42 h training course for foreign teachers

[Bamboo Grove]

I think, I've missed this news previously. What is this 42 h course? What's taught in it and by whom? Yes, it says Thai language and culture course but in 42 hours? That's about one week's worth of studying. What can one learn in that time, particularly languagewise?

No worries over foreign teachers' licence training: deans

The Nation December 18, 2014 1:00 am

The Thailand Education Deans Council (TEDC) yesterday insisted the 42-hour training requirement in foreign teachers' applications for a local licence was appropriate.

The move followed Education Minister Admiral Narong Pipathanasai's instruction for the Secretariat Office of the Teachers Council of Thailand (TCT) to review the requirement after the International Schools Association of Thailand reportedly complained of inconvenience over the requirement.

TEDC president Surawat Thongbu, also dean of Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University's faculty of education, said the 42-hour training for Thai language and cultural studies should not be changed or the hours cut down. In comparison, Thai teachers had to undergo 360-hour training covering nine standards to obtain a teaching licence.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 50073.html

[dtaai-maai]

I think, I've missed this news previously. What is this 42 h course? What's taught in it and by whom? Yes, it says Thai language and culture course but in 42 hours? That's about one week's worth of studying. What can one learn in that time, particularly languagewise?

First I've heard of it, and I can't find anything via Google.

There was a lot of talk a year or two ago about teachers needing a PGCE as well as a degree, but that appears to have fizzled out.

As far back as 2009, there is mention of a requirement for foreign teachers to attend a 20-hour 'Foreign Teacher Thai Culture Training Program':

2) Must attend and successfully complete the 20-hour 'Foreign Teacher Thai Culture Training Program' which has been designed by The Teachers Council of Thailand. This course generally runs for four days over a one-month period and can be completed in four Saturdays from 9.00am to 4.00pm. The cost of the course is approximately 8,000 baht. At the end of the course you will receive a diploma proving that you have successfully completed the program.

Are there any teachers who have this 'diploma'?

I don't really see a problem with it in principle, although all the questions you ask are very relevant. If it achieves nothing else, it should discourage some of the unqualified backpacker element.

But principle is one thing and practice quite another - how it will be applied (if it is to be applied and isn't yet another proposal that will end up at the back of someone's filing cabinet, as I suspect) remains to be seen.

There isn't enough information in the article to draw any conclusions.

[Bamboo Grove]

When I started teaching in Thailand in 1990, we were required to take the Thai language course, equivalent of grade 6 (Thailand) and have an exam as well, before we would get the work permit. Of course, it basically meant nothing as things were not so strictly controlled nor enforced then (tongue in cheek). Anyway, I took the test but because I hadn't understood the situation correctly (neither had the school), I actually taught two years before attaining the work permit.