Pay Thai Teachers Better For Smarter Kids, Advises UNESCO Director

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EDUCATION

Pay teachers better for smarter kids, advises Unesco director

By The Nation

If Thailand and other countries want their youth to become smarter, they should pay teachers accordingly, Unesco's Thailand director said yesterday as he urged nations to prepare for an ageing society.

Dr Gwang-Jo Kim was giving a lecture about the factors behind the success of education in the 21st century at EDUCA 2010, which runs until tomorrow at Bitec Bang Na.

The role of teachers has shifted from being at the centre of learning to becoming innovators in a student-centred system, he said.

Besides promoting teachers' development and countries to exchange knowledge to improve teachers' skills, Unesco also studied teachers' living conditions and the problems they face. It discovered that teachers' wages have remained unchanged over the past 10 to 15 years, Kim said. However, if a country wanted to produce smarter people, teachers' salaries should be given a fair hike so they would want to continue in this profession for the next 20 to 30 years, he said. He added that Unesco was working to come up with an appropriate wage rate for teachers in each country.

With more and more people becoming old across the world, there being fewer people at the reproductive age as well as problems with economic changes and global warming, Kim said demand for skilled manpower would increase and the educational gap become narrower.

In 2007, Unesco found that 72 million people didn't go to school, but this number is expected to go down to 23 million in 2015. In Thailand, 88 per cent of pre-school age children were in nurseries, 98.3 per cent primary-school age children attended classes, 86.7 per cent in lower secondary school, 58 per cent in higher secondary school and 48 per cent doing their higher education. Kim said these numbers were not bad but could be better.

Dr Lee Hyun-Chong, president of South Korea's Sangmyung University, said his country and Thailand had similar problems - students faced tight competition to get into university and often had to attend tutoring schools.

South Korea, where 83.5 per cent of youngsters are in university, reformed its education system by cutting down the number of exams, reducing the gap between good and not-so-good students, giving schools more freedom in administration and creating a curriculum, as well as decentralising the educational administrative power.

Reform at the higher education level emphasises universities' administrative and academic freedom, while getting the institutions to certify teachers' proficiency and adjusting the teacher-student ratio from 1:24 to 1:12 or 1:15, he added.

-- The Nation 2010-10-14

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

[Scott]

Oh, my goodness, I hope my director doesn't read this. She'll go into cardiac arrest. Her idea of education reform is: pay teachers less, increase the work load, add extra duties and then increase the number of students in each class!

I have a feeling she's not alone in this administrative doctrine.

(And yes there is a touch of sarcasm here--but not much).

[virtualtraveller]

30,000 baht? try 8,000 baht - that is the starting salary of a junior teacher, even those in profitable private schools get no more than 10,000 - some assigned to some Mattayom classes.

When I was teaching 8 years ago the highest salary in the private school was 15,000 baht, yet the mercs would roll up in the morning to drop off their kids, says it all really.

I'm doubtful whether this country can ever successfully reform its education system to produce better qualified manpower, being dumb is all part of the fabric of this society, being clever is just a threat to the system. Besides if the new generation are never allowed to be cleverer than the older generation then what hope is there of improvement.

Part of the problem too is that the educators aren't particularly smart and the decision makers among the educators, are even less smart about it all.

[JamesMcNamara]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

Which rock have you been living under ?

To estimate a Thai teacher's salary to be anywhere near 30 K. Halve it and you might get close to a Principal's average take home.

UNESCO have to be applauded to raise the issue, though it's unlikely to change much. A cosmetic 400 B increase here, a paltry 350 B if you are good there. The present education minister talks up the absence of any disadvantage to having 45 + students in a class. Indeed he says the more the merrier as the more 'friends' there are to be made. He says it's as easy to teach a class of 50 as 15 , which any sane person would recognise as total and utter BS. Do you imagine for a minute ANY of these BS merchants send their own children to government schools...! 555 Perish the thought.....

[puchooay]

Hang on. The Thai kids are smart already. They all pass their tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[inquisitive]

It is pretty clear that most posters seem to feel that education is being held back by low teacher salaries. The point that is no so clear to me is whether they feel that the present teachers are holding back and not doing as well as they can because the salary is not high enough, or if the posters think the present teachers are simply not good enough and we need new ones that will only apply when the salaries rise. If teachers are taking the job knowing the pay and then not doing their best because they want more money, then they should simply be fired and replaced. Do we really want this kind of person becoming an example for our children to follow? Any teacher that tells me that they would do a better job if they were paid more is automatically telling me that they ar unpincipled and don't care about my child's welfare. More than that, they are saying that they are a fraud since I am sure they did not tell their employer that they would fail to perform up to their abilities when they were hired.

