Seafarer Jobs Malaysia

0 views

Skip to first unread message

James Gillock

unread,

Aug 3, 2024, 1:14:22 PM8/3/24

to fibderentcons

Known for its tropical beauty, multicultural cities and fantastic cuisine, Malaysia offers a truly distinct Southeast Asian experience. Spanning the South China Sea, from the Malay Peninsula to the legendary island of Borneo, Malaysia reflects the many faces of Asia. Take a stroll through the old streets of Kuala Lumpur, Penang, or Malacca, and observe firsthand how centuries of trading among Malay, Arabian, Indian, Chinese, and Dutch seafarers played a part in creating the multi-faceted Malaysia of today.

Here you will encounter an enticing blend of cultures, religions, and cuisines. Within several city blocks, you can visit temples, pagodas, churches, and mosques before deciding whether you wish to dine on world-class Chinese, Indian, or Malaysian fare.

Despite a large population and a fast developing economy, the job market for first-time teachers is not quite as large as some other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand, but there are opportunities, especially for those with a BA degree, TEFL certification & some teaching experience. Most English teaching job interviews are conducted in advance over the phone or Skype for Malaysia. English teachers are typically responsible for airfare and housing expenses in most cases. Most teachers live in apartments recently vacated by previous teachers, and many room with coworkers.

A good salary allows English teachers in Malaysia to live a comfortable lifestyle. Schools typically offer 20 to 25 hours of work per week, leaving plenty of time to travel and explore. Most teaching jobs are concentrated in Kuala Lumpur and other major cities.

A TEFL certification is required to teach English in Malaysia. You do not need professional teaching experience but earning your TEFL certification will provide you with the training and qualification you do need to get hired.

You must be a native English speaker to teach English in Malaysia. This means you must be a citizen from recognized English-speaking nations: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa.

A Bachelor's degree is required to secure a job teaching English in Malaysia although some schools may prefer a Master's degree. Please note, that your bachelor's degree does not need to be in education, it can be in any field.

English teachers in Malaysia can find jobs all year round with an expected downtime around the Lunar (Chinese New Year) which occurs across two weeks in late January through early February.

English language schools in Malaysia offer approximately 20 to 30 hours of classroom work per week plus additional hours for prep time. This allows for plenty of time to travel and explore.

While some schools provide housing or an added stipend, this is not common so you will need to remember to account for accommodation or temporary housing for your first few weeks in your start-up costs until you find an apartment to rent. In rare cases, flights are sometimes reimbursed by your employer, but this isn't typical so don't count on it.

Want more? We've got you covered! Visit our Video Library to watch day-in-the-life videos from our alumni and get a glimpse into what your life as an English teacher in Malaysia could look like!

I got TEFL certified because I knew it would allow me to live abroad and see more of the world. I did a lot of research on TEFL companies and quickly saw that ITA has one of the top tier programs. Along with the quality of their certification, I was impressed by the lifetime career guidance and the huge alumni network they have. The TEFL training gave me the confidence to enter a classroom and teach a room full of excited students.

I chose International TEFL Academy because the support staff was amazing and they gave me a veteran's discount. The instruction and assignments went far above and beyond what I expected from an online course. I would recommend teaching in Malaysia, though the schools here do usually require some teaching experience. Being in Asia, they place a high value on education. The kids are usually motivated to learn, and if they aren't, then their parents are.

Teaching English abroad has allowed me to live in Asia for the past five years and really get to know the region. I also wanted to do something that could make a difference. Teaching children to communicate successfully in another language can help improve their futures. My ITA TEFL certification helped me get my current teaching position. It has also been very helpful in planning lessons and finding suitable activities for my students.

This chapter examines the barriers to the employment of women seafarers and identifies problems in the current attempts at addressing the gender imbalance in the maritime industry. Three impediments to female employment will be discussed in the context of modern shipping: occupational cultural barriers; lack of awareness and knowledge about women at sea; and the slow development of effective policies and strategies aimed at recruiting and retaining women seafarers. It draws the conclusion that the employment of women seafarers should be more focused and that the engagement of employers, including shipping companies and crewing agencies, is necessary to improve the situation of women seafarers.

Historically, men have been the predominant gender in seafaring. Political debates regarding the need to empower women in the maritime sector are strengthened by the economic projection that in the future there will be a shortage of maritime officers. Seafarers are a long-term investment, particularly because under the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978 as Amended, they are required to spend at least 12-months on board prior to being issued with a licence. In 2016, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) reported that an additional 16,500 officers would be needed worldwide to meet anticipated future demand (BIMCO and ICS 2016). In this context it would be unwise for shipping companies to discount the potential of women in mitigating crew shortages.

Notwithstanding labour market imperatives, the development of gender equality in the maritime sector is currently slow. Some efforts have been made to promote the recruitment of women seafarers in the last couple of decades but these have not had a significant impact on the overall numbers of women seafarers employed at sea. For the purposes of this chapter women seafarers are classified as those women who work in the operational section of cargo ships as deck officers and engineers. Where they are employed at all, these women are usually assigned as a lone female to a vessel which typically accommodates 18 seafarers. This chapter examines the barriers to the employment of women seafarers and identifies problems in the current attempts at addressing the gender imbalance in the maritime industry.

Three impediments to female employment will be discussed in the context of modern shipping: occupational cultural barriers; lack of awareness and knowledge about women at sea; and the slow development of effective policies and strategies aimed at recruiting and retaining women seafarers. It draws the conclusion that the employment of women seafarers should be more focused and that the engagement of employers, including shipping companies and crewing agencies, is necessary to improve the situation of women seafarers.

Transport businesses, including road, rail, and air (ITF 2014) are generally male-dominated. Similarly, shipping is known worldwide as an extremely male-dominated industry. Accurate numbers of female maritime transport workers are difficult to obtain especially in the private sector, including merchant shipping and the fishing industry. However, it has been reported that the percentage of women seafarers in 1998 was approximately 2% according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) (Belcher et al. 2003). This figure included women in non-operational sections of vessels such as hotel and catering. Female deck officers and engineers are present in much smaller numbers on cargo ships, and are estimated to constitute 0.12% of the total seafaring population (Drewry, ILO and ITF 2009).

The latest manpower report estimates that women seafarers represent only 1% of all seafarers (BIMCO and ICS 2016). This seems to imply a 1% decrease in the number of women seafarers over 15 years. However, this figure includes women in ship operational sections only. Nevertheless, approximately a half of this figure comes from female cadets and trainees who have not yet completed their 12-month sea time in order to obtain a license. Therefore, fully qualified women seafarers in ship operational sections would be considered to number only 0.5%. Women officers are sometimes observed in passenger ship sectors, such as cruise ships, passenger ships, and small ferry boats. If these numbers were contributing to a part of this 0.5 percent, the earlier figure of 0.12% of women seafarers on cargo ships would still be a realistic picture.

It has been only in the last few decades that women have emerged as an important element of the workforce in seafaring. There have been a small number of female pioneers who proved themselves to be competent seafarers and most of these hailed from Europe, in particular, Scandinavian countries (Belcher et al. 2003; Kaijser 2005; Kitada and Langker 2016).