What’s the ideal age to be for a teacher in Thailand?

This is always a difficult question to answer because different employers look for different types of employees. Some schools might be looking for a young, gorgeous thing in his twenties to flash his Hollywood smile at the paying parents as they drop off their kids at the school gates, while others may feel that the balding lecturer type in his late 50s suits the situation perfectly. Funnily enough, I get asked this ‘perfect age’ question mostly by folks in their 40s and I can never understand why. It’s a terrific age to be looking for teaching work in Thailand. A guy in his 40s represents a degree of stability and worldly experience. Teachers in their twenties, particularly early-mid twenties, can be an extremely risky hire (certainly from my experience) While they are undoubtedly dedicated to the teaching, they’re also often here for the cultural and travel experience (and that’s perfectly understandable) The younger teacher doesn’t mind the work but they’ll want to mix that with a good dose of scuba-diving and weekends away. So they tend not to be the most reliable teachers when a school needs emergency cover or there’s a Sports Day in the offing. At the other end of the scale, older new arrivals fret about the official / unofficial retirement age. Again, the official retirement age is another one of Thailand’s many grey areas and I’ve heard conflicting reports and information. Officially the retirement age is 60 I think but if you are working at a particular school on your 60th birthday, you are by and large allowed to continue. Private language schools don’t care. I worked with a teacher well into his 70s once.