Suppose this attitude was carried over into other fields. Would we have to ask our surgeon if he felt he was getting paid enough before he did our surgery, or would we have to worry that he would only do half the job because he wanted more? How about the airline pilots? Should we check with them before each flight?

[JamesMcNamara]

It is pretty clear that most posters seem to feel that education is being held back by low teacher salaries. The point that is no so clear to me is whether they feel that the present teachers are holding back and not doing as well as they can because the salary is not high enough, or if the posters think the present teachers are simply not good enough and we need new ones that will only apply when the salaries rise. If teachers are taking the job knowing the pay and then not doing their best because they want more money, then they should simply be fired and replaced. Do we really want this kind of person becoming an example for our children to follow? Any teacher that tells me that they would do a better job if they were paid more is automatically telling me that they ar unpincipled and don't care about my child's welfare. More than that, they are saying that they are a fraud since I am sure they did not tell their employer that they would fail to perform up to their abilities when they were hired.

Suppose this attitude was carried over into other fields. Would we have to ask our surgeon if he felt he was getting paid enough before he did our surgery, or would we have to worry that he would only do half the job because he wanted more? How about the airline pilots? Should we check with them before each flight?

The free market works everywhere except education right ? It's not a matter of paying people 'more', it's about paying people what they are worth or deemed to be worth by society.......if someone asked you to go out and work in a government school for 45 hours a week for a smidgen over the national minimum wage I'm sure the free market would work perfectly...you'd run for the hills. Please take your high horsed nonsense and bury where you left you basic regard for human dignity.

Edited October 14, 2010 by JamesMcNamara

[GuyLee]

Hang on. The Thai kids are smart already. They all pass their tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some time ago I decided to give some kids (ten off) that were not that well off (selected by the teaching staff) a donation off 1,000 baht each. This was done and linked to be on a day that school uniforms and books could be purchased, it all went well. The next time I did this I was asked to address the school, this I did and after-wards I was told that my advice to have an inquisitive mind ask questions and not just except the norm was bad! That if the kids did as I advised was not the Thai way. Just imagine if every one followed this we would not have electricity, cars and the list is endless.

How is Thailand ever going to get out of the mess it is in, especially when you add the corruption in every part of the Thai system op's the Thai way!

[jackr]

Do we really want this kind of person becoming an example for our children to follow? Any teacher that tells me that they would do a better job if they were paid more is automatically telling me that they ar unpincipled and don't care about my child's welfare. More than that, they are saying that they are a fraud since I am sure they did not tell their employer that they would fail to perform up to their abilities when they were hired.

That's how I read it. If a teacher is not up to par already, no amount of money thrown at them will make them a better teacher. In fact, if you arbitrarily hoick up wages it tends to have a negative effect here... ie, they'll do less as the extra money makes them believe they're worth more. It'd be a similar scenario with the cops. If you were to simply pay them more, do you think they'd do a better job and no longer cheat and do the tea-money thing?

I applaud the focus on this, but what it ultimately needs is the proper education of teachers before money is looked at.

[Scott]

The very basic problem with teachers and salary is attracting and keeping decent teachers. I know of virtually no one who holds back on their performance because of pay (although a lot of people say they do).

For example, Thai English teachers who have a good command of English--and there are a number of them--are usually hired by businesses at considerably more money. I know a few who have stayed in teaching, but it was because of other reasons, such as their children went to the school, another job would be further away etc.

Of those that have stayed in education, they have usually moved to gov't schools because of the pension and benefits (and better working conditions, although the pay was less).

[inquisitive]

It is pretty clear that most posters seem to feel that education is being held back by low teacher salaries. The point that is no so clear to me is whether they feel that the present teachers are holding back and not doing as well as they can because the salary is not high enough, or if the posters think the present teachers are simply not good enough and we need new ones that will only apply when the salaries rise. If teachers are taking the job knowing the pay and then not doing their best because they want more money, then they should simply be fired and replaced. Do we really want this kind of person becoming an example for our children to follow? Any teacher that tells me that they would do a better job if they were paid more is automatically telling me that they ar unpincipled and don't care about my child's welfare. More than that, they are saying that they are a fraud since I am sure they did not tell their employer that they would fail to perform up to their abilities when they were hired.

