Hi all,

Great work on the site, glad to see it back up and running!

So, I thought I'd call on the knowledge of the collective once more in my hour of need. The time to apply for my 4th waiver is coming soon (January 2018) and I'm a tad worried about it, to be honest. First, here's a few points to add meat to the story:

My contract with the school runs until May, my work permit renewal is in April, but my visa and teaching waiver both expire in January 2018.... All used to be in sync, however my agency overlapped two teaching waivers (they applied for my last one earlier than usual...) so I lost a couple of months and now my waiver date doesn't match up with my other doc requirments. My visa date defaulted to my waiver date because the last time that I went through the process immigration told me that they couldn't extend it beyond the waiver date, even though my work permit was valid until April...

I'm on my 3rd waiver at the moment, so I'll be applying for my 4th at the end of this year. My 2nd and 3rd waivers are with the same school, and all going well I'll be staying there (it's definitely looking that way for now). Does anyone know what the current situation is regarding a 4th waiver? Are they still rejecting people or have they relaxed on the merciless cull?

As for academic upskilling, I'm at thesis stage of my M.Ed but it won't be completed in full before my next application. I'm doing this via Assumption Uni in Bangkok but there were a few previous posts that mentioned uncertainty about this course granting the full teacher license, so I don't know where I stand with that and how that may impact on my waiver application. According to my course coordinator, the granting of the teacher license issue is relative to what year you enrolled with the uni. He stated that as I had enrolled at a point where Khrusupha had officially acknowledged the course then that batch of future-graduates would have no issue. He claims that it's the ensuing years of enrollment that still await official acknowledgement and are currently in a limbo. Again, not sure what to make of this and it does nothing to settle my worries.

In a nutshell then, applying for my 4th waiver (which will be my 3rd at the same school), and currently enrolled in an M.Ed caught up in official red-tape and uncertainty.

Any suggestions on what I should or shouldn't do?

I've also considered enrolling in the IFUGAO teaching diploma course via St. Roberts as a backup too. Is this course officially recognized by the MoE? I've seen people state that it enables one to get the 5yr teaching license. I don't really want to be juggling a thesis and a course that I must travel to at the same time though, plus more expense and stress to boot. Do they also provide a letter of enrollment to use for waiver/work permit application purposes, and if so how good are they at getting that done? Is it a quick turnaround without any faffing?
Do you think it would be madness to be enrolled in an M.Ed and a Dip.Ed at the same time?

Thanks in advance for any advice, much appreciated

DG

As long as your student status on your M.Ed is still valid (get the confirmation of student status from the registrar at the uni) you will get another waiver.

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Hi, and thanks for the reply.

I'm definitely registered as a student as I'm still completing another module and have just paid my fees. What I'm concerned about however is immigration turning down my waiver on the basis of any perceived issues with that course. What would be my options if my application got rejected? Would I have time to enroll in another course and hope that would push the application over the line?

What's the overall waiver situation at the moment, does anyone know? Are they offering 4th, 5th, 6th ++ these days?

DG

DigitalGypsy wrote:Hi, and thanks for the reply.

I'm definitely registered as a student as I'm still completing another module and have just paid my fees. What I'm concerned about however is immigration turning down my waiver on the basis of any perceived issues with that course. What would be my options if my application got rejected? Would I have time to enroll in another course and hope that would push the application over the line?

What's the overall waiver situation at the moment, does anyone know? Are they offering 4th, 5th, 6th ++ these days?

DG

   Hello DG,

       If I were you, I'd definitely sign up for the DipTed, pay my down payment and ask for a letter of enrollment.

    I've done that as well and received this letter within 2 weeks. You never know who's going to process your application at Khurusapha.

  Once rejected, you'd have some bigger problems.
 Best of luck !!   

Sirchai wrote:If I were you, I'd definitely sign up for the DipTed, pay my down payment and ask for a letter of enrollment.

I've done that as well and received this letter within 2 weeks. You never know who's going to process your application at Khurusapha.

