I am a bit confused about the teaching license requirement for Taiwan. Four years back I was hired by an experimental high school here in Taiwan and I got MOE work permit. My qualifications are Masters Degree in English, 12 years of teaching experience, TEFL. The teaching license that I possess qualifies me to teach English in my country but only grade 11-12 and college and university levels.It’s a central government issued license and is considered quite prestigious in my country. But last year one of the private high schools told me that this license wouldn’t work MOE. I need a different license. Then how did I got my permit four years back.? Also I know a teacher from an eastern African country who is legally employed with just a letter from her country stating she worked in her home country as a teacher. And she works now at a private high school in Taiwan. So my question is can I work at a private high school in Taiwan with my college level license and Masters and TEFL but not the specific license mentioned by the other school. In a nutshell can I work at a private high school here with my MA, TEFL and experience certification and the college level certification but without the specific license mentioned? Please share your thoughts or experiences.
A lot of things seem to depend on who you ask and when. Maybe the school couldn’t be bothered to check or maybe they did check and it was a different person at the MOE who looked at the same document but came to a different conclusion. Taiwan is like this.
Okay, here’s a kinda quick and dirty response to your situation. First of all, the TEFL doesn’t mean anything for getting into a public school or MOE approved private school. It would also help to know what country you’re from.
I had a kind of similar experience when I first arrived in Taiwan almost 14 years ago, if you’re curious, go and check out my very first post here on Forumosa. There was some specific language on the teaching license (just a substitute license honestly) that some official wanted to nitpick. It said “90 days teaching” which just meant that I was not able to substitute for one teacher for more than 90 contact days during a school year, in which case, they would have to bring in someone more qualified to cover that much of a school year. Just for the record, I have since gone back to school and earned a masters and a full, state issued teaching license.
Chances are someone is just nitpicking something specific on your license, you should find out what the is. What TT said is probably correct, someone looking at the same document and coming to a different conclusion…. and boy, yes, Taiwan is like that.
What is the precise language used on the certificate and what is the precise reason they are now turning it down? In Taiwan, high school is grades 10, 11 and 12…. so it seems you would be qualified to teach 2 of those three levels, and perhaps that was the initial reasoning of the original person who approved you. Were you being asked to teach grade 10 at the high school you were applying for? Again, it probably comes down to the specific language on the license and how the bureaucrat is choosing to interpret it.