Teacher Licensing, Culture Testing, TCT

[mbkudu]

Can anybody name any other country in the world that requires these parameters for a teaching job?

I'm just asking. I mean, maybe there is one somewhere.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

With all due respect, what good does this serve? What does it prove? Who is actually responsible for this?

Currently there is not one job listed on ajarn.com that pays more than 60,000 a month. Do the MoD really expect to attract BEds and PGCEs on this sort of money?

[araiwhat]

With all due respect, what good does this serve? What does it prove? Who is actually responsible for this?

Currently there is not one job listed on ajarn.com that pays more than 60,000 a month. Do the MoD really expect to attract BEds and PGCEs on this sort of money?

what are you talking about?

Clause 4: In cases where the permit applicant holds a degree in a field other than Education and has at least one year of teaching experience, but does not have teacher’s registration from his/her respective country nor a certificate in the field of Education- which took at least one year to complete- the permit applicant must pass 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 in the testing and evaluation requirements listed above and here for convenience.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

With all due respect, what good does this serve? What does it prove? Who is actually responsible for this?

Currently there is not one job listed on ajarn.com that pays more than 60,000 a month. Do the MoD really expect to attract BEds and PGCEs on this sort of money?

what are you talking about?

Clause 4: In cases where the permit applicant holds a degree in a field other than Education and has at least one year of teaching experience, but does not have teacher’s registration from his/her respective country nor a certificate in the field of Education- which took at least one year to complete- the permit applicant must pass 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 in the testing and evaluation requirements listed above and here for convenience.

Yes, I know. I did read the post. My point being that there are an awful lot of hoops to jump through to work in this country. I really can't see why knowledge of Thai dancing and sport would be equivalent to doing a PGCE

[El Taco Loco]

I would love to discuss it. I posted these pics of the documents at the other site and was shot down as being paranoid.

So, being shellshocked, I am wary of any discussion for which proof was given....

Oh what the hel_l. Party on.

On a serious note, the provincial MOEs have no idea what they are doing. For Phuket only, we are now required to submit, in addition to transcripts, a letter from the university stating the dates of attendance for each semester attended. That was done last week and it is continously requested this week, so it is true.

KL wants a governor letter to accompany the wp3 (again, photo of KL embassy form submitted at the other site and was again disclaimed by the old timers).

It is turning into a joke. However, this joke we can play with, if they stop moving the flocking goal posts.

[El Taco Loco]

Again, for Phuket only (gotta put that disclaimer there as it may be different in Bangers)...

They are even requiring B-ed holders to go through the hoops as if they had a degree in dogology.

THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

Clause 4: In cases where the permit applicant holds a degree in a field other than Education and has at least one year of teaching experience, but does not have teacher’s registration from his/her respective country nor a certificate in the field of Education- which took at least one year to complete- the permit applicant must pass 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 in the testing and evaluation requirements listed above and here for convenience.

[Scott]

As the person trying to coordinate hiring etc at our school, this is really getting confusing! I hope they decide what is what pretty soon.

[Petch01]

Here you have the complete translation of: "Rules and Procedures For Testing and Evaluation etc., etc." from the Teachers' Council of Thailand.

http://www.ksp.or.th/upload/301/files/570-8429.pdf

Petch01

Edited November 21, 2006 by Petch01

[Ijustwannateach]

Thanks, Petch!

[Petch01]

Thanks, Petch!

Very welcome. The website is http://www.ksp.or.th/mainpage/index.php

Strange but the English links don't work.

My documents for the application were submitted on Thursday 16th November 2006. I'll keep you informed about the results.

Petch01

Edited November 21, 2006 by Petch01

[Robski]

Here you have the complete translation of: "Rules and Procedures For Testing and Evaluation etc., etc." from the Teachers' Council of Thailand.

http://www.ksp.or.th/upload/301/files/570-8429.pdf

Petch01

Thankyou Petch, normally clarity has the effect of putting me at ease, but that did just the opposite.

64 million dollar question, and this is where a homer simpson emoticon would come in handy, how can I get the untranslated transcript? it would be very helpful to have it when I try to explain to my GF why I'm going to be packing my bags soon.

