Teaching Physics in Asia with PhD but No Certification

[TonyTiger680]

Hello all!

I have just joined this forum, and I am currently considering teaching abroad very seriously. In my research so far, I have stumbled on tons and tons of information regarding teaching English abroad via TEFL certification. However, I have found much less information regarding teaching specific subjects abroad through international schools, universities, or other types of educational institutions. Thus, I was really hoping to get some input from you guys!

My background is a PhD in Physics from a very reputable R1 university in the United States, as well as 2 years of lecturing experience with calculus-based intro-level physics courses at that same university. The student evaluations I have received have been very positive. However, I do not have a teaching certification or license. Ideally, I would like to teach physics in either Vietnam, China, South Korea, Thailand, or Japan, though I am open to other possibilities. I am open to teaching high school students nearing graduation, university students, or adults furthering their education. I am also open to teaching English via TEFL for a while as a way to get by while I search for physics teaching jobs on location.

Has anyone on this forum done something similar, or know someone who has? I suppose my main question is whether it is even possible to land international school jobs with my experience and degree alone, without a teaching certificate. How about university lecturer jobs? Also, are there any other viable physics teaching abroad paths that might be good for my background (special education centers, private academies, tutoring?)

Any input I can get from you would be extremely helpful to me! Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Doctor]

Yes - you definitely can. I have a PhD in physics and was able to get jobs at good tier 2 schools in Taiwan, China, HK, Thailand and Vietnam. However my option really opened up once I got the teaching license but in the short term, a PhD in physics and teaching experience will get you a job in Asia teaching physics or math.

[PsyGuy]

How would you teach uni students in Vietnam, China, South Korea, Thailand, or Japan, do you speak any of those languages?
While there are OS Unis (Temple University of Japan and Uni. Nottingham in Malaysia and China for example) that are global campuses and there are foreign Unis with international and English programs (IE. Waseda Uni in JP) that typically offer programs and degrees in international business and international studies, as well as a plethora of exchange and study abroad opportunities, though Physics usually isnt an option during escorted study abroad programs. Youre just not going to find Uni work teaching the native host population where the language of instruction isnt English. At best in that scenario is getting a really nice research grant and finding a Uni in one of those regions that for a cut of the grants coin will support your research, youd effectively be a university researcher and then they might let you teach a course or two. Otherwise your looking at being a ESOL professor lecturing in the modern/foreign language department, though your advance science background would make you more marketable.

Getting a K12/KS credential for you would be easy, Missouri offers a doctoral route to an initial (entry grade) credential that you can renew as often as needed without PD. It requires passing the MEGA 063 Professional Knowledge: Secondary exam (the Missouri professional edu assessment). Other than that its an application and CRB. Youre not required to complete any coursework or an EPP/ITT program or field experience. Combined with your experience in high level maths, not having a credential in maths, there wouldnt be much of a barrier marketing yourself as a maths/physics IT even with your minimal years of experience as a Uni lecturer. As long as youre content with lower tier ISs in those regions especially China you wont have much of a problem finding a position. There are vacancies now for 2019 available. Even then if you wanted to obtain a maths credential there are assessment based pathways from both UT and MA. Even if you didnt want to do any assessments, you could get an ACSI certificate which is an application and USD$75.

Yes, there are ISs that would appoint you based solely on your degree even without a credential, but getting one is going to cost only a few hundred USD and take a day, but again there are third tier (upper floater third tier) ISs that would consider themselves fortunate to have your application even without a credential.

You may have to consider how comfortable you are with teaching not just SLL secondary but upper and possibly lower secondary science or maths.

If your just looking to travel through Asia, you could easily support yourself and make a living as a tutor or instructor at a cram ES either in science/maths or in ESOL, or a combination of them. You could fly into any of those countries you listed and have a job in a couple days.

