It seems like a mountain of paperwork is needed for certification (permission, license?) to legally teach in Taiwan (outside cram schools). As I understand it, I need to:
1. Have the Regional TECO certify my degrees
(In my case, a BA & MFA, each from a different state in the USA). 2. Have the Regional TECO certify my teaching qualification.
(In my case, A UK PGCE) 3. Have the Regional TECO certify any Government-granted teaching license
(In my case, my official Hong Kong Teaching Registration) 4. A Health Certificate 5. Criminal Background Check
(I assume for any country you’ve been a resident of. In my case, HK & USA)
I’m unclear on:
Which of 1-3 above also require transcripts to be certified.
If there’s a national TECO for the USA, or I need to certify on a state by state basis.
Which of the above documents also need to be translated into Chinese?
How current 4&5 need to be. (I’ve been cleared for HK & US, but a few yrs old)
If being inside Taiwan makes this any easier. (I will be there this summer)
If I’m missing anything important or a key document.
Sounds like my international background makes all of this more difficult, even though I would qualify. Covid could only slow things down, too.
I can’t find any good sites or threads in here that summarize this.
Could somebody help or point me in the right direction?
@Pinoco Thanks. I’ll check them out.
I’m not looking for work yet, just trying to get my papers in order.
Can you (or anybody) provide any links?
I thought I could find them myself but it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.
The MOE website has no (obvious) section for potential teachers. Is it the right place? I could only find a page of 99 laws on all sorts of topics.
I’m getting nervous because the wait times for all this could take months. With no clear rules, it seems like one missing piece of the puzzle could set me back several weeks.
Unfortunately the list of approved schools for teaching certificates (a link within) seems to be down. Hopefully school approval by HK education authorities means the same for TW.
Thanks, the links on that post led me to an official PDF called “Ministry of Education Reference List of Foreign Universities”
The University where I got my PGCE was on this list.
It’s still unclear if this list is the same as what the MOE will use for teachers, but its at least a good sign.
Don’t want to hijack this thread but one clarification. Is this strictly enforced? Say someone is from a certain country but has one of those various American State sub licences.
My situation is vice versa (From US with UK license) but good to hear it works.
Embarrassed to say I missed your first set of links (rapid checking during a work break). Will investigate those.
Yes, this is because the UK accepts the American license… As in your legal to teach there.
I’m pretty sure that’s the rule. Certified in home country means you can still have studied elsewhere
A foreigner who is employed as a teacher in the category referred to in Subparagraph 3 or 4 of the preceding article shall have a degree recognized by the competent authority, from a domestic or foreign university or independent college, and possess qualifications in or be qualified to teach the subject they will teach. The qualifications must indicate that they are permitted to teach the subject involved in the country that issued their qualifications.
Can anybody confirm my original questions 1&2 about the regional offices? (I thought it was called a TECO but I also see them called an ROC overseas mission (ROCOM?)
It sounds like I will need to individually contact several different overseas ROC misisons (TECOs). I’d like to avoid a lot of legwork if possible.
For example, I studied for one year in Montana, thus requiring transcript verification. So… does the Seattle, Denver or Chicago TECO/ROCOM handle this verification request? Or Washington DC?
My other schools have a clearer regional link, but its still a lot to figure out.
Or should I just contact an agency for faster answers? I’m not 100% sure I want to teach English, so I don’t want to waste their time. But I would like to have my papers in order.
