OUR CERTIFIED GRADUATES BUILD THEIR TEACHING CAREER WORLDWIDE

Read the highlights of working as a TESOL teacher in a foreign country and make up your mind to start your career from the scratch. We help and fully support our graduates and certified teachers from countries within our authority.

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As the English-teaching market lacks a unified standard for recruiting foreign teachers, and consequently attracts many foreign hopefuls to China every year, the country has made a point of tightening the qualifications for hiring foreign teachers ever since the mid-2010s. Many opportunities exist within the People's Republic of China, including preschool, university, private schools and institutes, companies, and tutoring. NGOs, such as Teach For China, are an opportunity as well. The provinces and the Ministry of Education in Beijing tightly govern public schools, while private schools have more freedom to set work schedules, pay, and requirements.

English teaching salaries in China are dependent on multiple factors including; teaching hours specified in contract, location, inclusions/bonuses, and public vs private sector. It is important to note that due to high demand, salaries have increased significantly over recent years. A standard contract within the public school system generally entails less than 20 hours of teaching time a week, weekends off, included accommodations, flight stipend/reimbursement for 1 year contracts, paid public holidays, medical insurance and Z visa (working permit) sponsorship. These positions offer an average base salary of 8,000 - 10,000 RMB per month in smaller cities and rural areas. In Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou these positions now offer 15,000 RMB plus per month due to higher living costs. The private sector is less uniform with salaries going as high as 20,000 RMB per month for DOS's in major cities. Private positions tend to demand higher hours, may include teaching in multiple locations, and often require weekend and evening working schedules. They also are more flexible with housing options, often offering teachers a choice between provided accommodations, or a stipend towards rental costs.

By law, all non-Chinese English teachers should hold a minimum bachelor's degree in any discipline, be at least 25 years old, have at least 2 years of working experience (unrelated is fine). Due to demand, these rules are often overlooked, and schools often are able to obtain work permits for teachers who do not meet the minimums, although this is tightening up in the major cities. Public schools usually pay during vacations, but not for summer break unless the teacher renews the contract while many private schools have shortened vacation schedules and may pay for whatever short number of days is allowed for vacation.

Company jobs vary, depending on the number of employees they want to train. They may employ a teacher for one or two classes, or a complete set of 14 to 16 hours a week. Tutoring also varies, as in some cases a whole family of students or just one family member.

Some teachers work successfully on an independent basis with several contracts for tutoring, individual college classes, and some company work. The majority of teachers accept contracts with schools. Public school contracts are fairly standard, while private schools set their own requirements. Schools try to hire teachers from English speaking countries, but because of demand, others with good English language skills are hired for positions.

General Requirements

According to a notice issued by the Beijing Human Resource and Social Security Bureau, foreigners wanting to teach in Beijing have needed to meet the following requirements since October 31, 2014.

  1. Healthy, and not suffering any illnesses regarded as problematic for a teaching position by the Chinese government, including serious heart defects, HIV or contagious diseases, untreated mental illnesses or untreated cancer. Teachers generally only have to undergo the standard health examinations for foreign workers, which don’t check for some of these items, such as mental illnesses. It is possible, though rare, that a school will ask for further checks.

  2. With no criminal record. As the inspection tightens up, the employer or the labor bureau may require a Certificate of No Criminal Convictions.

  3. The age of the applicant should be between 18 and 60 years old.

  4. Needs to hold at least a Bachelor’s degree and two years’ working experience in related fields or/and certification like TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, etc..

  5. Foreign teachers that teach anything other than the English language should have at least a five-year working experience in related fields.

  6. Foreign teachers that teach in pre-schools, middle schools, international schools or any educational training institutes should hold a teacher certificate or license obtained in their home country when applying for work permit in China.

  7. If they have not obtained a teaching certificate or license in their own country, they should have one of the internationally recognized language teaching certificates, including TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or TKT (Teacher Knowledge Test).

China generally observes the guidelines issued by China’s State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA) regarding work permits. This means meeting items one to four of the Beijing requirements. However, as the competition in the market is getting fiercer, holding an existing teaching certificate or license, or – especially – any of the internationally recognized teaching certificates, would give you an edge over the competition.

The rule of hiring foreign teachers also varies from place to place, especially in small cities where there are few foreigners but the demand for foreign teachers remains high. The requirements might be lowered, as the SAFEA guidelines use the word “should” instead of “must”, and there has been a great deal of “flexible” interpretation across provinces regarding the minimum educational requirements.

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