Employment & Professional Development

My current dilemma is particular to Guangzhou. However, in general, I've seen a lot of conflicting information on obtaining a Foreign Teacher permit.

I've seen the following variations on requirements:

1.) Bachelor's degree + TEFL/CELTA + 2 years working (general [employer/Chinese government determined as related]) experience

2.) Bachelor's degree + TEFL/CELTA + 2 years teaching experience

3.) Bachelor's degree + TEFL/CELTA OR + 2 years teaching experience

- Consider (References)

1.) From: Qualifications and Requirements to Teach English in China

The guidelines state that a "foreign educational expert," or teacher, "should hold a minimum of a bachelor's degree and more than two years of experience."[/b] The work experience does not necessarily have to be in the field of education, but can be in any area deemed appropriate or relevant by the prospective employer.

2.) From a second China EFL website:

A foreign teacher must possess a Bachelor degree and have at least two years of teaching experience.

3.) From yet a third China EFL website:

(B) The foreign special people who are hired to work in the fields of education, scientific research, press, publication, cultures, art, public health, sports, etc. of China."

As for Item (B) of this article, the foreign experts should have the academic degree above university bachelor and relevant work experiences more than 5 years [b](and the language teachers should have the academic degree above university bachelor and relevant work experiences more than 2 years, or with the certificate of language teacher qualification).

Which requirement applies? Or does the "should" word as stated in the above Middle Kingdom article make this relative? In other words, a complete gamble for anyone with less than 2 years teaching experience?

I have only the teaching experience provided in my CELTA course.

I have one year of English freelance writing experience, four years of English transcription experience (in compliance with the U.S. government communications regulatory body [FCC]) standards, and one year writing policies as a human resources department chair.

This site has been more than helpful.

Thanks for reading,

NK

If you read a little further down in the same chapter you cite, we write:

As the SAFEA guideline uses the Chinese character for the word "should," instead of "must have" or "needs to have," there has been a great deal of "flexible" interpretation across provinces regarding the minimum educational requirement over the years.

In reality, the minimum requirements in effect to facilitate the speaking and listening skills of students in mainland China are: 1) a White face and; 2) the good fortune to have been born in an English speaking country. That’s about it. Everything else is a plus including TEFL and CELTA certificates that have, quite frankly, a negligible effect on the hiring of foreigners in China. TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA credentials tend to tip the scale in one's favor if all other things are viewed as equal. For more information, see chapter Teaching Qualifications and Requirements in Practice.

With a college degree and the CELTA course, you are more than competitive for positions at private English language schools anywhere in China and even a few universities in Guangzhou as well, despite the absence of prior teaching experience. While universities typically prefer foreigners with advanced degrees (for the purpose of building face only), they will take whomever they can get. A lot of it has to do with timing and luck.

Unfortunately, with the poverty rate in the United States having recently reached an all-time record breaking high of 16.6 percent, nearly one out of six (Yen, 2011), Chinese foreign affair officers (FAOs) at universities can usually hold out for applicants with advanced degrees.

Don't worry about your lack of teaching experience. If you limit your job search to private English language schools, you won't have any problem finding work as a foreign English teacher in Guangzhou or anywhere else in China. Just do yourself a big favor and continue to read the Foreign Teachers Guide from cover to cover before proceeding any further.

Best of luck to you.
__________________________________________

Notes

Yen, H. (2011, September 15). 1 in 6 Americans living in poverty. The National, p. 13

Hi Dr. Greg,

I want to start by thanking you for this amazingly informative site and also for providing the opportunity for people to ask questions of you and Headmaster Ken.

In your last post you wrote "Chinese foreign affair officers (FAOs) at universities can usually hold out for applicants with advanced degrees." I have a follow up question about this.

I know that you can't advise anyone to do anything illegal or unethical but I did read in the guide how degrees and experience are rarely checked. You wrote this about BA degrees but does this also apply to advanced degrees?

You were teaching in China with a PhD. If I may ask, did any university ever ask you to send official transcripts or to prove your education and experience in any way?

I have a BA degree but want to teach in a more competitive city like Shanghai. I have many friends with master's and even doctoral degrees and am thinking about using their Photoshopped diplomas to apply for jobs. I know you can't and don't recommend that but I'm just wondering what the real risk of getting caught is. Also, if one school suspects that my degree is fake, is there a way for them to notify all other schools about my application?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer this.

To answer your first question directly, to the best of my knowledge, my education and experience were never once verified.

The vast majority of schools and universities in China hire foreigners solely for their native English-speaking abilities. This only real qualification can be verified simply by looking at the cover page of the applicant’s passport.

I was very surprised, however, that the WHO-accredited international medical school in Guangzhou that I taught at never asked for official transcripts or rank (experience) verification letters. This exists in stark contrast to my current situation in the United Arab Emirates where it took literally three months to collect all the documentation the UAE government required (official transcripts, rank verification letters from China and the U.S., authenticated terminal degree with a UAE apostille, criminal background checks in both China and the U.S., authenticated marriage license with UAE apostille, etc.).

I am assuming that my dean at the International School figured that I could either teach the courses I claimed to have taught in the past or I couldn’t. That is, you can’t fake experience in having taught statistics, epidemiology, psychopathology, and a variety of introductory to advanced courses in psychology.

Consequently, the biggest potential problem with using a Photoshop’d master’s or doctoral degree is that you might be asked to teach a course or consult in the very field you are claiming to hold an advanced degree in. Related, and for example, if you claim to have a master’s degree in sociology and you run into another foreign teacher with a real advanced degree in the social sciences, how long do you think it would take for him to ascertain that your alleged advanced degree was fake (particularly if your bachelor's degree is in the humanities or hard sciences)?

The major caveat here involves schools that are Western owned or managed: they tend to check credentials as do all international Western-accredited secondary schools and universities (in which case you'd also have to provide licensure or certification).

Regarding your last question, there is no centralized database maintained for foreign applicants. You are not entered into the system until your Z-visa is issued. If a university FAO became suspicious and happened to have a good friend in the visa division of the local PSB, it is conceivable (but highly unlikely) that he might notify this friend as a courtesy of his suspicions. Barring that very unlikely case scenario, I believe the worst consequence you would face for submitting an application that raised suspicions would be the deletion of your application. I seriously doubt it would go any further than that.

Of course, in China, anything can happen at any time without warning. No one can ever guarantee total impunity from negative consequences when the rules are bent and the law is broken. You are then proceeding at your own risk on a day-to-day basis. Some people have a very high tolerance for living with risk while others don't.