Looking for advice from Math Teacher/Tutor in Hong Kong

[Patrick_Vieira]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking to relocate to Hong Kong and I'm exploring my options for work. I'm currently a private tutor living in London and I'm thinking of either teaching maths in a school when I relocate OR teaching maths as a private tutor.

I've gathered that (generally) you need to be able to speak Cantonese, have a degree in a math related subject, have a teaching qualification and at least a couple of years of experience. Please correct me if I've left anything out.

For a private tutor it's a bit more ambiguous. All the tutoring agencies I've seen are in Chinese and can't really understand it, even with google translate. Do agencies generally accept western tutors or do you need to find your own clients? Also, what kind of qualifications do people in HK look for when selecting the right tutor for their child?

Thank you everyone for reading, I look forward to any insight you can share. I hope this helps other people relocating to HK as well.

All the best,
Patrick

[jmbf]

According to my friend who tutors maths, Maths tutors who are fluent in English are actually quite in demand, especially in the international schools. He recommends that you start off at a language centre such as The Edge, or NTK as they offer decent training programs and also provide you with a lot of students.

[Claire ex-ax]

You have permanent residency of Hong Kong?

[jmbf]

You have permanent residency of Hong Kong?

Oh Claire! Straight in with the residency / visa angle. Channeling a bit of PDLM today

[Patrick_Vieira]

Hi jmbf, thanks for the reply. That was really informative and helpful.

Regarding those centres, they seem to have super high requirements like top 10% of SATs (they don't exist in England) etc. I'll look out for their job openings.

I have a bachelors in Engineering but would it be worth doing a PGCE qualification before going over there to get a higher chance of good pay or is it not worth the hassle?

I don't have permanent residency in Hong Kong, I'm more concerned at this stage about what steps I need to take (in terms of qualifications) before I move there and work. By the way, what is PDLM?

Many thanks,
Patrick

[Stu79]

By the way, what is PDLM?

You have a lot to learn, young padawan.

(PDLM is the former username of another user on this site)

[jmbf]

I have a bachelors in Engineering but would it be worth doing a PGCE qualification before going over there to get a higher chance of good pay or is it not worth the hassle?

I don't have permanent residency in Hong Kong, I'm more concerned at this stage about what steps I need to take (in terms of qualifications) before I move there and work. By the way, what is PDLM?

Many thanks,
Patrick

A PGCE would certainly help if you were looking to secure more attractive paying positions. On the other hand, if you were to use that time working here then you would have gained relevant local experience and could use that to find a better paying position. Moreover, during that time you would probably be able to work on your network of contacts, really learn the lay of the land here and potentially start finding your own private students to bolster your income.

If we look at 2 candidates: Candidate A who took some time to bolster his qualifications before coming to Hong Kong vs Candidate B who started off in Hong Kong and used that same time to establish himself here. I'm pretty sure Candidate B would be in a better position.

P.S. PDLM was a previous poster who always queried the visa status of each and every other poster on this forum

[djbbst]

I'm pretty much in your same situation except I took the dive and came here before having a job lined up. I'm a native English speaker with an engineering degree, CELTA, AND I have a work visa but can't get any reasonable job offers. Seems all the centers here want to pay around 15k- 19k~ per month for full time (what a joke!) because they can/will find someone to work for cheap. I think the supply of tutors/teachers is way more than the amount of jobs available which makes it extremely hard to negotiate a decent salary.

I'd definitely get the PGCE and you can get way better jobs like in intl or ESF schools.

[jmbf]

I'm pretty much in your same situation except I took the dive and came here before having a job lined up. I'm a native English speaker with an engineering degree, CELTA, AND I have a work visa but can't get any reasonable job offers. Seems all the centers here want to pay around 15k- 19k~ per month for full time (what a joke!) because they can/will find someone to work for cheap. I think the supply of tutors/teachers is way more than the amount of jobs available which makes it extremely hard to negotiate a decent salary.

I'd definitely get the PGCE and you can get way better jobs like in intl or ESF schools.

Are you looking for work as an English teacher or a Maths teacher? If you are looking for English teaching work I might be able to refer you to a few decent paying jobs. PM me for details if interested.