Teacher Licensing, Culture Testing, TCT

[wangsuda]

So what you're saying is that, currently, everyone must do a course

Yes.

and pass the tests,

No. Those with education degrees or teaching credentials from their home countries are exempt from the test.

however there are extensions being given at the moment,

Yes.

which will cover people until a time arrives when the school can independently approve them anyway?

Not exactly. The extensions are given in order to give people time to either get a credential from their home country, take the 18 unit teaching course in Thailand (other threads have this info), or study and pass the test.

I'm already hearing from my boss at the moment that as I don't work in a prathom or mathayom school she will just have to write a letter vouching for me or something.

Yes, that's the extension. That will probably give you two years, during which time anything can happen. Good luck - relax and enjoy the ride!

[withnail]

Thank you for the quick reply. Could you perhaps explain the issue of independent approval in more detail?

One more thing, I have no interest in the curriculum for most of these graduate programs. Could you tell me whether a MAed with a focus on teaching English would be considered adequate enough for a teacher's license? If not could you perhaps refer me to the threads with info on the courses you mentioned, I don't recall seeing those.

Thanks again.

Withnail

Edited May 3, 2008 by withnail

[aidenai]

I'm already hearing from my boss at the moment that as I don't work in a prathom or mathayom school she will just have to write a letter vouching for me or something.

For what I've read the TCT requirements don't apply to teachers at kindergarten and tertiary education. No letter needed. The rules don't apply to you.

[aidenai]

Yeh, yeh. I see you reading and thinking. A new member at Thai Visa doesn't always mean a new member in the TEFL-industry or a recently arrived foreigner.

[wangsuda]

Thank you for the quick reply. Could you perhaps explain the issue of independent approval in more detail?

One more thing, I have no interest in the curriculum for most of these graduate programs. Could you tell me whether a MAed with a focus on teaching English would be considered adequate enough for a teacher's license? If not could you perhaps refer me to the threads with info on the courses you mentioned, I don't recall seeing those.

Thanks again.

Withnail

Unfortunately, I cannot answer your questions with any degree of accuracy. I can only report what I learned, which was accurate as of 30 April 2008. Being Thailand, things may have changed since then. Your best bet, right now, is to (and I hate to say this) truct your school. But in my opinion, an MAed should be more than sufficient.

[PeaceBlondie]

Since the "18 units" has reared its head once again, naturally I have to ask if these are 18 semester hours, 18 credit hours (university at undergraduate level, six courses in professional education). For four years, nobody seems to have answered that question with reasonable accuracy. Thank you.

[wangsuda]

Since the "18 units" has reared its head once again, naturally I have to ask if these are 18 semester hours, 18 credit hours (university at undergraduate level, six courses in professional education). For four years, nobody seems to have answered that question with reasonable accuracy. Thank you.

From what I learned, they are 18 semester credits, described as you say ("university at undergraduate level, six courses in professional education")

[PeaceBlondie]

At last! They were not 18 watsamakalits, or 18 batsikoptzotziles, they were six courses at undergraduate level in professional education. Now then, how do you earn those credits? Wangsuda, isn't this what you take to get a B.Ed., a post-BA diploma in education, a PGCE, etc.? Can they be earned by distance learning, or online, or in Thailand? Once earned, will these credits open doors to teaching non-TEFL subjects in Croatia and Botswana and Belgium?

[wangsuda]

At last! They were not 18 watsamakalits, or 18 batsikoptzotziles, they were six courses at undergraduate level in professional education. Now then, how do you earn those credits? Wangsuda, isn't this what you take to get a B.Ed., a post-BA diploma in education, a PGCE, etc.?

Consider it half a PGCE or credential, or a bit less than half a BEd

Can they be earned by distance learning,

I don't know.

or online,

I don't know

or in Thailand?

Yes, that they can, and I know that for sure.

Once earned, will these credits open doors to teaching non-TEFL subjects in Croatia and Botswana and Belgium?

