Teacher Licensing, Culture Testing, TCT

[mopenyang]

Oh I am not praising Ajarn.com but can anybody tell me a better site for teaching in Thailand? Thanks, Issangeorge.

Yes, this one right here if you want to have an honest conversation as opposed to what regularly goes on there.

[Ijustwannateach]

It seems to me that this thread is an update to the ongoing material regarding the new TCT revenue collection scheme... er, culture "courses" and teaching "tests." As such, I am moving it to the TCT thread. Additionally, I am removing some off-topic material and would recommend against anyone trying to shift the topic onto general griping about teacher qualifications.

[Ijustwannateach]

Some off-topic posts have been split into a thread about accents; the topic of *this* thread is the TCT requirements.

[dbm]

Info on NST course?

Was told by my school 3 months ago that there'd be a licensing course in Nakon Sri Tammarat from the 17th to the 20th of July

Now being told that the course might not be offered, but then again it might ( and this is the 3rd of July!)

Anyone in the South heard anything about this?

Cheers

dbm

[Slip]

Petch01,

Could you clear a few things up for me please??

1) i have had my teachers license since 2004, am i exempt from doing the Thai culture course?? New visa rules?? documents??

any advice would be great

Teachers are exempted from any requirement if they were appointed as teachers prior 11 June 2003.

Petch01

Can anyone confirm this? I've seen it mentioned as hearsay a couple of times but no supporting proof. My school has just told us that we must take the culture course which will exempt us from the tests. (Some nice people are actually coming to our school to give the course). However, several of our teachers (including me) have been at the school since 2001-2002. Does that mean we can save our 4k and spend that weekend relaxing?

[wangsuda]

My school has just told us that we must take the culture course which will exempt us from the tests.

The only things that will exempt you from the test are:

1. A B.Ed or an M.Ed.

2. Being a qualified teacher from your home country (eg: PGCE, Grad Dip Ed, or US credential)

3. Taking the special 60,000 baht education course

I posted documentation on this several pages back. As far as I know, it hasn't changed. Sorry.

[Slip]

Sorry, I'm clutching at straws I know. I saw your earlier post but was hoping that this 'prior to June 2003' would hold water.

Looks like I'm heading back to mud island for my PGCE then.

[bannork]

I gather you can pay the 60 grand and do the year's course or you can just pay 4 grand and take the exams. I'm wondering what the chances are of passing if you just sit the exams. Will the Ministry provide details of the syllabus and books to read?

[otherstuff1957]

As usual, we are getting a lot of replies that are confusing TWO DIFFERENT requirements.

1. According to the TCT (Teachers Council of Thailand) ALL foreign teachers must take a Thai Culture course which takes about 20 hours (one weekend) and costs anywhere from 4,000 baht on up.

2. Also, according to the TCT, within two years all teachers must either have a BEd, one year's worth of Graduate level Education credits or pass a series of 4 tests at 1,000b each. It is reported that out of about 2,500 test takers this year, about 10% of the Thais passed and .5% of the Farangs passed . However, the website with the test results has been taken offline and I don't think anyone has actually received their official results yet.

The one year's worth of Grad Level Ed. is offered by various Thai Universities at prices varying from 60K - 80K baht .

Whether or not these requirements will be adhered to is a good question. Whether or not they will improve the quality of education in Thailand as a result of these changes is another good question.

That's all I know. The folks at the TCT might know more, but I suspect that they are making up as they go!

[RubbaJohnny]

I do have a B Ed and a PGCE from a real universities in Uk but oddly was never required to show thm in years at Rajabaht.

Later I trained teachers and again not asked and worked alongside phoney KSRD degrees and bluffers who did a summer camp in S Dakota etc,all nice acceptable hard working people who probably got as good response and results as any.

The real dogs were Thais who ran other businesses, a head of English who could not hold a basic conversation(I was told not to embarrass her by saying good morning,she had bought a doctorate in English)

In Mid East Thai trained TEFl applicants were put straight in the bin with the exception of UAE IED ( a real Mickey Mopue Uni with NO LIBRARY!)

A real measure of the new regs would be

How many people who run the coursers passed and how many failed?

I think we all know the answer to this one.It's about cash and corruption which teaches all about 'education' in Thailand,outside of a few International schools and 3 Universities they are childminders/hoodwinkers etc

Chok Dee

To any jilted teachers ther's a;lways another job and the private sector will be less discerning.

[bannork]

As usual, we are getting a lot of replies that are confusing TWO DIFFERENT requirements.

1. According to the TCT (Teachers Council of Thailand) ALL foreign teachers must take a Thai Culture course which takes about 20 hours (one weekend) and costs anywhere from 4,000 baht on up.