What is it you really want to do? It sounds like you got the doctorate, did some lecturing but a tenure track appointment isnt happening, you dont have some research project you have funding for, and no one elses to sponsor you, and a post doc fellowships isnt in the works and your thinking you want to do something with physics and your degree but the world just really doesnt need that many physicists. I also get the impression you really dont care what you do, you just want to travel and have some fun, and enjoy some of the high life.

Lastly, just for your consideration, if you do go to any of those Asian regions especially China and you do get some kind of physics work at the Uni level, youre very likely going to have problems in the future getting a security clearance for any type of research work in the US that would require one.

[TonyTiger680]

Thank you PsyGuy and Doctor for your helpful replies!

> How would you teach uni students in Vietnam, China, South Korea, Thailand, or Japan,
> do you speak any of those languages?

Yes, you make a good point. I was making the assumption that the ubiquity of English-based international K-12 schools also implied the presence of many English-based universities, but it seems that's not the case. Teaching ESOL at university level is an interesting option that I will consider, though it's not my top choice.

> Getting a K12/KS credential for you would be easy, Missouri offers a doctoral route
> to an initial (entry grade) credential that you can renew as often as needed without
> PD. It requires passing the MEGA 063 Professional Knowledge: Secondary exam (the
> Missouri professional edu assessment). Other than that its an application and CRB.
> Youre not required to complete any coursework or an EPP/ITT program or field experience.
> Combined with your experience in high level maths, not having a credential in maths,
> there wouldnt be much of a barrier marketing yourself as a maths/physics IT even
> with your minimal years of experience as a Uni lecturer. '

This is a very interesting possibility! Am I able to take the MEGA 063 exam and obtain the certification even if I don't live in Missouri? Also, can you please clarify the meanings of PD, CRB, and EPP/ITT? I wasn't able to find these acronyms in the FAQ/glossary post :)

> You may have to consider how comfortable you are with teaching not just SLL secondary
> but upper and possibly lower secondary science or maths.

Do you say this simply because I will considerably restrict my options if I only look for jobs teaching SLL students? Would it be unreasonable for someone in my position with no previous international school experience to search for a job where I only teach grades 11 and 12?

> If your just looking to travel through Asia, you could easily support yourself and
> make a living as a tutor or instructor at a cram ES either in science/maths or in
> ESOL, or a combination of them. You could fly into any of those countries you listed
> and have a job in a couple days.

Can you elaborate a little bit on "cram schools"? How are they different from standard international schools in terms of academic year, contract length, etc.? Is there a good resource specifically for cram school job postings or are they generally inter-mixed with other international school postings?

> What is it you really want to do? It sounds like you got the doctorate, did some
> lecturing but a tenure track appointment isnt happening, you dont have some research
> project you have funding for, and no one elses to sponsor you, and a post doc fellowships
> isnt in the works and your thinking you want to do something with physics and your
> degree but the world just really doesnt need that many physicists. I also get the
> impression you really dont care what you do, you just want to travel and have some
> fun, and enjoy some of the high life.

This question keeps me up at night! What I know for sure is that I really enjoy learning and teaching physics, and I also want to explore and experience different parts of the world. Given my background, teaching physics abroad is the easiest way to combine these two things in a financially responsible way. Actually, I never seriously considered a tenure-track research position. Here in the US, my ideal job would be a full-time university instructor teaching upper division and maybe even grad-level physics courses, though such positions seem very rare (it seems usually the lecturers and adjuncts teach only the lower-division intro level classes while the tenured professors do the upper division and grad level stuff). If I'm going to be "stuck" teaching intro-level physics for a while (which is still pretty fun), doing it abroad seems like the most exciting way.

You are also correctly picking up on the fact that, overall, I want a less hectic pace of life than seems to be the norm in the US. I don’t want my life to revolve solely around my career. Not only do I want more time for things like travel, leisure, socializing, etc., but I also want to have the time (and more importantly, the mental energy) for my other creative pursuits and hobbies. I don’t need a lot in terms of material things to be happy. However, it is important for me to be able to save a decent amount of money as I do this. I also need to employable if or when I return to the US.

