Education Ministry to Recruit Retired Teachers as Volunteer Educators

[snoop1130]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Education Ministry in Thailand is set to recruit around 30,000 retired teachers or retired specialists to work as volunteer teachers, providing skill training and special education.

 

This initiative is part of the government’s third phase of the operation plan to deal with the aging society, which is aimed at helping the elderly remain happy after retirement, while their potential can be used to develop the potential of people in other age groups.

 

According to Deputy Government Spokeswoman Trisulee Trisaranakul, the project would be open to retired teachers and retired specialists from around the country. The applications would be processed via an online system, and the Education Ministry will soon announce details of the project on its website. The project would be implemented in cooperation with the Labour Ministry, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, and the Interior Ministry.

 

The recruited retirees would be assigned as volunteer teachers to help schools, teachers, parents, communities, and other sectors concerned. Many of them would teach work skills to communities or laborers under projects of the Labour Ministry.

 

Trisulee highlighted the importance of the implementation of the operation plan, as Thailand had become an aging society last year, and the population of senior citizens is expected to rise to 28% of the total population in 11 years. This project will not only provide education and training but also help the elderly remain engaged and active in society, which is crucial for their well-being.

 

The third-phase operation plan is designed for implementation from this year until 2037. The Education Ministry’s project is one of the measures taken by the Thai government to address the challenges that come with an aging society.

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG230303153002003

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2023-03-03

 

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[BangkokReady]

They might want to think about increasing the retirement age for teachers. ????‍♂️

[Tarteso]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

recruit around 30,000 retired teachers or retired specialists to work as volunteer teachers, providing skill training and special education.

Old generation with very poor knowledge, lack of preparation in technologies,  unable to understand  and manage the new generations….And Without salary.. Brilliant.

[pomchop]

Expand to retired ex pats who volunteer in return for no bs one year visa...basic screening and monitoring to weed out perverts and worthless and let them do part time few days a week..screw up or no show and an email from school principal to immigration and special visa cancelled..

the Thai kids desperately need some teachers that will help them to learn to use the words they know in speaking and listening ...right now they are taught grammar and diagramming sentences which is fine but rarely do they actually practice speaking and listening which native English farangs  could and would allow them to practice...i did it and can tell you it works and is also great fun for the teacher and students......

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Education Ministry in Thailand is set to recruit around 30,000 retired teachers or retired specialists to work as volunteer teachers, providing skill training and special education.

The old dinosaurs returning to bolster a failing education institute.

Those were the teachers that needed to be ousted to get the younger blood and new ideas in.

Except now the standard of passing the teaching exam has been further reduced, the level now is at an all time low.

I feel sorry for the youth of Thailand.

Young teachers who couldn't pass wind, and old dinosaurs who shouldn't be anywhere near a school.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Tarteso said:

Old generation with very poor knowledge, lack of preparation in technologies,  unable to understand  and manage the new generations….And Without salary.. Brilliant.

And Thailand wonders why year on tear it's education system is failing.

[2baht]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

And few in Thailand wonder why year on year it's education system is failing.

The plan is working! Been working for generations!

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, Tarteso said:

Old generation with very poor knowledge, lack of preparation in technologies,  unable to understand  and manage the new generations….And Without salary.. Brilliant.

Very Thai....

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

14 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Young teachers who couldn't pass wind

Oh, they're very good at:

 

Playing on Facebook or Instagram, online shopping, collecting dozens of little packages from the front office, applying cosmetics, taking selfies, gossiping, crying to their BFs/husbands, planning vacations and weddings, printing out then dropping off worksheets, barking out a 5 min pep talk to their homeroom class at the morning assembly, then taking off for coffee.

[SuperSilverHaze]

1 hour ago, pomchop said:

retired ex pats

The notion people can walk into a classroom and learning happens needs to be shot like the mad dog idea it is.

 

No clue what they are doing

 

No energy 60+ to even keep up let alone excel.

 

Stand on your feet 6 hrs a day?

 

30k pm most retirees will scoff despite having zero teaching, educational background, experience

 

I started teaching at 55 retired. It took four years of self training for me to feel comfortable in the classroom.

 

My experience with most experienced 65yo + teachers is that that the work ethic is generally better than 30+ crowd but the classroom is pretty dire learning experience

[SuperSilverHaze]

8 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

They might want to think about increasing the retirement age for teachers. ????‍♂️

Teachers need to go at 55 actually. Most if not all Thai teachers above that age are worthless and spent. I'd say thirty years and out.

 

Like States, no one wants to teach due to conditions and pay. So, left with lots of gay, lazy, incompetent...

 

Solution is easy. Overhaul the entire system especially pay, incentive. Introduce university loan payback schemes, perks.

[zzaa09]

16 minutes ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

Teachers need to go at 55 actually. Most if not all Thai teachers above that age are worthless and spent. I'd say thirty years and out.

 

Like States, no one wants to teach due to conditions and pay. So, left with lots of gay, lazy, incompetent...