2. Also, according to the TCT, within two years all teachers must either have a BEd, one year's worth of Graduate level Education credits or pass a series of 4 tests at 1,000b each. It is reported that out of about 2,500 test takers this year, about 10% of the Thais passed and .5% of the Farangs passed . However, the website with the test results has been taken offline and I don't think anyone has actually received their official results yet.

The one year's worth of Grad Level Ed. is offered by various Thai Universities at prices varying from 60K - 80K baht .

Whether or not these requirements will be adhered to is a good question. Whether or not they will improve the quality of education in Thailand as a result of these changes is another good question.

That's all I know. The folks at the TCT might know more, but I suspect that they are making up as they go!

If those taking the Education credits course had paid 60,000 baht each, and only 5% farangs and 10% Thais passed, there must be an awful lot of fed up exam sitters.

[nakhonsi sean]

Info on NST course?

Was told by my school 3 months ago that there'd be a licensing course in Nakon Sri Tammarat from the 17th to the 20th of July

Now being told that the course might not be offered, but then again it might ( and this is the 3rd of July!)

Anyone in the South heard anything about this?

Cheers

dbm

My school is organising the course and yes it is from the 17th to the 20th of July at one of the big hotels in town. I will be meeting the lecturer in charge tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday to discuss content. The lecturer we have found is a listener and understands farang so hoping for the best. We do not expect there to be any Thai dancing participation required! We have been approved by the TCT to design and run this course and will endeavor to make it a worthwhile experience. At present there are about 160 farang teachers enrolled.

[phetpeter]

There is and always has been a very very simple answer to this problem, delete the word Teacher, and replace it with a simple title such as 'Native English language advisor' or 'Native Language Advisor' or 'Native Advisor'. Problem solved! It is a job that CANNOT be done by a Thai. Because you are not teaching but, merely advising students on the correct format of English to use in Conversation, plus many teachers are only involved in conversation and listening skills.

[grtaylor]

Just found out a bit of news from the boss. Cut of dates for teachers licence is June 2003. If your work permit was issued before that date you get a teachers licence and do not have to take a test.

Same at my (international) school. Everyone who has been there since before 2003 is OK. Everyone else who wanted a work permit renewal had to do a course (20 hours I think), and take some sort of exam. All new teachers for the coming school year are doing the course this week. Course materials are published by ISAT (the International Schools Association of Thailand), the instruction is being done by our own staff, and my school is taking the whole thing VERY seriously.

G

Edited July 30, 2008 by grtaylor

[opebo]

Does this mean any master's degree will suffice, or it must be a master's degree in 'education'?

[Issangeorge]

i have just taken a Thai cultural Course, half the first day was spent telling us why we had to be there and the requirements to get a license. Okay to get a license you must have a BA in Ed, or a teaching license from your own country, one year teaching experience in our home country or Thailand or anyplace else and take the 20 hour cultural course. If you do not have a BA Ed. or a teaching License from your own country,then you have to have at least a BA and take the one year education course or pass the four exams. The teachers taking the cultural course i was on who had taken the exams said it was just about impossible to pass them unless you had an education background and even then very difficult because they were poorly translated from Thai to English. One teacher taking our course has a PHD in science from a real university in the States and has been teaching science at the high school level in Thailand for a few years and yet still has to either take the one year course or pass the four tests, so it does not matter if you have a MA unless it is in education. Oh it was a bit confusing, but it seems that you have 2-3 years to complete the requirements and can get a letter from the Teaching Council that will allow you to get a work permit and extend your visa as long as you can show you are trying to meet the requirements, ie. taking the cultural course. Issageorge

[Nylarac]

i have just taken a Thai cultural Course, half the first day was spent telling us why we had to be there and the requirements to get a license. Okay to get a license you must have a BA in Ed, or a teaching license from your own country, one year teaching experience in our home country or Thailand or anyplace else and take the 20 hour cultural course. If you do not have a BA Ed. or a teaching License from your own country,then you have to have at least a BA and take the one year education course or pass the four exams. The teachers taking the cultural course i was on who had taken the exams said it was just about impossible to pass them unless you had an education background and even then very difficult because they were poorly translated from Thai to English. One teacher taking our course has a PHD in science from a real university in the States and has been teaching science at the high school level in Thailand for a few years and yet still has to either take the one year course or pass the four tests, so it does not matter if you have a MA unless it is in education. Oh it was a bit confusing, but it seems that you have 2-3 years to complete the requirements and can get a letter from the Teaching Council that will allow you to get a work permit and extend your visa as long as you can show you are trying to meet the requirements, ie. taking the cultural course. Issageorge

[Nylarac]

Re: Teacher License requirements

This is a brief news update on the new policy guidelines from the Teacher's Council of Thailand (TCT) Board, particularly in respect of the 'Course of Testing and Evaluation of Knowledge for Practicing the Teaching Profession'. The information was received on Sunday from a senior spokesperson for the new course content and one time Minister for Education, as well as the Teaching Professional Training Institute.

