Native English looking for a teaching job in Poland

Also, the market is saturated with English speakers. Back in the early EU days up to maybe 2010 this was a decent career. Not anymore due to the sheer amount of competition and so many people speaking fluent English.


The only skills you need to teach English in a grade school/high school is to be a native speaker and pay for some ESL/TEFL course or whatever it called and preferably a bachelor's degree as well. The requirements are roughly the same if you want to teach English in China, Saudi, or Poland. The only way I can see an English teacher being in somewhat more demand is if he or she knew additional languages. Actually, in China you can make far more teaching English than Poland and you don't even need a bachelor's - being a native speaker is enough while in PL generally schools require both a bachelors and are a native speak.

The market in warsaw is far from saturated with native english speakers who can or even want to teach.

Here's some more sources:

Yeah the top quarter of translators make 5500 brutto :

przysiegly-angielski-miw.pl/blog/ile-zarabia-tlumacz-przysiegly
Najwyższe stawki otrzymają tłumacze pracujący w obrębie języków pozaeuropejskich, które nie posługują się alfabetem łacińskim - są to na przykład chiński czy japoński. Za stronę tłumaczenia z takiego języka na polski obowiązuje stawka 33,61 zł, zaś za stronę tłumaczenia na ten język - 49,54 zł.

The highest salaries are those working in non-European languages which do not have a Latin alphabet - for example Chinese and Japanese. The wages for translating from these kind of languages into Polish are 33.61 zl and 49.54 zl for Polish into the language.

So even at Doug's 70zl an hour, which is at the way high end for tutoring, it's still 8k a month at most - and that's assuming 40 hours of tutoring a week, which wouldn't occur due to the simple fact that tutors typically work when their students are available - namely on nights and weekends when they're off work and school.

przykładowo jedna godzina tłumaczenia z języka angielskiego na polski przyniosłaby tłumaczowi 30 zł w trybie normalnym lub 46 zł w trybie przyspieszonym.

English translation - 46 zl average

careego.pl/tlumacz-przysiegly
Ich miesięczne wynagrodzenie oscyluje w granicach od3 000 do 5 000 złotych.
Translator makes 3k - 5k zl... not 15k like harry is implying... the rare time that would be a possibility is if a corporation/biz/government hires someone to teach a group on a contract - in which case it is contract work, not a guaranteed full time salary. Again, just as with lawyers or even IT pro's, they charge more per hour/per contract to make up for the fact that they are rarely doing a full 2080 hours a year every year.


In the schools yes, there are a lot of openings. And generally you need a bachelor's plus a foreign language teaching course. But with private English tutors, there's a ton of them. And Polish students esp who are at the beginning stages of English will generally hire a Polish-English bilingual person who charges 1/2 of a native speaker, unless the native speakers (often their 1st choice) are closer to the price of local poles/ukranians who mastered English.

Having taught in Europe, although briefly and not in Poland, but in Germany, most ESL-schools are looking exclusively for trained, native English speakers:-)
It so happened that the school in which I was teaching, sponsored by the UK-Cambridge Certificate Program, preferred to hire teachers who were fluent in German.

However, this turned out to be the exception, not the rule!

Stuff and nonsense Dirk. As Harry says, you don't know the market for TEFL. One could do that quite easily if they needed to, by networking/putting themselves around relatively vigourously. Some teachers of my acquaintance in Kato take home more, net, (generally working 7 days admittedly.....but then again most dedicated teachers do some work 7 days a week anyway....)

Again I will ask the question; why don't Polish teachers strike for more money Harry (sorry Dirk, I was quoting you, but am interested in Harry's take on this).

I think we are agreed that TEFL can pay decently if you are either talented/workoholic or both, and teaching in state schools is relatively poorly paid, whilst the teacher there is far better qualified to teach English on the face of it, than some of us, who graduated in the sciences for example in my case.

because up to recently there were plenty of people to take their place if they get fired

No way you can make 10k as a grade school/high school English teacher in PL. Not unless you're tutoring for 70zl an hour (Doug's wage, which is rather on the higher side as it is) for 20 hours a week on top of being a full time teacher, and doing all the 20 hours a week of tutoring at 70z an hour (a near impossibility unless yes you work 7 days a week) and are also making 4k-5k as a teacher - you'd have to work 60-65 hour weeks to manage that.

