Romania is a stunningly beautiful country and has a reputation for giving a warm and friendly reception to foreigners. Since the fall the USSR and Romania entering the European Union, English has taken over as the predominant language taught in schools.
State schools begin teaching English to students from the age of 9 and many Romanians speak the language well. Although teaching is fairly traditional (grammar translation is still popular) and facilities are often very basic, there is great enthusiasm to learn.
Qualifications to teach in Romania
To teach in a state school you will need at least a BA degree; you may also need an Masters to teach older students. However there are very few jobs available here for foreign teachers.
A more popular route is teaching in a private language school. Here you will require a BA degree and a TEFL Certificate such as the IWeb TEFL Certificate. You will also need to have a passport from an EU member state – almost always this means teachers in Romania are from the UK or Ireland.
In the past the Peace Corps were very strong in brining teachers to Romania however the numbers of teachers they take over has dropped off in recent years.
Pay & Cost of Living
Pay is not high in Romania and although the cost of living is fairly low, salaries are also fairly low. This means that it’s not a country where you can expect to make and save a lot of money.
Pay begins at about 1,100 RON or €250 ($316 USD, £201) per month, rising to about 2,000 RON or €440 ($556 USD, £354). Of this the biggest expense will likely be accommodation which can take up 50% of your pay. Taxation is 16%.
A work permit to teach here costs about €200 ($253 USD, £161) which the teacher will be expected to pay for.
You may be able to pick up private lessons which start around 25 RON or €5.5 ($7 USD, £4) per hour.
The school year begins in September and runs till June. There are sometimes vacancies for work in January.