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Q: Does the recent presence of illegal part timers affect legal teachers?
Lets say you found out that there are a few foreigners coming in and out of your locality, doing part time jobs at neighboring schools[illegally]. Will this affect your salary or job in the long run? Particularly considering that they could be accepting a lower wage and also bearing in mind that this type of foreigner requires less paperwork, he just comes, does the job then goes.
9 years 6 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Few people risk it. Even if there was an unmonitored flood of illegal part-timers, most of the takers would be from non-big-5 countries, i.e. non-natives.
There are plenty of part-timers running between schools, helping them to do the bare minimum to keep their customers happy. As long as the right officials get their red envelopes, who cares where the teachers are really from and what their visa type is!
All the while, the school is on the lookout to hire a native speaker. And if they can get one, they won't screw around with part-time illegal offers either. Or maybe some stupid bosses do, but then they lose a native speaker to another school. A full-time native speaker on the books equals bums on seats and tuition fees in the cash drawer.
Real teachers are a rarity, and no amount of illegal part-timers can fix the scarcity.
Iron12:
Yes I think so as well. The school can build a steady business on a fulltime legal, rather than one that comes and goes...
I usually do the job, come, then go.
diverdude1:
I try to come too... or 2. but they always seem to be asking if I'm finished yet. seemingly mindless of schedules!
School must have Gov.'s authorization for foreign hire, so 'part-time hire' is most likely at Schools, which don't have such authorization.
I always get part-time job offers while on RP in China, however 'moonlightning' is illegal by Chinese law.
At the risk of giving a serious answer to a troll.... The presence of illegal teachers and schools is simply a reflection of the market for foreign teachers attempting to reach an equilibrium between supply and demand. Due to burdensome regulations, it is hard for anyone without deep pockets and valuable connections to legally hire foreign teachers. Yet the demand is insatiable and someone is going to be able to profit by meeting it. Hence you have illegal schools and illegal teachers. Furthermore, the law in China doesn't operate as black and white as it does in other places and the existence of illegals is largely tacitly accepted. It's not as if the police aren't aware that there are SOME foreigners making money illegally by teaching.... just like there are SOME government officials who make money illegally through corruption and SOME executives who take bribes to hire people. So does it concern me? Not in the least. If you are a competent teacher the demand for your services is not going anywhere anytime soon. And if you are that concerned about the law not being followed exactly in all cases, China might not be the best place for you.
Iron12:
Thanks for the answer, the info you provide is very appreciated.
No, im not a troll. I always ask genuine questions. sometimes controversial and blatant. But always genuine.
Eorthisio:
Chinese don't understand supply and demand, there is a serious lack of foreign teachers in China right now, yet many schools still offer less than 10000RMB per month thinking that it will be enough and then wonder "why can't we find a foreign teacher?". They should be paying a lot more and try to be attractive considering that the foreign teacher is in 90% of the cases the centerpiece of the school's marketing strategy, "send your kid here, we have a foreign teacher".
dongbeiren:
@ Eorthiso
The problem is a lot of foreign teachers don't understand the market or how much they're worth if they're half way competent. The advantage is with the FT now because no one good wants to come to China anymore. Schools depend on the ignorance of lazy or transient foreign teachers who don't know/care enough to demand what they're worth. A lot of the people who come for a year don't really care about salary and just want the China experience. I know guys who've been here for a long time and make great money and most schools won't go near them because those foreigners will demand what they're worth and not get screwed around. Those schools prefer naive newbies who think 8,000 a month and an apartment is a good salary because "locals make a lot less". I also know guys who've been in China for years and still make basic training school salaries around 10k because they're not willing to shop around, find better opportunities and negotiate hard.
No...as long as you are getting the hours and pay you are worth and were promised.
Also its best to mind your own business and block out things that don't concern you. It's the Chinese way and going against it can make you very unpopular..
I think there is a saying in Chinese "I'm just here to buy soy sauce"...