The fact is average salaries- again we're talking about averages not some top 1% salary that you're buddy or whoever makes - for english teachers (the topic of the thread and title) are closer to $500-$1k. In Eastern Poland, especially in smaller towns the salary is as low as 2,500 zl for an English teacher.


That market has changed quite a bit in the past 5 years.

That is the only way it'd be possible and at most you'd make 10k - this would undoubtedly be the top 1-5% of English grade school/high school teachers and a good portion of that would come from tutoring/translating on the side. Even the 70z's im using as an example it would be possible - but only if one was a full time teacher making 4k (already a high salary by pl standards) plus making 70 z's per hour, 20 hours a week average every week, then yes they could manage to get into 10k z's plus. Both a 4k salary for an English teacher and 70 z's is high. Most people, according to both English and Polish sources - statistics, surveys, etc. show that the averages are closer to $500-$1k. Translators at the top making 5k. Tutors on average charge 40zl - which is about write when pulling up people advertising their services at anywhere from $5-$20 an hour, and doug being 70 zloty - about 30z's more than the average although he is more skilled than the 'average' Polish-English tutor/translator. I'm talking about mean salaries - not the very top. Warsaw of course have a bit higher wages than most of PL. However, Warsaw metro accounts for only a few mil out of around 40 million people. Even professors in Polish Uni's don't make 10k unless they're in some super high position like dean or president or some department chair.

Can't be fired for striking. OK, so the system is corrupt. I mean, I got a certain position because of nepotism myself, but quit when it was obvious that I wasn't qualified and suitable for such (rare, I know in this PIS world) Teachers often get appointed on personal recommendation when in favour with the director, and when out of favour....

Easy solution. get a civil service commission in for every teacher appointee.
Striking for a fair salary for the position never did merit the sack in the EU, not in a functional democratic economy anyway. Are you saying that Poland doesn't have a normal economy?

Economy yes - a very healthy rapidly growing one at that... Court systems, bureaucracy, etc. no way.


In certain aspects, absolutely. Poles are hesitant to make certain changes when a sort of 'gray' situation benefits them.

Because people don't go into teaching for the money.


Yet more laughable maths. Why not just admit that you know nothing about teaching in Poland and you're trying to debate with people who between them have decades' experience teaching here?


You really should stop digging when you're in a hole. A decent translator in Warsaw will be charging 60zl a page.

Again,

In order to make 10k a month EITHER a teacher would have to have a 4k zloty teaching job(already at the high end) PLUS work 20 hours a weektutoring at 70z's an hour, every single week 20 hours ON TOP of a full time job teaching job - that is possible like doug said IF they work 7 days a week (sounds like a great life)

Even then theyd come out at 9600 z's a month - just under 10k (5600 for 80 hours a month of tutoring at 70 z's plus 4k Z's for teaching job - both at the high end and far above themean earnings)

OR

They'd have to have at least 160 hour long tutoring sessions a month (40 hours a week, every week) at 70z's a pop (then theyd get to 11k) - However, considering tutoring is apart time job and primarily takes place when the student is out of school/work - i.e. nights and weekends, that is an impossibility.


According to you, notmultiple Polish sources [/b ]which I have posted that state at most they make [b]5k zloty a month. Please provide sources that state translators/tutors/etc make 10k, 15k zl a month or you still cant because none exist?

I'm sure there's a few people who do translating/tutoring and make 10k if they perhaps operate a small business and have contracts with government or corps OR are a person who speaks both polish and English (or a 3rd language) fluently and has decades of experience... however, 10k+ represents the very very top of earners - the median salary, as proven by polish sources, along with our friend dougs advert of 70z's an hour, shows what the reality is....

Either way... we're still talking about far less compensation than an English teacher/tutor/etc would make in other countries that have even lower average wages than PL - like China for example. If you're going to teach to make money, Poland is NOT the place for it... Germany, France, China, S. Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Saudi, UAE, heck even Turkey in a way, etc. you'll make far more teaching English than in Poland - if we're going by MEAN salaries - not the top 5% that you're buddy makes and which no Polish or English source can confirm.

sorry, have to confirm what Harry says. If you're charging 70 an hour for individuals in warsaw, you're giving people a real deal. 80 to a hundred is normal. small groups in-company, 100 on up. not sure what you mean by individual tutoring, I guess one-ones but there is still an abundance of such work. Language schools can't seem to find enough natives. I suspect it's because they are being out by sites like nativespeaker.com.pl. you wont get rich teaching here but you can do alright. Korea ain't what it used to be either.