Overall, I still don’t know how realistic any of this is when it comes to international or cram school teaching, so the research is ongoing!

Any additional input you have is much appreciated, and thank you for the information you have already given me!

[PsyGuy]

@TonyTiger680

Yes, you can take the MEGA exam throughout the US.
Yes, you can obtain the Missouri initial credential outside of being a Missouri resident.

They arent? I suppose Ive been neglecting the Glossary lately.
PD = Professional Development; In the US most states require DTs to complete a certain amount of continuing education to renew their credentials. It can be a problem for ITs because most state DOEs dont accept PD that isnt Uni credits/units or from an approved PD provider and the vast majority of those approved providers are mostly state organizations and institutions. Some states (such as CA) dont require PD for renewal, and some states (NJ) issue lifetime credentials.
EPP = Educator Preparation program; A generic term for the professional training programs of educators in the US, that results in the eligibility for a credential.
ITT = Initial Teacher Training; A generic term for the professional training programs of educators in the UK, that results in the eligibility for QTS.
CRB = Criminal Records Bureau. A currently generic term for a criminal background check. Historically it was the term in the UK used for general criminal background and had various levels that could be combined with the disbarring lists maintained by the the ISA. Now they have been combined and renamed the DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) which is a form of a CRB criminal background check.

Yes, youre going to considerable restrict and limit your employment options if your only interested in SLL physics positions. You have two problems:
1) While there are ISs with large student populations, there are far more ISs with moderate and smaller student populations. To support an FTE appointment and thus an OSH package an IS has to put together a full load of courses. While ISs generally will support a 4x4 curriculum of core courses including science, physics is just one of those choices at SLL. Youre going to need a sizable student population to support a FTE SLL physics IT, at smaller and more modest ISs to fill out the same FTE course load your going to have to be assigned to courses that arent SLL level,a nd thus younger age groups of students.
2) The best physics ITs are typically not the best physicists. While I have no doubt your competent in teaching physics, I also doubt you understand the SLL curriculum for KS/K12 in A*/IB/AP. Its not just knowing the physics, its knowing the scope, sequence, alignment, objectives, etc. that compose the subject of physics as taught in secondary edu. Its not just flashing your doctorate and walking into the classroom with an idea what the next chapter in the text is because youve been working from a Uni master course syllabus. SLL is externally moderated and assessed, you have to be able to not only transfer knowledge in a way that makes the light bulb go off for the student, but do so in such a way it makes the light bulb go off again 3, 6, 9, 18 months in the future. Its not just teaching what you think they need to know based on youre assessment of them at the end of a course, but what national and global curriculum assessors dictate they need to know months and months in the future.
With that in mind youre a relatively inexperienced and untested performer in being able to do that. An IS takes a significant risk in putting you in an SLL class, because they dont know if you can successfully do the knowledge transfer AND students can reproduce that knowledge during exams. There are really brilliant people in their subject matter who cant teach themselves out of a box, and in the case of SLL its a very specific box. They dont know if you can do that, so the preference is to give you a lower secondary group of classes and see how well you do with those students in an environment that is less critical and more forgiving to student success.
To be direct, its not uncommon at all. Most Uni Profs think KS/K12 ITs/DTs are stupid and brain damaged, incapable of succeeding in corporate and industry positions appropriate for their background. They dont typically consider ITs/DTs scholars or academic but glorified babysitters and child care providers who do the "cute" stuff. They typically think theres nothing to teaching at the KS/K12 level; lecture, worksheets, maybe play some games, give them a quiz at the end of the week. What they typically get woefully wrong is the success dynamic, its very literally and figuratively the ITs/DTs responsibility for the students failure or success. Its not in Uni where successes is the students ability to reflect the Profs proficiency to whatever standard the Prof deems appropriate. In IE the parents are the client, and the service they are buying is their childs education, and you can aggregate all the IT tasking into how well your instruction maximizes their childs learning outcomes. Sure, when theres a problem, looking at the students capabilities and performance is one of the first factors to explore, but make no mistake it will very quickly get to the ITs proficiently and ability. In the US DE system it isnt hyperbole for parents to come into a conference call the IT an idiot and then file a lawsuit.

