Relaxed rules on teachers irk academics

Ordinary grads will ‘damage standards’

Several academics have opposed the Education Ministry’s idea of allowing university graduates who do not hold a degree in education to become assistant teachers in public schools and vocational colleges.

They said the proposal will hurt the quality of teaching and interfere with the way teachers are trained.

The ministry recently revealed its plan to allow those who do not hold a bachelor’s degree (or higher) in education to apply for the exam that is a prerequisite to become an assistant teacher at a public school and vocational college. The exam will be held on April 22.

Previously, only graduates holding a degree in education — who automatically receive a teaching licence known as a “teacher’s ticket” from the Teachers Council of Thailand (TCT) — were allowed to sit the exam.

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said the change is aimed at solving the shortage of teachers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as STEM subjects.

‘’Lots of public schools are having a hard time finding specialist teachers in STEM fields as the numbers of people coming forward to teach those subjects have been declining over the past few years, with a large a number of teachers also facing retirement age,” he said.

The minister added those who pass the exam, but who do not have a degree in education, will be allowed to temporarily teach in schools for a period of two years.

Within that two-year period they must join the necessary training programmes to meet the teacher-licensing requirements to acquire a permanent teaching licence later, Dr Teerakiat said.

However, the idea has drawn criticism from academics and education experts, concerned it would affect the number of students enrolling in faculties of education nationwide.

Athapol Anunthavorasakul, a lecturer from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Education, said the new proposal may help the ministry fill the shortage of STEM teachers quickly but he also had some concerns about it.

Mr Athapol said his first concern was that it may produce teachers with patchy academic knowledge who lack the proper ability to engage with students on a psychological level.

Moreover, they may not be capable of designing the right learning activities or developing strategies to obtain feedback on student learning, which are both crucial, he added.

‘’Educating is intricately linked to social and behavioural factors of human development, including cognition, motivation, social interaction and communication, not just teaching students academic knowledge,” he said.

Mr Athapol said he was also worried the Education Ministry would be embracing into the system people who lack a proper understanding of teaching and giving them just two years to become professional teachers.

In countries like Finland and Singapore, people who do not hold a degree in education but who want to become teachers must attend an intensive training programme for 12 to 16 months before they can head a classroom,” he said.

“But here in Thailand we are doing it backwards by rushing those without enough teaching experience [into the same positions],” he added.

Such a loosening of standards would likely damage the quality of teachers in the long run and possibly cause less students to study at university, he said.