Plan to reduce teaching programmes questioned

[webfact]

Plan to reduce teaching programmes questioned

By Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation

 

 

Expert wonder how the measure will raise quality

 

BANGKOK: -- THE DRASTIC policy to reduce the duration of teacher-education programmes from five to four years has raised many questions. 

 

Not only does the policy seek to undo the initiative launched 13 years ago to improve teacher quality, it also fails to make clear how it will benefit the country’s educational sector. 

 

“I wonder what research has backed this policy,” Asst Professor Athapol Anunthavorasakul, a lecturer at the Chulalongkorn University’s faculty of education, said. “And I wonder how this policy will raise teacher standards.” 

 

Earlier this month, the Teachers’ Council of Thailand approved in principle the Thailand Education Deans Council’s (TEDC) proposal that education programmes for the country’s future teachers span just four years. 

 

According to the TEDC, there is no point requiring students to study for five years given that Thai children’s scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) had not improved between 2000 and 2015.

 

“The first batch of teachers who come from the five-year programmes started service just in 2009. Their number is still relatively few in Thailand’s overall teacher workforce,” Athapol said, “So, are you too quick to judge the results from the five-year course?”

 

More than one decade ago, Thailand resolved to increase the duration of education programmes in the hope of raising teacher quality. At the time it was believed that students would have more time practising teaching, developing techniques and designing materials for better performance. 

 

High hopes

 

At the launch of the programmes, there were high hopes that teacher quality and teachers’ salaries would rise. It was believed then that the teaching profession would also automatically attract more capable people. Athapol said he really could not understand the idea of undoing these well-intentioned programmes. 

 

“Why don’t you think about increasing the programme duration from five to six years?” he said. “Why don’t you focus on what you expect of Thai children and how to design the programme to fulfil that expectation?”

 

Athapol attacked the Teachers’ Council of Thailand for approving the drastic policy.

 

“They didn’t even consult teacher-producing institutes first. We know nothing. Until lately, we have still worked on the plan to improve the five-year programmes,” he said. 

 

Panya Thongnin, the dean of Ratchaburi Rajabhat University’s faculty of education, lamented that his institute had just completed revising its five-year programme two years ago. 

 

 

“If you are going to switch to the four-year programme, we will have to overhaul the programme design,” he said. In the face of growing criticism, TEDC president Dr Prapansiri Susoarat has sought to explain that the policy is subject to further review. 

 

“We still plan to gather more information and listen to the voice of all relevant parties. We, moreover, plan to conduct serious research on this policy for the ultimate goal of boosting the quality of education programmes,” she said via her Facebook account. 

 

According to Prapansiri, although the majority vote at the TECD meeting on May 30 wanted to see the education programme’s duration reduced from five to four years, the TECD had already decided to conduct in-depth research first. 

 

“We will take a careful approach to ensure no damage is done,” Prapansiri said. She also explained that the Teachers’ Council had to date only considered the proposal from the TECD. It had not yet made a final decision either. 

 

‘Focus on improving quality’

 

“There is no need to quarrel over the four-year or five-year stuff. What we should focus on is how to improve the quality of teacher production,” the president of the TECD concluded. 

 

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin also explained separately that if teacher-training institutes switched to a four-year duration, their graduates would have to take an exam to get teaching licences.

 

“They will not automatically get one like those who graduate from the five-year programme,” he said. 

 

 

However, the idea to reduce the length of the education programme is not without supporters. 

 

Asst Prof Dr Pattanan Hansapiromchoke, a former deputy dean at the faculty of education and development sciences at Kasetsart University’s Kamphaeng Saen campus, said that in some other nations, teacher-education programmes took just three to four years but delivered impressive results. 

 

“Teacher quality is great. This is also reflected in student quality, as children in those countries have performed well in PISA,” she said. 

 

Pattanan said teacher-training institutes in Thailand should be made aware of the cost efficiency of their programmes. She added that research had shown that new-generation teachers lacked patience and were unable to cope with the actual work environment at schools because they were trained to teach at well-equipped schools. 

 

She wants teacher-education institutes to switch back to four-year programmes. 

 

Education programmes

In 2004, teacher-training institutes launched five-year education programmes, replacing the four-year ones, in the hope of raising the quality of their graduates. 

 

 How many students have applied to these programmes?

2011 – 2015: 206,037

Source: Thailand Education Deans Council 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30320391

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-11

[ukrules]

Professor Athapol Anunthavorasakul had better keep his mouth shut or he will end up being re-educated himself.

