changed schools to where I am now 5 years ago. My first year at the new school, I got my 3rd waiver with no issues on the strength of the same culture course that I had done to get my 2nd waiver. Then, when that one expired (3 years ago), the paperwork lady at my school applied for another one (which would have been my 4th waiver). She called / emailed and tried other ways to get in touch with the TCT many times over the course of the year, and *never* got any knowledgable responses... I got lost in the bureacracy somehow. So, I taught the entire year on the basis of my school really doing everything they could to get me the waiver (there wasn't any rule about a limit on them as far as I know at the time) but never actually getting it. The local labor office was fine with granting me a work permit on the strength of the school having *applied* for the waiver; it wasn't the school's fault that the TCT was too backed up / incompetent to actually get back to them.

After that fiasco, the school applied for another waiver for me again fresh for the next year (so, 2 years ago). That one came back without issue, and when I checked up on myself in the TCT database, it listed it as being my 1st waiver. So, the year out of the system seems to have reset my counter. That waiver will be finished at the end of this academic year, so if I were to try again I might lucky and be treated like I'm just applying for a 2nd waiver instead of what is really my 5th. Anyway, that whole history also doesn't inspire much confidence...

D) The knowledge tests are/were inter-related to the culture course. I was an early-adopter on taking the culture course because the first school I taught in paid for me and other teachers to go to it. So, me and a group from that school were some of the first people to take it, from one of the first outfits certified/accredited for it by the TCT. In fact, that school paid for and sent a group to an even earlier culture course that popped up right after that rule went on the books. That one ended up being a money-grab fly-by-night outfit that *wasn't* TCT-accredited, so it was a complete waste of the school's money and the time of the people that went to it. The school was more careful to make sure that wouldn't happen again on the 2nd round, which I was a part of. BUT, even though it was TCT-approved, I found it to be a complete waste of time. The Thai instructor gave us a rundown on basic cultural faux-pas etc. that anyone who is paying attention will learn on their first day here. It was a 2-day course, but she ran out of material about 3 hours in to the first day so she let us out early. When we came back for the 2nd day, she decided to teach us the Thai alphabet -- which was actually the only useful part of the course, but has only very tenuous connections to "culture".

I know the tests are entirely different from the culture course, but this is all TCT-initiated stuff. And again, my experience with the TCT-approved culture course reinforced my ... lack of confidence in them. I could word that a lot more strongly, but I'll leave it at that.

E) Until recently, it didn't seem like there was going to be any time limit or deadline for completing those professional knowledge tests. Since I was still getting Work Permits without difficulty, I figured I'd wait until it became 100% necessary to sign up for any of the tests. I didn't see any benefit to starting on them before I was told I HAD to, because the rules change so often that I felt it was very likely that they would be scrapped / invalidated / superceded. Which, as it turns out, was half correct... But on the other hand, there are those few like you that took all the tests, passed, and are now (hopefully) out of the cycle of TCT goal-shifting. So it at least worked out for some -- which is a good thing!

Basically, I feel that if I have a valid visa that allows for a work permit (Non-O marriage for me) and a work permit, I'm working 100% legally, no matter what the TCT thinks about it. I feel pretty secure in the visa part of that. The work permit was always dead easy, up until a year and a half ago. Now, there is no consistency in how it is handled across different schools within a province, different provinces, different workers in an office, different feng-shui auras or planetary alignments, etc. I guess it has always been like that to a certain extent (certainly in Immigration offices!), but it seems to be getting worse. To me, it seems like the job title change "English skills instructor" vs. the T-word is something that can/could/should be sold to most labor offices; it will just require somebody with enough clout to go in and tell them that this is how things are going to have to work. Let the TCT live in their own little world and make up rules that apply there while everybody else gets down to the business of actually being grounded in the realities of planet Earth.

So, I guess that I'm holding out hope that something like that will be enough to get me a work permit next year. Beyond that ... might as well whip out the ol' magic eight ball, because things change so fast here that it is impossible to predict how things will work. I'd love to be confident and secure about my long-term future here, but TiT and anything can happen.

Sorry for the book of a response. But I've got some followup questions for you, too:

• Out of all the people that took at least one of the professional knowledge tests, what percentage would you guess passed them all like you?
• Did passing them all result in you getting a 5-year, renewable full-on teacher's license, just like "fully qualified" people with Ed. degrees and US/UK teaching certs?
• How confident are you that they won't add more hoops to jump through whenever the next time that you have to renew is? What about "professional development" seminars etc. like Thai teacher's license holders?
• What about people who managed to pass all of the tests, but don't have a Bachelor's degree?

By the way, I have a Bachelor of Science in an Engineering field, but I'm of the opinion that a college degree shouldn't be a requirement for teaching here -- I've known plenty of people with no degree who taught well enough (especially given at least SOME form of support from properly qualified Thai co-teachers) and a couple of people WITH Ed. degrees and legit teacher's licenses that couldn't teach their way out of a wet paper bag...

