Automatic granting of teaching licences to continue

[webfact]

Automatic granting of teaching licences to continue

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

STUDENTS WHO complete the five-year teacher-training programme will continue to automatically get a teaching licence for now, the Teachers’ Council resolved recently.
 

The council had initially decided to cancel the automatic granting of teaching licences to graduates from next year, as it aimed to test each graduate before deciding if they should be conferred a teaching licence. 

 

However, the council scrapped the plan after taking into account the fact that five-year teacher-training programmes will soon be extinct anyway. From next year, all teacher-training programmes will be cut back to four years only. 

 

“The Teachers’ Council board has resolved that tests should be required for those seeking a teaching licence from 2023 instead. Let’s focus on graduates from the soon-to-be introduced four-year programme,” Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday.

 

Wattanaporn Ra-Ngubtook, deputy secretary-general of the Education Council, said a subcommittee had proposed that tests for teaching licences be postponed for now. 

 

“The licence is automatically granted partially because the five-year programme is extensive enough,” she said. 

 

Deputy Education Minister Dr Udom Kachintorn said all teacher-training institutes were now adjusting their curriculum to match the four-year timeframe. 

 

The move to shorten the programme is in line with the Education Ministry’s policy, which believes a shorter course is necessary to keep pace with the changing world. 

 

This move is undoing the trend that Thailand has embraced since 2004, when the five-year teacher-training programme was launched in the hope of boosting the quality of teachers and enhancing the prestige of the profession. 

 

Dr Teerakiat said the Teachers’ Council had also recently approved a draft regulation on teachers’ standards. 

 

“The draft covers up-to-date knowledge, experience, work experience and behaviour,” he said. 

 

For instance, it requires that all teachers have knowledge of changes in the world and the nation, have teaching experience of at least one year and a good relationship with students’ parents and communities. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30360683

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-19

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

However, the council scrapped the plan after taking into account the fact that five-year teacher-training programmes will soon be extinct anyway. From next year, all teacher-training programmes will be cut back to four years only. 

yeah that makes sense, thai sense, if it is automatic without any test , why not just give them away without any training ?

[kjun12]

This is one of the things that keeps Thais ignorant. I am told that many Thai English teachers cannot Speak English themselves.

[SheungWan]

2 hours ago, YetAnother said:

yeah that makes sense, thai sense, if it is automatic without any test , why not just give them away without any training ?

If someone has progressed and survived a 5 year course it would be a nonsense to fail them. As for giving away a license without any training, try to get a grip. And lastly, if those wanting to throw bricks at the Thais on this issue had the faintest idea how for example the UK system works they would be a little quieter. 

[Kasset Tak]

20 minutes ago, kjun12 said:

This is one of the things that keeps Thais ignorant. I am told that many Thai English teachers cannot Speak English themselves.

We have 3 Thai English teachers in the college where I work, non of them speak English and all of them have problem reading and writing English. Basically the only thing they do know is grammar, and frankly they might even be better than me on some parts of that subject... but who cares if you know how to properly bend a verb in all 12 tenses if you still can't put together a sentence that is slightly understandable?!

I know that the grammar police like to complain whenever I write about teaching. So, I just want to say that I teach animal husbandry, feed production and other agricultural subjects in English and teaching English as a language is only about 10-20% of my work. And that's even clearly stated in my contract where it says that I'm a foreign TVET teacher employed under the faculty of animal science, not under the faculty of foreign language!

 

[connda]

No doubt they will also be granted the equivalency of an NES English teacher - as the blind continue to lead the blind.

 

Perhaps the degree programs should be called a 5 year Cultural Assimilation Program for Educators whose actual job is to meld young minds into unquestioning, nationalistic automatons devoid of innovate thought or critical thinking skills.

[1337markus]

5 years ATTENDANCE time = licence?