Teaching English in Vietnam Part Time vs Full Time
Today I wanted to take some time to address the main differences between part time and full time teaching contracts in Vietnam. I’m not going to say definitively that one is better than the other. Just present pros and cons of each so you can make your own decision.
I’ll also say as a first time teacher, many language centers aren’t going to offer you a full time contract from the start anyway. But some might, so it’s best to have an idea of what it entails.
Also every school is a bit different so everything I go over is generalized information and not necessarily the way it will be for your chosen school.
A lot of time even though you are under a part time contract you could be teaching English in Vietnam with full time hours (which is 20-25 teaching hours). The downside is that these are not guaranteed. So if your campus becomes less busy your hours will go down first. Of course if you only want to work 10-15 hours, then part time is the way go.
As a full time teacher in Vietnam you are typically guaranteed around 20 hours a week and it usually winds up being more. This is good as its a reliable stream of money. The downside here is that you are locked into those hours for at least a year. There’s no going down to 15 hours a week as a full time teacher. So make sure you are committed to 20-25 hours a week before signing a full time contract.
Teaching English in Vietnam part time makes it easy to get time off. As long as you give adequate notice, you should be able to get the time off. There’s typically no limit on the time you can take off per year. Of course you can’t take off for 6 months or something but I know many teachers that take 2 month leaves every year.
As a full time teacher you can still definitely get time off, but it is limited. Maybe 15 days a year , not including holidays of course. You can usually take a leave of absence too, however you might not get your bonus at the end of your contract, if you do so. Most full time contracts come with a full month salary bonus at the end of 12 months, but thats jeopardized if you don’t meet a minimum hours over the year. For part time, there’s usually no bonuses.
Health Insurance is a big one. For Part time contracts there are no health benefits, but for full time there is, and you typically don’t have to pay into it. Now if you choose the part time route for your whole time in Vietnam, you can just get away with travelers insurance but that is just for emergencies and there is no direct billing. So you have to pay upfront and claim back. And it is an extra cost to think about – I was paying 80 dollars a month for it for a while.
In terms of pay per hour, it can be the same for full and part time, as its more based on previous experience and teaching performance during your demo class during the hiring process.
For part time teachers, usually giving a months notice is fine for resigning, no matter where you are in the contract. So your contract could be a year but. if 6 months in, you want to leave, just giving one month’s notice is typically okay. For full time it is more difficult and there could be penalties for leaving early.
So in general part time is more flexible but less stable, and full time is more strict but more consistent.