The course and exams are mandatory for both ThaI and foreign teachers except in the case of foreign teachers holding B.Ed. undergraduate degrees or post-graduate education degrees of at least 1 year.

The exams for the course are in four sections and cover 9 topic areas. They are very difficult to pass and are not free. Licenses are also reviewed every five years.

Teachers without the minimum statutory requirement for waiving the course and exams should be advised however that cases can be individually assessed by the TCT for those teachers who feel they have relevant credits from 'equivalent' degree programs. Accordingly, applicants may find they only have to complete a selection of the modules from the course. EFL qualifications from short courses, eg. Cambridge RSA TEFL, will not be considered since these programs take less than a year to complete.

If you want to have your own case assessed make sure to have documentary evidence from your university of the module credits you would like the Board to consider. Applicants also need their case to be endorsed by their school.

Note:

Although the new License requirements are due to be implemented next year no start date can be confirmed since the course has not yet been translated into English.

An on-line form of the course is planned to make study and exam preparation less inconvenient for foreign teachers.

Disclaimer: This information is only accurate as of the date of writing.

On a more personal note I have this to add having done the culture course. Everything is pants. This idiot had to listen to a Michigan PhD grad explaining how we should teach (the above mentioned minister) who had never himself been a teacher. And of course with zero reference to the slight modifications necessary for L2 presentation. In fact he was so important he didn't have to wai anyone. In his two hour drivel on he crammed in about a million different items of teaching techno-speak psychobabble, illustrated his durge with umpteen completely irrelevant text book examples and grinned from ear to ear throughout. Indeed I was forced to smoke slimming pills in effort to concentrate. On a lighter note it was interesting to discover that my Fillipino colleagues of which none are employed by my school have all the requisite teacher's quallies and half the salary.

[Slip]

Well I have news...

I was talking to my boss about applying for my license. Apparently I've got it already. I was shown the bit of paper- all in Thai but it had my picture on. Has anyone actually seen a license yet? Anyway I'll take the identifying info off and pop up a scan soon.

If this is the magic piece of paper then 'grandfathering' is possible it seems- I've been there since 2002 and have no PGCE or BEd.

I'm just trying to decipher the Thai at the momment- pretty hard going for me.

[Oldfield]

Well I have news...

I was talking to my boss about applying for my license. Apparently I've got it already. I was shown the bit of paper- all in Thai but it had my picture on. Has anyone actually seen a license yet? Anyway I'll take the identifying info off and pop up a scan soon.

If this is the magic piece of paper then 'grandfathering' is possible it seems- I've been there since 2002 and have no PGCE or BEd.

I'm just trying to decipher the Thai at the momment- pretty hard going for me.

Just get a Thai person to translate it for you.

[culicine]

Just found out a bit of news from the boss. Cut of dates for teachers licence is June 2003. If your work permit was issued before that date you get a teachers licence and do not have to take a test.

Same at my (international) school. Everyone who has been there since before 2003 is OK. Everyone else who wanted a work permit renewal had to do a course (20 hours I think), and take some sort of exam. All new teachers for the coming school year are doing the course this week. Course materials are published by ISAT (the International Schools Association of Thailand), the instruction is being done by our own staff, and my school is taking the whole thing VERY seriously.

G

So would an international school look favourably upon a teacher who has the new (nice orange colour) teaching licence? I have my Grad Dip Ed, but only teaching experience is 8 years in an english program? Just curious as I'm looking at more options now:)

[culicine]

Well I have news...

I was talking to my boss about applying for my license. Apparently I've got it already. I was shown the bit of paper- all in Thai but it had my picture on. Has anyone actually seen a license yet? Anyway I'll take the identifying info off and pop up a scan soon.

If this is the magic piece of paper then 'grandfathering' is possible it seems- I've been there since 2002 and have no PGCE or BEd.

I'm just trying to decipher the Thai at the momment- pretty hard going for me.

Just get a Thai person to translate it for you.

I had been teaching at my school since 2001 but my school managed to "lose" one year of my paper TL. Hence the sequence of years was broken. I think you had to apply within 120 days of enactment of the law anyway, so I'm not sure you can be grandfathered. Anyway the new TL is an orange colour which looks like a credit card. I also got some kind of certificate. It's mostly in thai except for my name.

[jhinggay2]

calling the attention of all farangs currently teaching in Thailand, who has not got an education degree. what are you guys planning to do with the teaching license issue? have you heard any news from teacher's councils yet? pls let me know so i can follow the majorities. i am currently teaching in chanthaburi province and there isn't distant training here. i've done my thai culture training but still not qualify to apply for teaching license. i was told to pass the 4sets of exams from education ministry or either study a 1 yr in education. either way it's too costly for me, transport, accomodation, etc. is there any option so i can still continue to teach in Thailand? need ur advice. thnks.

[Drew Aitch]

calling the attention of all farangs currently teaching in Thailand, who has not got an education degree. what are you guys planning to do with the teaching license issue? have you heard any news from teacher's councils yet? pls let me know so i can follow the majorities. i am currently teaching in chanthaburi province and there isn't distant training here. i've done my thai culture training but still not qualify to apply for teaching license. i was told to pass the 4sets of exams from education ministry or either study a 1 yr in education. either way it's too costly for me, transport, accomodation, etc. is there any option so i can still continue to teach in Thailand? need ur advice. thnks.

You might be better off checking the Ajarn forum jhinggay2 It's still the number top resource for teachers and teaching in Thailand so your audience will be far more targeted.

Good luck

Aitch

[Ijustwannateach]

Moved to Teaching subforum

[PeaceBlondie]

I browse the old ajarnforum about once a month now, and the teaching license (not just culture test) seems to my jaundiced eye to be dead in the water. Getting a PGCE or a good master's in education, by distance learning or whatever, is almost always a good idea. They have been discussing the Chula master's in education, but it is waaay too expensive. Uli and the gang at Ramkahaeng have not posted in donkey's years. What I have always found most frustrating is that the TCT - the ultimate pooyai of Thai teacher licensing - never seems to know nothing, nada, zilch. And not very soon, either.

Unless you are fluent in Thai and your father's name ends in na-ayuddyha, there has never been enough solid evidence to bet your life on. And the TCT 4 part professional exam is the biggest joke since vaudeville.

[culicine]

I browse the old ajarnforum about once a month now, and the teaching license (not just culture test) seems to my jaundiced eye to be dead in the water. Getting a PGCE or a good master's in education, by distance learning or whatever, is almost always a good idea. They have been discussing the Chula master's in education, but it is waaay too expensive. Uli and the gang at Ramkahaeng have not posted in donkey's years. What I have always found most frustrating is that the TCT - the ultimate pooyai of Thai teacher licensing - never seems to know nothing, nada, zilch. And not very soon, either.

Unless you are fluent in Thai and your father's name ends in na-ayuddyha, there has never been enough solid evidence to bet your life on. And the TCT 4 part professional exam is the biggest joke since vaudeville.

It's true that the issue seems to ahve died down a lot. However, this new teacher's licence does exist, as I got mine a few months ago. I don't think that it will go away anytime soon, but in all likelihood the regulations will be changed or relaxed - though there is no word on that yet. Ofcourse there is no point to even suggest positive changes here as noone listens to foreign teachers (or any teachers for that fact), who live here and who it affects most. But I would seriously hold out on doing any teacher training course based in Thailand, until things become clearer. Overseas training is the best way to go, and will allow you to work as a teacher back home also.

[Oldfield]

As usual, we are getting a lot of replies that are confusing TWO DIFFERENT requirements.

1. According to the TCT (Teachers Council of Thailand) ALL foreign teachers must take a Thai Culture course which takes about 20 hours (one weekend) and costs anywhere from 4,000 baht on up.

2. Also, according to the TCT, within two years all teachers must either have a BEd, one year's worth of Graduate level Education credits or pass a series of 4 tests at 1,000b each. It is reported that out of about 2,500 test takers this year, about 10% of the Thais passed and .5% of the Farangs passed . However, the website with the test results has been taken offline and I don't think anyone has actually received their official results yet.

The one year's worth of Grad Level Ed. is offered by various Thai Universities at prices varying from 60K - 80K baht .

Whether or not these requirements will be adhered to is a good question. Whether or not they will improve the quality of education in Thailand as a result of these changes is another good question.

That's all I know. The folks at the TCT might know more, but I suspect that they are making up as they go!

What a joke. This ain't never gonna happen. Ever

[BruceMangosteen]

1. According to the TCT (Teachers Council of Thailand) ALL foreign teachers must take a Thai Culture course which takes about 20 hours (one weekend) and costs anywhere from 4,000 baht on up.

What a joke. This ain't never gonna happen. Ever

Guy I know just got his one year ext.. No questions about any of this nonsense. They are glad and lucky to have him at the school.

[otherstuff1957]

I haven't taken the Culture course, the one year Grad Dip Ed course and I don't have a BEd. or a Teaching License from overseas. I was given a 2 year 'temporary permission to teach' letter by the TCT and got a work permit and visa extension based on that. I'm pretty sure that most of the teachers at my school are in the same boat and none of us are particularly worried about getting them renewed in the future. The TCT license seems to be dead in the water at the moment. It may rear its ugly head again next year or it may not. Either way, if you want to work here and your school wants to hire you, there will be a way.