george Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 "FOREIGN TEACHERS" CREDENTIALS TO BE CHECKED To obtain a work permit to work legally in Thailand for a year, one of the requirements is to have a university degree, which needless to say, few foreign aspirant teachers have. Most of the reputable international schools recruit abroad, requiring high qualifications and experience, performing stringent background checks of their potential employees in the process. However, the vast majority of foreign teachers teach in local language schools or Thai government schools where screening and requirements are not so strict. For foreign aspirant teachers, the base requirement is a TEFL certificate. Following attendance on TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses run by local providers, (some of which leave much to be desired), the aspirant teachers, only partly qualified, need to further obtain false degrees in order to satisfy local regulations, especially those to relating to work permits. These false degrees are most often obtained from such places as the Kao Sarn Road. This is a current loophole in the Thai recruitment regulations, which has allowed pedophiles, radically under-qualified individuals and other undesirables to teach in Thai schools. Some of these teachers have even been known to commit crimes against the students. Accordingly, the Thai authorities are keen to remedy the situation. In order to correlate procedures and rectify current discrepancies, Pattaya Immigration set up a conference with the principals of international schools on 26th January at 10 am at the office of the Pattaya Immigration Authority. Pattaya Immigration have especially requested the aid of the international schools in Chonburi Province to bring their recruitment procedures into line by checking on foreign teachers’ credentials with the supposed issuing authority. At the conference, the Director, Police General Aithipol Aithisaranachai, advised the schools and other interested individuals on new screening methods, including recently amended accreditation procedures, outlined in the Thai Education Authority Regulation 606/2549 dated 8th September 2006, which was introduced on 1st October 2006. On a recent check of credentials, 60 teachers from all Thai international schools nationwide were found to be in possession of false documentation, which is a deportable offence. -- Pattayadailynews.com 2007-01-30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I do understand why using fake degrees is a deportable offence. I do not understand why Thailand requires a college degree of native language English teachers who are working in non-elite schools and earning 20K baht a month, or whatever the current average lousy pay rate is for that job. How can Thailand expect to attract native language English teachers WITH degrees for that low pay? The answer seems to me to be to raise the pay (bloody unlikely) or drop the degree requirement. There are lots of people that can be competent English teachers without a degree and there are those with degrees that are not competent. I could see beefing up the TEFL requirements so that the courses actually screen people out who can't teach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopenyang Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 If you read this article closely, it says that any foreigner working in Thailand for a year must have a degree. Huh? Should the words "as a teacher" be added to the first sentence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshiwara Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 There are lots of people that can be competent English teachers without a degree and there are those with degrees that are not competent. I could see beefing up the TEFL requirements so that the courses actually screen people out who can't teach. very few competent teachers without a degree I would think...go home and get one! those with degrees not nec competent...yep... TEFL quals: mostly junk quals from rip-off colleges.....you get what you pay for.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1308 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 If you read this article closely, it says that any foreigner working in Thailand for a year must have a degree. Huh? Should the words "as a teacher" be added to the first sentence? I am sure it should say teacher, but when I applied for my work permit back in June (for a non-teaching position) I had to provide evidence of my education - including a copy of my diploma. I am sure sure if this a specific requirement for all work permit applications? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drummer Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Good and bad. Good that they actually do background checks on people. Unqualified teachers makes EACH AND EVERY farang in Thailand look bad, be they tourist or teacher, qualified or not. Of course, Thailand will find itself short of teachers if it actually does enforce this requirement. This will lead to either relaxing of standards (but hopefully looking to make sure they aren't pedophiles or otherwise undesirables) or raising pay. Both of these raise the general quality level and benefit farangdom generally through Thailand. If the former, (the most probable, IMHO) than unqualified teachers will benefit because they will now no longer be unqualified to teach @ the jobs they are already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopenyang Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 (edited) Highly improbable and wishful thinking, IMHO. Absolutely no evidence to indicate there will be a relaxation of standards. In fact, the evidence is all to the contrary given everything that is going on. Edited January 31, 2007 by mopenyang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehaigh Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 i know bugger all about teaching english but in 20 years as programmer and manager in the computer business, i can tell you there is no correlation betweeen college degrees and ability to do a good job. also, why do they equate not having a degree with pedophiles and criminal behavior! what's the basis for that. steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jai Dee Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 also, why do they equate not having a degree with