markg

Tyrellius, on Yesterday, 18:59 , said:

I keep telling people - it's not how much you earn, it's how much you can save living the lifestyle you want.
For example, I have a friend in the UK who is a qualified teacher with 4 years experience. He earns 34,000 pounds per year living in London.
Thats about 140k Thai baht per month before tax. Lets say about 110k after tax. He pays nearly 50k a month in rent. That leaves him 60k a month.
Which is not a million miles away from someone earning 70k a month in Thailand at this point.

Personally, I eat out for every meal and have a good drink up once a week, have a nice house with a maid/cleaner coming once a week.
Dial that into your London salary and you're just about spent up for the month.
On your (ficticious) 70k a month Thai salary, you're still streets ahead.

I definitely save more than my UK counterparts here for the same lifestyle I'd say.
Oh, and i don't have to pay to go on holiday.

I live in the place where people pay to go on holiday..........!

There's an old adage along the lines of 'you don't go into education if you want to be rich'.
Education is a calling.
Earning enough to make it comfortable makes it that little bit easier.
I'll never be monetary rich, but I also never count down the days to pay day.
Hope that helps.

If what you're really asking is 'f@ck, that seems like a whole load of work' then you'd be right. It is.
It is a substantial amount of work indeed -much more than your average 40 hour week working in an office. However, that is offset by 'ridiculous' holidays.
I have two things to say to people who begrudge the holidays teachers get.
1. It all averages out over the course of a year. I work a lot longer in an average week than many white collar workers
2. If you like the holidays, become a teacher. All you've gotta do is get a decent degree in a recognised subject from a good university, do a couple more years post-grad work, then start out on the bottom rung of the ladder. After about 10 years, you can consider that you've made it ! Easy really........................

Phatcharanan, on Yesterday, 04:12 , said:

Some of the better State schools, and many of the private schools too. The same rules, curriculum and accreditation is used.

Tyrellius, on Yesterday, 12:48 , said:

I don't think you can 'easily' get a CRB check from the UK. The CRB check is done by a UK based employer to find out about a prospective employee. You cannot apply for one yourself.
As an individual, you can get a 'subject access check' which states clearly is NOT a police check, but it kinda is and that is what I used in 2006 when they were asking for them.

There is some recent information here http://www.thaivisa....isa-run-penang/ from 11th May 2012. No mention is made of a police check.
Nor here either http://www.phuketvis...le&Id=538608332

As I've said before, I've never heard a Police check being part of getting a non-B for a Phuket school in the last 5 years. They did have a bit of a strop on immediately after the John Mark Karr incident http://en.wikipedia....ki/Alexis_Reich but as is the Thai way, it quickly blew over and was all forgotten about.

The most important document from the Phuket labour office is the 'WP3' form. Once that has been signed and paid for, you're good to go.
Different labour offices use different rules.
I think they maybe realised that it's inconvenient for many people to get to BKK in person to do a Thai police check.

Never heard of it being needed in the last 5 years in Phuket Scott.

quandow, on 2012-05-27 14:48:43, said:

And herein is why it's a bit rubbish. How does someone who lives in, say. Had Yai, manage to 'nip' up to the police station in Bangkok during working hours............twice?
I got my own police check from my own country about 5 years ago and have never been asked to produce one since, and I've changed schools twice in that time. One hurdle we never found out how to jump over was this; in the USA a 'police check' could consist of one done at County level or by the FBI. The latter takes about 6 weeks minimum I was told. South Africans could only do it in their home country by submitting finger prints, in person, at the South African Embassy in Bangkok - again, very inconvenient for anyone who doesn't live near BKK.

I find it extrememly unlikely that the Police in Bkk have the time or resources to submit a check request to every police department in every country in the world.

Are they really relying on you to submit to them every country you've visited? Rather trusting isn't it? I suspect someone convicted of something in, say, Sierra Leone, might forget to admit they'd ever been there. Their 'police check' would then come up clear.

I've worked at schools who routinely send teachers for Non B visas to Penang or Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Vientienne. None have been asked for a police check in the last 4 or 5 years. All got their visas.