All teachers at Polish state schools need to have a degree. It's been like this for years. Even when I went to school. Even kindergarten teachers ...

So does any native speaker of English who wants to work in a state school. And proper qualifications ...

Do these qualifications include university aka college degrees, miscellaneous certificates or document? I ask, because often my Polish ESL students would complain that they possessed advanced degrees from a Polish university/academy, but were rejected by the respective US equivalent institution.

My college roomie taught out there. He was doing around 2.5k USD a month plus room and board covered. Similar to China. Far more financially rewarding than Poland. And if you're a good looking western male - you've got it made. Western looks and being a native English speaker often trumps experience and education in China. Watch VICE's 'rent a white guy' for example...


The 70 z an hour is an example of what a member of this forum charges for tutoring lessons. If you look on adverts online for 1 on 1 tutoring i.e. preply.com/en/skype/polish-tutors

Note that NONE of the people advertising here that are charging $20 an hour have a single lesson while a girl charging $8 an hour has had 1,600 lessons and guy charging $9 has had 700 lessons....

youll see almost every charges between $6 to $20 - if they're very experienced and educated, fluent in 3 languages they can perhaps ask for $20 an hour - doesn't mean they'll get it as evidenced by the fact that not one tutor charging $20 an hour booked a lesson while those charging $8 $9 an hour have had hundreds, even thousands of lessons.... The fact is though, like lawyers and other people who do contract/hourly work, they are rarely filling up all 40 hours of the week every single week, every month with tutoring or bill by hour type of independent work.

According to jobmonkey.com - 'For one-on-one tutoring in Poland, you should be able to get between 15 and 20 zloty per hour, which roughs out to between US$6 and $8 per hour.'

Also - firsttutors.com
‎Price range: £9 to £90 per hour (Typically: £18 per hour) - and this is UK rates - not PL

People who have masters/doctorates can charge 20 30 pounds plus but not in PL for 1 on 1- note though that all these people are outside of PL though (mostly UK it looks like) - firsttutors.com/uk/tutor/katarzyna.polish.1

Other sources: delphs post - You'll find that in those places, they'll give you accommodation and in/around 2000zl a month net - which isn't a bad amount of cash for the first year from https://polishforums.com/work/poland-finding-warsaw-english-53125/2/

Here are tutors in pl advertising their services - findmyfavouriteteacher.com/students-searchresult.php?mode=search&language=English&country=172&country2=Poland&state=any&city=Warsaw

1st person charges 50 zl per hour
2nd person charges 100 zl per hour
3rd person charges 40 zl per hour (30 zl for group with up to 5)
4th person charges 100 zl per hour
All individuals appear to be fluent in both Polish and English. Hence 70 zs is a good estimate but nonetheless still on the higher scale.
Josh who claims to have been teaching for 7 years charges 60 zl an hour which is close to pf member's 70 z rate.
Another male further down who also appears to be a native speaker and has been teaching for several years charged 80 z's.

What a person asks for his services, and how much business he or she will actually book are often two different things - as we can see by the preply.com example...


That's because few English speaking natives are willing to work for less than what they'd make in a McDonald's back in the US/UK, especially if they have a degree. Unless they want to go to Poland just to backpack, travel, and dick around but its definitely not a lucrative career a US/UK expat can provide for a family of 3+ on.

$650 - $950 USD (2,500 - 3,600 PLN)
internationalteflacademy.com/countries/europe/poland/poland-teaching-english-overseas-jobs

A degree is a degree - a university degree - bachelor's at least. Most have a master's degree - bachelor's is a relatively new idea in Poland. Plus obviously if you have a degree in maths, you can't teach English.

Eh not totally... you can do the ESL/TEFL or whatever certification and if you're a native speaker you can still get a gig at a grade school/high school teaching English as there is a big demand...

But yes, unlike other countries, in PL you generally need at least a bachelor's plus native English plus certification to teach the subject... in other countries i.e. China, Taiwan, (and increasingly Thailand), etc which pays more, being a native speaker is more than enough.

