I was just curious if anyone knows if it would technically be possible to acquire a teachers working visa without having a degree? Are there any detours, does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks in advance for any advice...
My niece's boyfriend was turned down for not having a degree. Our landlord at that time worked in the government department that issued some of the papers and he told me that the law had been changed to require a degree. That change would have been made 3-4 years ago.
For a Z-visa, I believe you need degree + 2 years "experience"
There are programs, such as Teach Travel China, that are collaboration programs that will get you a teaching position as an intern, but you won't be on a work visa (i believe it's a "cultural visa" and your pay is severly limited to 2000 RMB/month?)
Degrees of any kind (verifiable, non-verifiable, w/wo transcripts, etc) may be purchased online for nominal sums. You can even be a PhD (but that's pushing it).
'Pushing it' Especially if you are 21.
Under the new regs, no fresh grads for work visas. How can a novice be a Foreign Expert, at anything?
Why does someone have to be an expert to teach English?
Some people have teaching ability without a degree don't they? Perhaps more so than some people with a degree not related to teaching anyway. A graduate in Engineering or Accounting might be good in those respective fields, but how is that related to whether or not they can teach?
@Quester.
Yes you are technically correct. However, a degree does shows a higher level of education and, in the absence of all other evidence, documentary evidence is what government departments usually rely on. There are many qualifications a teacher needs, but only those on paper can be quantified by officials.
Certificates can be measured, as can length of previous experience and even good references.
You can get a job teaching English in China without a degree. But you won't get a work visa for a teaching job.
I think Chinese teachers, of any subject in China, need a masters at least to teach in schools and a PhD to teach at university.
It is not just English teachers. In Europe, it also includes cooks and baby minders.
I have known engineers who had no degree, they came up the old way, through work experience and night school. However, these guys are in their 60s. That route was closed years ago. Now you will not get any recognition in most professions without a degree.
@Tigertiger,
I personally am acquainted with several university teachers here in Kunming who have only masters degrees, so if that's a requirement to have a PHD it must be a new one.
@Tigertiger
Have a look at the Yunda English department site: most of the faculty only has an MA.
@OP If you don't have a degree, just go online and search for (Whatever you like but don't get to carried away) BA Diploma," Photoshop it, and then fudge your resume. The people who run the school in question won't bother to follow up, and the nincompoops in the "related government bureau" wouldn't know how to check those credentials even if they wanted to.
Of course today employers want degree-holders. My mini-rant is just, as my wife actually has a Teaching quailifcation as well as TESOL, that schools employ teachers with any old degree not related to teaching at all. If I want someone to build me a dam, I'd want someone with an engineering degree not a psychology degree. If I was to have surgery, I'd want a doctor with a medical degree and not a literature degree! Why then if I want to employ a teacher would I want someone with a computer science degree? And how does that make them an Expert?