Suppose this attitude was carried over into other fields. Would we have to ask our surgeon if he felt he was getting paid enough before he did our surgery, or would we have to worry that he would only do half the job because he wanted more? How about the airline pilots? Should we check with them before each flight?

The free market works everywhere except education right ? It's not a matter of paying people 'more', it's about paying people what they are worth or deemed to be worth by society.......if someone asked you to go out and work in a government school for 45 hours a week for a smidgen over the national minimum wage I'm sure the free market would work perfectly...you'd run for the hills. Please take your high horsed nonsense and bury where you left you basic regard for human dignity.

Whoa! Hold on Turbo. Feeling a bit defensive are we? Do you think that the best way to make your point is to say the person that disagrees with you is on a high horse"? This reminds me of all the conflicts I see going on between the reds and yellows. Both sides seem to spend most of their energy trying to show how bad the other side is. Their answer to most accusations is "You're worse," as if that changes anything.

I actually do not disagree with you. Your observation about the free market is absolutely right. Your points and mine are exactly the same, except that somehow you manage to fit in some unnecessary personal attacks. Perhaps the way you were taught?

We both agree that the best and brightest will be drawn away from jobs in education precisely for the reason you spew. Practically no one with good talent would take the job under the present circumstances. My point was that simply paying more to the same bad teachers won't make them any better. The system needs an overhaul, including replacements for all the teachers that shout how much they care about the kids and then pillage the system by failing to do their jobs.

Perhaps I should note that I am an ajarn and I have taught both upcountry,in Bangkok, in the USA and in nine universiies around the world. My wife was an English teacher in Thailand, one of her sisters was a teacher before leaving for the hotel business and another of her sisters is still a teacher upcountry. In other words, I know how the system really works. When my wife was 14 years old she was hired by the teacher next door to babysit her class for hours at a time so the teacher could carry on extramarital affiars with the male teachers at her school. This 14 year old Isaan girl was also paid to grade papers so the teacher would not have to work in the afternoon. My sister-in-law was told that to get a position teaching she would have to pay 100,000 baht under the table, and the whole system was explained, all the way to how people would be paid to take the examinations for the candidate that paid the bribes.

I am ashamed to say that I have another unnamed relative that is getting rich from all the school corruption. I know the system, and I agree that it is unacceptable. If you are one of the teachers that took the job saying you would do your best and then rationalized being a thief by not giving the students what you were paid for, then I can certainly undertstand how you might bristle at my words. If I have described you in my writing, then my advice - no, my plea - is for you to please quit at the end of this term and make room for someone else that takes their responsibilities seriously. Meanwhile you and I can both continue to work for getting good teachers a good salary. (And manageable class sizes, and permission to grade students correctly, and permission to teach children how to think, and all the other changes that are necessary beore this system can be considered world-class and worthy of the Thai people.)

[mark45y]

Hang on. The Thai kids are smart already. They all pass their tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some time ago I decided to give some kids (ten off) that were not that well off (selected by the teaching staff) a donation off 1,000 baht each. This was done and linked to be on a day that school uniforms and books could be purchased, it all went well. The next time I did this I was asked to address the school, this I did and after-wards I was told that my advice to have an inquisitive mind ask questions and not just except the norm was bad! That if the kids did as I advised was not the Thai way. Just imagine if every one followed this we would not have electricity, cars and the list is endless.

How is Thailand ever going to get out of the mess it is in, especially when you add the corruption in every part of the Thai system op's the Thai way!

I don't believe you. 1. Nobody in Thailand gives away 10,000 baht. 2. If you addressed the school in English no one would have understood you, especially the teachers. 3. If you addressed the school in Thai, chances are your Thai is not that good and no one still would have understood you. 4. If you addressed the school in Thai and they did understand you, you would have God status and they would have believed anything you said. 5. That Thai teachers don't like kids asking questions is a myth. 6. Thai teachers like students who are bright.

[mark45y]

The very basic problem with teachers and salary is attracting and keeping decent teachers. I know of virtually no one who holds back on their performance because of pay (although a lot of people say they do).