No, you can't.
A teacher employed by a state school needs to fulfill the Ministry of Education's official requirements. They need a degree. If they have a degree (even if it's no esl) and a certificate recognised by the Ministry - fine. But not without proper qualifications and a degree.

@kaprys

With state schools yes, you're right. I've heard of numerous private schools though hiring native speakers who don't have a bachelor's in English and usually just have like a TEFL or whatever certification.

ye dirk is right, private schools do not insist on the BA, things might have changed now but when i was teaching in Poland imagine my disgust to find that my senior teacher had no TEFL cert and no bachelors. Ridiculous.

I have to go along with kaprys on this one!

Having spent many years traveling abroad, I know for a fact that in most European countries, one size definitely does NOT fit all:-)

Remember an unemployed Danish acquaintance of mine years ago, relieved of his post as an English instructor at a small school in Flensborg. While Erik spoke German, French, as well as Dutch almost as well as Danish and English, not to mention was a skilled, TRAINED carpenter, he lamented that he could only teach the specialty area in which he received his university degree. When I politely suggested that he teach in any one of the number of areas in which he had expertise, to "fill in" during the time he was searching for another English teaching position, Erik, who had studied in Iowa and knew the US well, looked at me for a second as though I had two heads.

He explained as politely that things don't work the same way as they do in the States and that a person cannot merely teach what they want to, but solely what they've studied and the subject matter in which they graduated.

Furthermore, unlike in the US, state benefits at that time in Denmark were oh so generous, this American idea of scrounging around looking desperately for work, any sort of work, struck my friend as odd, to say the least.

This is actually getting very amusing now. You have several people who between them have more than half a decade of experience practising a particular profession in a particular country and who all say pretty much the same thing, but one person who has never worked as a teacher anywhere and has never worked in any job in Poland claims that he knows better than all of them combined!


You are hilarious. Even my teenage step-daughter, who hasn't finished secondary school and has no formal qualifications in English at all, charges more than double that amount.


No, you very simply cannot. All state schools require all teaching staff (other than the students doing unpaid practicum) to have a university degree. Full stop. End of story. And all schools which are MEN inspected and approved (i.e. all private daytime schools) also have to require all teaching staff to have a university degree. You really should stop trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.


Things have changed since then. And not only for the better, back then he/she would have required a residency permit, which require a criminal records check but not any more. Although I'd love to hear how your senior teacher qualified for a work permit with no degree and no other qualifications.

@Harry

Actually, Harry, you're overstating your case a bit.

Are there EFL teachers in Poland that make more than 8,000 PLN a month? Yes, there are. I was one myself. Moved on to translating and mentoring, though, because it paid a lot more, and was a lot more interesting.

Are there "many" of them? Not really. They are a small minority of EFL teachers. They are generally long-term residents who came when the market was much friendlier, and the bulk of them operate as independent agents. Some have established their own schools. Most of them have some specialist qualifications that enable them to sell themselves on the highly competitive but highly profitable business/legal/medical/technical market.

Where I really disagree with you is your overly liberal use of the word "easy". And your tendency to count chickens before they are hatched. By far most EFL teachers starting this year will never realize such income potential, nor can they ever hope to, no matter what they do. They don't have the specialist knowledge, experience, credibility and marketing savvy, and never will. Even for those who have all of the above, it is also a much tougher row to hoe than fifteen, twenty years ago, most especially for those from outside of the EU, as is the OP. For unqualified greenies like him, there is practically no chance that he will be able to make any serious money, ever, even if he were to somehow land a job somewhere. There would be very little point in investing the time and effort, and money in terms of opportunity cost, into pursuing this as a career. There are a gazillion better ways for him to earn his way in life.

Financially "better", though not necessarily any more rewarding! Tell your logic to the average cop, firefighter, or country doctor, and they'll laugh right in your face.

@Lyzko

Whatever are you talking about? And who are you responding to?

To you, I hope:-)

I believe the comment concerned pay for ESL teachers in Poland, whereby I merely stated that not all such jobs are necessarily low-paying, furthermore, some people enter the field to make a difference, much as a cop, firefighter or rural practitioner, and not to make mega bucks alone!

@Lyzko

I can't see any connection between what I wrote and what you wrote. You're apparently reading something into what I wrote that isn't actually there.