Teaching Questions

I have taught in Taiwan a few years ago at a private kindergarten, so I have some specific experience teaching in Taiwan, but now that I’m back in the states I’m thinking about a long term career in Taiwan in a few years.

My husband is Taiwanese and we are back in America. Since teaching abroad I’ve now been in the US for two years and got my teaching license. My bachelors degree is in business, so I had to go through an ACP to get my license.

A few questions:

For public schools:

  1. Will my bachelors degree and license be enough to get a position? I am having a hard time finding out too much information on public school requirements and salary (tealit only has buxiban type job postings when I check). The pay will be about the same that I got before I’m assuming (55k)? Any moving benefits or summer vacation?

  2. I know Korea and some other countries really prefer young white teachers. I’ll probably be in my late 30s when we move back…will this be a problem?

For international schools:

I’m really interested in trying to make this happen in a few years with a masters degree.

  1. If I get my masters degree online through a well known school in my state, will it hinder anything with being qualified? I’ve read somewhere on here Taiwan doesn’t accept online degrees but those seem to be referring to University of Phoenix and Devry. This would be one of the public universities in my state. I’m pregnant now and cannot see myself working full time and going to school on campus with a newborn. It looks like the online masters I’m looking at doesn’t have any references to online/on campus on its diploma. Also would this be a problem for a public school position (since I already have a regular bachelors?)

  2. I did some research and found TAS pays really well but it seems impossible? Should I even try for a top tier international school? Might be too much stress with the in-person masters degree if it’s a 1% chance I’ll get hired anyway…

  3. Tier 2 international school? How are they in comparison salary and benefit wise to TAS and TES? Easier to get hired?

I know I have a lot of questions but I want to work on building my career to end up in Taiwan because I miss it so much! I want my child to grow up there and eventually retire in Taiwan as well. At the moment I am thinking we will be stateside for 5-6 years (so I will have a total of 6-7 years teaching experience). My husband also wants to get some solid American experience in to boost his career prospects and hopefully starting salary in Taiwan as well (he’s an engineer). Thoughts?

A lot of the topics I’ve read on these subjects seem to be really outdated. If you could provide any info in any of those subjects it would be much appreciated.

For public schools:

Specifically, what subject does your license allow you to teach in US? At this moment, you can teach just the subject you are allowed to teach by the licence in your country. If your licence is science, you can teach science class in englich, but cannot teach English class.

The regulations might be changed in few years, though.

Salary is 62000+ NTD, depends on your degree and experience recognized by taiwanese authorities.

If you have a license, age may not be a big issue. 30s, maybe no problem.

For international schools:

Local schools do not accept fully-online degrees, but international schools hire their teachers by their own country’s criteria.

Tando0tha ms so much for the info! I have an elementary generalist credential, meaning I can teach any subject from early childhood to grade 6. I also have an ESL cert on my license which means I can have students in my class whose native language is not English. My degree is not in education though.

That salary is lower than I was hoping…but that’s good information. So you think I can continue to have a steady career in Taiwan past my 20s, similar to in the US? That’s reassuring.

So for the online degree… Is there some way they could know? I’m assuming my diploma would say something like: University of Texas, Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. Not from a purely online school or even remotely hinting at being so.

Good news is that teaching public school in Taiwan is easy and pays well. Base salary is about 63,000 a month, plus 5,000 to 10,000 for rent, possibly a 2,000 attendance bonus, another 5,000 a month raise for getting your master’s degree, one month paid vacation, and flights from and back to your home country every year. It’s a pretty good deal but you will find it is much different than teaching in a Kindy. I wouldn’t worry about applying for international schools until you get a few years experience.

What is ACP? Can you share link to get the license?

Alternative Certification Program

for example, like this one.

Becoming a Certified Texas Educator Through an Alternative Certification Program
https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Preparation_and_Continuing_Education/Becoming_a_Certified_Texas_Educator_Through_an_Alternative_Certification_Program/

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If you get your Masters, you could also get a full-time job at a private university. Don’t know if that’s something you’re interested in. Think you’d be set with most international schools as well. Definitely get that Masters though. Good luck.

EDIT: I think places are loosening up on the no-online-Masters rule as it becomes more commonplace. But I wouldn’t do it through a shyster institution like DeVry. That’d basically be a waste of time and money, imo.

From its wiki:

DeVry University has been involved in numerous investigations, lawsuits, and settlements, mostly over inflated claims about the employment rates and salaries of its graduates, but also over criticized education quality and loan practices. In 2016, its parent company agreed to an order by the Federal Trade Commission, which included a $100 million fine.”

the regulation for the recognition of foreign academic credentials is as following.

“the credits learned through distance education shall not be more than 1/2 of total graduation credits”

I personally think the decent degree on education would be helpful, though. Especially if you are thinking to move to an international school after you get some experience.

ESL cert may be a plus to get a position, but itself can not be used as a license to teach at a public school.

Are you 100% sure those are added on top of the base salary and not calculated as a portion of the base salary?

So many schools advertise housing stipends, curriculam research stipends, etc. But in actuality, they are dividing up the base salary and not adding to it.

Can anyone please confirm that public schools do not divide up base salary and actually add housing on top?

FYI

Wow I did not expect so many helpful replies. Thank you all for the great info. I’m definitely going to aim for a masters before arriving back in Taiwan.

Tando: that contract looks like it’s only ten vacation days and 5 personal days. Unless it’s an 11 month contract?

If possible get dual Masters certification in ESL and Reading. There’s a lot of crossover and quite honesty, the stuff about phonemic awareness is better learned and practiced from the Reading side of the equation.

I don’t know how much has changed in Taiwan since I left 6 years ago, but A A ah ah Apple was pretty much still in vogue when I left. If you bring strong Reading/phonemic Awareness in small group skills and know how to set up assessments and design individual lesson plans from them, you’re gold.

Thanks for the confirmation about salaries, bonus and housing allowance.

Honestly, the teaching hours and duties are no different than those in a private school. The pay according to the info you provided is not as good as private schools.

On average, one could earn about 10k more per month at a private school. But, summer vacation would be shorter due to summer camp duties at most private schools.

It is a toss up.