pedophiles and criminal behavior! what's the basis for that. Read it again... "This is a current loophole in the Thai recruitment regulations, which has allowed pedophiles, radically under-qualified individuals and other undesirables to teach in Thai schools" The key word here is "undesirables"... understandably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mai Krap Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Oh please, not more of this, what kind of person with half a brain and 50,000 $US or more in debt for a real Uni degree is gonna hang around Thailand making 500 Bucks a month just so they can drink beer like the current teachers. Lowbudget salery gets you lowbudget staff, Dumb + Dumb = Dumber Did anyone notice where the people involved were International School staff? These are the best schools Thailand has to offer and they are full of teachers with no Uni Degree. What would happen when they start checking around the local karaoke singalong schools, the ones where the kids sing songs all day. Its great that these kids are happy but unfortunatly happiness does not build infastructure nor econimies. When you start comparing what you see here to other asian countries its just pathetic, what schools does Thailand outrank in maths? Laos? Cambodia? It sure as helll does not outdo Vietnam and is not even on China, Korea, or Japans Map. What does it say when you have a Thai University Degree and you go to work for a company as their English speaking staff and make 6,000 Thai Baht per month, about the same as a day labor guy with a third grade education? I for one would love to see this country wake up and become everything it has the potential to be but I do not live in a fantasy world where everything turns out ok just because. If the government wants to improve the forign teachers and raise the standards here they must start at home and then look abroad. Blaming a low budget education systom on forign teachers is a bad joke, no excuses, get it sorted. Start by setting up Education Embassies to hire teachers in the U.K. and U.S. and do full background checks on every applicant. What in the Helll does sending teachers to Laos every month or three months do but waste peoples time. Stamp them in for one year extendable by another year and then supply them with a honer degree or title and send them back home. Maybe even offer a offshore PHD for coming here and teaching english for 4 years along with a chance for a degree in Asian History or somthing like it. Make it somehow worth it to come here and teach and just maybe you can get a better class of teachers, what I see now is mostly useless, many drunks, dope heads, perverts, and few who were qaulified and good qaulity teachers before they arrived in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonythailand Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Conners Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 (edited) Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? This is satire, right?! 15 typo's in one sentence, apart from the poor grammar... supposedly by an English teacher.... Edited January 31, 2007 by Phil Conners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenok Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boes Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? Just curious : You're a teacher ???? In english ? Or maybe something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosha Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Ever since I arrived here on my non o visas I've been pestered to go and teach at the local schools here in La Un, Ranong. Despite pleas of I'm not a teacher, and even a blunt no. It was you speak English, you do it. Of late the cetang has finally dropped, and all I get now is occaisionally kids asking for help with homework. The so called Thai English teachers in the 4 schools that approached me, can not hold a conversation in the language the are supposedly teaching. So if a native English teacher wishes to teach if approached by the local primary schools. What's the problem. Just get the police to do a check with the police in his/her native country. At least the kids would get an ear for how the language is used, and not just be limited to "Hello" and "What is your name?", the dissolving into a fit of giggles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leisurely Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I would challenge the poster who implied that International school employ teachers without a degree. madness. My daughter's school has extremely well qualified staff - degrees + teaching cert or education degrees. Loved the post by Tonythailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astral Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 To obtain a work permit to work legally in Thailand for a year, one of the requirements is to have a university degree........This is a current loophole in the Thai recruitment regulations, which has allowed pedophiles, radically under-qualified individuals and other undesirables to teach in Thai schools. So a paedophile with a degree is allowed to teach??? I am sorry this just typical of the muddled, knee jerk thinking employed by Thai officials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapfries Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 i know bugger all about teaching english but in 20 years as programmer and manager in the computer business, i can tell you there is no correlation betweeen college degrees and ability to do a good job.also, why do they equate not having a degree with pedophiles and criminal behavior! what's the basis for that. steve ================================================================= Steve; I totally agree with what you said; ergo: I happen to know, that if the teaching of English language-skills is left to Thai teachers (and I say this with utter respect for ANY teacher !) then we can forget any progress in the english language-skills of Thai students ! Even a socalled "non-qualified" foreign English teacher, will have a much more beneficial effect on Thai students English language abilities then the alternative Thai native English teachers. Who was it who said: "Talent alone is not omnipotent; without ambition, talent is useless" ? In other words; a person who is enthousiastic in his endeavour to teach Thai students the English language, at least in my book, will be much more effective than a person loaded with the right qualifications, but who'ld rather be sailing . . . . . . The other important factor is; young Thai's do so desperately NEED proper English instruction, if they wish to get ahead in this world which puts so much emphasis on IT & Communications ! Anyone disagreeing should replay that CNN interview with the ex Prime Minister of this Nation, a "Dr." none the less; an individual who attained the rank of Pol. Col. and a "worldwide communicator" - I'll tell you; his English is abominable, to say the very least ! ! ! JGK/Pattaya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jai Dee Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? This is satire, right?! 