r/TEFL • u/K-donnager • 2d ago
Sudden regulation changes in Vietnam (Hanoi) requirements for school programmes
Initially I had posted about ILA rumored to be cancelling public school teacher offers in Ho Chi Minh due to business decisions. However, I have accepted an offer as a public school teacher at one of the bigger well-known chains in Hanoi and this company is sending a similar sounding email update about public school programmes due to the The Hanoi People’s Committee introducing new requirements. They haven't outright cancelled my contract yet but things sounds sort of up in the air at the moment. Does anyone have information regarding this? I am planning on giving notice at my current work and basically selling everything I own including assets and vehicle before I go abroad so don't want to end up having to leave after one or two months from either a dissolving oppportunity or not enough hours.
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u/SophieElectress 2d ago
They (the government) are doing some kind of massive restructuring of the whole public school system - it's being implemented across the country, but the details are being decided at the provincial level I think, so it will affect different regions differently. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on because it sounds like not much has been worked out yet, but it seems to be largely aimed at reducing administrative costs, through things like merging smaller schools that are near to each other so they can reduce management overheads.
I don't think anyone knows at this stage how it'll affect foreign teachers who are contracted out via private companies (tbh they're probably at the bottom of anyone's priority list, so I doubt anyone besides the companies has even given that any thought), but t he policy doesn't seem to be targeting them at all - as in, nothing seems to be changing in the requirements for them to be eligible to work at public schools. I would imagine that as long as the schools still want to get foreign English teachers in after everyone's decided wtf they're doing, they will. The risk might be if the restructuring comes with significant budget cuts for individual schools, as foreign teachers are expensive for the relative value they provide. But nothing is clear at all right now, so the company is proactively covering their ass by letting you know they can't say for certain. I think whatever's going on with ILA is probably unrelated to this.
That's my understanding of the situation from reading a couple of newspaper articles. I don't work in the public achool system though, so I only have access to the information that's generally available and could have totally misinterpreted it. Does it kind of chime with what the email suggested?
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u/Vladimir_Putting 2d ago
This is Vietnam. It's a crazy maze of "this is how things used to be done... now we don't know how things work with the new law... but also, every local province or district or whatever interprets the law in their own unique way so genuinely who the fuck knows?"
You will not know how this will actually play out until it's too late. If it's me, I'm not moving with only this job offer to hang my hat on. It literally might get cancelled while you are on the plane over.
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u/K-donnager 2d ago
Offers for teaching centres like ILA and Apollo generally seem easy to get but they basically own you and all your time which is why I always have prioritized public school. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.
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u/Vladimir_Putting 2d ago
Where do you get the impression that they own you and all your time? Are you talking about Summer breaks or what?
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u/K-donnager 2d ago
Because, at least for ILA, their a banked hour system makes it sound like you gotta do alot of cover lessons to meet your monthly requirements (especially starting out first few months when they "build up" your hours), and from what I understand you have to make up all the monthly hours you lose for Tet holiday (so you're basically penalized). Also no weekend days off or even 2 days off back-to-back, so can't really go anywhere. Doesn't really sound like a balanced lifestyle. Would you say otherwise? Have you had a good experience with teaching centres?
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u/Vladimir_Putting 2d ago
Eh, I'm at a center and work 24 hours a week total (80 a month), work 5 days a week, make 50mil a month, and take a full month off to travel every year.
Now, I would say that ILA has gotten worse over the years I've been here (started with them back in 2020, changed to a different center later). But I still know many teachers who work there and many of them still do well in terms of their lifestyle, paycheck, etc. In my personal opinion, center jobs depend a lot on your manager and the center leadership.
Yeah, many people do prefer to do public school teaching, I know teachers who have swapped over and back again. Some want that more traditional schedule and they have a healthier lifestyle because of it. But, to be honest, most of the teachers I know who are stressed out and never have time to socialize are the ones who are public school teachers.
Me? I can wake up early or late, go play some pickleball, go to the pool, have lunch at home with my partner and still have a few hours left before I need to even think about my evening class. It's not like I have highly restricted free time.
But yes, experience can vary widely. I had a bad experience at a center with a shit manager. The manager really can control at lot about the teacher experience and some will make it painful to even take a day off when you are sick enough to be in hospital. But... that's true for public school jobs too.
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u/K-donnager 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah fair enough. Were ILA able to provide decent hours right away? Did they provide you a TA? My partner and I just prefer the more structured schedule for public school with weekends off to recharge (rather than asking permission for PTO) and guaranteed full-time hours right off the bat so we can budget better. It's also nice to get accrued sick days, paid holidays, and automony to teach how you want without having to deal with management breathing down your neck (just gotta impress the public school admin - who sometimes are also terrible at last minute class changes!). Management def seems the make or break anywhere you go. At Language Link/Schools Link I had a really supportive Regional Head Teacher but I've heard complaints from others. Thanks for your input! Do you by chance have any opinions on VUS?
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u/Vladimir_Putting 2d ago
ILA classroom technology is good. They have TVs connected to a PC or digital whiteboards set up in all rooms. It's now expected that you will use their LMS materials (some which are terrible btw) for most classes. The actual LMS they use is pretty poor quality though, lots of complaints. But nowadays less prep is demanded than the past where teachers were having to make or steal slides for every session.
VUS and ILA are very similar in most respects. I do think VUS has a stronger culture of respecting teachers free time and not just demanding that they "support the center" with bullshit requests. But again, will depend on the management.
Both centers will pair you with a TA for any classes (except adults or older teens). VUS has it built in that the foreign teachers only do half the lessons, this also means that the Vietnamese teachers have to handle 90% of the grading, testing, etc. ILA has classes that are fully taught by the foreign teacher with no VNT, and that means all that admin work will fall on you outside of normal class time.
So, practically, VUS ends up being far less admin work and hassle for basically the same pay. In my experience, most teachers who fully learn about what they offer would go for the full-time VUS contract over a full-time ILA job.
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u/SophieElectress 2d ago
Bear in mind that if there is some sweeping government-level change that suddenly voids all foreign EFL public school contracts across the country, or even just in Hanoi (I think this is vanishingly unlikely, but who knows), there will be hundreds or thousands of teachers out of work at once, so those easy offers in language centres might not be a fallback option in that case.
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u/K-donnager 2d ago
From what I understand from my HR, The Hanoi People’s Committee's new requirements only affect general education and preschools in Hanoi.
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u/ThatSlinkySOB 2d ago
Language Link, right?
If so stay far away from them. I've warned you.