[Robski]

Thanks, Petch!

Very welcome. The website is http://www.ksp.or.th/mainpage/index.php

Doh! the homer emoticon is mine!

I guess you just answered the question while I was typing my previous post.

[adjan jb]

The problem here is that nobody is the same; we're each unique.

Cecil will have a degree from England that's written in English, but isn't a degree in English, and Hermione will have been to some unknown uni in northern Wales or Ireland that counts semesters/quarters/credits in Gaelic, and Homer from Muskogee, Oklahoma will have credits from "Sock-jock" (South Oklahoma City junior College; I really earned credits there!). How do you evaluate 126 different kinds of acadmic transcripts on 1903 different subjects like SOC OF EDUC 303b?

Let the games begin...

And you have only mentioned native English teachers. To add to the nightmare, there are also thousands of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, German, Korean, Spanish and French teachers out there.

[Loaded]

I know one school in Chiang Mai that has sent its degreed teachers on pre-academic year 'Thai language and culture and professional ethics training course' for the last couple of years. I think to a Rajabhat in Bangkok. teachers without degrees were swept under the carpet and hidden and still received wps.

If you want to contact the Chairperson of the Teachers Council of Thailand Professor Sermsak Wisalaporn, you can take a butcher's at his boat and get his dog's number from this link:

http://www.nrct.net/modules.php?op=modload...=119&page=1

[Rumpole]

I know one school in Chiang Mai that has sent its degreed teachers on pre-academic year 'Thai language and culture and professional ethics training course ...

Training in Thai professional ethics. Oh my!

Edited November 23, 2006 by Rumpole

[Scott]

Where I work, I don't think we have any non-degreed teachers, but we have some from countries where the qualifications would not necessarily be equivalent to a Bachelor's degree. They have post High school certifications, however. My understanding is that in the future, these people will not employable as teachers.

I think WP's will be issued to all our staff upon completion of the Teacher's Licensing requirements. We do have a few teachers who are VERY worried about passing the courses, though.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I think WP's will be issued to all our staff upon completion of the Teacher's Licensing requirements. We do have a few teachers who are VERY worried about passing the courses, though.

I can sort of see what they mean - there seems to be lots irrelevant parts of it. Unless I really need to know about Takraw to teach English!

[a269652]

With all due respect, what good does this serve? What does it prove? Who is actually responsible for this?

It's all complete <deleted> of course but if one wishes to work as a teacher in the LoS, then one must be prepared to jump through various hoops as & when they arise.

I'm particularly looing forward to questions regarding classroom management. How to deal with infractions etc. I assume that a valid sanction is to strike the students, for it's what a number of Thai teachers do.

[a269652]

I think WP's will be issued to all our staff upon completion of the Teacher's Licensing requirements. We do have a few teachers who are VERY worried about passing the courses, though.

I was informed that people who fail will have their scores recorded & a retake organised. Not sure how many retakes one is allowed or whether 500B is payable for each one.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I think WP's will be issued to all our staff upon completion of the Teacher's Licensing requirements. We do have a few teachers who are VERY worried about passing the courses, though.

I was informed that people who fail will have their scores recorded & a retake organised. Not sure how many retakes one is allowed or whether 500B is payable for each one.

Will it be multilple choice?

[bradthai]

will they test english ability?

only asking because of past experience.

inherited a class from an indian woman.

the students were all saying 'ay'pple.

that is what they had been taught.

when pointed it out, told by admin not to question her, she has an ma, you only have a b.a.

my b.a. isin english. her m.a. is in forestry management.

plus, she understands asian culture. don't question. do.

i wonder if there will be any acceptance of western pedagogy.

or if thai pedagogy will be the only accepted answers when it comes to classroom management, protocol? for eg: i don't require my s's to stand when i enter the room. the s's don't have to crawl to my desk.

i encourage them to ask questions, and i tell them to think.

not thai teaching pedagogy, in a lot of situations, not all, but it will take a while for the old school teachers to fade away.

isn't bringing our culture to the classroom part of the deal?

i always approached this as part of my job.

what is the answer? acceptable for testing purposes, if that is what we are all going to face?

bit of a rant. sorry. these are testing times for teachers. no pun intended.

and at my school,"yes" there will be a test. don't know when. think you will have to study at raja during the next holidays. or maybe weekends. don't know.

been here for ten years now. degreed/tesolled, and i don't know what the future holds. started a dip.ed from a uni back home just in case. i love teaching and see it as my future. hopefully here, if not, back home. also giving the wife ielts lessons. don't want to leave her here if it comes to that. and want her to be able to continue her career as well.

[Casanundra]

I am so glad none of this stuff is applying to the foreign professors at the Universities.

Can you imagine if they started rolling into Chula or Thammasat and asking the professors to wake up or interupt their lunch to sit one of these exams - there would be a right old riot and old windle spoons would be wheeled out to take pot shots with his trumpet rifle filled with lead balls!

Funny how a highly qualified individual is allowed to teach at masters degree level without the need of a teaching certificate with his only qualifications being what they studied at university or through experience gained in the real world, while the general English speaking populace with their TEFL certs (thus denoting some teacher training along with their life time of speaking the lingo) have to jump through proverbial loops to stay here.

Funny old world isn't it

Edited November 24, 2006 by Casanundra

[Scott]

I think that the big problem is that Thailand has really gone over-the-top on the licensing proceedure. Too many courses, tests etc. In general, the training is needed and nothing wrong with using the licensing process as a way of screening.

I am so tired of teachers who don't have even the vaguest clue of what is culturally acceptable, what is legally permissible or what might be effective. Most of them wouldn't/couldn't do the things they do in their own country. When you confront them, they come up with all kinds of excuses for what is absolutely ridiculous behavior on their part.

[otherstuff1957]

Here's the English side of the Teacher's Council of Thailand website. There's a nice table of contents, but for some reason all of the links lead to blank pages.

Now, there are any number of good reasons why the links aren't there. Maybe their webmaster is on vacation. Maybe no-one has given final approval to some new regulations. Or maybe, just maybe, none of the fine teachers at the Teacher's Council of Thailand can write English well enough to translate the documents from Thai into English.

[nakhonsi sean]

a269652 Posted Yesterday, 2006-11-24 09:04:47

I was informed that people who fail will have their scores recorded & a retake organised. Not sure how many retakes one is allowed or whether 500B is payable for each one. biggrin.gif

Our boss called the MOE yesterday to ask about the fees. The 500B, she was told, was for the teachers licence. There will be a seperate fee for the seminar. As it looks like the seminar will be a 4-5 day affair you can bet it will be well in excess of 500B!

[bradthai]

i hope, whatever the fee for the seminar, NO DOZE are included.

if it is a 4 day seminar, does that mean 2 days of seminar?, and one day for the opening ceremony and one for the closing? a good intro to thai culture. listening, in thai to some moe. official, talk about him or herself.

[toptuan]

When I first came to Thailand, I was required by the college at which I was employed to endure one 10-hour teacher training session per month (usually Saturdays). Since it was my first year, my Thai languge skills were next to nil. Of course the entire training sessions were in Thai, no one allowed to translate for me (too disruptive), and not allowed to do other work like correcting students' papers (too disrespectful), during the 10-hour lectures. Most other teachers (Thai) SMS'd on their cell phones or slept.

But, by god, I got the certificate at the end of the year. (Which of course I proudly display at my office! My feeble hope is that it means something to somebody who stops by...)

Form but no substance. TIT

I share this simply because it dovetails with a lot of "form-but-no-substance" stuff I see in these new requirements which will simply certificate a teacher but will not make one whit of difference in their ability to function in the classroom.

Edited November 25, 2006 by toptuan

[isaanbrit]

Important question; is this applicable to government teachers only, or private language school teachers too??

I am thinking that as it is the word from the ministry it might only apply to their schools. I mean, if a language school wants to hire a rebate that should be their prerogative.

[isaanbrit]

I dread to think what will happen to the level of English in Thailand if they carry this through.

[Petch01]

Of course the entire training sessions were in Thai, no one allowed to translate for me (too disruptive), and not allowed to do other work like correcting students' papers (too disrespectful), during the 10-hour lectures.

Sounds familiar. That's the way I teach English to my kids.

Petch01