Contract and Work Overview

You will be asked to sign a contract on your arrival at the school

What is reasonable

Your contract will state a start time and a finish time. It is reasonable to be at work during these times.

Your contract will state you will assist some evenings and some weekends, this is reasonable.

There are many gazetted holidays on the calendar. We found we have about 9 weeks of holidays for the year.

One of the most important parts of a program where students have to pay extra is parent confidence in the teachers. It is reasonable to attend some functions and meetings just to be seen. Parents are more confident in teachers they can meet, they can then see their children are being taught by quality people.

Show initiative, there will be many periods of time when there is not a lot to do. Put together some quality lesson plans. Edit your program to include a greater variety of learning styles. Find out what the curriculum is expecting and plan displays about the topics. Do some small tests and keep the results for end of term assessments (this will save some work and stress as you will have marks for everyone)

Go and talk to some students, ask them about their likes and dislikes and what the did at the weekend. This makes the students practice their English.

As a teacher you will be expected to write behaviour reports twice a term which are in a prepared format and consist of about 6 lines per student. You will also be requried to run two exams a term with the appropriate recording of marks. (Very typical teacher tasks).

What is not reasonable

To be expected to work long hours without breaks.

To be expected to perform duties that are personal or improper. To place a teacher assistant in front of a full class with no supervising teacher.

Keeping in Perspective

Thai teachers are employed by the government and are on call 7 days a week and evenings.

The foreigner who wrote this found the 4 or 5 evenings he had to stay back very reasonable and easy work. The 10 weeks we taught the Prathom 6 students we were paid extra, it was not onerous even if we were grateful when it ended. We worked about 6 weekends some of which we were involved with school camps which was to our benefit as we saw more of Thailand. We were also given a great deal of time to go and pursue other things.

The prime concern for personal requests is to ask your person in charge of the EP Program well before and remind them of special requests. If there was no-one else in the office I never left the school without sending an SMS to the person in charge . I was never refused a reasonable request for time off and in most instances the organization was altered to suit me and bookings for hotels made for me.

What is reasonable is keeping other informed well before the time, don't ring up on the day and say you are going swimming for the day. The person in charge of the Program has to justify your wage to other directors, other teachers and the parents and should not have to loose face.

Teaching Assistants

To comply with reasonable directions as given by Director Supervisor or Teachers.

Reasonable can sometimes include weekend work.

Typical Jobs for Teaching Assistants.

Check rooms to ensure students have kept them clean

Change class room displays every month. this need not be a full change but a theme can be selected and the displays changed to the theme.

Student work should be displayed at all times with new work displacing the older work.

All work should be displayed. If it is not good enough the students should edit work to create a more appropriate display. (everything does not have to be perfect just appropriate)

Assist with photocopying.

Assisting in class with students, helping to create understanding.

Researching educational games and creating a link document with descriptions.

Preparing class equipment and teaching aids for teachers.

Work with small groups.

Help talk to parents at small gatherings.

Contract of Employment for Expatriate Teachers-

Note; this contract has been updated but is still very similar for Sa-nguan Ying School.

Agreement

I, ???????????????? being Director of Sa-nguan Ying School hereby appoint ????????? to the position of Teacher to undertake such duties and functions associated with this position as hereinafter provided, for the specified period, with the remuneration and conditions as agreed and subject to the terms and conditions specified below.

The two parties agree to sign this contract and pledge to fulfill conscientiously all obligations stipulated in it.

The appointment is for the period from April 1, 2007 to October 31, 2007.

Remuneration will be at 32 000 baht [gross] (varies according to service and teaching qualifications) with an income tax rate of 7% per month beginning from the day of commencement of duty.

Mr. ????????? ?????????? will teach subjects as required to Student Grade 7, 8, 9&10 in the English Program and other classes as required

Travel Expenses

If the teacher’s contract is for one academic year, the school will provide the teacher with $Aud 1200 towards the cost of a return economy class air fare between Bangkok and Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. (payable in the first few months of reaching Thailand)

Any additional costs will be borne by the teacher.

If the contract is broken or terminated, prior to completion, the teacher will be required to repay half the return airfare. If this is not done, the school will notify the Ministry of Immigration. The Ministry will not grant an immigration clearance to leave the country until all debts such as this have been paid to the school.