For example, Thai English teachers who have a good command of English--and there are a number of them--are usually hired by businesses at considerably more money. I know a few who have stayed in teaching, but it was because of other reasons, such as their children went to the school, another job would be further away etc.

Of those that have stayed in education, they have usually moved to gov't schools because of the pension and benefits (and better working conditions, although the pay was less).

Scott, I agree with you 100%. I taught at a government school for a small wage (400 baht per hour). It was a poor school with a lot of single parent families (military). Even though the kids were troubled I liked them and taught there for 3 years. I left because of the money. I could make in an hour, working for industry what I made working all day in a school with no support, no AC, lots of stairs and the classes kept getting bigger.

I have enough money to live in Thailand till I die. The only reason I worked was (1) the uncertainty of the various currencies that my money is invested in. (2) Boredom. (3) Status, teachers get more women than drunks who hang out in bars. (4) Teaching keeps ones mind active, less chance of getting old and senile. (5) Opportunity to meet decent Thai people. (6) More women, did I mention that?

[edwardandtubs]

30,000 baht? try 8,000 baht - that is the starting salary of a junior teacher, even those in profitable private schools get no more than 10,000 - some assigned to some Mattayom classes.

When I was teaching 8 years ago the highest salary in the private school was 15,000 baht, yet the mercs would roll up in the morning to drop off their kids, says it all really.

You and your co-workers were being scammed. The rate of pay in a government school for Thai teachers is about 17,000 baht.

[mark45y]

30,000 baht? try 8,000 baht - that is the starting salary of a junior teacher, even those in profitable private schools get no more than 10,000 - some assigned to some Mattayom classes.

When I was teaching 8 years ago the highest salary in the private school was 15,000 baht, yet the mercs would roll up in the morning to drop off their kids, says it all really.

You and your co-workers were being scammed. The rate of pay in a government school for Thai teachers is about 17,000 baht.

Starting pay is 8 - 9000.

[way2muchcoffee]

Starting pay is in fact about 8,000 for starting teachers in government schools. In private schools the starting pays is even less. By the end of a 40 year career government teachers can be earning as much as 70,000 bt/month but that is rare. More often government school teachers retire with their final salaries in the range of 30-50,000 bt/month.

Edited October 14, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[cloudhopper]

High teacher pay has certainly worked well in the States.

[sirchai]

Hang on. The Thai kids are smart already. They all pass their tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Besides promoting teachers' development and countries to exchange knowledge to improve teachers' skills, Unesco also studied teachers' living conditions and the problems they face. It discovered that teachers' wages have remained unchanged over the past 10 to 15 years, Kim said. However, if a country wanted to produce smarter people, teachers' salaries should be given a fair hike so they would want to continue in this profession for the next 20 to 30 years, he said. He added that Unesco was working to come up with an appropriate wage rate for teachers in each country.

The 'production of smarter kids' is almost impossible without tutoring. No kid fails, they all make it to the next grade.

Compared to ordinary Thais, most qualified teachers here do have more than 15,000 baht, of course after some years of teaching

In primary and secondary level they've got three steps a Thai teacher can "improve' his/her educational knowledge.

All cities do have their own banks for (Thai) teachers, with a very low interest rate and they usually retire with 60, lots of them earlier now.

You can't produce smart kids in a classroom environment with 45-50 students. Doesn't matter what subject.

They do have a 'new curriculum, but students still have to be at school too long. So what's a new curriculum for, when no Poo Ooo is following it?

I'm also wondering why teachers in Prathom 1-6 are still allowed to beat the shit out of the kids, which isn't really helpful for a student/teacher relationship.

There are even Thai teachers telling foreigners to do the same. Broken bamboo sticks pave my way.....:jap:

Edited October 14, 2010 by sirchai

[ndw]

"reducing the gap between good and not-so-good students"

Thailand already does this. There is only ever a 50% gap between the smartest student and the stupidest student. The smartest student can pass with a 100% mark and the stupid students get an arbitrary pass mark of 50%.

[sirchai]

High teacher pay has certainly worked well in the States.

Oh my god.....or let's say holy shit. It certainly did work in the States. Aeeh ,but wasn't the wall of Berlin in Pink Floyd? And KFC means Killing Fields Chicken?

And the Hamburger was invented in Frankfurt, or?

"We don't need no education, we don't need no birth control.....hey teacher leave these kids alone."

Well and I thought my Thai neighbor, a teacher in her sixties would be bad in geographic ,when I was asking her if there would be a beach on Sri Lanka, which she denied.....