 

[Smiley Face]

They discovered the simple truth:

 

If you take a teacher aptitude level of zero and multiply it by 5 years the result is zero.  Therefore, multiplying it by four years is still zero and you save the cost of one additional year.  

 

So yeah, it makes perfect sense.  

 

Now if they can raise incoming teacher aptitude level to a value greater than zero, well then maybe there will be some progress.  It seems that it all starts in the foundational years.

[Kasset Tak]

So when those who have studied to be teachers for 5 years asked to lower the standard for English knowledge then it was OK but when the Teacher Council say that the 5-year education is not making better teachers then it's wrong?!

The problem is that most universities didn't add more contents into their teacher educations, they just stretched what they were teaching before to fit into a 5-year education and then charged their students another year of tuitions. 

[ben2talk]

2 hours ago, Smiley Face said:

They discovered the simple truth:

 

If you take a teacher aptitude level of zero and multiply it by 5 years the result is zero.  Therefore, multiplying it by four years is still zero and you save the cost of one additional year.  

 

So yeah, it makes perfect sense.  

 

Now if they can raise incoming teacher aptitude level to a value greater than zero, well then maybe there will be some progress.  It seems that it all starts in the foundational years.

You raise the teacher aptitude and produce a brilliant teacher - where will they end up?

 

Aptitude100=>ThaiSchool>(Time in years)*(Aptitude)/100)

 

It doesn't matter what kind of meat you put in the grinder, it all comes out as sausages.

[Narratio]

"...that new-generation teachers lacked patience and were unable to cope with the actual work environment at schools because they were trained to teach at well-equipped schools..."

 

Hint, hint - none of them want to leave the big cities and big schools for the un-air conditioned wooden shacks out in the countryside.

[Lupatria]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Expert wonder how the measure will raise quality

Maybe its because there are no experts in charge of education...

[clockman]

The blind leading, the blind!

[naboo]

Trainee teachers in the UK are observed regularly, every lesson initially, and given constructive feedback. It is a tough process, the trainee is constantly receiving criticism, hopefully in the nicest way, having spent hours preparing a class, and constantly needs to show that they are taking on feedback in future lessons.

 

I have worked alongside several trainee teachers in a large government school in Thailand. The qualified teachers never observed, just were happy to sit around doing nothing whilst the trainee taught all their classes.

 

The trouble is, the qualified teachers probably wouldn't have anything useful to say even if they were involved in the training process.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, Kasset Tak said:

So when those who have studied to be teachers for 5 years asked to lower the standard for English knowledge then it was OK but when the Teacher Council say that the 5-year education is not making better teachers then it's wrong?!

The problem is that most universities didn't add more contents into their teacher educations, they just stretched what they were teaching before to fit into a 5-year education and then charged their students another year of tuitions. 

 

Not sure about the last part of your post.

 

I have several young teachers in my Thai family, They speak OK to perfect English so I can have good discussions with them. I am a university lecturer at graduate and Ph.D. level.  

 

All of them are passionate about education and teaching and most have completed or are in the 5 years program. Two people studied at a uni. which offered a 5.5.year program which they completed.

 

Quality learning in regard to English conversation ability is mixed and not impressive.

 

More to the point they all say there is extra content. Several have mentioned extended learning about child psychology and child development. Student centered learning (at a basic level) has also been mentioned. 

 

However application of the student centered learning (SCL) has road blocks. One of my Thai family members completed high school in SIngapore and was therefore immersed in SCL for a number of years. It shows strongly in ability to analyze, to construct questions, to develop alternative approaches, and ability discuss in detail with logical well explained arguments.  

 

Since he graduated in education here in Thailand he has a couple of time been instructed to use SCL in the class room by the director who is well aware of the SCL experience from Singapore, but older teachers at the high school objected quickly and strongly and told the director it had to stop. Many schools directors are frightened of older teachers en mass. The SCL stopped. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by scorecard

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Narratio said:

"...that new-generation teachers lacked patience and were unable to cope with the actual work environment at schools because they were trained to teach at well-equipped schools..."

 

Hint, hint - none of them want to leave the big cities and big schools for the un-air conditioned wooden shacks out in the countryside.

 

Hint. Not all rural schools are non airconditioned wooden shacks. Most are brick buildings and many have full or part a/c but don't let little things like facts get in the way.

