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I live in Cambodia and have also lived in Thailand. From what I know about the teaching profession in SE Asia, most instructors are only asked to provide a resume (often doctored) and have native English speaking abilities - I have never heard of a background check, except for those involved with the government, foreign business companies and some NGOs. Now I wouldn't stereotype all overseas instructors as being like this parasite, though I'm not the first to wonder about some of their backgrounds...

The main reason why you would want to do a background check because it is a profession that deals with children. We want to protect the children from monsters like this guy. The second reason a backround check would have been beneficial would to protect the companies reputation. I do not think that I would like to hire a teacher from this "clearinghouse" knowing they allowed a pervert and suspect to post for a job on its web site without a check. Also you the company/site needs to protect itself from both civil liability. Now, they have open themselves up to all sorts of scrutiny. Every law enforcement agency will now look into this site. This company is now officially "out of business"IMHO.

I agree totally with all of your reasons why a background check should have been done with all who work with children. However..we are talking Thialand here...not USA.. I think we tend to put USA standards and law across the board in our thinking.
My brother is currently teaching ESL in Thialand, and i believe all he had to do was take some short course in order to do so. I don't know what kind of background requirements there were. I'll certainly try to find out. I do know that he is not even a college graduate, and makes very little!!

I agree 100% - mandatory for many of us. However, many international schools don't believe they should spend the extra money, placing operating costs over value of the service they are providing. As a parent with children living overseas, I've made sure that background checks are run on all instructors with responsibility for educating or taking care of my children.

If any good comes out of this, hopefully though shut down some of these dubious recruiting agencies and make sure security checks are mandatory. I'm also sure law enforcement is already involved in looking at this and other sites.