GUEST COLUMN / EDUCATION
Educator and writer JASON ALAVI has prepared a list of points for the consideration of the Ministry of Education regarding the new requirements for foreign teachers in Thailand
The Thai Ministry of Education (MOE) has announced new licensing rules for foreign teachers, consisting of two main requirements: Attendance for all teachers to a 20-hour "Thai Culture, Language, and Professional Ethics Training Programme" (at a cost of anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 baht), and successful completion of a "Teacher Professional Licensing Course." This full-year, 30-credit class is required for all teachers currently not holding a Bachelor's of Education degree. The cost for the course averages 60,000 baht. However, teachers are required only to pass a final written examination based on the course content (the exam fee is 4,000 baht).
The pending changes have generated some talk of possible foreign teacher shortages in Thailand due to financial and time constraints restricting the ability of teachers to comply with the requirements. For example, the high cost of comprehensive international health insurance, which most schools do not provide, currently challenges the justification for some now teaching in Thailand. Many teachers work outside of their primary employment in order to meet hidden costs such as these.
In response to the new regulations, a small consortium of foreigners currently working in Thailand are attempting here to politely and respectfully ask the ministry to consider the following four points.
Point 1. Please make information regarding these new regulations clear and easily accessible. At this time, some schools are either unaware of the requirements or are only partially knowledgeable. As a result, a percentage of foreign teachers are confused or completely ignorant of the new rules.
Currently our best available source of information is the ajarn.com website - the unofficial online meeting point and primary source of information for foreign teachers in Thailand. However, specific and important points are not included in the unofficial summary posted on this website. For example, what is the exact cutoff date for obtaining a work permit under the current regulations (without a teaching licence)? At this time, this crucial date appears to be mid-May of 2009 (but a kind of temporary two-year licence or "extension" is required now).
Point 2. Please consider strengthening the line of defence against accepting false university credentials from teacher applicants. The new regulations are designed to improve the quality of foreign teaching staff. However, a certain number of teachers are employed now based on submittal of forged university diplomas.
The new regulations provide an opportunity to require and verify authentic university transcripts (rather than diplomas) for new arrivals, as well as those currently teaching in Thailand. Accredited universities provide transcripts to graduating students, and transcripts are more difficult to falsify than diplomas. Qualified job candidates commonly bring transcripts to job interviews.
However, from our understanding, despite the strict new licensing requirements, the possibility of applicants slipping through local school and permitting offices without providing authentic transcripts or using forged diplomas remains. Teachers may have recently obtained temporary two-year extensions on the basis of diplomas alone, for example.
Point 3. Please consider allowing a waiver or exemption of the Culture Training Programme for individuals already teaching in Thailand for "x" amount of years ("x" equalling a reasonable amount of time as determined by the MOE - may we suggest a minimum of two or three years). The idea here is that teachers with work experience in Thailand have obviously learned something about the surrounding culture - probably a great deal.
Of course, no foreigner, regardless of how long having worked in Thailand, is an expert on Thai culture. However, cultural learning is a constant and ongoing process. Many foreign teachers will likely agree that, having survived this long in the system, we have been squeezed through the cultural grinder - a kind of "trial by fire." Most of what we now understand in order to effectively teach in the Thai classroom we learned on our own (crowd control and designing lessons for classes of close to 60 "energetic" students - all eager to learn, yet possessing widely varying abilities, for instance).
This is not to say that we are disinterested in learning more about Thai culture. However, in so many ways we are already fully immersed. We appreciate, have embraced, and are respectful of Thai culture. Your students have taught us about the Loi Krathong celebration (it can be a romantic holiday). We have participated in the rather sweet Wan Wai Kru (Teacher Respect Day) ceremony. We have helped with Sports Day and thoroughly enjoy the annual school parade (ours is truly "amazing").
But, honestly, to require us now to attend a 20-hour class could be taken as slightly demeaning. We are, of course, not children; and we are not unintelligent. In fact, we are teachers at your school.
Point 4. Please consider, for teachers currently working in Thailand, accepting a Master's Degree (in a closely related field) in lieu of the Bachelor's of Education degree for exemption from the 30-credit Teacher Licensing Course requirement. This may help maintain a well-educated and diverse army of teachers in Thailand.
Many teachers holding higher level degrees from reputable overseas universities are still paying for this education in our own currency rates - a factor demanding a significant portion of our monthly teaching salary (and further challenging our practical commitment to remain in Thailand).
Endnote: This is the general summary, not specifically of the writer, but of a small group of foreign teachers and administrators, and is based on limited available information. Some of the information may be slightly incorrect.
Jason Alavi owns The American English Language School in Pathum Thani. He has been teaching in Thailand since 1986 and has been providing foreign teachers to government schools since 2002. He writes a monthly column called Straight Talking (about issues important to foreign teachers in Thailand) on ajarn.com, the primary website for foreign teachers in Thailand. His Email address is teacherfinder@hotmail.com
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