Three quarters of Thai English teachers are only at elementary level - or worse

[Torrens54]

Not wanting to sound PICKY but how about,

“the Thai Mistry of Education is” ?

It is a SINGULAR entity.

[ozmeldo]

The issue here yet again is you have some very whingy foreigners with an extremely myopic view of Thai education. Stuck by their own doing in poor schools, surrounded by teachers and students on the bottom rung of the education ladder. It's clearly where you belong otherwise you'd stop complaining and move.

 

I have some amazing students. Too bad you don't. I'm sorry you job sucks. Move or quit

 

[off road pat]

On 9/29/2018 at 7:17 AM, missoura said:

/1My very first job in Thailand was at prestigious university in Bangkok. I lasted a year before I quit and here is why. Everybody passed and very few students or staff could speak passable English.

 

The first time I was introduced to my peers the conversation lasted just a few minutes. At that time, my Thai skills were non-existent and the Thai professors struggled with English. Initially, I put the lack of English conversational skills down to embarrassment, but sadly that was not the case.

 

Most of these teachers had gone through years of the Thai educational system and had graduated their respective universities with an advanced degree in English. And they couldn't carry on a conversation.

 

But they had all passed…

Hmm,..sound's so familiar, I was doing a Off Road trip with several Off Road Clubs around Mae Sariang a few years back. they had T Shirts printed in Thai and English for the occasion. The English Translation had a big mistake despite the lady responsible for the printing pretending having a master degree in English, She could not answer some basic questions in English !!!

My wife told me that she probably translated with Google translate !!!

I speak several languages and sometimes check translations on Google translate and it is sometimes very wrong !!!

Some people think using translating programmes gives them automatically Master degrees !!!

Best Regards.

[Srikcir]

On 10/1/2018 at 12:50 PM, Torrens54 said:

It is a SINGULAR entity.

Like a Black Hole?

[Assurancetourix]

On 9/29/2018 at 6:30 PM, marcusarelus said:

Education in Thailand 4 per cent of GDP, 20 per cent of the government budget.  Compare to your country and let us know.

 France : 5,5 % of the GDP in 2014

 

https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS?locations=FR

 

and for this year 2018 it's more than 70 billions euros

 

http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid120482/projet-de-loi-de-finances-2018.html

 

29,75 % of the government budget

 

https://fr.statista.com/statistiques/477617/repartition-budget-etat-selon-poste-depense-france/

[marcusarelus]

11 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

 France : 5,5 % of the GDP in 2014

 

https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS?locations=FR

 

and for this year 2018 it's more than 70 billions euros

 

http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid120482/projet-de-loi-de-finances-2018.html

 

29,75 % of the government budget

 

https://fr.statista.com/statistiques/477617/repartition-budget-etat-selon-poste-depense-france/

As you can see by your comparison the education budget in Thailand is not the problem, it's the way the money is spent. 

[Assurancetourix]

On 9/30/2018 at 2:08 AM, SuperTed said:

 

Statistics and sources please


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 They are here ;

What I can see is that Mr duanebigsby is wrong 

 

https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/se.xpd.totl.gd.zs

 

Danmark : 7,6 %

USA : 5,0 %

South Africa : 5,9 %

Germany : 4,9 %

Argentina : 5,9 %

Australia : 5,4 %

Austria : 5,4 %

Bouthan : 7,4 %

South Korea : 5,1 %

Malaysia : 4,8 %

Norway : 7,7 %

New Zealand : 6,3 %

France : 5,5 %

Great Britain : 5,6 %

Thailand : 4,1 %

Ukrainia : 5,9 %

Vietnam : 5,7 %

 

[My Thai Life]

The main reason for the figure of 75% is that English is taught here from Prathom 1 / grade 1 / primary 1.

 

In most  primary school classes the teachers teach more than one subject, and in small country schools some teachers may teach all primary subjects (including English).

 

Very very few Thai primary teachers major in English at university - actually I have never met a single one.

 

Some of the Thai teachers at high school are pretty fluent in English, hidden in the other 25%.

 

I can't imagine that there will ever be a time when there will be enough eeffective Thai English teachers to  teach English at all 12 grades in every government school. A more focused policy is what is needed, either by starting Englsh at secondary school / Mathayom, or by having a few schools per district specialising in English. I heard a couple of years ago that the latter was going to be trialled, but I haven't seen it yet.

 

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

 They are here ;

What I can see is that Mr duanebigsby is wrong 

 

https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/se.xpd.totl.gd.zs

 

Danmark : 7,6 %

USA : 5,0 %

South Africa : 5,9 %

Germany : 4,9 %

Argentina : 5,9 %

Australia : 5,4 %

Austria : 5,4 %

Bouthan : 7,4 %

South Korea : 5,1 %

Malaysia : 4,8 %

Norway : 7,7 %

New Zealand : 6,3 %

France : 5,5 %

Great Britain : 5,6 %

Thailand : 4,1 %

Ukrainia : 5,9 %

Vietnam : 5,7 %

 

No doubt but what is he wrong about?

