Do you want to work as a teacher in Thailand? There are many Filipinos who have grabbed this opportunity, and Filipino teachers tend to have a great reputation as teachers in Thailand, not only because we are generally better at the English language, but also because we are passionate about teaching.
Also Read: OFW Story: Jun Amparo, School Counselor in Thailand
If you are a teacher in the Philippines and wish to find teaching opportunities in Thailand, then you need to know what your salary expectation is. You also need to know what the typical cost of living is, so you get to decide whether this profession is worth it for you.
Disclaimer: The information posted here is based on the personal experiences shared by the OFW in the video below. Please let this post serve as a guide only. If you have specific questions, you may ask the OFW by commenting on their video on their accounts.
How Much do Teachers in Thailand Earn?
Most of the information presented below is from the YouTube video of Rona Sales. In this video, she talks about the cost of living, salary and she adds an apartment tour. Click on the link below for more details:
Salary and Cost of Living
Filipinos are considered to be one of the best teachers in Thailand. Aside from being qualified based on the standards set by the government, including English proficiency, we are also passionate about helping students learn, and a lot of schools in Thailand see that love for teaching among Filipino teachers they hire.
In this article, the vlogger talks about what it’s like in Thailand, including how much you can earn and what the cost of living is. These are important to know. However, before talking about the cost of living in Thailand, she shares a typical salary as basis for how much one can save and how much one should spend per month if you live and work as a teacher in Thailand.
The salary she mentioned is 20,000 ThB per month. In Philippine Pesos, that is equivalent to around 33,000 PhP per month, depending on the exchange rate.
She mentioned that this is not her salary. Instead, this was the lowest salary they offered her when she was still applying. The salary depends on the following factors:
- The school you are teaching in
- What course you graduated from
Upon the advice of many Filipino teachers working in Thailand, you should not accept teaching jobs that pay less than 20,000 ThB per month.
Usually, the salary range is between 15,000 ThB to 25,000 ThB. That is equivalent to 23,000 PhP to 38,000 PhP per month. In fact, there are teachers that are lucky enough to have a salary of 27,000 ThB per month, which is equivalent to 41,400 pesos.
Usually, these are the teachers that teach outside of the capital city of Bangkok. There are many schools in Bangkok or near Bangkok as well that offer this salary.
Most schools in Thailand give free housing or housing allowance. These houses are typically fully furnished or semi furnished as well. That alone allows you to save.
Utility Expenses
The following are the utility expenses you are most likely to spend on while working in Thailand, at least this is the experience of the vlogger:
- Accommodation – 2,700 ThB per month
- Electricity – 5 ThB per unit
- Water – 17 ThB per unit
In general, the expenses truly vary, but based on her experience, here monthly payments do not exceed 3,300 ThB per month.
That leaves her with 16,700 ThB left after paying for her utilities like apartment rent, electricity and water.
Cost of Living expenses
The following are the expenses related to cost of living:
- Food – 1,200 ThB
- Other expenses – 1,800 ThB
The vlogger mentioned that if you spend 3000 ThB per month on food, shopping offline and online, and you can buy stuff for yourself, that’s already really high, and you can do all those things.
In fact, the vlogger said that if you can spend 300 ThB per week on food, that’s so high. You can eat so much with this price already. So for a month, that’s times four of that which means you get to spend 1,200 ThB per month just to eat.
After deducting 3,000 from what’s left of your salary after paying the bills, you are now left with 13,700 ThB in a month.
Sending money back home
Now since you are an OFW, you are working for your family. So let’s say you are sending 10,000 PhP per month to your family back home. In Thailand Baht, that is equivalent to 6,100 ThB. That includes service fees and other payments you need to be able to send money.
Now deducting that, you are left with 7,600 ThB. Every month, you can save this amount, which is around 12,540 Pesos.
This means that in one year, which is the typical duration for a contract for teachers starting out in Thailand, you can save PhP 150, 480.
Now, if your contract is only for 10 months, which is the case for our vlogger, you can save 125,410 pesos for that whole duration.
Just remember that this is for a monthly salary of 20,000 ThB, which is the lowest offer that the vlogger got when she was still applying. You will probably earn higher than this on a monthly basis, which means that you can save a lot more than what is presented here.
Better Salary and less work
The vlogger said that compared to her salary in the Philippines, she prefers the one she has in Thailand. Having said that, she advises teachers that they are the only ones that can determine for themselves if going to work in Thailand is worth it.
She did mention that her salary in the Philippines, although lower than that in Thailand, is actually pretty much comparable. So what’s the difference?
- The teaching load in Thailand is less than that in the Philippines
- The paper work is less as well.
- You can save more because the cost of living is generally cheaper.
She mentioned that the highest number of hours she teaches in a day is four 50-minute classes. The least number of hours, on the other hand, is two 50-minute classes.
As you can see, you won’t get too tired teaching even if you put loads of effort in your classes. The paper work is less as well. As a result, she was actually able to do part time work on top of being a full time teacher.
For her part time, she is a tutor for two Thai kids. The money she earns from this gig is what she uses to put in her savings.
She mentioned that a teacher can save lots of money working in Thailand, however, she also said that during her first year, she did not have any savings. That’s because when it’s your first time in Thailand, you will spend money on visa extension working visa.
He started with a tourist visa, and the process of getting your working visa is quite lengthy. Also, you will really spend a lot of money for this. In addition, she had to spend a bit more for getting an apartment for the first time.
On being a graduate of education course
In Thailand, you don’t need to be an education graduate to teach. For example, you can be a graduate in mass communication and still be an English teacher in Thailand. After all, it is one of the ASEAN countries that are struggling to keep up with a high standard of the English language. In fact, any course will do, as long as it is at least a 4-year course.
Having said that, education graduates have an edge. Before you can teach in Thailand, you need a teaching license or a temporary teaching permit for those who didn’t have an education major.
For foreigners teaching in Thailand with an education degree, they are given a 5-year teaching license.
For non-education graduates, on the other hand, they are only given a 2-year temporary teaching permit. This can be renewed after two years, but this has a limit of 6 years.
Before the end of 6 years, you need to be taking education units. You can take Prof Ed courses which allows you to take the Licensure Exam for Teachers.
On learning Thai
You are not required to take a language course and learn Thai. All you really need are the following:
- Know how to speak English
- Have patience to teach young ones
- Have dedication to the teaching profession
If you’re only going to teach in Thailand for the salary, but you don’t have the heart of a teacher, then don’t go. You have to love teaching and inspiring children to be an effective teacher.
There are many backpackers traveling to Thailand, and they want to try teaching for a few months. But before the semester ends, they leave. They just teach for the experience; so that they can say that they tried to teach in Thailand, even though they really weren’t doing a good job doing so.
To reiterate, you don’t need to learn Thai to be a teacher in Thailand. The reason why they’re hiring foreigners is so that students are forced to talk to you in English, which in turn, will help them learn.