Cram schools are a type of ES. They are after school, school programs operated by private entities. An IS typically operates a day program from about 8am too 2-3 pm in the afternoon at which point students are dismissed but then the IS will provide an ASP program for about an hour several times a week. After that program (and not all students participate), students may go to an ES for English language instruction or to an ES cram school, which provides tutoring of various intensity's in differing subjects for different objectives (such as test prep, etc.). A cram school is just a program option that an ES may provide in addition to ESOL.

How are they different:

1) ISs run day programs 8+ hours a day, weekdays, morning to afternoon. ESs typically provide after school, evening and weekend programs.

2) ITs receive comp based on duty schedules comprised of contact hours and instructional hours (typically 40hrs/wk, of which a majority portion are allocated to teaching courses). ITs are expected to complete their tasking and duty assignments regardless of the work schedule. Typically this means preparing for a course or marking outside of their duty schedule. This time commitment can be considerable. In an ES your compensated when youre there, for your actual contact time whether your teaching or not and when your not there you dont have other tasks you have to complete. When you leave, you leave everything at the ES.
If your IS schedules 4 extra meetings a week because of the accreditation review coming up for the next month, your going to those meetings and your not getting extra coin for it. If your ES mandates a meeting during the week, your there, your getting paid for it. There are some events at ESs, typically "parties" that your not compensated with coin (and your participation is mandatory), but the food and beverages are usually provided by the ES.

3) ISs generally provide a comp package that includes OSH benefits such as relocation (flights, shipping, shopping, settling) allowances, housing, document processing, PD, etc. ESs generally provide a LH package which is salary (including bonus) and social insurance, though there are programs that provide housing (more common in Uni ESOL programs) and possibly an incoming flight (though this may be in the form of a EOC bonus).

4) ISs typically require or at least prefer professional edu credentials, ESs dont beyond whats required to get a visa.

5) EE has a lot more availability and flexibility. You could travel the world as an ET throughout the year without any issues finding work, especially since youre focused on Asia. IE less so, the recruiting cycle moves in a fixed pattern over the recruiting cycle and contracts are typically 2 years in duration. You really only get to travel as an IT during major holiday breaks internationally and locally during long weekends. Your essentially committed to a location for an extended period of time.

6) Performance, references and social politics are far more important in IE. Regardless of what you think or how youre treated you have to keep your leadership happy, regardless of whether the treatment is fair or not. In EE you can always go down the street if youre unhappy for whatever reason or pack, hop a plane and hit the next city.

7) IE provides far more of a career without having to think too much about it. At some point ITs start looking for an IS that provides them a pension/retirement social insurance scheme. In EE thats a lot harder to do without attaching yourself to a Uni, an IS or owning your on ES. There are regions (such as JP on your list) where you can self employ a serious of PT contracts and self sponsor your visa and pay your taxes and contributions to your own pension, but thats a long grind.

In direct reply to your inquiries:

IS contracts are typically 2 years in duration, though there are 1 year contracts and leadership contracts generally start at 3 years. ES contracts are usually 'at will' though the ES will prefer a 1 year commitment and most visas are 1 year (or longer) in length.

The AY (academic year) varies especially among those ISs that maintain a regional/local calendar, those with a western calendar typically operate a 10 month August too June calendar. In EE the calendar runs year long with constant recruitment and work all year long.

Daves ESL Cafe is a general resource, but there are plenty or regional job boards, and some of the best jobs are only advertised locally. Sites like Teach Away can can help you get a start and then work your way around from there. The other avenue for cram jobs is the various universities you will find across Asia. Lots of opportunities for PT work as a tutor in the student resource center or instructor in the ESOL department.