 

Solution is easy. Overhaul the entire system especially pay, incentive. Introduce university loan payback schemes, perks.

Competently education the educators should be a prime priority.

This hasn't been the case forever.....

[SuperSilverHaze]

2 hours ago, pomchop said:

rarely do they actually practice speaking and listening

Well, as far as listening goes there's YouTube as well as hundreds of other websites. Thousands of movies and series...

 

Thai accent generally speaking is fine.

 

They don't need to necessarily speak with those with L1 language abilities - they just need to converse amongst themselves.

 

The notion that the teacher is the best or sole conduit for speaking/language acquisition is wrong. 1:20-30-40-50 is not a successful ratio

 

Some of the worst accents outside Philippines coming out of Scotland, N England and pockets of London. Native speakers to model speech can be a poor idea.

Edited March 4, 2023 by SuperSilverHaze

[BangkokReady]

33 minutes ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

Teachers need to go at 55 actually.

If someone cannot teach at 55, there's a problem with that individual.  No reason that people cannot teach up until 65, maybe longer. 

 

If the reason is that they have to be super energetic and dance around just to keep the attention of the students, or that the students don't like being around older people, then that's really a problem with the students.  The idea that high school students cannot simply sit and listen to someone talk is simply transferring the problem of limited attention spans and poor discipline.

 

As long as they have all their marbles and can stay focussed for the duration of the lesson, there's no reason that older people cannot teach.  It's been that way forever in most Western countries and they do just fine.

[proton]

When they get into their 50's most cannot wait to retire, why would they want to go back into classrooms?

[pomchop]

57 minutes ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

The notion people can walk into a classroom and learning happens needs to be shot like the mad dog idea it is.

 

No clue what they are doing

 

No energy 60+ to even keep up let alone excel.

 

Stand on your feet 6 hrs a day?

 

30k pm most retirees will scoff despite having zero teaching, educational background, experience

 

I started teaching at 55 retired. It took four years of self training for me to feel comfortable in the classroom.

 

My experience with most experienced 65yo + teachers is that that the work ethic is generally better than 30+ crowd but the classroom is pretty dire learning experience

Well I did it at age 68-75 and yes that is old but the kids give you energy and it can be a heck of a lot of fun if you take an hour or so to prepare before you show up....you have to make a fun game out of it and it takes a while to get the super shy kids to try to speak english as their peers will laugh and hoot at them BUT eventually most of the kids do at least give speaking and trying to understand spoken english a try and the ones i dealt with sure seemed to increase their confidence enough to give it a shot....if you do it will likely learn that you are actually more of an entertainer than a teacher so it does take a bit of work to come up with new fun ideas of getting the kids to respond....any expat that hasn't grasped the idea that sanuk is very important part of Thai learning culture should stay home.

Edited March 4, 2023 by pomchop

[BangkokReady]

26 minutes ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

Well, as far as listening goes there's YouTube as well as hundreds of other websites.

Relying on students to view YouTube videos or other websites in their own time to improve their listening skills is pie in the sky.  Most students simple won't do it.  It's just not in their nature to take their learning that seriously nor to make that much extra effort for most students.

 

Having a native speaker in the classroom (and around the school) is one of the best ways for students to practice and improve their practical use of English.  There's really no substitute for exposure to authentic English from a native speaker.

 

As far as accents go, you can simply filter out those that are unintelligible or who cannot put on a clearer accent in the school.

[SuperSilverHaze]

6 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

If someone cannot teach at 55, there's a problem with that individual.  No reason that people cannot teach up until 65, maybe longer. 

 

If the reason is that they have to be super energetic and dance around just to keep the attention of the students, or that the students don't like being around older people, then that's really a problem with the students.  The idea that high school students cannot simply sit and listen to someone talk is simply transferring the problem of limited attention spans and poor discipline.

 

As long as they have all their marbles and can stay focussed for the duration of the lesson, there's no reason that older people cannot teach.  It's been that way forever in most Western countries and they do just fine.

While you are correct in theory - I find the reality quite different. My uncle was a master teacher and taught writing into his 60s. He played tennis into his 90s. Most Thai teachers for a myriad of reasons are absolutely toast by mid fifties if not earlier.

 

Most people in general are coasting in their jobs and careers 50+. Many poor and burned out teachers gravitate to high paid, no productivity positions

 

I do still have energy and some creativity despite my age but I'm nothing like when I was 40.

[SuperSilverHaze]

8 minutes ago, pomchop said:

Well I did it at age 68-75 and yes that is old but the kids give you energy and it can be a heck of a lot of fun if you take an hour or so to prepare before you show up....you have to make a fun game out of it and it takes a while to get the super shy kids to try to speak english as their peers will laugh and hoot at them BUT eventually most of the kids do at least give speaking and trying to understand spoken english a try and the ones i dealt with sure seemed to increase their confidence enough to give it a shot....if you do it will likely learn that you are actually more of an entertainer than a teacher so it does take a bit of work to come up with new fun ideas of getting the kids to respond....any expat that hasn't grasped the idea that sanuk is very important part of Thai learning culture should stay home.