15 typo's in one sentence, apart from the poor grammar... supposedly by an English teacher.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatManTH Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Hi It looks everybody is speaking about English teachers, right? What is happen with lectures are NOT teaching English. In my case I am employed as Special Instructor and Expert for Mechatronics at KMIT. I teach there right, but most of the time I made research. This people also included in these regulations? By the way I also not working for 20000 THB the month, maybe is this the big different. Cu The Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapfries Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Ever since I arrived here on my non o visas I've been pestered to go and teach at the local schools here in La Un, Ranong. Despite pleas of I'm not a teacher, and even a blunt no. It was you speak English, you do it. Of late the cetang has finally dropped, and all I get now is occaisionally kids asking for help with homework. The so called Thai English teachers in the 4 schools that approached me, can not hold a conversation in the language the are supposedly teaching. So if a native English teacher wishes to teach if approached by the local primary schools. What's the problem. Just get the police to do a check with the police in his/her native country. At least the kids would get an ear for how the language is used, and not just be limited to "Hello" and "What is your name?", the dissolving into a fit of giggles. =========================================================== And with that little piece you just put down there, Mr. Mosha; you have simply nailed it squarly on the head ! ! ! "Teachers" should be polled on their ability to "teach"; super qualifications are secondairy. Goes without saying that a simple background check should be performed to ensure the individual's integrity. I also believe that a little school in the country-side is not to be compared with the phenomena of the "International Schools" - you know; those money-making institutions in & near the larger cities in Thailand. But if total non-teachers like yourself get a little bit involved, the kidds in La Un, near Ranong, will have far better English language skills then their much richer counterparts in the tennis-playing International School communities . . . . . . Good on you ! ! ! JGK/Pattaya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astral Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The fact we are native English speakers does not make us experts in the language. When I am asked to teach English I draw the analogy, that I know how to drive a car, but that does not make me a good motor mechanic. Secondly being a teacher is a special skill in communication. I have seen many good technical guys fail utterly when asked to stand up and teach about their subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dupont Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 China's the way forward believe me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilko Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 "To obtain a work permit to work legally in Thailand for a year, one of the requirements is to have a university degree, which needless to say, few foreign aspirant teachers have." What is the basis of this assertion? I would have thought that the majority did have degrees. I believe that a degree is the requirement to teach English, but does this apply to teaching other subjects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astral Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I believe that a degree is the requirement to teach English, but does this apply to teaching other subjects? This is not an uncommon criterion for teachers of all subjects, around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Stop press - Applicants for a Retirement Visa now required to have a degree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boes Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? If this is from an average english teacher, I really understand the authorities... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
younghusband Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The fact we are native English speakers does not make us experts in the language.When I am asked to teach English I draw the analogy, that I know how to drive a car, but that does not make me a good motor mechanic. Secondly being a teacher is a special skill in communication. I have seen many good technical guys fail utterly when asked to stand up and teach about their subject. Your analogy is a false one, and I'm surprised your pupils have not picked you up on it.Think about it for a moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Geting rid off teachrs is tipical, first expatts now us teeachrs we does a good job for this contry, who can tell them how to speech properly now, its bad enohugh gettin a order right in K.fC as it is, up to them, you can get digrees on the internet now anyway,so thay can't check evryone,can thay? If this is from an average english teacher, I really understand the authorities... Ummm, it was a joke, duh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilko Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I believe that a degree is the requirement to teach English, but does this apply to teaching other subjects? This is not an uncommon criterion for teachers of all subjects, around the world. I the UK many teachers do not have degrees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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