Licences still a must, TCT says

The Teachers Council of Thailand (TCT) has insisted licences are still a must, in response to suggestions by Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng that the requirement be relaxed.

TCT board president Paitoon Sinlarat said the license requirement must remain in place to maintain quality.

Mr Chaturon recently suggested experts and specialists could enter the teaching profession without being officially licensed as a way to teach shortages in related subjects.

Dr Paitoon said it is not as hard to graduate in teaching and obtain a licence as people might think, so students should not be deterred.

‘‘Graduates with non-teaching degrees are allowed to work in the teaching profession, but they must be licensed,’’ he said.

‘‘So far we have granted teaching licences to about 60,000 graduates from other subjects.’’

Those who had not yet received teaching licences could obtain a four-year temporary permit to teach, he added.

‘‘We do not impede any experts and specialists with other academic degrees who seek to teach,’’ Dr Paitoon said.

‘‘We just want those with a strong intention to show they really want to become teachers.’’

He said the TCT had decided to resurrect the one-year graduate diploma programme in teaching, starting in the second semester of this 2013 academic year.

The diploma was suspended last year after E-Sarn University in Khon Kaen was found to have sold teaching certificates to its students.

Dr Paitoon said restarting the diploma course was aimed at providing access to the teaching license for about 100,000 people who were already in the teaching profession but do not yet hold a licence.

However, universities that wanted to offer the diploma programme will face stricter regulations from the TCT to prevent any repeat of the certificateselling scandal, and to ensure high standards.

Surawat Thongbu, president of the Thailand Education Deans Council and dean of Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University’s Faculty of Education, insisted teaching should remain a licensed profession for education graduates, except for specialists in subjects which have a shortage of teachers.

‘‘It is obvious people with other education degrees are allowed to work as teachers, so there is no need to revoke the teaching licence,’’ he said.

‘‘We should not allow the outsiders to enter the profession easily, because it might discourage our teaching students.’’