Once rejected, you'd have some bigger problems.
Best of luck !!   

Thanks Sirchai,

Do you know if the DipTed is 'officially' accepted, or is it just a case of it having worked up until now, with no authoritative source of information to offer guidance other than chance? - and by that I mean has anyone from any state body, ministry etc publicly acknowledged it?

If not, then I'm not sure if that makes it any better or worse than my current M.Ed scenario?

It's all very confusing, would it be too much to ask for the right people in Khrusupha to at least offer some consistency on the validity of these home-turf courses...  

DG

Immigration has nothing to do with the waiver. Krusapha issues the waiver and as long as you are a student taking professional training as a teacher you are good for a waiver.

Immigration issues the extension based on your having a waiver or work permit (some offices to the extension before the work permit extension, some do the WP first followed by the visa extension).

Anyway, back on topic. For as long as you are enrolled in a PGCE or a Masters in an education related field you will get a waiver. Once Krusapha issues the waiver the visa and work permit are non-issues; basically a rubber stamp scenario.

And slightly off-topic... in regards to licensure;
Provided you have completed a masters degree in education with a minimum of 24 credit hours of study you meet the requirement for a license. The "approved or not approved" is not relevant in our case but IS relevant in the case of Thais who may also be taking the course. The measure is 24 units of study in an education related, graduate level credential, PLUS more than 1 year of classroom experience.

Regarding the DipTEd being or not being "approved"; Krusapha won't do either since it is NOT from a Thai university. As long as it is granted by an ASEAN university that is properly authorized to issue the diploma AND it meets the requirements under the ASEAN framework for acceptance of credentials from other ASEAN countries.

.

ttompatz said it all and there's not much more to add. 

    You shouldn't be worried, considering that you're at the same school.

    Ifugao has a deal with Khurusapha and it's an accepted course. It's really very difficult to answer your question because nobody knows what the guy at TCT will do.

 The Diploma in teacher education is accredited and the down payment is only 5 K.

Once more, I'd go for it to be sure because you never know in what mood these guys at the TCT are.

Yes, Khruspa are aware of the course. Last time I went down in person to get a waiver with a certificate of completion. The woman I spoke to said as soon as you get your diploma certificate apply and we can issue your full licence. In my experience that's about as concrete an answer as you'll ever get from them.

Hey_ewe wrote:Yes, Khruspa are aware of the course.  Last time I went down in person to get a waiver with a certificate of completion.  The woman I spoke to said as soon as you get your diploma certificate apply and we can issue your full licence.  In my experience that's about as concrete an answer as you'll ever get from them.  

  There were quite a lot of teachers who've received their fourth provisional license ( TVF) without a Diploma in education or studying for a Master's, as the OP does. 



  And staying at the same school seems to be important. They seem to be more relaxed than two years ago.

  DG, can't you just get in touch with the TCT and ask them? ( of course not the guy with his white gloves..  )

  Best of luck !!  

Thanks to all for the responses, much appreciated.

ttompatz, thank you for your excellent insights, just one more query: I'm not questioning your knowledge btw, and I'm very grateful that you took the time to share it. I'm just wondering about your level of certainty on it. Do you have connections to people in the know? Have you had any recent experience involving the matter? How can you be so sure?

(I ask politely, and only as I want to be confident in my choices myself, I'm trying to avoid any hiccups on the horizon)

Thanks again,

DG

With about 100 non-Thai teachers on staff that I am responsible for I get lots of first hand experience dealing with it. Provided you are actually enrolled in a legitimate professional education course it has never been an issue. With a masters you can usually get 4 years (because you can take up to 4 years to complete a masters program) from enrollment to last waiver.

I'm on my 4th (or possibly 5th) DG, I do think they've relaxed it a little if you stay with the same school.

Just applied for my teaching licence (with The DipTed from IFUGAO) but haven't heard anything yet... I don't think you need it as you're doing a Masters but this being Krusapha, who the %&^& knows what is and what isn't accepted anymore!

