Is a Two Year Degree Good Enough to Land a Good English Teaching Job?

A reader asked:

I was wondering about the Associates Degree. I have one that I received last year and to be honest I have no specific special area for work history.

I’ve become a more “Jack of All Trades” sort of guy, though my main hobby is computers and IT.

I’m only 25 and wondering where I can teach English? What countries accept just an AA and where is the best place to look for a job for those places?

Employers generally require what their country’s labor/immigration ministry requires.

With the exception of Japan, there doesn’t seem to be a surplus of teachers anywhere, thus employers tend to ask for the minimum requirement allowed to obtain legal working papers for their foreign teachers.

Will an AA Substitute?

Labor departments tend to require a bachelor’s degree or not.   It’s not usually negotiable.

I am not aware of any country that would accept a two-year AA/AS degree as being comparable, so your best bet might be China, Cambodia and/or Indonesia.  Indonesia seems to be moving toward requiring a degree though.

China these days is probably the world’s largest employer of EFL teachers, so there is plenty of opportunity.  In the super mega-cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai or Beijing, employers tend to want a degree, but once you head out to the real China like Hangzhou, Nanjing and many other truly huge cities – there is plenty of opportunity.

Get a TEFL Certification

China requires a TEFL certification.  They don’t really care what kind, how many hours, online or in classroom – they just want to know you made some effort to learn some basics.

For Cambodia, get a TEFL certification to strengthen your hand.   Many of Thailand’s non-degreed teachers, when Thailand started requiring a bachelor’s degree, headed over to Cambodia and almost all of the them will have had a TEFL training course as it was required in Thailand.  You’ll need to compete with them for the better jobs.

Lots of Opportunity

You can see there is a lot of opportunity out there.  All you have to do is go and get it.

Just as an aside, if IT is your thing,  you might want to read a blog post at our sister site TEFL Newbie where we have a post called: IT People Make Great EFL Teachers.  And it is true!

TED’s Tips™ #1:   No degree, no TEFL cert – to many employers – sometimes means just another backpacker passing through who will have no commitment to their students.

Get some training to separate yourself from the crowd.

SHARE With TEFL Teacher Training: If you are an experienced teacher – or even a newbie – that has some positive teaching advice to tell TEFL Teacher Training readers,  CLICK HERE.