Please help me. I need to know!!! How old is too old to be a native English teacher in Thailand? This is really a joke in itself but I’m not laughing. I’ve actually wanted to start a blog on this subject a while back but had no time to do so until now. Also my motivation is at its peak for this topic because I am a bit disgusted at the age of some retirees posting their resumes and thinking someone wants them to work as a teacher.
Definition of retiree: source: Macmillan Dictionary
Someone who has stopped working because they have reached the age when they are officially too old to work.
Therefore I know that here in Thailand if you ask this question: What is the offical retirement age? Ask 100 people and you will get 100 different answers. Probably the youngest some Thai person will say is 45. The oldest some farang will say is 75. Thai teachers are required to retire at age 60 and I did confirm this with a dozen teachers at the three former Thai government schools that I worked at in the past. In my own honest opinion for what it’s worth I strongly disagree with the ages 45 & 75 years old and I strongly support 60 years old as the offical retirement age.
Today I was browsing through the job advertisements on ajarn.com as well as the resumes, competitions (my favorite section) and everything else in between as I do on a daily basis. I found eight resumes that had been posted by teachers with ages between 61 - 71 years old. So yes this bothers me a lot because each one of these (offical retirees) know damn well that firstly they wouldn’t apply for a teaching job in their native country over the age 60 and secondly if they did apply, no school system in a native English speaking country would consider their resumes.
If you are over age 60 and you do want to teach then volunteer as that would be a great service to Thai people and Thailand especially in the remote areas of the north. About 5 years ago the so called 45 rule started and just about every other job advertisement would read over 45? then keep on looking (but not these exact words). My thought on that is whoever started, supported or agreed with that as some sort of cut off age - well then you know where you can go!
Donald Patnaude
