Well its official... The "New" 2015 China foreign teacher requirements are exactly the same as the 2013 and 2014 requirements even if some shady job agents and TEF: sales reps want you to believe otherwise. The official Chinese government requirements for a foreigner to teach in China today are:
- A bachelor degree in any major
- A valid passport with a Z visa
- 2 years previous work experience
- English fluency
- Age 21-60 years
- Police certificate for Beijing
These are the official 2015 MANDATORY legal requirements to teach in China and anything more is optional according to SAFEA, the U.S. embassy, Chinese Embassy in Washington, and China Ministry of Education as you can check yourself at these links:
SAFEA.com
beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/acs_teach.html
moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_2803/index.html
Teaching certificates (TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA) are not mandatory unless you work for the EF chain that requires them. But if you have never taught before getting one is a damn good idea and may help you find a position faster. At present about 8% of expat teachers in China have one and the trend is growing.
If some China job agent or recruiter tries to tell you something different, just send him these three links below and tell him he is badly misinformed:
scam.com/showthread.php?t=616386
bjstuff.com/profiles/blogs/mystery-news-article-about-new-china-foreign-esl-tefl-teacher
chinascamwatch.org