Thanks again for all the info folks. Alas, the plot thickens once more...

I decided to ask the school authorities if they would be so kind as to call and investigate my situation, which they did. I was a little surprised by the feedback I received...

Apparently, after speaking with someone in Khrusupha, they were informed that I'm not in their system as being on my 3rd waiver, and that I'm currently on my second (this is a mystery to me as I checked the weblink today and I'm clearly down for 3 waivers, one at my first school for one year and the remaining two at my current school for the duration of license term, and nearing the end of my current one).

This is a mystery to me, and while it may be good news in the end, I'm not holding my breath. What do you guys think about this?

There was little room for error on my side too as my boss is Thai, speaks fluent English, and I provided them with all relevant documents as guidance for making the call. They're adamant that the staff representative spoken to said I'm currently on my second waiver....

She also asked the staff member about my M.Ed in terms of license eligibility and that was given a green light too, and they even quoted the person as saying that this would be the best path to license acquisition... (this part I'm more wary/cautious about and won't be convinced until receipt of said license...)

Anyway, I'm still unconvinced, none the wiser, and fending off the demons of uncertainty...  

DG

DigitalGypsy wrote:Thanks again for all the info folks. Alas, the plot thickens once more...

I decided to ask the school authorities if they would be so kind as to call and investigate my situation, which they did. I was a little surprised by the feedback I received...

Apparently, after speaking with someone in Khrusupha, they were informed that I'm not in their system as being on my 3rd waiver, and that I'm currently on my second (this is a mystery to me as I checked the weblink today and I'm clearly down for 3 waivers, one at my first school for one year and the remaining two at my current school for the duration of license term, and nearing the end of my current one).

This is a mystery to me, and while it may be good news in the end, I'm not holding my breath. What do you guys think about this?

There was little room for error on my side too as my boss is Thai, speaks fluent English, and I provided them with all relevant documents as guidance for making the call. They're adamant that the staff representative spoken to said I'm currently on my second waiver....

She also asked the staff member about my M.Ed in terms of license eligibility and that was given a green light too, and they even quoted the person as saying that this would be the best path to license acquisition... (this part I'm more wary/cautious about and won't be convinced until receipt of said license...)

Anyway, I'm still unconvinced, none the wiser, and fending off the demons of uncertainty...  

DG

   Hello DG,

            I think there's a time where all foreign teachers were rolled back to zero provisional licenses. That could have been a failure of their software, or anything else.

  When they told you that you're on your second, a third won't be a problem at all, even without an enrollment in a Master's, or Diploma in teacher education.

  And staying at the same school will in no way create any problems for you.

  Just apply for it and all will be fine. Please read ttompatz post again.

   You're good to go. Cheers-

FYI

I had paid a b5000 deposit with St Roberts and was given a certificate which I included with my school paperwork for my fourth provisional license. I was at the window, it was unceremoniously processed without any drama and two weeks later, I had my fourth waiver.

Be aware, StRbts is no longer working with IFUGAO but PCU Manila. I have concerns about using this (StR) diploma and transcript for my full licence, but TtomPatz gives me comfort. The business mgr also mentioned they have assurance and 'insurance '...whatever.

The 'school' has issues, lots of issues. If it is viewed as only a means to an end, it's much easier to accept.

You will also want to be aware that they only send transcripts and diplomas out once a year. I was not informed of this. Further, the processing is in July and you recv your kit ??? I'd read somewhere that if you are in a pinch, he school will write a letter stating that you're done, passed just waiting on documents. But this is honestly BS. For 60k diplomas should be waiting.

I'm too old to do a proper Master's otherwise I never would have bothered with this 'school'. My job prospects seem to be stellar and I'm at a school I love and that seems to love me - still, one never knows +60 or with annual budget reevaluations.

Hope this helps

Hermes wrote:
I had paid a b5000 deposit with St Roberts and was given a certificate which I included with my school paperwork for my fourth provisional license.

Ditto for me.