Foreigners may no longer require a teacher's license?

[ALFREDO]

With all of the Thais teaching English even at the Uni level, but who can't speak English, an NES who could pass a Tefl would have to be better. Too many Thais are being taught vocabulary and grammar but not learning to speak because the teacher can't speak. This is a massive problem in Isaan where many schools have never had an NES.

I have a friend near Sisaket who is a native Thai teacher. Her education is in math and science. Because she learned English at uni especially while getting her master's, she has been designated as the English teacher. Her speaking ability is horrible and we can barely talk. What she can say has such a terrible Thai accent that no child is really going to learn to use the language. Yet they dutifully have English classes with all communication in Thai. It's a joke.

You are right!

My boy in a "better" Private school in rural Isaan starts to learn English in Kindergarden with 5, but his female teacher-Kindergarden nurse, cannot speak English at all! What a farce!

I have to check out, if my 9 year old boy in the same school has the same fate!

[Saradoc1972]

I sometimes wonder what's the big deal about native speakers, i.e. why they are supposed to do a better job teaching people their own language seemingly regardless of academic or vocational background.

Myself, I was at one time asked by some church service to teach some adult refugee German. I didn't even know where to start apart from correcting the chap's mistakes (who had got himself a workable knowledge you'd wish for with any immigrant).

If you have really mastered a moderate level in a foreign language, it would then be time to go to a native speaker for tuition or, better still, visit the country where it's spoken everyday. We didn't have native speakers at school (there is an increasing percentage now) and it worked out fine. Some former Soviet Union states I visited certainly don't have them and just listen to the German some people there speak!

[pastafarian]

I believe it's all the old news as published by previous minister of education Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech on 29 June 2012. The forum rules forbid to post an excerpt or the link to that article but the essence of it all is that degree holders in for example physics will be allowed to teach physics in basic education schools without holding a degree in education or equivalent as described by law. The Teachers' Council of Thailand will provide for such degree holders a teacher license exemption letter. The teacher license exemption letter applies to teaching one or more specific subjects related to the applicant's university degree of study. AFAIK, the proposed amendment applies to both Thai and foreign teachers.

I sent a couple of emails yesterday to former employers and one of them, her husband also works for the MoE in Khon Kaen, replied and said that it isn't the same as what was said last year. According to her the TCT requirements means that many schools have been struggling to find both Thai & foreign teachers over the last couple of years and the schools are now pressuring their local MoE office. The provincial MoE offices have then been feeding this back to the main MoE in Bangkok and it is they who are now requesting that the TCT relax their requirements. Obviously whether this will ever happen is uncertain but at least it's a step in the right direction

[SICHONSTEVE]

I have had Uni qualified folk in English at my place. Most do not have a clue and I ''teach'' them stuff. I have no degree but I Know I can perfect stuff.

Did I say stuff, mai dee.

If true, it seems that 'the penny has dropped'!!

Possessing a degree in order to be able to teach is complete nonsense as degrees are complete nonsense!!!

Having a good command of REAL 'English' English and the desire and eagerness to teach Thai children is always going to be far more valuable than having a young degree holder in modern origami intent on getting drunk every night and having a good time wasting the money that his/her school pays him for 'having to teach' those stupid Thai kids (that don't like him anyway just because he shouts at them as he would rather be watching the TV with a can of Leo in his hand).

It is about time that the Thai authorities woke up to these so-called educated 'farang' scammers'!!

[Saradoc1972]

If true, it seems that 'the penny has dropped'!!

Possessing a degree in order to be able to teach is complete nonsense as degrees are complete nonsense!!!

Having a good command of REAL 'English' English and the desire and eagerness to teach Thai children is always going to be far more valuable than having a young degree holder in modern origami intent on getting drunk every night and having a good time wasting the money that his/her school pays him for 'having to teach' those stupid Thai kids (that don't like him anyway just because he shouts at them as he would rather be watching the TV with a can of Leo in his hand).

It is about time that the Thai authorities woke up to these so-called educated 'farang' scammers'!!

Well, if you are not cut out for the job you do and on top of it don't like it, there is no way you'll do a good job, degree or not.

But that is not the point why Thai authorities prefer people with a degree, it rather is exactly the boozy native speaker you describe. From what I read they demand a degree to at least have a better chance picking decent people with self-discipline to be an example to the kids, which is important in Thai culture.

Having successfully gone through university education does not automatically make you a better teacher and there may be some "naturals" who at home did plumbing or sth., but with an academic background you have far better chances teaching yourself stuff according to needs and a more abstract look at the language itself. I am more or less talking chances here, whether a bachelor on the films of Tom Cruise will be beneficial for anything I don't now (and there used to be such a thing) but it at least proves you can write a page or two of coherent sentences straight.

[Phuket electrician]

A white skinned native English speaker with a TEFL certificate and a positive attitude is considered qualified to present the language to Thai students.

Thai people have a perceived regard for white skinned, western educated people with a positive attitude. It's a fact, it doesn't mean it is correct.

If you don't have these qualifications and attributes you will be discriminated against.

[Saradoc1972]

A white skinned native English speaker with a TEFL certificate and a positive attitude is considered qualified to present the language to Thai students.

Thai people have a perceived regard for white skinned, western educated people with a positive attitude. It's a fact, it doesn't mean it is correct.

If you don't have these qualifications and attributes you will be discriminated against.

Seems true. But what is the deal with having to be a native speaker?

If you have learned a foreign language from scratch you will have more experience at how the language works grammar-wise than that native speaker who never lost a thought about it until his TEFL-course.

[Phuket electrician]

It seems non white skinned people or people without a degree feel discriminated against. TIT not the west, you can bark all you want, you'll just get tired and realise it's the wrong tree.

[Saradoc1972]

It seems non white skinned people or people without a degree feel discriminated against. TIT not the west, you can bark all you want, you'll just get tired and realise it's the wrong tree.

That is not my point (if that was a reply to my earlier post). I am German, white, and I hold a degree in law. What I will never be, though, is a native speaker of English; close to it with every single Cambridge University certificate they invented, but not native.

My point is: what's the buzz about being a native speaker?

[Scott]

Where I work, we have 4 native English speakers teaching English. We have 35 other foreign teachers (quite a few native English speakers and quite a few non-native English speakers) teaching everything from Physical Education, Health Education, Social Studies, Science (including Chemistry, Biology and Physics), Chinese and Japanese.

As a very general rule, those with no degree and no other qualification are at the bottom of the heap, those with no degree but a TEFL are next (if they are teaching English....TEFL doesn't do a lot of good with other subjects). Next are those with a degree. At the top of the pile are those with a degree in Education.

Those majoring in education made an active choice that they wanted to be a teacher. That was their aim, their goal and their desire. They take their work seriously. They know a lot of techniques, they can identify learning problems and they are versatile in the classroom. Mostly, they know what a school is about and can write a proper exam and know how to grade the exams, etc.

The problem of English, by and large, is that whatever is learned is never used. Most students simply do not have the opportunity to use English.

[SICHONSTEVE]

If true, it seems that 'the penny has dropped'!!

Possessing a degree in order to be able to teach is complete nonsense as degrees are complete nonsense!!!

Having a good command of REAL 'English' English and the desire and eagerness to teach Thai children is always going to be far more valuable than having a young degree holder in modern origami intent on getting drunk every night and having a good time wasting the money that his/her school pays him for 'having to teach' those stupid Thai kids (that don't like him anyway just because he shouts at them as he would rather be watching the TV with a can of Leo in his hand).

It is about time that the Thai authorities woke up to these so-called educated 'farang' scammers'!!

Well, if you are not cut out for the job you do and on top of it don't like it, there is no way you'll do a good job, degree or not.

But that is not the point why Thai authorities prefer people with a degree, it rather is exactly the boozy native speaker you describe. From what I read they demand a degree to at least have a better chance picking decent people with self-discipline to be an example to the kids, which is important in Thai culture.

Having successfully gone through university education does not automatically make you a better teacher and there may be some "naturals" who at home did plumbing or sth., but with an academic background you have far better chances teaching yourself stuff according to needs and a more abstract look at the language itself. I am more or less talking chances here, whether a bachelor on the films of Tom Cruise will be beneficial for anything I don't now (and there used to be such a thing) but it at least proves you can write a page or two of coherent sentences straight.

I take on board most of what you have written.

OK, let's look at this from a different angle then - you seem to put a lot of emphasis on the fact that somebody who has undertaken a degree is possibly going to be more disciplined than ordionary folk and be more capable at teaching as a consequence of this.

Don't you think that there are enough people well able to do this that decided to bypass the education route and seek work without having all of these fancy pieces of paper with some important sounding people's signatures on them to pursue something in life that they WANT to do. I doubt that every successful author has a degree behind them. You simply do not need a degree to prove that you can be disciplined in life and can write half properly and proves absolutely nothing to me.

Another thing, this disciplined thing, if somebody studies to be a teacher ie: how to teach foreign children more specifically, even having teacher training in the classroom as well as being taught the best methods of teaching, down to the best seating arrangements for specific lesson types then wouldn't this be a more beneficial qualification than, to give you a real example I came across, an American lady who got an art degree from Nevada University!!

As things stand, she would get a job teaching English in Thailand whilst the TEFOL/TESOL holder cannot, legally, any way.

Please tell me the sense in this!!

[pastafarian]

A white skinned native English speaker with a TEFL certificate and a positive attitude is considered qualified to present the language to Thai students.

Thai people have a perceived regard for white skinned, western educated people with a positive attitude. It's a fact, it doesn't mean it is correct.

If you don't have these qualifications and attributes you will be discriminated against.

Seems true. But what is the deal with having to be a native speaker?

If you have learned a foreign language from scratch you will have more experience at how the language works grammar-wise than that native speaker who never lost a thought about it until his TEFL-course.

There is already a huge emphasis on grammar here which is mainly taught by Thai teachers, most of them have shocking pronunciation and can't string a sentence together but they usually know their grammar inside out. But what the kids need is a lot more listening and speaking practice, this is where a native speaker is advantageous/preferred. Sure a German, Filipino, Swede or Italian with good command of the English language may well know more grammar rules than a native speaker but, usually, they are not as accurate and fluent as a native speaker.

I have many friends and some colleagues that aren't native speakers and I honestly don't know any that speak fluently without making any mistakes, the same can't be said for my English, American, Candadian and Australian friends/colleagues. They may only be small mistakes but they are mistakes nonetheless. If kids are practicing speaking and listening with a foreign teacher then it is benefical to them if that teacher is a native English speaker. If they are learning grammar then a Thai, Filipino, German, Russian, Afghan, Kenyan or Korean with good English skills will suffice. With fluency comes accuracy, instead of 75% grammar and 25% everything else like it is now it should be at least 50/50 so the kids can actually understand and speak English properly.

Edited September 15, 2013 by pastafarian

[inzman]

How many English conversation teachers will Thailand attract if they require a degree in education and a TEFL? Add to that the princely pay of 30k a month. If someone is that qualified, would they really value there time so cheaply. And if so why? I suggest that a NES willing to teach conversation for such a ridiculously low pay, is most likely going to be someone that has other income and is already making Thailand his home. Degree or not, the presence of someone to converse in English with the students and is happy to do it should be the goal. Lets not make it harder by too many requirements. If you do, it will end up making the students the looser. We aren't trying to reinvent the wheel here. Just to have someone willing to speak English with the students is a giant first step. We have all heard the Thai English teachers butcher the language .

[Phuket electrician]

It seems non white skinned people or people without a degree feel discriminated against. TIT not the west, you can bark all you want, you'll just get tired and realise it's the wrong tree.

That is not my point (if that was a reply to my earlier post). I am German, white, and I hold a degree in law. What I will never be, though, is a native speaker of English; close to it with every single Cambridge University certificate they invented, but not native.

My point is: what's the buzz about being a native speaker?

For any situation vacant there has to be a benchmark, a requirement. Wouldn't you agree?

If you want a specific job and feel you are qualified then apply in the most effective fashion. Bend the truth to highlight your suitability. It's common practice isn't it?

[Saradoc1972]

I take on board most of what you have written.

OK, let's look at this from a different angle then - you seem to put a lot of emphasis on the fact that somebody who has undertaken a degree is possibly going to be more disciplined than ordionary folk and be more capable at teaching as a consequence of this.

Don't you think that there are enough people well able to do this that decided to bypass the education route and seek work without having all of these fancy pieces of paper with some important sounding people's signatures on them to pursue something in life that they WANT to do. I doubt that every successful author has a degree behind them. You simply do not need a degree to prove that you can be disciplined in life and can write half properly and proves absolutely nothing to me.

Another thing, this disciplined thing, if somebody studies to be a teacher ie: how to teach foreign children more specifically, even having teacher training in the classroom as well as being taught the best methods of teaching, down to the best seating arrangements for specific lesson types then wouldn't this be a more beneficial qualification than, to give you a real example I came across, an American lady who got an art degree from Nevada University!!

As things stand, she would get a job teaching English in Thailand whilst the TEFOL/TESOL holder cannot, legally, any way.

Please tell me the sense in this!!

I suppose the two of us have no quarrel with anything here. I am not saying someone w/o a degree cannot be the best teacher ever, I am not saying an art degree will prove helpful in any way or with anything at all.

I am holding that if you have a meaningful degree under your belt, you are likely to be a very disciplined sort of person, and to have an academic or abstract view on things. Having gone through university you have learned to learn, for yourself, and that makes the difference. In itself it is not a guarantee you will, then, perform in real life or does preclude anyone without formal qualifications from being as good or better in that field. Just look at all those IT-professional dropouts.

I myself am not a native speaker of English, but having had to actually learn that language and after attending (excuse my Irish) six years of Latin at school I probably have a better grasp of grammar than most native speakers. Next problem would be conveying that grammar in a way intelligible to kids.

Why Thai authorities try to insist on that degree (from what I read you can get a job with just your TEFL) seems to be firstly based on culture (see above) and secondly they probably had it with the non-descript farang taking up a teacher's career to make a living abroad, maybe had too many failures. If as an authority you have to put up guidelines as to who can get employed it's probably the easy way out to rely on shiny papers, although it may be unjust on the non-degree-holding individual.

If you should ever have the privilege of holding a conversation with a German teacher (they are much disliked over here for being insufferable know-it-alls) you will actually ask yourself how anyone with a degree in education can ever be let loose on those kids. ;-))

[SICHONSTEVE]

I take on board most of what you have written.

OK, let's look at this from a different angle then - you seem to put a lot of emphasis on the fact that somebody who has undertaken a degree is possibly going to be more disciplined than ordionary folk and be more capable at teaching as a consequence of this.

Don't you think that there are enough people well able to do this that decided to bypass the education route and seek work without having all of these fancy pieces of paper with some important sounding people's signatures on them to pursue something in life that they WANT to do. I doubt that every successful author has a degree behind them. You simply do not need a degree to prove that you can be disciplined in life and can write half properly and proves absolutely nothing to me.

Another thing, this disciplined thing, if somebody studies to be a teacher ie: how to teach foreign children more specifically, even having teacher training in the classroom as well as being taught the best methods of teaching, down to the best seating arrangements for specific lesson types then wouldn't this be a more beneficial qualification than, to give you a real example I came across, an American lady who got an art degree from Nevada University!!

As things stand, she would get a job teaching English in Thailand whilst the TEFOL/TESOL holder cannot, legally, any way.

Please tell me the sense in this!!

I suppose the two of us have no quarrel with anything here. I am not saying someone w/o a degree cannot be the best teacher ever, I am not saying an art degree will prove helpful in any way or with anything at all.

I am holding that if you have a meaningful degree under your belt, you are likely to be a very disciplined sort of person, and to have an academic or abstract view on things. Having gone through university you have learned to learn, for yourself, and that makes the difference. In itself it is not a guarantee you will, then, perform in real life or does preclude anyone without formal qualifications from being as good or better in that field. Just look at all those IT-professional dropouts.

I myself am not a native speaker of English, but having had to actually learn that language and after attending (excuse my Irish) six years of Latin at school I probably have a better grasp of grammar than most native speakers. Next problem would be conveying that grammar in a way intelligible to kids.

Why Thai authorities try to insist on that degree (from what I read you can get a job with just your TEFL) seems to be firstly based on culture (see above) and secondly they probably had it with the non-descript farang taking up a teacher's career to make a living abroad, maybe had too many failures. If as an authority you have to put up guidelines as to who can get employed it's probably the easy way out to rely on shiny papers, although it may be unjust on the non-degree-holding individual.

If you should ever have the privilege of holding a conversation with a German teacher (they are much disliked over here for being insufferable know-it-alls) you will actually ask yourself how anyone with a degree in education can ever be let loose on those kids. ;-))

It seems that we are indeed singing from the same song sheet here.

You cannot, however, get a 'teaching' work permit without the possession of a degree (not at the relevant office in Bangkok, any way), and so I wonder just how many people with TEFL/TESOL qualififications are genuinely legit. in this regards.

I worked for over 31 years in the chemical (polymer) industry as a chief chemist. I moved to Thailand and we (my wife and I) built a private kindergarten school. I am now a consultant to the industry.

I wanted to work after I left school and took the part-time ONC/HNC (the latter qualification being equivalent to a part time degree, level wise). The first time around I managed to get a two year teaching license to teach in my own school but the last time I went to renew this I was asked one question "what degree have I got"? "I don't have a degree but have an equivalent level qualification and a TEFL certificate" I retorted .........."next please" was the terse answer to this!!!

[Saradoc1972]

There is already a huge emphasis on grammar here which is mainly taught by Thai teachers, most of them have shocking pronunciation and can't string a sentence together but they usually know their grammar inside out. But what the kids need is a lot more listening and speaking practice, this is where a native speaker is advantageous/preferred. Sure a German, Filipino, Swede or Italian with good command of the English language may well know more grammar rules than a native speaker but, usually, they are not as accurate and fluent as a native speaker.

I have many friends and some colleagues that aren't native speakers and I honestly don't know any that speak fluently without making any mistakes, the same can't be said for my English, American, Candadian and Australian friends/colleagues. They may only be small mistakes but they are mistakes nonetheless. If kids are practicing speaking and listening with a foreign teacher then it is benefical to them if that teacher is a native English speaker. If they are learning grammar then a Thai, Filipino, German, Russian, Afghan, Kenyan or Korean with good English skills will suffice. With fluency comes accuracy, instead of 75% grammar and 25% everything else like it is now it should be at least 50/50 so the kids can actually understand and speak English properly.

I honestly don't know about grammar of any kind in Thailand ;-)) When I get over here I find myself unwillingly falling back to baby-English talking to people and asking myself if I am being polite in doing that.

You are absolutely right in saying that knowing your grammar is not cutting it when you cannot properly string up a single sentence and pronunciation is of the sort that makes your toe-nails curl.

I am not a native speaker and there will be some minor mistakes, like I find myself looking up whether that's "a grasp of" or "a grasp at". If we were talking face to face you would not be able to identify my accent or even suspect I was not British for quite some time (unless I am tired or having that bad hair day).

Point is, that doesn't matter up to a point, if you are really fluent and can give people some speaking practice. School English obviously isn't good enough for that. If I, given my background, or those colleagues of yours make some little mistakes, there will be hardly any Thai kid not making them no matter how many native speakers they find themselves exposed to, short of a full bi-lingual upbringing.

German schools still ordinarily don't have native speakers teaching English and (well, at higher levels at least) that's good enough for most practical purposes. I suppose Thai officials would be elated at that level of English and even pronunciation in Thailand. Then, after mastering a moderate level, it would be time to seek out native speakers, preferably living in a country with English spoken everyday.

I tend to look at our Russian immigrants in Germany. They have beautiful German, just a bit of an accent and sometimes don't know all the proper words and sometimes a preposition is not right. But you can listen to them and it does not strain your ears. Same with my Ukrainian girlfriend, that is genius level non-native German. Then try being a lawyer listening to some Turk presenting his/her problem in German. Hand me those aspirins.

[Phuket electrician]

HND/HNC is not a degree.

Thai people are shy by nature and it is perhaps a little ignorant to expect a person to converse with a complete stranger in a second language. Some members have said their language instruction has helped a Thai improve their English. That may be so, but consider any discourse in a new relationship will start off tentatively.

Please do not assume Thai graduates to be inferior to their western equivalent. To do so might be considered a little ignorant even foolish. It is about communication, only a bigot would consider themselves superior to another human being.

[Saradoc1972]

It seems that we are indeed singing from the same song sheet here.

You cannot, however, get a 'teaching' work permit without the possession of a degree (not at the relevant office in Bangkok, any way), and so I wonder just how many people with TEFL/TESOL qualififications are genuinely legit. in this regards.

I worked for over 31 years in the chemical (polymer) industry as a chief chemist. I moved to Thailand and we (my wife and I) built a private kindergarten school. I am now a consultant to the industry.

I wanted to work after I left school and took the part-time ONC/HNC (the latter qualification being equivalent to a part time degree, level wise). The first time around I managed to get a two year teaching license to teach in my own school but the last time I went to renew this I was asked one question "what degree have I got"? "I don't have a degree but have an equivalent level qualification and a TEFL certificate" I retorted .........."next please" was the terse answer to this!!!

Definitely sounds qualified enough to me and I doubt you for instance would not be able to teach yourself new tricks over a good book.

Thing is, comparing educational qualifications internationally is difficult if possible at all. So they look out for a university degree requiring 3 years of full-time attendance. That is probably unfair, especially if you yourself should have happened to train apprentices or something like that. It's still a lot better than in continental Europe where you need to have a relevant degree or vocational training for next to anything or it's the dole for you.

[Yooyung]

_{I certainly hope something happens. I went home to get a degree after teaching here for 9 years. I am back again and am now facing the TCT tests, and I still need to do the Thai culture course. Ok, fine I will do it all if I have to. I have a wife and son here and am intending to stay. I genuinelly like living here and teaching English is a job that I enjoy. I accept the fact that in the ideal world teachers are educated to a degree level. I am very happy that I chose to go back and get that piece of paper. I feel better about myself. Did it make me a better teacher going home and studying at a degree level? I think in a lot of ways yes. It took discipline to do it. I had to read/analyse a lot of material, it opened my mind to a lot of knew things.I already had a lot of teaching experience anyway. It didnt really help me in that respect. I have a TEFL that I did all those years ago, back when I thought Thailand was just going to be a 6 month to one year holiday. I guess that helped me a bit, but nothing prepares you for the realities of teaching here. You really have to get your hands dirty, get in there and sink or swim.}

_{I dont mind developing myself further and doing some further study. I just want it to actually be RELEVANT, not some half a** tests that are at times nonsensical. I dont see how that is going to do anything positive for me, accept annoy the hell out of me. If the Thai government actually offered a REAL course of study desigend (hopefully by farang) to really help teach here then all well and good. They havent done that, though apparently something was offered for a while that has since been cancelled. So my only real option is to either study an online course from home, which would be inceredibly expensive or somehow study for these TCT tests. I wont even mention the Thai Culture course as I am dreading having to do it. After living here for nearly a decade I dont really need to learn how to order Pad Thai or how to say "Sawatdee krap"....but looks like I am going to have to bite the bullet on that one.}

_{A degree and a TEFL is a reasonable benchmark. If the Thai government actually want to help me be a better teacher then they should give me something real to study, some kind of course that is aimed specifically for teaching in Thailand. I will jump through whatever hopes they put in front of me, I have to. I would just like to think that it has some value.}

Edited September 15, 2013 by Scott
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[SICHONSTEVE]

HND/HNC is not a degree.

Thai people are shy by nature and it is perhaps a little ignorant to expect a person to converse with a complete stranger in a second language. Some members have said their language instruction has helped a Thai improve their English. That may be so, but consider any discourse in a new relationship will start off tentatively.

Please do not assume Thai graduates to be inferior to their western equivalent. To do so might be considered a little ignorant even foolish. It is about communication, only a bigot would consider themselves superior to another human being.

I didn't sat that an HNC is a degree - I said that is a part-degree, from memory it is a quarter of a degree (but it is degree standard).

[BuddyPinkham]

SO! even more people that are UNQUALIFIED will be allowed to teach! People with no background in education, education philosophy, child (human) psychology, no training or any methods of teaching (etc) is no more than allowing the current people with fake diplomas and credentials to work here.. Way to go Thailand.

[SICHONSTEVE]

SO! even more people that are UNQUALIFIED will be allowed to teach! People with no background in education, education philosophy, child (human) psychology, no training or any methods of teaching (etc) is no more than allowing the current people with fake diplomas and credentials to work here.. Way to go Thailand.

No!!, Even more people with better background qualifications in life (older), interested in teaching, proud to see that their teaching is helping, don't think that they are 'Mr know-it-all (when they ain't), don't need to have worthless bits of paper to qualify, are far more mature AND philosophical (as they have actually lived life) and in all likelihood had children of their own, so have superior training in bringing up kids and understanding them and with all it entails!!!

So YES it is the way to go and if it happens, then ABOUT TIME!!!

[Phuket electrician]

It is all about money. Asked to do research Thai colleagues ask how much money? Academic achievement is about money, research is plagiarised, copied and pasted. The TOEIC test is cash cow for Thai administrators. As many TV members have said the questions and possible answers are silly. A test designed by a non-native speaker.

Thailand is a developing economy so education standards are set to improve. It will take a few generations but it is positive as apposed to being negative.

For the time being the opportunity to 'teach' and gain experience in Thailand without the hassle of immigration, get paid a sustainable wage, enjoy holiday benefits, nice working environment and have an enjoyable job in a beautiful country is a worthwhile endevour in my opinion. Highly recommended.

[Loaded]

SO! even more people that are UNQUALIFIED will be allowed to teach! People with no background in education, education philosophy, child (human) psychology, no training or any methods of teaching (etc) is no more than allowing the current people with fake diplomas and credentials to work here.. Way to go Thailand.

Depends on what you mean by qualified. Currently, passing the 4 TCT tests qualifies you to teach in Thailand, but the reality is that the tests are mainly nonsensical and don't improve the classroom skills of the teacher. In addition, I believe they are not recognized as a teaching qualification in any other country in the universe.

[Loaded]

It is all about money. Asked to do research Thai colleagues ask how much money? Academic achievement is about money, research is plagiarised, copied and pasted. The TOEIC test is cash cow for Thai administrators. As many TV members have said the questions and possible answers are silly. A test designed by a non-native speaker.

Thailand is a developing economy so education standards are set to improve. It will take a few generations but it is positive as apposed to being negative.

For the time being the opportunity to 'teach' and gain experience in Thailand without the hassle of immigration, get paid a sustainable wage, enjoy holiday benefits, nice working environment and have an enjoyable job in a beautiful country is a worthwhile endevour in my opinion. Highly recommended.

I agree with many of your points but TOEIC is a test of language proficiency. It's owned by ETS, an American company, and it's only necessary for non-NES to take. You may be confusing with the TCT tests.

[Phuket electrician]

To present a fake document to a government official is a criminal offence. Psychology doesn't factor when presenting language. This is why the salary is thirty thousand and not one hundred and thirty thousand. Many ESL teachers go on to complete a PGCE and gain a higher paying job in SE Asia.

It has been said here many times that native English speakers are employed to present language. Pronunciation, word stress, intonation (not intoxication).

[Saradoc1972]

What on earth are TOEIC, TCT and PGCE? I was thinking I get a TEFL or CELTA, have my degree legalized and off I go.

[Yooyung]

SO! even more people that are UNQUALIFIED will be allowed to teach! People with no background in education, education philosophy, child (human) psychology, no training or any methods of teaching (etc) is no more than allowing the current people with fake diplomas and credentials to work here.. Way to go Thailand.

If I went home and completed a Dip Ed ,I would expect to come back here and work at an international type school on more money than I am now. Thailand CANNOT afford the wages that would need to be paid if ALL falang teachers had Dip Ed's. It ridiculous, if you have a degree and have done a TEFL then you are already streets ahead of most Thais, even if they are educated. I like teaching esl, I dont want to work at an international school. I am happy with the conditions of my work, and the pay is pretty reasonable. Thai government and private schools simply do not have 80,000 to 100,000 a month to pay for people with full postgraduate Dip Eds. My brother as a teacher in Aus is now on more than 80,000 dollars per year. Again, if he came here he would NOT work for the pay Thai schools offer...he would have to head to an international school. Its not really that complicated. People who want to teach TEFL at Thai govt/private schools cannot be expected to pay thousands of dollars by upping their degree to postgraduate level, if they are only going to be still paid 35,000 to 60,000 per month. Why should they?

No, a degree and legitimate TEFL is a very strong start. If Thailand wants me to develop my teaching skills then fair enough. Give me something useful to study, but dont force me into nonsensical tests. The only real courses that would be helpful to me are NOT run by the Thai government. I am NOT willing to spend thousand on a Dip Ed, I am happy teaching in govt/private Thai schools. The whole thing is overkill, and its not particularly hepful to anyone

[Phuket electrician]

You can do a web search to find the meaning of these acronyms.