[marcusarelus]

6 minutes ago, My Thai Life said:

The main reason for the figure of 75% is that English is taught here from Prathom 1 / grade 1 / primary 1.

 

In most  primary school classes the teachers teach more than one subject, and in small country schools some teachers may teach all primary subjects (including English).

 

Very very few Thai primary teachers major in English at university - actually I have never met a single one.

 

Some of the Thai teachers at high school are pretty fluent in English, hidden in the other 25%.

 

I can't imagine that there will ever be a time when there will be enough eeffective Thai English teachers to  teach English at all 12 grades in every government school. A more focused policy is what is needed, either by starting Englsh at secondary school / Mathayom, or by having a few schools per district specialising in English. I heard a couple of years ago that the latter was going to be trialled, but I haven't seen it yet.

I don't know why they worry about it.  All the Philippine English teachers I know (50 or 60) would be very happy to stay and teach in Thailand for the same wages and contract the Thai teachers get.  No one really wants to live in the Philippines if Thailand is an alternative.  

[Assurancetourix]

3 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

No doubt but what is he wrong about?

 

Post #53 , he wrote :

" Thailand spends more money on education than most countries."

 

Maybe than most ASEAN countries ?

[My Thai Life]

 

15 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

What I can see is that Mr duanebigsby is wrong 

 

Not really. 

 

You need to look a bit deeper to see the real figures. This is from an OECD report.

These figures were reported a while back, and I guess it was these that Duane was thinking of, as was I.

 

 

"Thailand’s expenditure on primary education is the highest among the
selected countries in the region, but it is low at the secondary level. In 2012,
Thailand’s funding per primary student was 29.4% of per capita GDP,
compared to 15.4% in Malaysia (as of 2011) and 11.2% in Singapore
(Figure 2.4). In that year, 44.8% of Thailand’s government education
spending was directed at the primary level, a higher proportion than in any
of the other selected countries. At the secondary level, although government
expenditure increased from 14.3% of the total in 2008 to 28.6% in 2012
(Figure 2.5), the per-student funding remained low compared to many of the
selected countries at 19.7% of per capita GDP."

Edited October 3, 2018 by My Thai Life

[SheungWan]

The British Council getting involved is a positive move but the devil will be in the detail, namely whether the Thai English teachers will be requested to pass an externally set exam as a requirement of their occupation. Not sure how this might be introduced as the situation appears to be pretty dire. Dire enough for the BC to be called in. That's for sure!

[My Thai Life]

6 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I don't know why they worry about it.  All the Philippine English teachers I know (50 or 60) would be very happy to stay and teach in Thailand for the same wages and contract the Thai teachers get.  No one really wants to live in the Philippines if Thailand is an alternative.

Philippine teachers are usually paid at the same rate as Thai contract teachers employed directly by the schools - ie non-government-employees. No foreigner will be employed as a direct-government-employed-teacher.

[SheungWan]

29 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

As you can see by your comparison the education budget in Thailand is not the problem, it's the way the money is spent. 

 

Nobody fails is the biggest or one of the biggest problems in the system. Not easy to get round that one.

[The manic]

On 9/29/2018 at 6:32 AM, NCC1701A said:

so Thais will sound like a BBC announcer like many people who learn English from a UK person or will they sound like this?

 

 

The BC uses a wide range of materials to develop the 4 skills.  Reading,  writing,  listening and speaking. For listening and speaking the materials will include many different accents from all over the world. Listening skills need to focus on foreign accents too as well as British regional accents. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by The manic

[SheungWan]

17 minutes ago, The manic said:

The BC uses a wide range of materials to develop the 4 skills.  Reading,  writing,  listening and speaking. For listening and speaking the materials will include many different accents from all over the world. Listening skills need to focus on foreign accents too as well as British regional accents. 

 

Attacking the British Council is pretty much a cheap shot and tends to misunderstand the work they do. Just a class resentment angle usually. The fact that the Thai education ministry has called in the BC is testament to the BC's high reputation. Alternatively, one reason they may be being called in is that the BC is the gatekeeper to the IELTS certification which is part of the passport to entry to UK HE and if it is the case that too many Thai students applying are failing this hurdle, then influential parents may be putting pressure on for something to be done to rectify the situation.

[anon2736434]

The British council was probably the lowest bidder on the contract. Many other education companies work around the world in different countries on projects like this. But they are one of the best programs out there.

[HAKAPALITA]

On 10/3/2018 at 4:14 PM, Assurancetourix said:

 They are here ;

What I can see is that Mr duanebigsby is wrong 

 

https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/se.xpd.totl.gd.zs

 

Danmark : 7,6 %

USA : 5,0 %

South Africa : 5,9 %

Germany : 4,9 %

Argentina : 5,9 %

Australia : 5,4 %

Austria : 5,4 %

Bouthan : 7,4 %

South Korea : 5,1 %

Malaysia : 4,8 %

Norway : 7,7 %

New Zealand : 6,3 %

France : 5,5 %

Great Britain : 5,6 %

Thailand : 4,1 %

Ukrainia : 5,9 %

Vietnam : 5,7 %

 

All that money and cant spell Denmark.