[ben2talk]

2 hours ago, naboo said:

Trainee teachers in the UK are observed regularly, every lesson initially, and given constructive feedback. It is a tough process, the trainee is constantly receiving criticism, hopefully in the nicest way, having spent hours preparing a class, and constantly needs to show that they are taking on feedback in future lessons.

 

I have worked alongside several trainee teachers in a large government school in Thailand. The qualified teachers never observed, just were happy to sit around doing nothing whilst the trainee taught all their classes.

 

The trouble is, the qualified teachers probably wouldn't have anything useful to say even if they were involved in the training process.

Thai's would doubtfully appreciate any benefit in criticism. Their main method of learning is simply to copy someone as closely as they can - and definitely not to expect that 'someone' to explain the methodology or planning behind the behaviour as this simply indicates ignorance.

 

I remember developing over about one year a 'warm-up' methodology with young learners, doing 'stand in a line/circle/2 lines' etc which was fairly unique to me. Thai teachers, however, only have different names - they are essentially the same person mimicking an image long forgotten in the annals of history.

 

This is how we do it because this is how we've always done it.

[farcanell]

Questions asked

questions ignored

meanwhile, elsewhere in the kingdom, a tree injures people... now there's a story!

[Narratio]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Hint. Not all rural schools are non airconditioned wooden shacks. Most are brick buildings and many have full or part a/c but don't let little things like facts get in the way.

My apologies, you are correct.

 

My point was that the better educated teachers appear to only want to work in the better appointed schools per the original post. Which appears to be a mind set more in line with "I put in more hours of learning, at a higher cost, therefore I deserve more appreciation", rather than a person who wants to be a teacher for the joy of teaching. Assuming that there are still such feelings. But I'm probably wrong in my reading between the lines of the original post.

[Lupatria]

3 hours ago, clockman said:

The blind leading, the blind!

...and can't hear each other either.

[scorecard]

38 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

Thai's would doubtfully appreciate any benefit in criticism. Their main method of learning is simply to copy someone as closely as they can - and definitely not to expect that 'someone' to explain the methodology or planning behind the behaviour as this simply indicates ignorance.

 

I remember developing over about one year a 'warm-up' methodology with young learners, doing 'stand in a line/circle/2 lines' etc which was fairly unique to me. Thai teachers, however, only have different names - they are essentially the same person mimicking an image long forgotten in the annals of history.

 

This is how we do it because this is how we've always done it.

 

And ask what the philosophy or intent is behind the methodology, or why, and you'll get blank looks. In reality they don't know and have never thought about it.

 

They are themselves product of the Thai education system; just remember and regurgitate, 'why' never comes into the teaching and learning experience.  

[attrayant]

I'd like to see that 5th year replaced by some actual field experience.  For example, Thai teachers wanting to teach English should spend that year abroad in one of the dozen or so countries where English is spoken natively.  Maybe Thailand could work out a teacher exchange program with some of those countries.  Thailand would get a nice rotation of native speaking English teachers, and the Thai grads who went abroad would get some real-world exposure.  As for other subjects, Thai science teachers should spend some time in a science related job like toxicology or engineering.  Aspiring accounting teachers should spend a year working as a bank auditor or similar.  At the very minimum, they should work as a TA under a seasoned teacher who has subject experience.

 

I say this because the two Thai science teachers at my school didn't even know how to use litmus paper for crying-out-loud and they appear to be only in their mid twenties.  I've since learned that they don't do any demonstrations in front of their classes; just talk about the theory.  When I asked my department head why they don't do some demos (I figure it would grab the students' interest, especially in chemistry), she said they could, but I'd have to show them how.  She wasn't even kidding.

 

No wonder Thai students have little interest in STEM.

[billd766]

21 hours ago, Narratio said:

My apologies, you are correct.

 

My point was that the better educated teachers appear to only want to work in the better appointed schools per the original post. Which appears to be a mind set more in line with "I put in more hours of learning, at a higher cost, therefore I deserve more appreciation", rather than a person who wants to be a teacher for the joy of teaching. Assuming that there are still such feelings. But I'm probably wrong in my reading between the lines of the original post.

 

I agree with you here. Part of the problem in the Thai Education system is that most teachers expect respect as a matter of course from students, parents and the general public, instead of understanding that true respect is earned and not just given as a matter of course and face.

[Ace of Pop]

I told a Teacher that,and finished up on Me Arse. Nowadays he would be sacked, I'd have been awarded for being rude.No wonder Kids learn to be Entitled [emoji233]?


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