I have most certainly found some of the most unprofessional teachers in Taiwan and among the Chinese-speaking staff of American (in the US) schools.
That’s not to say I haven’t dealt with petty/immature teachers in the US (oh boy are they there too), but it seems to be amplified here. I think the hierarchy for getting things (allowed to leave school when you don’t have class even though that’s “not allowed”, using school funds to buy worthless shit that only you will use, getting out of proctoring tests, etc.) is the only thing to make up for the strict “you are paid based on your number of years teaching x academic level” / lack of mobility in the ranks.
Being a teacher means status in Taiwan. That being said, teaching in Taiwan is a thankless job with mostly unmotivated students. It wouldn’t be, if teachers would just teach the students in a way that didn’t make them hate learning, but I know too many teachers who literally became teachers either for the pay/status, because they love to scream at kids, or both. (you don’t have teachers becoming teacher for the pay or social status in the US, so that gets rid of a lot of the a**holes you have to deal with here. I don’t know where you’re from, but I think a lot of Western, English-speaking countries have a similar view of their teachers)
A lot of new teachers here come in excited to break down the system and help build something “new and engaging” that will “reach the students”, only to realize that it’s impossible, and join the ranks of teachers who turn on their microphone as loud as it will go, ramble on for 45 minutes, and then yell at students who fail tests because they can’t pay attention to someone droning on at them for the better part of an hour. It’s never the teacher’s fault here, so it’s easy for teachers to blame everyone but themselves when students fail.
I have certainly had a few moments with bad co-teachers. Generally, I would say it was 90% on them – refusing to plan with me, doing whatever they wanted in the back of the room, being racist towards “dark” students, only talking to the students they liked, complaining about me to people in power, complaining about me to other students, etc. And that other 10% was me just being fed up with their shit and not finding it worth my time to give them the time of day.
I would say it’s not something worth stressing about. If you have a shitty co-teacher or two…welcome to the club!! Make sure you have people you can rely on and hang out with outside of school so you don’t lose you mind. If you haven’t gotten through to them through bubble tea and fried chicken (maybe even try to buy them coffee, if you notice them drinking it in the morning?? I’ve also done chocolate chip cookies, but I refuse to share food in the office right now due to COVID, but you could try), just try your best to power through the rest of the year. But make it clear to the principal that you’re not going to sign a contract for next year if they don’t do something about your awful co-teaching situation. If they value you enough to want you to stick around, they will try to accommodate you. If they don’t value you enough to fix the issue and put that in writing, they’re not worth your time.
A good hint that it might be time to find a new job is if your students are the only thing keeping you there. If you have coworkers who are still nice to you or at least respectful, it’s worth giving it another shot. If everyone is giving you shit and the only faces you look forward to seeing on Monday morning are your students’, go elsewhere.
I find the special needs teachers to be the quickest to use inappropriate labels that any American teacher would quickly be called out for and possibly immediately fired for (such as “retard” directed at coworkers, or saying that students have developmental issues because they have dark skin or their mothers aren’t from Taiwan.) But that’s been my experience.
will be a happier life imo