Who are better English teachers: Qualified Vietnamese or native speakers?

"Please pay Vietnamese teachers the same salary as foreigners. Vietnamese now study and live abroad. We come back home and we are as or even better teachers than 80% of backpackers."
thiensan31

"Most of the foreigners here don't have relevant degrees, and they were not qualified to teach back home. Although some try to drag it out for years, they really don't have a sound future here. If relevant qualifications aren't important to employers, then skin, age, nationality, etc., will be the deciding factors. For one reason or the other, they will eventually be disposed of. It's also just a matter of time before the government steps in and holds EFL 'teachers' to the same standards as foreign experts. Without a degree in a relevant discipline, they will be out of luck. It wouldn't rid Vietnam entirely of tay ba lo (backpackers), but they'd be forced to live even further on the fringes until they tire of being used and disposed of by the fly-by-night English centers."
Josef

"A lot of the foreign English teachers are just that, "foreign" but not "native speakers." Many companies are hiring Russian and other non-native speakers who are not qualified and often have low English speaking skills, but they will work for cheap and they look like native speakers. Nothing against my Russian or other foreign friends but if people are not learning from native, and qualified teachers, then allow them to have Vietnamese English teachers. So many companies try to scam the system but they just end up cheating the students. It's why so many after "learning" English for years still cannot be understood by native English speakers."
tjdj44zhb

"I know many "qualified" local teachers, none of them come close to a native teacher in any way."
Meldarionz

"A qualified English teacher, born and raised in England, and with several years teaching experience IS A MUCH BETTER option than any Asian Teacher with a degree in the English language. I personally know of a number of Vietnamese teachers who teach English, but cannot string a sentence together and whose vocabulary is virtually non existent. Salary should be in line with U.K. salaries for qualified indigenous English teachers, plus housing and traveling allowances."
Onecutedog

"The perception around this industry is nebulous for a variety of reasons. An English teacher is a qualified professional, (irrespective of where from) who has an undergraduate degree in English and obtained a teaching qualification for the purpose of teaching English. Native speakers are fine for the role if they are helping with conversational English, many of whom are students themselves and are funding their own travels. Let's start by getting the definition of 'English teacher' correct as opposed to people who teach English."
Jushayward

"99% of foreign teachers can't teach much more than their version of pronunciation and know very little of grammar and structures and strategies as they pertain to achieving higher than band 5 in IELTS. However, 99% of Vietnamese teachers cannot teach above a grade 3-4 level, and they often teach English in Vietnamese which may produce some limited (often memorized) speaking ability but no real communicative ability or fluency. This is one reason why on IELTS certificates you'll often see a huge disparity among the 4 skillsets, most notably in writing which is always the lowest score for test takers because it requires more thought and fluency and understanding of the language. I would suggest the entire education system needs an overhaul as it is outdated and based on historical needs. 45 minute classes and scattered timetables for high school students is insufficient and the primary reason every high school student who wants to succeed requires hours of private lessons in all subjects."
greenside18