Once again, I don't know. Sorry I cannot be of more help.

[jobpaktai]

Hi

Having come in a bit late here, I want to do the 20 hour language and culture course before my visa expires mid June.

I tick all the other boxes and it's all I need to finalise work permit and visa extension. I've applied for temporary permission, but as has been posted hereabouts that's a bit hit and miss for us foreigners.

Suan Dusit doesn't offer another course until 14 June.

Does anyone know of any courses offered in the next few weeks? Alternatively, if a school is doing one in-house perhaps I could join in and pay an appropriate fee?

I'm in the south but may be happy to travel to Bangkok or elsewhere if necessary.

Thanks for any leads offered.

Job

[bannork]

Hi

Having come in a bit late here, I want to do the 20 hour language and culture course before my visa expires mid June.

I tick all the other boxes and it's all I need to finalise work permit and visa extension. I've applied for temporary permission, but as has been posted hereabouts that's a bit hit and miss for us foreigners.

Suan Dusit doesn't offer another course until 14 June.

Does anyone know of any courses offered in the next few weeks? Alternatively, if a school is doing one in-house perhaps I could join in and pay an appropriate fee?

I'm in the south but may be happy to travel to Bangkok or elsewhere if necessary.

Thanks for any leads offered.

Job

I apologise if this has already been mentioned, but how much does the 20 hour language and culture course cost at Suan Dusit?

[jobpaktai]

Hi

Having come in a bit late here, I want to do the 20 hour language and culture course before my visa expires mid June.

I tick all the other boxes and it's all I need to finalise work permit and visa extension. I've applied for temporary permission, but as has been posted hereabouts that's a bit hit and miss for us foreigners.

Suan Dusit doesn't offer another course until 14 June.

Does anyone know of any courses offered in the next few weeks? Alternatively, if a school is doing one in-house perhaps I could join in and pay an appropriate fee?

I'm in the south but may be happy to travel to Bangkok or elsewhere if necessary.

Thanks for any leads offered.

Job

I apologise if this has already been mentioned, but how much does the 20 hour language and culture course cost at Suan Dusit?

Seems like the cost has come down from 8,000 baht to 5,000 baht.

http://www.dusit.ac.th/news/04-51/3/news.pdf

[huyuli]

Is the culture test mandatory for all teachers now?

Who would be excluded from having to take it?

I just did the course on 10. 11 and 12 May and we were told that there were no exemptions, even for those with Bachelor of Education and/or qualified to teach in their home countries.

[huyuli]

Hey everyone..

Here are the "definitive" requirements for getting a license through the TCT as of completing the Thai Cultural Training Certificate Course yesterday.

Qualifications for Teacher's License

1. Recognized teacher credentials from a foreign country

+ at least one year's teaching experience

+ Orientation Training Certificate

2. A bachelor's degree in education

+ at least one year's teaching experience

+ Orientation Training Certificate

3. A bachelor's degree in a field other than education

+ Completion of a diploma course in education / teaching

+ At least one year's teaching experience

+ Orientation Training Certificate

Q. What if I don't have teacher credentials

nor a BA degree in education?

A. You can either:

Do a certificate course in teaching at a local university.

Do a knowledge equivalency exam through the Teachers' Council.

This is the same information that I received at the course I attended recently.

[huyuli]

3. Has at least one year verifiable teaching experience somewhere

Ok, I'm completing a BSocSc right now (in NZ). I have one year (plus) verifiable teaching experience in Thailand (on T&T Tefl Cert). If I do the 20 hr thing, do I qualify? Could I make 50,000+? Or should I continue learning Mandarin?

On the basis of information that I received at the course that I attended recently, it appears that you do not qualify. If you qualify, yes, you could make 50k+.

[Ijustwannateach]

^, ^^, and ^^^Well, these are certainly the types of things that people who are earning money from offering a "course" for the "culture test" would like us to believe, now, aren't they.

