Ask Headmaster Ken

Hi Ken. I love the site, and wish I had started reading it before arriving in China.

I teach English at a kindergarten, though I am employed by a third party company that the school pays. I figured out early on that teaching in a kindergarten was not for me, but made the choice to stay through the semester for the benefit of my company and school. My contract allows for termination so long as I give 30 days. I found a job in university that wished to hire me and signed a contract. I wanted this to go as smoothly as possible and gave my company notice three weeks ago, about two months before the semester ends.

My boss was supportive of me and asked me to not tell the school I would be leaving. Despite being uncomfortable with this, I complied, again, to make sure this went as smoothly as it could. She quickly told the school something that has their headmaster suspecting that I may be leaving, because since then I've had to deal with school staff asking me several times I week if I will be leaving the school. I suspect she may be waiting until there's so little time that the school won't have time to find a new foreign teacher on their own, and will have no choice (she hopes) but to continue working with my company as they will have another teacher on standby for them.

I figured getting a letter from her would not be difficult, as I have been on good terms with the company since I've been here. When I asked for a reference letter via email, she appeared to scoff at the notion, saying that even though my school feedback has been great, leaving in the middle of the year is not proper behavior. I wrote back as diplomatically as I could, keeping a previous post in mind. (http://middlekingdomlife.com/ask-ken/reference-and-release-letters-from-current-employer-t140.html), and further telling her that I have continued to lie to the school on her behalf, to my own detriment, because she asked me to. As of now she's no longer responding to my emails. I tried to call but received no answer because of the holiday weekend. I'm debating about not even bothering to seek out the letter any more, just so I can come clean with the school headmaster and work out my last month and half at the school without the added pressure of keeping up this facade.

The recruiter acting as the go-between for the university and me doesn't seem too concerned about it (I will be working directly for the school, I made sure of that,) telling me to just get letters proving two years of work experience from back home. I figure the university itself is not the most difficult to get hired into because my only teaching experience is a single semester in a kindergarten (even with my BA degree, none of the first- or second-tier city universities I applied to ever responded, even the ones with ads that say no teaching experience needed.)

There's a lot of stuff here, I know. My main question is do the rules of release/recommendation letters apply just as much when one is not coming from a university and, further, not actually employed by the school? Further complicating things is that my company told it was okay to enter the country on an L-visa (I know this is stupid now, and I will be the first to admit I should have done the research.) I have a residency permit now, but I still worry after the things I've read on MKL and similar sites. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

First, I'd recommend not using recruiters to find employment. You see, the university may or may not be concerned about a letter of reference (technically, your employer is required to provide you a Letter of Release and a Letter of Recommendation).

Since you are dealing with a recruiter, you have only his word that not having a Letter of Reference isn't a dealbreaker.

A university has more pull than a private school, and if they are well enough connected, and willing, "minor" matters like the lack of a degree, experience, letters of reference, and even being a native English speaker can be finessed.

Your recruiter will never be terribly concerned about anything, other than the prospect of not being paid. Obviously, the local SAFEA office, or whomever makes the decision as to whether your years of work experience are "relevant" hasn't even see your documents. But, if they decline you, you'll need a plan B fairly pronto.

In sum, until your documents are submitted and approved, and then that information transmitted back to you, you are in limbo.

You can try to pressure your current employer for a reference, but that would be only my last resort if I were you.

I wish you well.

I would ask this newest recruiter for the name, e-mail address, and telephone number of the foreign affairs officer at the university you will employed at. You need to explain your current situation to him or her and ascertain directly from this person that what you have is enough for them to work with. The recruiter won't get paid until you are signed, sealed, and delivered, so his lack of concern is probably a good sign, but confirmation from the university is necessary.

While it is generally true that universities have more government clout than private schools do, it primarily resides with the president's office and rarely trickles down to such mundane matters as hiring problems with foreign teachers. In addition, the person who is dealing directly with foreign teachers (usually a section chief in the foreign affairs office) is far removed from that guanxi network, unlike a private school owner who has direct access to it. In practice, the section chief would need to consult with the deputy director who, in turn, would have to make time to speak with the director, who would then have to speak with an administrator at the university level, who would then have to contact the secretary of one of the university vice-presidents, etc., etc. By the time the right person was finally informed and involved, the semester would be half over.

Consequently, as a practical matter, universities are generally far less likely to make exceptions to hiring requirements for foreign teachers than private school owners.

This situation kind of mirrors my own. I am happy with my current job working in Chongqing but I have received an offer from a University in Shanghai that is much better than my current position.

I work for a company that services middle schools here in Chongqing so I was curious about being able to be provided with a letter of recommendation and who it would come from (my school or my company). I don't think I will accept the offer from the University in Shanghai because I want to see out my contract with my company as they have been very fair to me and I am very friendly with the staff there and have a very good relationship with the boss. But I have a 10-month contract and I was wondering if when it's time to move on and find a job for the September semester will a University be fine with taking over my residents permit before the semester begins?

