MA TESOL vs. Teaching license

Which is preferable?
I know the differences between the two and that they can’t really be compared but which ‘opens more doors’ /is more valued by employers/teachers?

Depends where you are trying to get a job. If you want to work in a public school, then you need a license. Most cram schools couldn’t care less. Actually, all the teachers I know who make more than $800/hr at cram schools get that much because they are good teachers, not because of a piece of paper.

Private schools?

I think you need a license there as well, but they get around it by hiring teachers with a JFRV or APRC. From what I have heard, you definitely don’t want to teach at a private school. :thumbsdown:

I have a Master in Arts and have 8 years visual arts teaching experience in a accredited international school, I would like to know how do I obtain a teaching license in arts in Taiwan? Or any other countries?

I believe that if you are recognized to teach in your home country, you can teach in Taiwan. Most countries require 1-2 years for an education program at a university. Some people in Taiwan have a US supply teaching license which seems to be accepted here in Taiwan but doesn’t take as much time or effort (and not everyone will recognize the substitute). There is also a US-based education program with a branch here in Taiwan that allows people to get certified while not leaving the country. Taiwan has ‘normal’ universities that run education programs, how’s your Chinese?

There are ways for schools in Taiwan to hire teachers with special qualifications who don’t have a license, but that wasn’t your question. The answer to your question is that you need to take a training program to get licensed as an educator.

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A Master in Arts as in a Masters degree in Art? Or an MA in something else? An MA in TESOL?

What do you want to do here? If you want to work at a tier 1 international school, you usually need a teaching license from your home country, but I would imagine a masters + many years of teaching experience is an accepted alternative (in a private/ international school). If you want to come teach English at a cram school, you’d need a college degree in anything, TESOL certificate a plus. But that’s a dancing monkey job and it’s unlikely you’d get much of a pay bump for having a TESOL certificate if you already have a masters. But that gets back to what’s your masters in? A masters in TESOL is going to make you more marketable, but you’re going to need to be willing to fight for higher pay than the [insert non-English speaking county with lots of white people name here] white person standing next to you with no English teaching experience and an APRC. If you work in a cram school for two years in TW, you can work at any experimental school that will hire you (by “can work”, I mean legally the experimental school can hire you and get you a work permit)

Public schools require a teaching license in anything and passport from an English-speaking country. A Masters is only an automatic pay increase, but the license is still required. Pay isn’t great but you don’t work very many hours…

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like, Magic Mike?

Good point, I assumed the post was asking specifically about the regular school system

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Oops. I have edited it to actually say “dancing monkey”, as intended…

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For Taiwan, the teaching license seems to be more useful.

I am teaching Arts in an International school now, have Master’s in Applied Arts too, I have around 8 years of teaching experience. but my license expires in my country last year and not renewable if I don’t work in my country anymore… I am wonder if teaching license can be obtain in Taiwan for a foreigner, I wonder if such a thing exist…

I imagine you could go through a teaching program at a university here, but most public school jobs for Taiwanese are given by passing a standardized test or through guanxi, so it would be a lot of work, probably all in Chinese, for little pay off.

If you have teaching experience already and you’re hoping to teach art, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a substitute teacher license. I always tell people without teaching experience that a sub license is a lie, since the only thing you need to get one is to pay someone some money, but if you already have an idea of what you’re doing in the classroom, especially if you have an expired teaching license, any school looking for a decent teacher is going to look past a “fake” license (a sub license) when it comes to hiring you.

Thank you for your insights inputs
I looked through the local Taiwan teaching license unfortunately I couldn’t find anything in English I guess just like what you are saying it is all in Chinese :frowning:

How does a substitute teaching license work?