[withnail]

Got my extension today with no major hiccups. I went with nothing different from what I had taken on previous years, I haven't been on a Thai culture course, nor have I paid anyone for the privilege of doing a multiple choice test.

This might not be major news, but I thought I might add that whilst they initially didn't want to extend because I didn't have a new teacher's licence and my old one was of no use. All my employer had to add was was a letter from her (nothing official from the TCT) and a copy of her Thai ID card.

Any comments?

[jobpaktai]

Is the culture test mandatory for all teachers now?

Who would be excluded from having to take it?

I just did the course on 10. 11 and 12 May and we were told that there were no exemptions, even for those with Bachelor of Education and/or qualified to teach in their home countries.

Don't confuse the culture course and the test, they're 2 different things. The BEd saves you from the test, not the course.

[withnail]

And as Ijustwannateach said don't forget who told you this. I'm clearly an exemption, at least temporarily, cos I haven't done it. All we are hearing at the moment are people quoting things that they were fed to them on a course or things that they have read of of an official document.

I've recently listened to a talk on road safety in Thailand and I'm pretty sure there are documents that exist which say you can't buy sex or pirated software in Thailand and that Elephants aren't allowed on Sukhumvit road.

[PeaceBlondie]

Congratulations, withnail. I am an old bureaucrat who does not believe 90% of what the Thai bureaucracy tell us.

[garro]

Last week I received my work permit and visa extension. No more mention of the culture course.

[otherstuff1957]

Got my extension today with no major hiccups. I went with nothing different from what I had taken on previous years, I haven't been on a Thai culture course, nor have I paid anyone for the privilege of doing a multiple choice test.

This might not be major news, but I thought I might add that whilst they initially didn't want to extend because I didn't have a new teacher's licence and my old one was of no use. All my employer had to add was was a letter from her (nothing official from the TCT) and a copy of her Thai ID card.

Any comments?

Did you happen to notice how many 1000 baht bills were enclosed with the letter?

[wangsuda]

Got my extension today with no major hiccups. I went with nothing different from what I had taken on previous years, I haven't been on a Thai culture course, nor have I paid anyone for the privilege of doing a multiple choice test.

This might not be major news, but I thought I might add that whilst they initially didn't want to extend because I didn't have a new teacher's licence and my old one was of no use. All my employer had to add was was a letter from her (nothing official from the TCT) and a copy of her Thai ID card.

Any comments?

Same for me, and I have everyhing. However, my school just submitted the same old paperwork, and I had no problems.

[Ijustwannateach]

I have the feeling this is one of those things that some "influential persons" would like to make law in order to cream money off us and make us pay for their silly "culture" and "licensing" courses, but considering how badly they're doing it they're not getting credibility among the teaching community, the schools and administrators themselves, or even the other parts of government. Here's a hint: hire a well-known native-English-speaking foreign academic to lead the project, if you want it to be done correctly.

(no, no, guys- I know already- don't tell them that this will inevitably fail when the academic starts to say things like "students can't fail classes?!?" )

"S"

[withnail]

I'm still interested in finding out if anyone knows of any courses that would fulfil this requirement if I chose to go down this route:

Must successfully complete a one year “Teacher Professional Licensing

Course” at any academic institution authorized to offer it by The Teachers Council of

Thailand. The average rate for this course is 60,000 Baht and the courses are held on

either a few week nights per week or on weekends.

I'd like to know how we know the average course cost and study times but not where to go to do such a course.

[twschw]

Excellent question. Would love to know this myself.