[aidenai]

Sorry for the book of a response. But I've got some followup questions for you, too:

• Out of all the people that took at least one of the professional knowledge tests, what percentage would you guess passed them all like you?
• Did passing them all result in you getting a 5-year, renewable full-on teacher's license, just like "fully qualified" people with Ed. degrees and US/UK teaching certs?
• How confident are you that they won't add more hoops to jump through whenever the next time that you have to renew is? What about "professional development" seminars etc. like Thai teacher's license holders?
• What about people who managed to pass all of the tests, but don't have a Bachelor's degree?

• It's believed that out of a 1,200 four-section-test takers, between 50 and 75 test takers passed them all (very rough estimation, information from another Thailand teaching forum).
• Passing the tests resulted in the 5-year renewable teacher license. I did my culture course 4 years prior passing the tests.
• New hoops might be added. However, I don't think the TCT will require more than a degree in education of a graduate diploma in education. In the 5-years validity of the license I must show 3 professional development activities. No problem.
• People without a degree who managed to pass all tests (fraud when applying) can't apply for the teacher license as holding a degree is a requirement when going this route.

[LecheHombre]

Sorry for the book of a response. But I've got some followup questions for you, too:

• Out of all the people that took at least one of the professional knowledge tests, what percentage would you guess passed them all like you?
• Did passing them all result in you getting a 5-year, renewable full-on teacher's license, just like "fully qualified" people with Ed. degrees and US/UK teaching certs?
• How confident are you that they won't add more hoops to jump through whenever the next time that you have to renew is? What about "professional development" seminars etc. like Thai teacher's license holders?
• What about people who managed to pass all of the tests, but don't have a Bachelor's degree?

• It's believed that out of a 1,200 four-section-test takers, between 50 and 75 test takers passed them all (very rough estimation, information from another Thailand teaching forum).
• Passing the tests resulted in the 5-year renewable teacher license. I did my culture course 4 years prior passing the tests.
• New hoops might be added. However, I don't think the TCT will require more than a degree in education of a graduate diploma in education. In the 5-years validity of the license I must show 3 professional development activities. No problem.
• People without a degree who managed to pass all tests (fraud when applying) can't apply for the teacher license as holding a degree is a requirement when going this route.

Thanks for the replies. I definitely agree that the TCT probably won't ever make the requirements more strict (more than an Ed. degree or grad diploma in Ed.), although in my opinion those requirements by themselves are aiming way too unrealistically high here... And I didn't know or had forgotten that you couldn't take the tests without a degree.

Honestly, I think that if the teacher's license was an optional thing that individual schools could choose to require or pay extra for, it would be a good thing. A truly qualified full-on NES teacher (including people like you who went to the trouble of taking and passing all of the "equivalency" tests) that presumably doesn't necessarily need much if any assistance from Thai co-teachers is/should be worth more than someone without those qualifications on the open market here. Such people can potentially bring a LOT of advantages to a school (curriculum development, better classroom management techniques, etc.), and should be worth giving a higher salary to. Same can be said for people with years of experience (like me), although I'm perfectly willing to admit that your experience PLUS degree PLUS certification should trump my experience and degree with NO certification.

But that isn't the way it seems like things work. Here it's all stick and no carrot; and I know plenty of people who have been granted the reward of 5-year licenses in spite of A) having fraudulent documents from Khao San etc., B ) having degrees of dubious actual value, like "Christian Education" degrees from African nations or the Philippines, or C) having legit Ed. degrees but NOT being NES and being completely incapable of teaching proper English. And pay raises for years or service? Very very rarely have I heard about that here, and in the few instances that I DID know of it, the extra pay actually ended up resulting in lower job security as schools started wondering why they were paying more for experienced teachers when parents are just as easily sold on any white-faced backpacker fresh off the bus and working on bare-minimum salary. Catch 22 / backfire situation right there.

If certification provided salary incentives (without negatively affecting job security), I'd have been more interested in either taking the tests or doing an online postgrad thing from a reputable source like the Nottingham outfit from the UK or somewhere else. But then again, I have family and other ties to where I am currently living, and I don't think that any of the local schools could afford to pay a higher salary for better qualified people. Or at least, they'd prefer to stick with the status quo of high-turnover random hires rather than shell out extra for better qualifications. So realistically, I'd just be making myself overqualified for any of the local jobs. Overqualified, same pay, and higher expectations / more work thrown my way ... not much incentive for me. If I was willing/interested in moving to Bangkok or Chiang Mai ... maybe. But in backwoods ... nah.

Still, again I'm glad that it worked out for some people like you; even if all it means is that you don't have to worry as much about the specter of TCT-crackdowns hanging over your shoulder.

Edited November 13, 2014 by LecheHombre