Which do you want to do more teach or travel. As I mentioned above, the travel opportunities your going to have are going to be restricted internationally to holiday breaks and local destinations for long weekends, otherwise wherever your working and living is going to be the background for your explorations. If travel means exploring another part of the city you havent been too and then traveling to another city during the couple of holiday breaks than IE will allow you to do that. You can work in Bangkok and spend a couple years exploring the city on the weekends and then jump down to Pattaya or up to Chiang Mai during a week long or longer holiday. IE will let you do that. If you want to experience different regions and locations while living in them, IE is going to be much more restraining. In EE you can just pack up, head to the airport and move on to the next adventure anew. Dosnt matter the time of the year there is always work somewhere doing something even if its ESOL related).

How are you going to feel not teaching physics, specifically how would you feel teaching general science to a class of 12/13 year olds? Especially to angsty kids that are entering puberty and have all that teen drama and a portion of them wont even like science or want to be there. Physics at SLL is something students choose to do. You dont end up with a bunch of artsy kids in a SLL physics class that dont care about physics, arent interested in science and who suck at maths. You WILL get 11,12,13,14, 15 year old students stuck in a general science or physical science (not physics) class that are there because they have to be there who would rather post pics of themselves on social media or play Fortenite.

Those are really rare positions, you have to get tenure to get to a position you can then take your pick of courses and you have to do research to get to tenure. Managing tenure is a job in itself on top of the actual work. Youve got your teaching course load your service component and your professional component and then the research aspect. Sure you can teach exclusively as an adjunct but thats chump coin, you wont even get lab space.

I understand what youre looking for, youre just not likely going to walk into it anywhere you want to be. You need a large enough IS with a student population that will support 5-6 sections of SLL physics and that IS has to be desperate enough to give an IT with no experience teaching SLL or even teaching KS/K12 those courses and students. ISs with large student populations are either one of the small handful of 1st/Elite tier ISs or your looking at third tier ISs that are essentially private/independent DSs for host nationals. The former arent generally desperate and the latter are going to take a toll both in your financial expectations and their organization and management on top of half your class time is going to effectively be an ESOL lesson as the students are all going to be ELLs.
ESs with cram programs arent any picnic either youll have students demand you do their homework for them and edit their papers, because theyre paying.

Well IE is a lot less hectic than various aspects of DE. Fewer active shooter drills, less profanity directed your way from students. Less having to give students passing grades because of unlimited retakes and redos its easier to pass them than find new ways for them to fail. Generally all kinds of things loosely defined as respect you find in IE and absent in DE.

Your first two years in IE will be one year learning how to form a lesson from the curriculum and your other year how to organize a classroom and manage student behavior. You will then spend about 3 years developing the efficiencies that will allow you to finish a day/week without having to take too much work home with you and allow you to enjoy those weekends and evening.
Of course you dont have to be good, you can do the minimum. There are ISs that simply cant do any better. The students are ELLs you can always blame their lack of language ability on their poor performance. They will also have outside resources available to them because they are generally more affluent and they can afford cram and ESOL ESs. They (parents) also arent likely to blame you, you can be a page turner IT, and just lecture, essentially explaining and reading the text to students. You dont need to do anything more than read a few pages ahead of the text for your lecture. If your not going to be good, all you really need to do is not be so bad to be dismissed. That would give you plenty of time, energy and resources.

[TonyTiger680]

Hi PsyGuy,

Apologies for taking so long to carefully read your detailed reply. Just wanted to say thank you again for all the information. Based on everything I've gathered from you, teaching at a cram ES (either physics, English, or a combination of both) and possibly supplementing that with part-time tutoring sounds like a more appropriate option for me than teaching at an international school, though I will continue researching both possibilities.

-Anton

[shadowjack]

Teaching at a cram school is not the way to go about getting into a good international school. Far better to get certified and go for a tier 2 school, then work your way up.

Your cram school experience won't count very much in general...