Types Of Schools

[Ijustwannateach]

One topic which we have somewhat haphazardly covered in the pinned thread "Questions About Qualifications" is the different types of schools in Thailand which may employ foreigners. Why don't we take a more organised approach to it for a moment?

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In this section we are generally speaking of schools which are owned/sponsored/vested by the government of the Kingdom of Thailand, specifically the Ministry of Education. At the moment all of these schools are more or less affiliated with and controlled more or less by the Ministry, though there is a political battle at the moment for decentralisation (which is opposed by Thai teachers who feel, probably correctly, that this will result in fewer benefits for them, and there are few enough as it is, as well as water down the guarantee of free education for Thai citizens).

My favourite work in Thailand has been at public schools. The kids are not spoiled, the parents support the teachers (largely because it is the line of least resistance, but also because they expect discipline to be part of the curriculum and don't want their kids running wild at or away from home), and response to a truly dedicated teacher can be among the most rewarding I have experienced at any teaching job I have had. If only the money, the organization, the resources, the politics, and about ten thousand other things were a bit better....

Teaching at these institutions also gives you the best "full immersion" picture of what goes on in a Thai institution, as there will rarely be many (or even any) other foreigners and you will more or less be subject to all the same expectations as other Thai teachers. I've heard of foreigners required to do gate duty, run school shops, advise clubs, coach sports, and all the rest- not to mention the usual assemblies, ceremonies, workshops, conferences, school trips, sports days, camps, and the inevitable Happy Fluffy Dance Day which I use as the generic substitute for at least one seemingly incomprehensible event/holiday endemic to nearly all Thai schools. If it sounds partly fun and partly like slave labour, then I've accurately conveyed my impression of the reality.

Resources will be minimal. You may be thrown into a class with no materials and no access to copy machines, with 20 year old chalkboards and chalk that is half sawdust, in a classroom next to a noisy factory on one side and a never-ending basketball game on the other. Chances are there will be no Thai assistant teacher or if there is one he/she will be either constantly absent or useless. You will get a "desk" in the teacher's room (shared with about 20 other perennially underpaid and overworked Thai teachers) which will be essentially a wooden box, and there might be one computer shared by the entire department.

Add to this the fact that for whatever reason, Thai public institutions seem determined to shoot themselves in the foot. Whenever I've heard of a school finally getting a quality teacher who sticks it out a whole year, the director suddenly has a "bright idea" that you can teach the next year at 2/3 the salary and with one more unpaid month. In fact, the issue of getting paid 12 whole months, rather than 10 or 11, is one of the most unattractive problems of working at many of these schools. The reasons this keeps happening are probably related to the level of kickbacks various school administration officials get from hiring agency teachers and the fact that foreigners at public schools are looked at (by the officials) more as a public relations effort than as a foreign language educational improvement.

1. Elementary Schools

These are schools which teach P.1-P.6 [P="Prathom," Thai for primary school] (and possibly kindergarten, though I am a bit fuzzy on whether K (or "Anubarn") is required in the Thai curriculum or in its public schools- perhaps one of our gentle readers can advise us?). Expect huge classes, as even the poorest families attempt to have their children sent to elementary school. I'm not aware of any elementary EP programs in public schools at the moment (that doesn't mean there aren't any- gentle readers?) so most work here would be the typical TEFL type gig, geared towards the younger, lower-level learner. Work hours are likely to be long, but if you like kids (and you'd better like kids for this kind of job) it could be for you.

At the end of Prathom, students are given a government achievement test and based on this (and possibly other entrance tests) they attempt to enter the best high school they can.

2. High schools

By far the most common sort of employment for the aspiring TEFLer is in Thai public high schools, where the need is high, the classes are still huge, and the salaries are pretty low. There's a government standard of roughly 30K for teaching in a high school. Working hours are long, and expectations can be low in many classes. The one theoretical boon would be that in theory, government schools can easily handle the visa/work permit paperwork compared to private institutions- IF they know what they're doing and they feel so inclined.

There are a small but growing number of EP programs in public schools. Some of them are administered by the school, and some are run through agencies. Salaries in these positions, especially as maths and sciences teachers, can be better than for TEFLers, but you're usually expected to have some excuse for qualifications.

Classes go from M.1-M.1 [M=Matthayom], which are more or less the same years that other countries have junior high school and high school. The groups are pretty stable from M.1 to M.3, at which point they get another "entrance" opportunity to upgrade their high school; therefore, most schools will face a "brain drain" of their best and brightest between M.3 and M.4 (though they will get an influx of the better students from the lower schools).

The final goal of the well-educated M.6 student is to gain entrance to a good university, therefore in the last year of high school normal studies often suffer while the students cram to do well on college entrance boards.

Older classes in high school also tend to get smaller, because some kids drop out due to financial pressures, family problems, or ineptitude. Each year's grade is divided into a number of classes; usually the first (numbered) class of each grade is full of the top 40-50 students (by GPA), the second is full of the second 40-50, and so on down to the last class. The last class or two are usually the dregs and will barely attend by their last year.

In our next installment, we'll move on to primary and secondary private institutions.

"Steven"