Question about Reach to Teach school quality

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

Hi, I put in application with reach to teach as I’m still looking at trying to land a job in Taipei or the parts of new Taipei city connected by mrt asap from America.

I’m just curious if anyone can verify the quality of the schools they work worth. I’m hoping to land a public school job (I recently got my sub license and am waiting for my state to approve my provisional teaching license but it’s backed up in a bureaucratic covid fuelled nightmare) but if I have to work at a buxiban I want to at least know that the school won’t be shady and constantly breaking the law and trying to get their employees to unwittingly break the law so they can later black mail them when they try to file a complaint with the labour bureau like some buxibans have been known to do.

Has anyone worked with them and know if they avoid the more disreputable chain schools?

Thanks in advance guys!

2

I went through Reach to Teach for my first job in 2009. They placed me in a Shane franchise school in northern Taiwan. It was a good first job. I was lucky to have a very supportive manager who balanced the business and education sides of the buxiban very well. Of course, every buxiban is different, and I’ll say from what I have heard over the years that I was quite lucky to land in that environment as I got used to life in Taiwan. I can far from guarantee that others will find themselves in similar situations. I consider myself very lucky.

Though Reach to Teach may have changed since 2009, I found them to be helpful as I transitioned from the US to Taiwan. I also felt I was in good hands with the Shane organization. I believe they would have helped me had I needed their support. Same goes for Reach to Teach, though luckily I never needed either once I was set up.

3

This is the first positive story I had about Reach To Teach. I’ve read about 10 stories. All of them bad.

4

I heard*

5

As I said, I think I just had luck on my side. Hopefully the OP can get some additional information to help with the decision.

6

Well this sounds not so great. They listed requirements for public schools do I had my hopes up. But if they’re just recruiting for the big buxibans well there’s a good chance they’ll take out some of the salary. Plus I had a bad enough experience working for a big buxiban. I’m not interested in working with schools that blatantly break laws, resort to blackmail, or treat kids poorly (it wasn’t Shane it was a different school so I don’t know maybe some of the buxibans are ok?). It’s starting to look like commuting to Taoyuan might be my only real option unless something comes up on tealit or I get lucky and teach Taiwan gets an opening for a public school in new Taipei.

Thanks for the information guys!

7

Hi! This is Carrie from Reach To Teach.

If you’re looking for a public school position, Reach To Teach is partnered with Taipei public schools only. I’m sorry to say that the Taipei public schools we work with will only accept a full teaching license. Perhaps you could try a high school in Taipei? We don’t work with those schools, but we’ve heard they’re willing to work with teachers with provisional sub-teaching licenses.

We have heard that some public schools outside of Taipei are still accepting sub teaching licenses, but we don’t know where those schools are located since we don’t work with them. I hope this answer helps you with your search for employment.

Should you decide to work with one of our private schools, you are more than welcome to contact current and past teachers at these schools. We will happily provide this information after the initial interview. The schools we work with can also willingly provide you with teacher references.

In regards to the other comments here, we no longer work with Shane or schools like Principal or Kojen. 11 years ago! Wow. That is a long time ago. I’m glad that experience was a good one for you, RageKage.

We’re not aware of any recent unhappy teachers. We encourage our teachers to contact us if they’re having problems. We have plenty of online reviews (over 300) that simply cannot be faked in any way. Surely with 300+ positive reviews, you can expect a few negative ones. No one is perfect.

We do our best to guide our teachers and let them know what to expect. Of course, not every situation works out and we’ll help you through that as well if the position isn’t right for you.

We also feature plenty of teacher interviews on our blog from teachers that were happy with our services and who wanted to share their story about teaching in Taiwan. I’d encourage you to check out our blog so you can learn a bit more about what our teachers have experienced with the paperwork process this year as well as their quarantine in Taiwan.

Finally, I’d like to mention that your assumption about us taking a portion of your salary is false. 100% incorrect. Reach To Teach was established in 2005. In all that time, we have always said that teachers should never have to pay anyone to find them a job.

Our services are free. We are not like other agencies here. In many cases, we can get you a higher rate of pay than what is being advertised by schools.

I’m sorry to hear your last buxiban experience didn’t go well. That sounds like the kind of school Reach To Teach would avoid working with. I wish you the best with your job hunt!

8

Just assume that most cram schools are dodgy in one way or another, and you’ll rarely be shocked or disappointed. Remember that their primary goal is to make as much money as possible and pay you as little as possible. Everything else is secondary. There are a few very rare exceptions. But, if it’s run by Taiwanese, I can assure you that 99% of the time they’re cheating someone in one way or another.

9

Every agency takes a portion of the teachers’ salaries. Schools that hire directly pay the teachers more. Schools that use agencies lower the teachers’ salaries and pay a portion of it to the agency. Any agency that claims it doesn’t take a portion of teachers’ salaries is a load of crap.

10

New Taipei uses RenHe. Not sure if they still have openings.

This isn’t true for the agencies that hire for public elementary schools as the salary is advertised through the government. High schools on the other hand I believe can hire teachers directly and can probably pay whatever they want. (I’m not sure as I don’t work for a high school)

Are you saying you don’t take sub licenses from the US? If so, you might want to update your website to reflect that.

11

Also what I was thinking. Besides my real full time license is in the works, it’s just that Wisconsin suspended their processing of out if state license during covid so I’m I’m stuck in purgatory

12

I’ve interviewed for jobs in Taipei but never got a call. I have an alternative license to teach in the US. It seems more difficult to land a job in Taipei but easier in NTC and much easier to land a job further out in the country.

I imagine that the agencies that recruit for public schools make there profit on top of a teacher’s salary.

13

That’s one possibility, I think that the government just pays them though. From my understanding though every year the agencies have to rebid and be awarded the contract. So the contract probably goes to whoever will charge the government less money.

It’s probably that the agencies charge a fee for each teacher they recruit and since at least in New Taipei City they do monthly check-ins with the teachers, they probably charge a monthly fee as well.

If we didn’t have agencies would we get paid more? Possibly, but I guess to answer that just look for high school jobs that are being advertised. I don’t believe they use agencies or if they do they pay for them themselves.

14

Any idea which recruiters primarily work with new Taipei schools? I’m trying to land a job somewhere near luzhou, sanchong, xinzhuang areas specifically.

15

I tried Ren he but they never responded :confused: