10,000 Retired Teachers to be rehired in Thailand Due to Teacher Shortage

[Norvid 1950]

All these comments from people who knows, sound like Thai value just and only money. No other higher values? Who cares about children in need of good education?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Bringing back bunches of retired Thai government education system lifers, who presumably are steeped in all the retrograde philosophies that helped get the Thai education system to where it is today, is sure to bring a much needed breath of fresh instructional air to the kids in need. Not....

[TerrylSky]

I teach time to time for free because I love my kids. The public school I frequent gets mad because I don't want to teach for free or peanuts all the time. They request that, as the regular teacher stands outside the class smoking a ciggie and/or all the other teachers are in hour long meetings discussing school improvements leaving the kids alone to do whatever - unless I'm there. Here today, gone to Maui

[LukKrueng]

Generally speaking how do Military people know anything about Education? When will Thailand wake up & start to take advise from the world leaders regarding everything from human rights to education to road safety. This country is going to be in deep do-do if they don't embrace what other countries are doing. Countries that were devastated by war not that long ago (Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia) are progressing at a faster rate than Thailand, when Thailand should be leaps & bounds ahead because they haven't been overthrown,persecuted or decimated by a foreign country. They have always had an ongoing infrastructure but I suppose not much guidance including now.

Yeah, right. Like learn from the US system where they have metal detectors at the entrance of most (or all??) public schools, where the there is a deputy sheriff stationed at the school to discipline school kids as young as 8 years old by handcuffing them as the teachers and principals can't do it.

Thailand IS Thailand, and not has to be copied from other countries. Sure, improvements can and should be made, but not necessarily by copy/paste from other cultures and societies.

So you are saying the party line, TIT and everybody else is wrong? Sure sounds like it.

Since you brought the US into the conversation, they turn out thousands of QUALIFIED doctors, lawyers, engineers and a host of other professions. Lets compare their qualifications to Thai people of same profession. Everybody here knows the answer to that.

I guess you dont know (probably went to school in Thailand) that the US has some of the highest ranked universities in the world. Actually at the top of the list. Thailand has how many? Ill give you a hint, google it. [emoji3]. Thailand's education system cant and isnt keeping up with the rest of the world. And with the Junta in charge, they are falling even further behind.

Yet you and most TVF members chose to live in THAILAND and NOT the US of A... I guess says something, ain't it??

[NCC1701A]

i like the way Thailand is...

glad to see it is not changing.

[LukKrueng]

And the number of teachers retiring in the next few years was kept top secret until a few weeks ago?

Google Thailand's workforce, some interesting issues there. As the forced age of retirement if 60, and as the average birth rate is declining, there are less and less new blood that will join the workforce, and more and more "old" people will retire. It's a know problem in many countries and sometimes "fixing" the problems is not so easy and usually slow. as it says in the OP: "Speaking at a briefing on the ministry’s performance over the past year, Gen Dapong said 189,795 teachers will retire between this year and 2025, which will worsen the problem.". So they know there is a problem and they are working on solutions. Foreign teachers is NOT a solution, at least not a long term one.

Many countries in the world like the US, most European countries, Australia, NZ and many others are migration countries. Some were actually built on migration like the US, Australia and NZ - all of which have a short history of only a few hundred years. Thailand, like Japan, China, Korea and many other non migration countries - is not a migration country, never has been and won't be in the foreseeable future.

[2fishin2]

Generally speaking how do Military people know anything about Education? When will Thailand wake up & start to take advise from the world leaders regarding everything from human rights to education to road safety. This country is going to be in deep do-do if they don't embrace what other countries are doing. Countries that were devastated by war not that long ago (Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia) are progressing at a faster rate than Thailand, when Thailand should be leaps & bounds ahead because they haven't been overthrown,persecuted or decimated by a foreign country. They have always had an ongoing infrastructure but I suppose not much guidance including now.

Yeah, right. Like learn from the US system where they have metal detectors at the entrance of most (or all??) public schools, where the there is a deputy sheriff stationed at the school to discipline school kids as young as 8 years old by handcuffing them as the teachers and principals can't do it.

Thailand IS Thailand, and not has to be copied from other countries. Sure, improvements can and should be made, but not necessarily by copy/paste from other cultures and societies.

So you are saying the party line, TIT and everybody else is wrong? Sure sounds like it.

Since you brought the US into the conversation, they turn out thousands of QUALIFIED doctors, lawyers, engineers and a host of other professions. Lets compare their qualifications to Thai people of same profession. Everybody here knows the answer to that.

I guess you dont know (probably went to school in Thailand) that the US has some of the highest ranked universities in the world. Actually at the top of the list. Thailand has how many? Ill give you a hint, google it. [emoji3]. Thailand's education system cant and isnt keeping up with the rest of the world. And with the Junta in charge, they are falling even further behind.

Yet you and most TVF members chose to live in THAILAND and NOT the US of A... I guess says something, ain't it??

I dont go to school or have kids that do which is what the topic of this thread is about.

[kaorop]

Shaking my head in disbelief, double face palm and finish with a belly laugh.

So they have a plan to reduce foreign teachers and now they have bring back dinosaurs because of a shortfall, yep reform Thai style,

(most western governments see a problem and make it worse)

here they create their own problems, expand on them, then make them worse

Education reform moving backwards at lightspeed, its a disgrace when you see the human potential going to waste.

They are not talking only about English teacher (I hope you are not a teacher - failing to comprehend this article...), but teachers in general as the OP says: "They are teaching foreign languages, Thai language, sciences, and mathematics"

It laughable that someone tries to belittle something and someone with "failing to comprehend" and "hope you are not a teacher" when it is them who is failing to comprehend.

I was drawing parallels, dear person, do I have to explain what "parallels" mean in my particular example?

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure I will hear crickets on this one. (Will he or she get that one?)

Bzeep bzeep bzeep

[puukao]

your korrect and i will not be a looser.

this great i just pazed tesol and know eye go to Thailand to bee real teacher!!!

my firend says he dates all his students and drinks all night......and cannver go home since he makes no money!!!!!

20,000 baht a month!!!! 17-year old kid in western country makes that!!!!

hello, i am your new teacher. i am born NYC and like hollywood. ok ok......

[LukKrueng]

Shaking my head in disbelief, double face palm and finish with a belly laugh.

So they have a plan to reduce foreign teachers and now they have bring back dinosaurs because of a shortfall, yep reform Thai style,

(most western governments see a problem and make it worse)

here they create their own problems, expand on them, then make them worse

Education reform moving backwards at lightspeed, its a disgrace when you see the human potential going to waste.

They are not talking only about English teacher (I hope you are not a teacher - failing to comprehend this article...), but teachers in general as the OP says: "They are teaching foreign languages, Thai language, sciences, and mathematics"

It laughable that someone tries to belittle something and someone with "failing to comprehend" and "hope you are not a teacher" when it is them who is failing to comprehend.

I was drawing parallels, dear person, do I have to explain what "parallels" mean in my particular example?

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure I will hear crickets on this one. (Will he or she get that one?)

Bzeep bzeep bzeep

The OP is about teachers of many different subjects, and your remark was about reducing the numbers of foreign teachers - as if that is the cause of the problem.

I will be the first to admit that I am a simple, lowly educated person and the only parallels I know how to draw are the ones with a ruler (and not very precise with that). As for hearing crickets - I'll admit to not understanding that as well.

[kaorop]

Shaking my head in disbelief, double face palm and finish with a belly laugh.

So they have a plan to reduce foreign teachers and now they have bring back dinosaurs because of a shortfall, yep reform Thai style,

(most western governments see a problem and make it worse)

here they create their own problems, expand on them, then make them worse

Education reform moving backwards at lightspeed, its a disgrace when you see the human potential going to waste.

They are not talking only about English teacher (I hope you are not a teacher - failing to comprehend this article...), but teachers in general as the OP says: "They are teaching foreign languages, Thai language, sciences, and mathematics"

It laughable that someone tries to belittle something and someone with "failing to comprehend" and "hope you are not a teacher" when it is them who is failing to comprehend.

I was drawing parallels, dear person, do I have to explain what "parallels" mean in my particular example?

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure I will hear crickets on this one. (Will he or she get that one?)

Bzeep bzeep bzeep

The OP is about teachers of many different subjects, and your remark was about reducing the numbers of foreign teachers - as if that is the cause of the problem.

I will be the first to admit that I am a simple, lowly educated person and the only parallels I know how to draw are the ones with a ruler (and not very precise with that). As for hearing crickets - I'll admit to not understanding that as well.

Well okay, a genuine reply, I will reply in kind, as you know parallels are 2 lines running in the same direction.

So how I was using that was, that they are running 2 programs at the same time, "parallels" one to reduce foreign teachers and one needing to hire retired teachers. They are at cross purposes even though the majority of positions could only be filled by Thais.

As for "crickets" I was not expecting a reply, it is often used when nothing is heard, because late at night in many places when it is very quiet you can only hear crickets.

Happy New Year

[NeverSure]

Yeah, right. Like learn from the US system where they have metal detectors at the entrance of most (or all??) public schools, where the there is a deputy sheriff stationed at the school to discipline school kids as young as 8 years old by handcuffing them as the teachers and principals can't do it.

Thailand IS Thailand, and not has to be copied from other countries. Sure, improvements can and should be made, but not necessarily by copy/paste from other cultures and societies.

"The US system" that brought you the computer and the internet and the smart phone and much of what we call the digital age could teach you a thing or three.

"The US system" is so advanced and fast moving that IBM published a dictionary of new American tech terms and it has 18,000 entries. 18,000 new "English" terms that NO Brit or Aussie could hope to pronounce correctly, much less could a Thai attempt it.

Just start hiring American teachers if you want to keep up and get things done.

Cheers.

[Maroon Watcher]

...so good foreign teachers were leaving, qualified ones really diificult to convince,

that is themselves who are the lucky ones (Not even Win - Win,) to bow in reverence at the system.

Now its Thai Win/Win cos they get 2for1 Thai teachers...

who needs more than Tourist English anyway..?

[Maroon Watcher]

OR: Retired teachers come back Part-Time but are "urged" to work Full-Time because they already get a pension from teaching...

Is that Thai Logic

[MilesofSmiles]

Some months later i got email from the director but in very bad english. I corrected her english and wrote "this was lesson one" without any answer from me.

Never heard of them again haha.

You won't get hired in any country by being rude to the boss.

Some perspective on where you really are in the pecking order wouldn't go astray.

[thaibeachlovers]

Yeah, right. Like learn from the US system where they have metal detectors at the entrance of most (or all??) public schools, where the there is a deputy sheriff stationed at the school to discipline school kids as young as 8 years old by handcuffing them as the teachers and principals can't do it.

Thailand IS Thailand, and not has to be copied from other countries. Sure, improvements can and should be made, but not necessarily by copy/paste from other cultures and societies.

"The US system" that brought you the computer and the internet and the smart phone and much of what we call the digital age could teach you a thing or three.

"The US system" is so advanced and fast moving that IBM published a dictionary of new American tech terms and it has 18,000 entries. 18,000 new "English" terms that NO Brit or Aussie could hope to pronounce correctly, much less could a Thai attempt it.

Just start hiring American teachers if you want to keep up and get things done.

Cheers.

71RYBQCEWHL.gif

512207ve8IL.jpg

Are the internet, smart phones and the digital age actually a good thing for society? Kids walking around like zombies with smartphones glued to their ear- hundreds of digital friends and no real ones, the internet- great for porn and spying on everyone.

While I'm as addicted as anyone to the internet, I do wonder what I could achieve in my life if I wasn't wasting it debating with a lot of people that I'll never meet.

Believe it or not, there was life before digital.

[trogers]

And the number of teachers retiring in the next few years was kept top secret until a few weeks ago?

Google Thailand's workforce, some interesting issues there. As the forced age of retirement if 60, and as the average birth rate is declining, there are less and less new blood that will join the workforce, and more and more "old" people will retire. It's a know problem in many countries and sometimes "fixing" the problems is not so easy and usually slow. as it says in the OP: "Speaking at a briefing on the ministrys performance over the past year, Gen Dapong said 189,795 teachers will retire between this year and 2025, which will worsen the problem.". So they know there is a problem and they are working on solutions. Foreign teachers is NOT a solution, at least not a long term one.

Many countries in the world like the US, most European countries, Australia, NZ and many others are migration countries. Some were actually built on migration like the US, Australia and NZ - all of which have a short history of only a few hundred years. Thailand, like Japan, China, Korea and many other non migration countries - is not a migration country, never has been and won't be in the foreseeable future.

A shrinking population, more deaths than births like in Japan, means what you have said, more retiring than joining the work force.

But it would also mean a shrinking school population. Thus, less schools and teachers are needed, and also less housing would be needed...

[halloween]

<snip>

And with the Junta in charge, they are falling even further behind.

What leads you to this statement, other than your own bias? Has the junta cancelled subsidies for textbooks and uniforms? Or introduced a policy of One Crappy Tablet for Every Child that turns out to be another scam?

[bangon04]

Teachers are forced into retirment at 60. Most dont want to.

Well now they will - because they can get a salary on top of their pension by being rehired.....

[trogers]

<snip>

And with the Junta in charge, they are falling even further behind.

What leads you to this statement, other than your own bias? Has the junta cancelled subsidies for textbooks and uniforms? Or introduced a policy of One Crappy Tablet for Every Child that turns out to be another scam?

And turf became turds...?

[EnlightenedAtheist]

I read many comments about people complaining about the inability of Thai teachers to model native-like pronunciation and/or to use acceptable English spelling, grammar, or syntax in the classroom.

May I suggest that we shift that paradigm a little towards the sad state of the English spelling system and the lack of institutions to manage it, as a cause for the crisis. It is not exactly a secret that English spelling is and has been horrendously irregular, unsystematic, unphonemic/unphonetic for centuries, and that it has and has had an incomplete alphabet for centuries AND that no one (or a very few number of people) or no institution has been willing or has been able to fix it. Or is it complacency? No matter what, it could use a major reform.

With an extrapolated 1/2 or 1/3 of its lexicon needing a serious revamp, the English lexicon is full of misspellings, of errors, of flaws that cause extreme hardships to whoever wants to master spelling and/or pronunciation of the English language. The situation is so dire that many words are often pronounced in different manners depending on the English dialect that one uses or has learned (which is easily understood as the spelling system does not offer a reliable way to know how one should pronounce a word or should spell it).

What do native-English speakers expect (or the Commonwealth leaders)? That non-native speakers will magically be able to master English like non-native speakers can master Finnish or Italian? First, non native speakers do not have the luxury of 4 or 5 years of preschool modeling at home during which time the brain and vocal chords masters the phonetic elements of the English language. At the same time, it is not exactly a secret either that English-speakers struggle with the spelling of the language because of its inadequacies just as non-native speakers can. But, the truth is that this situation suits a lot of English-speakers, just like it suits people of a certain class who have mastered the complexity of anything, which is often very artificially set or made to be to give them an edge. I don't foresee a paradigm shift. a moment of reckoning, of acceptance of responsibility taken place anytime soon, as a result, since this dysfunctional situation serves the interest of the native-speakers who become the de facto experts. However, could we please--at the very least-- be fair and shift and assign the blame where it needs to be, dare I say ... lie. Or is it lay?

Edited December 27, 2015 by EnlightenedAtheist

[trogers]

I read many comments about people complaining about the inability of Thai teachers to model native-like pronunciation and/or to use acceptable English spelling, grammar, or syntax in the classroom.

May I suggest that we shift that paradigm a little towards the sad state of the English spelling system and the lack of institutions to manage it, as a cause for the crisis. It is not exactly a secret that English spelling is and has been horrendously irregular, unsystematic, unphonemic/unphonetic for centuries, and that it has and has had an incomplete alphabet for centuries AND that no one (or a very few number of people) or no institution has been willing or has been able to fix it. Or is it complacency? No matter what, it could use a major reform.

With an extrapolated 1/2 or 1/3 of its lexicon needing a serious revamp, the English lexicon is full of misspellings, of errors, of flaws that cause extreme hardships to whoever wants to master spelling and/or pronunciation of the English language. The situation is so dire that many words are often pronounced in different manners depending on the English dialect that one uses or has learned (which is easily understood as the spelling system does not offer a reliable way to know how one should pronounce a word or should spell it).

What do native-English speakers expect (or the Commonwealth leaders)? That non-native speakers will magically be able to master English like non-native speakers can master Finnish or Italian? First, non native speakers do not have the luxury of 4 or 5 years of preschool modeling at home during which time the brain and vocal chords masters the phonetic elements of the English language. At the same time, it is not exactly a secret either that English-speakers struggle with the spelling of the language because of its inadequacies just as non-native speakers can. But, the truth is that this situation suits a lot of English-speakers, just like it suits people of a certain class who have mastered the complexity of anything, which is often very artificially set or made to be to give them an edge. I don't foresee a paradigm shift. a moment of reckoning, of acceptance of responsibility taken place anytime soon, as a result, since this dysfunctional situation serves the interest of the native-speakers who become the de facto experts. However, could we please--at the very least-- be fair and shift and assign the blame where it needs to be, dare I say ... lie.

Society has a way to correct imperfections. Sorry, I have no fotos, pardon me, photos to illustrate my point.

[EnlightenedAtheist]

EDIT .. the English lexicon is full of misspellings, of errors, of flaws that causeS extreme hardships to whoever wants to master spelling and/or pronunciation of the English language.

[EnlightenedAtheist]

I read many comments about people complaining about the inability of Thai teachers to model native-like pronunciation and/or to use acceptable English spelling, grammar, or syntax in the classroom.

May I suggest that we shift that paradigm a little towards the sad state of the English spelling system and the lack of institutions to manage it, as a cause for the crisis. It is not exactly a secret that English spelling is and has been horrendously irregular, unsystematic, unphonemic/unphonetic for centuries, and that it has and has had an incomplete alphabet for centuries AND that no one (or a very few number of people) or no institution has been willing or has been able to fix it. Or is it complacency? No matter what, it could use a major reform.

With an extrapolated 1/2 or 1/3 of its lexicon needing a serious revamp, the English lexicon is full of misspellings, of errors, of flaws that cause extreme hardships to whoever wants to master spelling and/or pronunciation of the English language. The situation is so dire that many words are often pronounced in different manners depending on the English dialect that one uses or has learned (which is easily understood as the spelling system does not offer a reliable way to know how one should pronounce a word or should spell it).

What do native-English speakers expect (or the Commonwealth leaders)? That non-native speakers will magically be able to master English like non-native speakers can master Finnish or Italian? First, non native speakers do not have the luxury of 4 or 5 years of preschool modeling at home during which time the brain and vocal chords masters the phonetic elements of the English language. At the same time, it is not exactly a secret either that English-speakers struggle with the spelling of the language because of its inadequacies just as non-native speakers can. But, the truth is that this situation suits a lot of English-speakers, just like it suits people of a certain class who have mastered the complexity of anything, which is often very artificially set or made to be to give them an edge. I don't foresee a paradigm shift. a moment of reckoning, of acceptance of responsibility taken place anytime soon, as a result, since this dysfunctional situation serves the interest of the native-speakers who become the de facto experts. However, could we please--at the very least-- be fair and shift and assign the blame where it needs to be, dare I say ... lie.

Society has a way to correct imperfections. Sorry, I have no fotos, pardon me, photos to illustrate my point.

Thank you for that good point. Yes, it has, but this has not happened in 200+ years and, so the English spelling system defies this principle. There is nothing that would lead anyone to believe that the situation is going to sort itself through naturally as it should. There are many reasons why this is so. I alluded to a few in the opening post. Languages do get reformed from time to time (Dutch, Chinese, French,...), but English hasn't (which is strange because it is the one that would need it the most). The fact that it is a language spread across many continents and used in many countries makes it hard for a reform to take root. Moreover, there is not one single institution that could orchestrate and manage the change. In the MEANtime, billions of people need to endure this. There is a solution that could work, but we would need an incredible paradigm shift (a miracle might not even work) to make that happen. We would need more empathy, global coordination, ... and that is not the way things are going now.

[simon43]

"The US system" that brought you the computer and the internet and the smart phone ...

Off-topic but perhaps you need to re-check some of your facts.

The first smart phone was designed and developed in the UK by Psion plc. I know, because I was the CTO of the design team. We developed it in the late 90's for a Japanese company

[simon43]

May I suggest that we shift that paradigm a little towards the sad state of the English spelling system and the lack of institutions to manage it, as a cause for the crisis

Well, when I taught primary students in Myanmar and Laos, they all seemed to manage the English spelling system quite fine. In fact, I taught my class of 7-year olds the differences between British and American spelling, as well as the most common differences in words, such as 'hood' and 'bonnet', 'faucet' and 'tap'

Those Myanmar and Lao kids grasped these differences just fine. The Thai kids that I've taught did not. Why is that?

Edited December 27, 2015 by simon43

[LukKrueng]

Well okay, a genuine reply, I will reply in kind, as you know parallels are 2 lines running in the same direction.

So how I was using that was, that they are running 2 programs at the same time, "parallels" one to reduce foreign teachers and one needing to hire retired teachers. They are at cross purposes even though the majority of positions could only be filled by Thais.

As for "crickets" I was not expecting a reply, it is often used when nothing is heard, because late at night in many places when it is very quiet you can only hear crickets.

Happy New Year

Appreciate your genuine reply. just to stay focused on the topic of the OP - I couldn't find any figures for the number of foreign school teachers and Thai teachers, but I assume that foreign teachers are a small % of the total number of teachers. So reducing the number of foreign teachers has nothing to do with the actual shortage of teachers - that was the point I was trying to make. The government is also initializing a program to train local English teachers by the British Council so they can train more local English teachers.

I am sorry I was harsh in my first reply to you, but one of the things I see on TVF very often that saddens and somewhat upsets me is that most ex-pats in Thailand are trying to change Thailand, Thai people and Thai culture to suit them, instead of enjoy, accept and appreciate Thailand as it is and for what it is.

Happy New Year to you too.

[mancub]

Yeah, right. Like learn from the US system where they have metal detectors at the entrance of most (or all??) public schools, where the there is a deputy sheriff stationed at the school to discipline school kids as young as 8 years old by handcuffing them as the teachers and principals can't do it.

Thailand IS Thailand, and not has to be copied from other countries. Sure, improvements can and should be made, but not necessarily by copy/paste from other cultures and societies.

"The US system" that brought you the computer and the internet and the smart phone and much of what we call the digital age could teach you a thing or three.

"The US system" is so advanced and fast moving that IBM published a dictionary of new American tech terms and it has 18,000 entries. 18,000 new "English" terms that NO Brit or Aussie could hope to pronounce correctly, much less could a Thai attempt it.

Just start hiring American teachers if you want to keep up and get things done.

Cheers.

71RYBQCEWHL.gif

512207ve8IL.jpg

Entries such as "alarm",alert and "agenda" eh ? All of which ANY 6 yr old Brit could manage.

[JAG]

your korrect and i will not be a looser.

this great i just pazed tesol and know eye go to Thailand to bee real teacher!!!

my firend says he dates all his students and drinks all night......and cannver go home since he makes no money!!!!!

20,000 baht a month!!!! 17-year old kid in western country makes that!!!!

hello, i am your new teacher. i am born NYC and like hollywood. ok ok......

A profound analysis of the whole business of using native speakers to teach a second language.

Which bar stool did you perch on to develop this little thesis?

[trogers]

May I suggest that we shift that paradigm a little towards the sad state of the English spelling system and the lack of institutions to manage it, as a cause for the crisis

Well, when I taught primary students in Myanmar and Laos, they all seemed to manage the English spelling system quite fine. In fact, I taught my class of 7-year olds the differences between British and American spelling, as well as the most common differences in words, such as 'hood' and 'bonnet', 'faucet' and 'tap'

Those Myanmar and Lao kids grasped these differences just fine. The Thai kids that I've taught did not. Why is that?

Thai kids are more sophisticated and Internet savvy. Try explaining the difference in meaning of the word 'rubber' between the UK and the US...