Look, this is great for the sticks but it's not going to get a student into medical school or an overseas scholarship.

 

Speaking is quite important but the first skill most non native users of English will need is reading/writing.

 

We seemingly have very different perspectives , objectives, students

[pomchop]

2 hours ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

Look, this is great for the sticks but it's not going to get a student into medical school or an overseas scholarship.

 

Speaking is quite important but the first skill most non native users of English will need is reading/writing.

 

We seemingly have very different perspectives , objectives, students

Never said reading and writing are not important...of course they are. But if you can't speak or understand spoken English good luck with med school or overseas scholarships. 

 

Further the vast majority of public school kids in Thailand are no more going to med school or overseas than they are going in a spaceship to Mars.  I am all for reading writing speaking and understanding English for any who want to give it a shot.  Not one in a thousand of the kids I taught in the "sticks" will likely ever leave Thailand as they are dirt poor and not going to some elite school. 

 

But at least I feel like a few of them did improve  their speaking / understanding skills/confidence by practicing with the old farang and the old farang also learned a lot about Thai kids and how to learn together and have a lot of fun doing it.

[SuperSilverHaze]

25 minutes ago, pomchop said:

no more going to med school or overseas than they are going in a spaceship to Mars. 

This may we'll be true but it's nowhere I'd want to teach.

 

At the level of bar tourist service staff, floozie or hawker... Yeah, hanging on your every word I suppose. Savoring and saving each of your lessons and sage advice

[ThailandRyan]

So no pay, just volunteer and collect your meager pension....Yes Sir anything you say sir, will I get a free meal sir, do I have to wear a uniform sir.....ludicrous.....

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, Tarteso said:

Old generation with very poor knowledge, lack of preparation in technologies,  unable to understand  and manage the new generations….And Without salary.. Brilliant.

Typical cutting edge decision making on behalf of education in Thailand - well done, they have exceeded their competence once again. 

[scorecard]

2 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Typical cutting edge decision making on behalf of education in Thailand - well done, they have exceeded their competence once again. 

Add... and locked into rote learning, children not allowed to ask questions.

 

Plus 'I told you the answer, you don't need to know why it's the correct answer'.

[mommysboy]

Teachers for free then!

Dare say it will catch on for lower age groups too.

What a bleak future for us minions.

[herfiehandbag]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:40 AM, pomchop said:

Expand to retired ex pats who volunteer in return for no bs one year visa...basic screening and monitoring to weed out perverts and worthless and let them do part time few days a week..screw up or no show and an email from school principal to immigration and special visa cancelled..

the Thai kids desperately need some teachers that will help them to learn to use the words they know in speaking and listening ...right now they are taught grammar and diagramming sentences which is fine but rarely do they actually practice speaking and listening which native English farangs  could and would allow them to practice...i did it and can tell you it works and is also great fun for the teacher and students......

What, and highlight tha limitations of the Thai "English teacher's" skills?

[gomangosteen]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:29 PM, zzaa09 said:

Competently education the educators should be a prime priority.

This hasn't been the case forever.....

Good grief; a fine example of a teaching expat.

'Don't give up your day job'

 

[pomchop]

23 hours ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

This may we'll be true but it's nowhere I'd want to teach.

 

At the level of bar tourist service staff, floozie or hawker... Yeah, hanging on your every word I suppose. Savoring and saving each of your lessons and sage advice

So you want to teach hi so rich kids....nothing wrong with that but perhaps you should not be so dismissive of the rest who didn't grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth....they are not all floozies or hawkers but perhaps in your hi so environment they are not worthy of your high standards of education.

[ikke1959]

Thai teachers dictate and students copy.... The students have no idea what they are copying, but questions are not allowed to asked....English teachers??? Even more difficult. I have tried to speak with Thai English teachers, but they avoid me as much as possible, and when they speak I hardly understand them..The director of the school master in English can't speak either.. reading and writing are normal...  I had to check the tests every time and full of mistakes....The year of retirement the retiring teachers don't do anything anymore... too busy with their farewell party and clothing and all kind of other activities...And now they have to come back?? They don't add anything....sorry

[scorecard]

10 hours ago, pomchop said:

So you want to teach hi so rich kids....nothing wrong with that but perhaps you should not be so dismissive of the rest who didn't grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth....they are not all floozies or hawkers but perhaps in your hi so environment they are not worthy of your high standards of education.

Want to teach rich hi-so kids. I'm aware of a very expensive international primary / high school Thai owned, very small classes, extremely expensive. Teachers come an go quickly becaue of he attitdes and behavors, refusal to sit down, refusal to stop talking, refusal to participate. Come very late, extremelu rude/insulting to the teachers and to the Thai admin. staff. And parents no hesitation to walk into the classroom and make demands...

 

Perhaps some teachrs like this scenario.folks l