Is Cambodia about to experience an influx of English teachers?
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:19 pm
According to many people on Facebook teaching groups (although there are many who refute it), China is on the verge of introducing (or enforcing an already established) law that requires teachers to hold a bachelors degree, much like Thailand and many SE Asian other countries (and most other countries around the world for that matter).
Add that to the recent report that I read on the BBC website about foreigners resident in Thailand (many of whom are teachers) being targeted in a government crackdown and given huge fines because they (or more specifically, their landlords) didn't register their address in the required 30 day period. Apparently it's the landlords duty to do this, but if they don't, it's the foreigners who are responsible for the fines(???) This is leading to many foreigners becoming frustrated and disillusioned with the bureaucracy there and wanting out.
As one of the few countries, especially in SE Asia, where foreigners can easily obtain long term visas, reside here without too much bureaucracy and teach English with or without the legal requirement to hold a degree, I get the feeling things are going to change drastically in the teaching market here. Currently, so long as you can string a coherent sentence together with a vaguely western accent and you have the right skin colour, it's an employees market, not the the other way around.
But if surrounding countries are either changing their laws to require a degree, or making their immigrants feel that life there just isn't worth the hassle, I can see a lot of teachers looking at Cambodia as a viable alternative, resulting in the teaching market here changing drastically from an employees to an employers market.
I'd argue that the reason Cambodia doesn't currently require teachers to hold a degree is because they know that the lack of English teachers already would only decrease even more if they did. Most people who want to teach English abroad and have a degree would probably not choose Cambodia as the number one destination on their bucket list. Most teachers come to Cambodia specifically because there is no requirement to have a degree here, and residing here is, subjectively, hassle free. But that could easily change if the market became saturated. It could even result, if the market became too saturated, in Cambodia following suit and requiring degrees also.
Add that to the recent report that I read on the BBC website about foreigners resident in Thailand (many of whom are teachers) being targeted in a government crackdown and given huge fines because they (or more specifically, their landlords) didn't register their address in the required 30 day period. Apparently it's the landlords duty to do this, but if they don't, it's the foreigners who are responsible for the fines(???) This is leading to many foreigners becoming frustrated and disillusioned with the bureaucracy there and wanting out.
As one of the few countries, especially in SE Asia, where foreigners can easily obtain long term visas, reside here without too much bureaucracy and teach English with or without the legal requirement to hold a degree, I get the feeling things are going to change drastically in the teaching market here. Currently, so long as you can string a coherent sentence together with a vaguely western accent and you have the right skin colour, it's an employees market, not the the other way around.
But if surrounding countries are either changing their laws to require a degree, or making their immigrants feel that life there just isn't worth the hassle, I can see a lot of teachers looking at Cambodia as a viable alternative, resulting in the teaching market here changing drastically from an employees to an employers market.
I'd argue that the reason Cambodia doesn't currently require teachers to hold a degree is because they know that the lack of English teachers already would only decrease even more if they did. Most people who want to teach English abroad and have a degree would probably not choose Cambodia as the number one destination on their bucket list. Most teachers come to Cambodia specifically because there is no requirement to have a degree here, and residing here is, subjectively, hassle free. But that could easily change if the market became saturated. It could even result, if the market became too saturated, in Cambodia following suit and requiring degrees also.