But that's not bad, just look at the Ex president George who never had a passport before he became the ruler of crackies. :jap:

[landofthefree]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

Thai teachers are paid quite well by Thai standards, the starting salary is low at about 8000 baht but goes up every year so a teacher with

20 odd years experience is often on 30,000 baht plus a guaranteed half salary pension index linked when they retire at 60.

One of the Thai teachers that I worked with was paid 60,000 baht per month. Added to this are a serious amount of paid holidays.

If you have worked in the schools as I have you would have noticed that most of them do very little work, dont allow the kids to think

for themselves and instead brainwash them with their view of Thai history and leadership of the country. I think the main purpose of

the Thai education system is to keep the elite rich and to keep the poor poor. The brainwashing continues with compulsory scouts

(Lord Baden Powell must be turning in his grave) and compulsory military service. This may be a tad radical for some of you but its my conclusion

after having worked for a total of 6 years in 4 different schools in Thailand both Government and private.

[selftaopath]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

There has been much research on this subject. Paying teachers more will NOT make students more intelligent. It could help them be better educated however. The Chinese teacher is not paid very well, but how does that countries education compare to others. There are many students in a typical classroom there also.

There are many more variables to increasing intelligence. Some of them are: A mother’s heath during pregnancy, audio/visual stimulation in infancy, parental guidance/education, nutrition, rest, extra circular activities, and being allowed/encouraged to think independently and critically along with genetics all significantly impact intelligence and educational success. This country’s culture must change if it wants its population to aspire to its true potential. Rote learning produces little if anything. Oh that might not be true. It does have and effect. We can see that everyday.

[selftaopath]

It is pretty clear that most posters seem to feel that education is being held back by low teacher salaries. The point that is no so clear to me is whether they feel that the present teachers are holding back and not doing as well as they can because the salary is not high enough, or if the posters think the present teachers are simply not good enough and we need new ones that will only apply when the salaries rise. If teachers are taking the job knowing the pay and then not doing their best because they want more money, then they should simply be fired and replaced. Do we really want this kind of person becoming an example for our children to follow? Any teacher that tells me that they would do a better job if they were paid more is automatically telling me that they ar unpincipled and don't care about my child's welfare. More than that, they are saying that they are a fraud since I am sure they did not tell their employer that they would fail to perform up to their abilities when they were hired.

Suppose this attitude was carried over into other fields. Would we have to ask our surgeon if he felt he was getting paid enough before he did our surgery, or would we have to worry that he would only do half the job because he wanted more? How about the airline pilots? Should we check with them before each flight?

Yea - or how about the police?

[dutchchiangmai]

In my opinion It's not a problem of teachers salary’s or anything near it. We as teachers are told that students cannot fail their exams in any Thai private or other school, except for the International schools. Even in universities students need to pass their exams. It is however understandable if you look at it from the schools or the parents point of view. Schools are like businesses and their students are the “merchandise”. The more students who pass the better the school. If a school fails a student, the parents will take that student to a new school where he or she guarantee can pass. In this systems, no matter how much you pay your teachers, your education level will go down and eventually will stop to exist. These days students in universities are very well aware of the fact that they can’t be flunked, resulting in classes where a lot of the students don’t have any motivation what’s so, to understand the subjects that are presented. If that rule, that came from the Thai government would change and if all of the Thai schools would have the same point of interest, eq “the students”, then maybe the level of education would accelerate instead of decrease. But hey, this is just the opinion of me and knowing TV a little bit, there will be many others who disagree with me.:jap:

[csolgosz]

30,000 baht? try 8,000 baht - that is the starting salary of a junior teacher, even those in profitable private schools get no more than 10,000 - some assigned to some Mattayom classes.

When I was teaching 8 years ago the highest salary in the private school was 15,000 baht, yet the mercs would roll up in the morning to drop off their kids, says it all really.

You and your co-workers were being scammed. The rate of pay in a government school for Thai teachers is about 17,000 baht.

Starting pay is 8 - 9000.

Easily confirmed. I have only ever met one Thai teacher that earned 30k and that was in an International School. In the Thai schools- both Govt and private, the starting pay in less than 10k and a full Administrative position would be unlikely to fetch anywhere near 30k. Doubting the validity of some posters with the crud data that is coming up. Expect a few thousand farang teachers to respond to that.

