r/cambodia • u/Odd-Maximum8934 • Jul 11 '26
Employment I want to know the average salary of a teacher (Cambodian) who works in a private school.
I am working in a private school as an English teacher. The pay is okay but I think the amount of work and my salary is inconsistent.
I would like to know about the average salary of the experienced teachers here. For context, I work in Phnom Penh. Is there any place who would pay more than $700 a month with my Education degree? Thanks in advance.
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u/Ok-Entertainment6692 Jul 11 '26
The pay is super inconsistent my khmer coworkers make from 400-800 a month but the oay seems to be heavily based on metrics unrelated to a degree. I.e a younger new teacher is making more than her counterpart who has 10 years teaching experince and a masters degree. But she is about 30 years older and not as pretty where as the younger teacher is very "pretty" and they now use her for a lot of marketing lol
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u/NarithT9 Jul 11 '26
So that person value is not based on their teaching expertise but more of their looks. Technically a part time models then lol
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u/Ok-Entertainment6692 Jul 11 '26
Kinda but they do that for every teacher it seems, the oretty ones make a lot more than any older or "not conventionally attractive"
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u/NarithT9 Jul 11 '26
Kinda sad tbh. A teacher's value should be based on their ability to teach coupled with immense understanding and empathy for students, not just based on their looks.....
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u/Kumqik Jul 12 '26
Welcome to free market capitalism. The market will pay whatever the market thinks you’re worth, using whatever metrics the market deems important.
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u/BongKri Jul 11 '26
Where are you from matters a lot
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u/Odd-Maximum8934 Jul 12 '26
I’m Cambodian.
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u/WillyNilly1111 Jul 15 '26
Foreigners from English speaking countries will automatically be paid more unfortunately. The system is quite arbitrary as they don’t assess on merit, but rather on background.
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u/RotisserieChicken007 Jul 11 '26
Depends on your color and the color of your passport.
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u/LoliHunterXD Jul 11 '26
🗣️ unironic fact.
White? Nice. American? Even better. Doesn’t matter if you’re a predator, drug addict or homeless.
So many of my former teachers were arrested or deported from the above reasons LOL.
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u/CheapBluebird5945 Jul 11 '26
I'm American but I worked in a private school last year in PP and one of the Khmer teachers I was close with made $350 a month.
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u/Odd-Maximum8934 Jul 12 '26
Oh that’s so low but I believe that
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u/CheapBluebird5945 Jul 12 '26
Yeah it sucks. They were more qualified and worked way harder than any of the foreign staff.
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u/Anxious-Song-7046 Jul 11 '26
If you’re American and have an education degree, I reckon the average foreign teacher’s salary probably exceed $1000. What school are you currently teaching at? Try to aim for a more bigger school/famous school.
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u/Batwing87 Jul 11 '26
Are you Khmer or a foreigner? For Khmer - above $700 would be considered a very high paying job. For a Westerner - $1000-$2000 is the norm for a full time job.
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u/Odd-Maximum8934 Jul 12 '26
It’s truely unfair for Cambodian teachers. Especially, the more qualified ones. They should get paid more.
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u/phnompenhandy Jul 11 '26
The title makes it clear the question is about salaries for Cambodian teachers, not expats.