Teaching In China | Training Schools vs. Universities: Pros and Cons

So, you want to teach in China? Here are some tips!









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Working at a training school, you will have:

- Longer working hours. Many, if not most, training schools will sign you for something around 22-25 teaching hours a week, not including “non-teaching hours.” This includes: English First, i2 International Education, Wall Street English, Disney English, New Oriental, Meten English. You can sign part-time contracts with most of these companies, but generally speaking, if you want a living wage, a full-time job, and a Z visa (work visa), you’re gonna put in the hours.

- Higher pay. You’re working longer hours, so you will get paid more. Salaries range from 140/hr to 200+/hr. If you’re teaching 25 hours a week, you can work that out. Some training schools give housing stipends/other compensation, so you’ll be making 10-15k yuan/month.

- No experience / credentials needed, depending on where and which company you teach at.

- No housing included. You’re on your own for a place.

- Lots of young students and annoying parents with abnormally high expectations.

- Fairly rigid curriculums to follow and little freedom to teach what you like.

- Not a normal social life. You’ll be working weekends.

Working at a university, you will have:

- Shorter working hours. Most university contracts are for between 12-18 teaching hours a week, with 16 being the most common. However, each “hour” is usually 45 or 50 minutes, followed by a break, then another “hour,” so you’re not teaching the whole time.

- Lower pay. Working less = less money, of course.

- Experience / credentials needed. This also depends on where you’re going to be. If you want to be at a university and you don’t have any experience, you’ll have to start small. You’ll at least need your original degree, and sometimes they’ll want to see your transcripts as well! They’re cutting down on fake degrees.

- More free time!!

- Housing included (most of the time) or a housing stipend.

- Complete freedom to teach what you like, sometimes to a fault.

- Older students, often (not always) with better English, so you don’t need to teach from the ground up.

Good luck!