The main point is, do you really believe that the ruling elite would want the masses to be educated to think for themselves? That would be like paying police officers a decent salary and training them better to stamp out corruption...

[csolgosz]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

There has been much research on this subject. Paying teachers more will NOT make students more intelligent. It could help them be better educated however. The Chinese teacher is not paid very well, but how does that countries education compare to others. There are many students in a typical classroom there also.

There are many more variables to increasing intelligence. Some of them are: A mother's heath during pregnancy, audio/visual stimulation in infancy, parental guidance/education, nutrition, rest, extra circular activities, and being allowed/encouraged to think independently and critically along with genetics all significantly impact intelligence and educational success. This country's culture must change if it wants its population to aspire to its true potential. Rote learning produces little if anything. Oh that might not be true. It does have and effect. We can see that everyday.

All that is true, BUT...

You ask an intelligent bunch of Thai students who wants to be a teacher and see how many hands go up. The salary is an indication of the importance that they attach to that vocation...

[inmysights]

30,000 baht? try 8,000 baht - that is the starting salary of a junior teacher, even those in profitable private schools get no more than 10,000 - some assigned to some Mattayom classes.

When I was teaching 8 years ago the highest salary in the private school was 15,000 baht, yet the mercs would roll up in the morning to drop off their kids, says it all really.

You and your co-workers were being scammed. The rate of pay in a government school for Thai teachers is about 17,000 baht.

Starting pay is 8 - 9000.

Easily confirmed. I have only ever met one Thai teacher that earned 30k and that was in an International School. In the Thai schools- both Govt and private, the starting pay in less than 10k and a full Administrative position would be unlikely to fetch anywhere near 30k. Doubting the validity of some posters with the crud data that is coming up. Expect a few thousand farang teachers to respond to that.

The main point is, do you really believe that the ruling elite would want the masses to be educated to think for themselves? That would be like paying police officers a decent salary and training them better to stamp out corruption...

I have a met/am friends with a lot of Thais who are very well aware of this. Their response is generally along the lines of 'what can we do?' You can voice your discontent in the same way that the Yellow/Red supporters did/are doing, that's what.

I don't like/want to call them 'apathetic' in regrds to corruption per se, and usually, discounting the aforementioned 'rallying groups', why so timorous? Perhaps the Thais have not the guts to stand up to those in authority. Much the same as the South Americans, say, are?

[astral]

Starting pay is 8 - 9000.

And they are expected to be in school in the holidays.

[sirchai]

Well, that's pretty obvious. If you pay only 30,000 baht per month and have 50 students in a class, you can't expect much.

As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts . . .

Wait! That doesn't say much for the TEFL teaching pool here in Thailand, does it?

Thai teachers are paid quite well by Thai standards, the starting salary is low at about 8000 baht but goes up every year so a teacher with

20 odd years experience is often on 30,000 baht plus a guaranteed half salary pension index linked when they retire at 60.

One of the Thai teachers that I worked with was paid 60,000 baht per month. Added to this are a serious amount of paid holidays.

If you have worked in the schools as I have you would have noticed that most of them do very little work, dont allow the kids to think

for themselves and instead brainwash them with their view of Thai history and leadership of the country. I think the main purpose of

the Thai education system is to keep the elite rich and to keep the poor poor. The brainwashing continues with compulsory scouts

(Lord Baden Powell must be turning in his grave) and compulsory military service. This may be a tad radical for some of you but its my conclusion

after having worked for a total of 6 years in 4 different schools in Thailand both Government and private.

Your “if you have worked in the schools as I have ................” experience doesn’t look like you’d know a lot about this country’s educational institutions.

Thai teachers at many government schools do have a 3,000 baht pay rise each year. They’ll have to come up with their educational upgrades to show a commission that their way of teaching had improved.

The MOE will look at their dossiers and whatever they’d done for and in the school.

Most of them are pretty much hard working, on special occasions or weekends. Being a Thai teacher means to be a part of the ‘family’, the whole staff.

I’ve got my experience from teaching five years at two schools, a primary and a secondary government school straight without a break.

I had many Thai colleagues who made more than 40,000 a month, with a full salary retirement at the age of 60, with a full pension, and not a guaranteed half salary.

Please consider this post as another opinion, your conclusion might work for you, but I disagree. Enjoy your stay in LOS, swim with the swarm or leave it. :jap: