Education reform merely scratches surface

Education reform merely scratches surface

The opposition by academics at university education faculties to an initiative that allows graduates in other fields to apply for teaching positions shows just how in need of reform the country's education system is.

The academics believe the new system will cause a loosening of standards for teachers and potentially discourage students from entering higher education.

According to the previous system, graduates holding a degree in education would automatically receive a teaching licence -- known as a "teacher's ticket" -- from the Teachers Council of Thailand. This qualifies them to apply for the annual teacher recruitment exam.

But Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, who trained as a medical doctor, recently decided to allow graduates in other fields to apply for the exam from March 21-29. The exam will take place this year on April 22.

Soonruth Bunyamanee is deputy editor, Bangkok Post..

The minister claims the move is aimed at solving the shortage of teachers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as the STEM subjects. The government has resolved to promote STEM education in order to develop a skilled workforce in science and technology that will be needed for the 4.0 era.

But many academics argue the new system will hurt the quality of teaching as students until now have been required to serve as trainee teachers at a school for one year before being entitled to the so-called teacher's ticket. Yet this requirement does not apply to students in other fields, who can still finish their studies in just four years.

In criticising the change as unfair, some academics have compared teaching to other privileged professions like doctors and engineers, arguing that all three demand rigorous training.

The strong opposition prompted Minister Teerakiat to compromise by allowing students from non-teaching fields to apply for the teaching recruitment exam for 25 out of 61 subjects. The rest will remain reserved for graduates who hold the traditional teacher's ticket.

Looking at both sides of the argument, I cannot overstate the importance of proper training for our school teachers. However, if we look at the results of both local and international student-proficiency assessments in recent years, we can see that even the "properly" trained teachers are not getting good enough results.

I'm referring to the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-Net), which was adopted in 2005 for Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) students in five subjects: Thai language; social studies; religion and culture; English; mathematics and science.

The test was later expanded to include Mathayom 3 (Grade 9) students to assess their knowledge and thinking ability.

Unfortunately, after more than a decade of these tests, Thai students are still performing poorly in three core subjects -- science, math and English -- with scores of less than 50% on average. In fact, most of their scores ranged from 25% to 40%.

In the latest test for the 2016 academic year, the results showed Grade 12 students failed four out of five subjects on average. The only one they passed was Thai language.

Meanwhile, most Grade 9 students failed all five subjects.

For the international-level tests, Thai students scored well below the global average in core subjects assessed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessments (PISA), released last December.

Thai students aged 15 fell well short of the 500-point median score -- they scored 431 in maths and 456 in science -- putting the country's ranking at 54th out of the 70 economies analysed. These results indicate a drop in average scores from 1995.

Thailand even ranks poorly in Asia, where seven nations and economies made the top 10 of the PISA rankings, namely, Singapore (1), Japan (2), Taipei (4), Macao (6), Vietnam (8), Hong Kong (9) and China (10).

So what is the problem? Certainly not public investment. The country's spending on education is among the highest in the world as a percentage of GDP.

No, the real culprit is the system that produces are teachers, which is not yielding educators of a high enough quality.

Let's compare, for example, the different way in which teachers are trained in neighbouring Vietnam.

Students here take fewer credits (between 164 to 170 over a five-year period) and spend their final year training practically in a school.

In contrast, at Vietnam National University, students enrolled at its education programme take 221 credits in four years of study. In the first three years, they focus on their majors, whether it be science or engineering and technology. And in their final year, they learn more about the art of education, or pedagogy, and how to put this into practice.

Moreover, unlike PISA's top-ranked countries, teaching is not held in such high regard by the top-performing Thai students, who are most likely to chase more lucrative careers as a doctor, lawyer or computer programmer.

This makes teaching in some cases a fall-back option for those who fail to qualify for their desired vocation.

One of the negative results of this is all the stories we see in the media nowadays about teachers lacking the correct spirit, ethical code or training to do their job properly.

As such, Thai students tend to rely heavily on outside tutoring. This is particularly the case for those engaged in STEM subjects. Yet it remains unclear whether the extra-curricular tutors they depend on have even obtained a degree in education.

This root problem needs to be solved if we seriously want to improve the country's education performance and ensure future generations enjoy a better way of life.

The attempt by Mr Teerakiat to recruit proficient candidates and bypass the restrictions of an outdated system is laudable. But he has just scratched the surface of what needs to be done.

One key area in need of change is the mindset of personnel in the education system, particularly those seemingly more interested in protecting their own territory and benefits.

While the country's education system is badly in need of reform, how can it do this if hamstrung by reactionaries who lack the conviction to produce real change?

Soonruth Bunyamanee

Bangkok Post Editor

Bangkok Post Editor

Email : soonruthb@bangkokpost.co.th

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