Vacations Allowance

The teacher will be entitled to fully paid school and public holidays as prescribed by English Program of Sa-nguan Ying School and the Royal Thai Ministry of Education.

Sa-nguan Ying School Obligations

Introduce to the teacher the laws, decrees and relevant regulations enacted by the Thai government, Sa-nguan Ying’s work system and regulations concerning administration of expatriate teachers.

Provide a thorough orientation program for the teacher prior to the opening of the school year and provide an appropriate mentor to assist the teacher settle in to the teaching program.

Conduct direction, supervision and evaluation of the teacher’s work and inform the teacher of the way this will be conducted.

Provide the teacher with assistance in accessing and negotiating necessary working and living conditions

Pay the teacher’s salary regularly by the month into a bank account nominated by the teacher. (Assistance provided here)

Arrange all necessary work permits in line with Government Regulations.

Meet the teacher on arrival at Bangkok and provide transfers to Suphanburi.

Other Items

Sa-nguan Ying will organise accommodation at Yee Dee Mee Sook. (next door to school)

Sa-nguan Ying School will allow the teacher personal internet access through the school system.

Teacher’s Obligations

To provide the school with the following documents to indicate his/her qualified teacher status:

· Original degree/educational training certificates and certified copies of these

· Original transcripts of final results and certified copies of these

· Copy of the inside front cover of the passport

· A current police clearance check

Observe the laws decrees and relevant regulations enacted by the Royal Thai government, the Ministry of Education and not interfere in Thai internal affairs.

Observe the Sa-nguan Ying work system and regulation concerning administration of expatriates including the school’s dress code and other codes and accept the school’s arrangement, direction, supervision and evaluation in regard to his work.

Without Sa-nguan Ying consent, the teacher shall not render services elsewhere or hold concurrent any post unrelated to the work agreed on with Sa-nguan Ying.

Complete the tasks agreed in the schedule of employment and guarantee the quality of work.

Respect the Thai monarchy and Thai culture including religious beliefs and values.

Conditions of Employment

Leave

The leave regulations of Thai government schools will apply:

The employee is entitled to ask for leave with full pay as deemed necessary during the period of each year of the term of employment according to following basis:

Business leave or special holiday leave not more than ten working days.

Sick leave not more than fifteen working days. In the case where sick leave is five consecutive working days, it must be accompanied with a certificate of an officially accepted physician.

If the employee had taken sick leave in excess of fifteen working days in any given year, the period allowed for leave under 1 may be used to compensate the period of sick leave in excess thereof.

The employee is not entitled to receive remuneration for the number of working days of leave over those allowed for. The deduction of remuneration shall be one-twenty-second of the monthly remuneration for one working day.

Hours of duty:

The hours of attendance at the school will be as specified:

From 8.00 AM to 4.00 PM

Out of hours work will include the following:

i. Saturdays – as required

ii. Meetings – as required

iii. Evening functions – as required

iv. Festivals – as required

Penalties for lateness or unauthorised absence from the school will be according to the following schedule:

Lateness: 8 days’ lateness will be treated as one day’s absence. This will result in the equivalent of 1/22 of the monthly salary deducted from the salary.

The instructional teaching load shall be no more than 22 periods each of 50 minutes per week.

Revision, Cancellation and Termination of the Contract

Both parties agree to abide by the conditions of this contract and will refrain from revising, cancelling or terminating the contract without mutual consent.

When both parties have reached an agreement, the contract should be strictly observed.

The contract may be revised, or cancelled only by the mutual consent of both parties.

Sa-nguan Ying has the right to cancel the contract with written notice to the teacher under the following conditions:

The teacher does not fulfil the contract obligations according to the terms stipulated, and has failed to amend the point of obligation after the Director or his delegate has pointed out this failure of obligation.

If according to doctor’s diagnosis, the teacher cannot resume normal work after a continued 30 day sick leave.

If the teacher is absent from duty under the conditions specified above

The teacher has the right to cancel the contract with a written notice to Sa-nguan Ying under the following conditions:

Sa-nguan Ying School has not provided the teacher with necessary working conditions as stipulated in the contract

Sa-nguan Ying School has not paid the teacher as scheduled.

Should any matter which is not provided for in this contract arise during the course of its performance, it should be settled through consultation by the two parties.

This contract is legally binding.

Acting Director

Teacher being employed