I am putting out feelers right now to Universities for the next semester after this one (September) just so I can move on to their radar and be well prepared. I have a few offers for employment from private language centres, some really good and some not so bad (15,000 RMB in Shanghai sounds good) but I would only like to take one of these offers if it's not feasible for a university to take over my residents permit before the semester begins. Obviously I enjoy the amount of time and freedom that working for a public school provides and would prefer not to give that up.

I've found that I did not get many responses from Universities in China before I came here but now I have plenty of offers to consider so maybe just physically being in the country helps a lot.

Oh and one last thing, I was considering a part-time job for the winter break but now maybe I was thinking of going on a winter camp. Do you think it's too late to organise that or will that be okay? Where do I find those winter camp listings?

Regards Joel.

Hello Joel,

Your Letter of Recommendation should come from the employer who issued your residence permit. They may in turn ask your on site supervisors for input, but I doubt it.

The Letter of Recommendation is not the same as you would expect in the west. It is essentially a brief form that states who you are and gives a pass/fail on two items, a. Are you a competent teacher, and b. Should you remain eligible to teach in China. This is of course, only the employer's opinion and not a legal or official determination in any way.

Most universities do not issue a residence permit until just before you begin employment. Issuing you the permit obligates them to provide a contract, housing, medical benefits and incurs other obligations as well. Also, most, if not all of their staff will be on holiday after the Spring term ends. It is easier to have new hires arrive at one time and batch process all the paperwork. Finally, issuing a residence permit months early provides little assurance that the teacher will show up on the first day of school. A lot can happen over the holidays.

That is not to say it cannot or will not ever happen; I just think the odds are on the low side.

Finally, Winter and Summer camps are advertised in the same way as normal ESL employment. You can find the ads on the usual ESL sites. This year, due to the residual H1N1 situation, and the global economic downturn, there are less camps advertised. I know some public schools that are having parents sign a "contract" that they will not send their children to Winter camps. The penalty is the student will not be allowed to renter public school until after the normal start date. This is being presented as a "safety measure".

I wish you well.

Thanks for the advice Ken. I've got a couple of camps to look at going to, going on the camp will pay for my trip to Thailand during the Spring Festival break. I was thinking of getting a part-time job like I said before but I have some Chinese lessons lined up for the break so I want to remain free during this period.

I was thinking of taking a trip back to Australia during my time off after my contract ends, so I might just line it up for a school to send me the paperwork for a new Z-visa.

I have different, but obviously related question now. I learned that employer has an expert certificate in my name that they keep in the office. This was never told to me before. Upon learning that the university wouldn't be able to hire me if I already have one, and considering that my company is refusing to let me take it and further assuming I would not be able to get legal representation to get it back myself in time, I decided my best option would be to cancel the university contract while there's still a month and a half before the spring semester begins, and finish out the school year with my company.

The university is very upset about this and is demanding I pay 7000 RMB in breach penalties. My company boss however is telling me not to pay because it is the school's fault for not researching my current contract position well enough and tells me she's willing to take it up with the SAFEA to see who owes what. My only worry about all of this is that it may jeopardize my ability to get work in a university in the future. Is that possible?

Hello Joel,

Let's start at the beginning. You were hired under the auspices of SAFEA, so, by definition, you are a "Foreign Expert" and would be, presumably, issued a Foreign Expert card.

Many schools neither issue them to FTs nor even bother to mention their existence. The reasons for this are myriad and better suited for another post.

I find your new employer's position that your being a card carrying Foreign Expert is somehow a disqualifying factor to be mystifying. Intensely mystifying. It is a rather simple and straightforward process between employers to transfer the residence permit of a Foreign Expert.

Your school will not give you your FE Card because it is, in fact, under their care and custody, you are merely the temporary holder of the card, and they want to be sure they will get it back. I personally believe that this is an over abundance of caution, but other headmasters have their own views on the matter.

You may have a breach of the university contract if you have a valid contract, signed in the original by both parties, with the university red stamp.

If it were me, I would tell the university, "No problem. I'll work for you. You'll need to sort out the visa/residence permit business and I will fully comply with the contract; likewise, I fully expect you to do the same. Now, when do I show up?"

You see, that way, you will not breach the contract. They may, of course, have difficulties not breaching the contract if, as they say, they cannot hire you if you have a Foreign Expert card. But, then, they, not you, will be in breach of the contract.

Again, that is just what I personally would do. I'm not licensed to practice law or give legal advice anywhere in the world so you'll ultimately have to sort the legal issues out yourself I'm afraid.

Should the university decide that they are the ones who must breach the contract, you will have no future issues regarding employment.

I wish you well.