[Ijustwannateach]

Seeing from their shills on this thread that they are plagiarising test questions and basically photocopying them out of foreign texts (of whose choice- no one knows) I would personally be very interested in the process whereby the TCT "authorises academic institutions to offer teacher licensing courses"; what kind of professional qualifications are required of the teachers in these institutions; what kind of ethical stipulations there are regarding, for instance, plagiarism; whether the teachers are required to be native or super-high-functioning speakers/readers of English; what the kinds of content required are and at what depths- in other words, does a realistic curriculum for these "courses" exist, because the one which is on offer according to current reports on this thread cannot be done at any depth in the real world- most teaching qualifications focus on a much smaller number of topics and do them *well*. Reading the curricular list above in the thread is like reading the curricula of 3 or 4 majors cobbled together plus MBA experience... almost as though a committee of relatively bright people who lacked a connection to the real world sat down together one day and made a fantasy list of "all the things we could possibly hope for foreign teachers to have so they could be reasonably said to be qualified in any educational position whatsoever, so that they can come here and do TEFL in high schools for 30K a month."

The sensible thing to do would be to define what kinds of qualifications one would want for individual types of teachers- for example, a subject teacher vs. a TEFLer- and graduate the requirements in a suitable manner. You might even wind up with two or three different categories of teachers with attendant visa and work permit rules; but at least everyone would finally be documented and "official" in some way, which is to say licensed and taxed. As things stand it seems almost as though they want the maximum qualifications to do ANY educational work here- which will result in almost no one being legally licensed and taxed. Saves them the paperwork, I guess, and the folks with money will still be able to get their employees paperwork through bribes. And I'm sure that there are never any kickbacks in order to be granted a course authorisation by the TCT...

But some say that I'm a cynic...

To answer the last few posters, there are a few course shills earlier on in the thread, most notably one from Ramkhamhaeng Uni, which *may* address your question- but they never could point to any kind of official government statement that their Uni's course would in fact absolutely, unconditionally, guarantee acceptance by the government.

"S"

[01322521959]

I'm in a very difficult position. Having been teaching in Thailand for the last 14 years and gaining much experience having worked in 3 well known schools over this period, I returned for the new term last week only to be asked for my "degree" which I don't have. I was then fired from my job. Can anybody tell me what the new requirements are for teachers, as it's very sad I and many of my friends have all lost their jobs, because of the same problem.

[Ijustwannateach]

I'm sorry if some sort of new crackdown has affected you; at the moment we have heard of at least one school where teachers whose degrees were already verified were being asked for them *again*, and there is huge new boilerplate about what makes it legal for teachers to teach. I am merging this query with our extremely long thread on the subject, where there is much to be confused about.

To answer your question, we would need to know much more: whether the school you're working for is private or public; elementary, secondary or tertiary; were you teaching TEFL or a subject; where were you in Thailand, etc. Otherwise there's no real way to tell you why this has happened (there are too many particular rules and exceptions).

"S"

[withnail]

"S"

Completely agree about your comments on the courses, but this is my train of thought at the moment:

I've been wanting to do some form of further education for some time. After completing the P 6 exam I'd still like to further my studies in Thai however this certainly wouldn't help with my job. My second interest would be an MA TESOL/TEFL. However with the way things are at the moment I could spend 200 - 400 thousand on this and be unemployable, I wish this weren't the case, but it certainly is a possibility. Some of these are labelled Med however I feel that the MoE or TCT might not see them as true education degrees. I mentioned one the other day which was being run by Shinawatr University. However, when I called them they said they were having a problem with the MoE and couldn't definitely offer that degree this year.

So, this leaves me thinking that while I agree the one year “Teacher Professional Licensing Course” might be a bit Mickey Mouse, I am working in a Mickey Mouse Country under a Mickey Mouse government for Mickey Mouse money. So, it might, therefore, be the most appropriate. They are at least relatively cheap and probably easy to pass. I know about the test option but would like to get a qualification.

As far as the Ramkhamhaeng option goes, I'm not 100% sure that they haven't just made this up to cash in on the situation and that it might not actually be authorized to offer it by The Teachers Council of Thailand. I am more interested in finding a list of ones that are and just picking the one closest to home.