Teaching English in Vietnam - Reliable agencies or schools

Barcelonette wrote:

Hi,

I would like to move to Vietnam for a year or two to teach English. However,  I read some stories where the school did not respect the contract or changed the contract after the signature and the teacher was  left in a bad position.

Yes, the TEFL industry is Vietnam is still largely unregulated. Opening an English school is seen as an easy way to make money. Most schools are small operations and so they prefer to hire teachers on a casual basis and pay them by the teaching hour, usually without a formal contract or any benefits. In this way, they can schedule teachers on a weekly, or even daily, basis as needed and replace unpopular teachers with new ones. Teachers can also take advantage of this arrangement by working for other schools when offered a higher rate of pay or more teaching hours.

This reciprocal system has worked over the decades as the level of supply and demand is just about equal. Schools can almost always replace a teacher that leaves and increase their roster during the summer session when demand is at its highest, and teachers who need more hours can usually find a school that needs a teacher.

As a result, very few schools offer full-time contracts that require a work permit and payment of taxes. Two schools that do this are VUS and RMIT, but even then, new teachers have a lengthy probationary period.

I would like to avoid this situation and to find a serious agency that will place me in a reliable school (in the case the school doesn't respect the contract, the agency is supposed to place me in another school), however I can't find an agency that seems serious and reliable. It is supposed that a professional agency will never charge you adhesion fees, but all the agencies I found did.

As you have seen, the agencies are generally worse than the schools, and in addition, are totally unnecessary. The best thing to do is network with the schools directly and you will see which ones operate with some sort of professionalism and which do not.

Despite having suggestions for agencies, I would also be interested in having suggestions from teachers established in Vietnam for reliable schools that respect their contract and support the teachers in their transition to Vietnam.

Thank you !

Glancing over this list of schools in Ha Noi (you have posted this in the Ha Noi section of the forum): https://www.oxfordseminars.com/esl-scho … /436_hanoi

there's Apollo and Language Link, which used to have good reputations (not sure about now) and RMIT, which is the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Also, some of the "international" schools, which are generally *not* fully accredited IB schools, but merely have a full English language curriculum, may offer a full-time contract. In addition, VUS seems to have at least one branch in Ha Noi.

in short, teaching English in VN means that you take your chances and take what work you can get while looking for better opportunities. Start networking now so you have a list of potential employers when you arrive. Here's who is looking:

https://vietnamteachingjobs.com

Scroll down for the job ads and you can also post your CV/resume and let the schools contact you.

I have been looking into this. Apollo seems good. I worked for RMIT in Australia. The official name is actually RMIT University. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology hasn't been used since the 1990s. Their operations in Vietnam are known as RMIT Vietnam and are not exclusively  language focused.  You can check out their website.  :-)