ศาลาชุมนุม

[wiz cool c]

I'm a native speaker who has been teaching for over two years in Beijing. I never had to show anyone a degree here. Of course I say I have one on my resume.But the truth is I never graduated. Can you get away with this in Thailand?

[benqjoyb]

Yes in fact the tefl schools here will give you a fake one upon completing there course or you can just make one as alot of employers don't check it and just need whatever, they just want a native speaker to teach english that has somewhat of a decent lesson plan..

The downside is you will never make a decent wage doing it that way; the international schools (high schools) will varify it and they will even want someone with a masters degree, same with the Universities.. you will only be able to teach at learning english only schools and cheap ones at that, it's ok if you have something else to supplement your income but if that's all you got your gonna have to live on a shoestring budget.

[DanR]

There's a certain amount of verification but I don't know how much. I worked at a university in England a few years ago and saw documents from the Thai government (can't remember which department now) asking for confirmation of a BA. It's probably possible to work legitimately without a degree but if so, it'll only be at the very bottom end of the market. If you go higher, you may or may not need to be verified and you won't necessarily know if verification is going on - if you lie, it's possible that the first thing you'll know about the process is when you get a visit from the police. It's also not just a matter of telling a porkie on your CV; you'll need to supply a fake certificate when applying for visas/work permits, which makes the whole thing rather more serious. But you're better off asking on a teachers' forum - look at ajarnforum.net, though I recommend doing a search before you post as I'm sure it's a topic which comes up with depressing regularity.

[benqjoyb]

You will get fired or more likely not hired in the first place if you use fake credentials just like anything and anywhere else but I seriously doubt the police will get involved; the Thai police have 0 interest in labor disputes or prosecuting someone that has little money because they took a job.. in cases where the employer doesn't pay promised wages; about the only thing the police will do is suggest to you that you stop working there since your not being paid..any other dispute the police will tell you to take it to civil court. I don't know where your getting this information that the police are going around arresting English teachers

[DanR]

I don't know where your getting this information that the police are going around arresting English teachers

I didn't say that. I said: "it's possible that the first thing you'll know about the process is when you get a visit from the police". Not quite the same is it? Submitting fake documents to a government office (for visas or a work permit) is, I'm fairly sure, a crime, which is why the police might get involved. You're right that it's not the most likely outcome but it happens; there was a guy who posted on Ajarn a few years ago who went to court over it, though I can't remember what happened to him.