Courtesy of The Nation.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/your_say/30322124

In brief, improved internet access rather than an extra year of teacher training.

One of the main problems in reducing the time for a teaching degree here is that the universities have only just finalised the curriculum for the "new" 5 year program. To now change it back down to 4 years would require more years of curriculum planning and honing.

The fact that Thai children's scores have not increased is a little misleading too, as there are very few qualified teachers that completed the 5 year degree, and they have not been in place long enough to "make a difference".

For somebody who's working at schools for a long time, not really news. Last week was no teaching and the students from M.1 to M.6 had to come in to write their "Pre Midterm" tests.

    How the heck could they learn a lot after so many canceled lessons? Three weeks ago, we had six working days off just because the school was given to students from other provinces who participated in a sports week.

 Then the "Science week" where plenty of lessons, especially the English lessons were canceled last minute. I don't think that testing them so often makes them to better students.

 Regarding the Thai English teachers' language proficiency it would be so easy to send all who want to become English teachers to an English speaking country. Even countries like Germany offer tertiary education in English these days.

 Many "problems" would be solved by doing so. No more face losing individuals and the quality of spoken and written English would be amazingly good.

 You only have to look at exchange students who study ten months or one year abroad. One of my students just came back from Switzerland and she speaks a good German and English.

  It's just not fair that "Somchai Kikiet", the son of a teacher receives the same grade as "Einsteinchai Gaenggmaak", who's studying hard.

      To be honest, about 65 -75 % of my students would fail in an ordinary test. And I believe that it's basically the same at most other government schools.

 When Thai teachers had to pass the CEFR test it turned out that they failed miserably. But that seems to be passed and nobody is even mentioning it anymore.


 Let's wait for the good general and a new hub of I don't know now will soon be announced. The HUB of LOST DREAMS. Amen.

Sirchai wrote:For somebody who's working at schools for a long time, not really news. Last week was no teaching and the students from M.1 to M.6 had to come in to write their "Pre Midterm" tests.

    How the heck could they learn a lot after so many canceled lessons? Three weeks ago, we had six working days off just because the school was given to students from other provinces who participated in a sports week.

 Then the "Science week" where plenty of lessons, especially the English lessons were canceled last minute. I don't think that testing them so often makes them to better students.

 Regarding the Thai English teachers' language proficiency it would be so easy to send all who want to become English teachers to an English speaking country. Even countries like Germany offer tertiary education in English these days.

 Many "problems" would be solved by doing so. No more face losing individuals and the quality of spoken and written English would be amazingly good.

 You only have to look at exchange students who study ten months or one year abroad. One of my students just came back from Switzerland and she speaks a good German and English.

  It's just not fair that "Somchai Kikiet", the son of a teacher receives the same grade as "Einsteinchai Gaenggmaak", who's studying hard.

      To be honest, about 65 -75 % of my students would fail in an ordinary test. And I believe that it's basically the same at most other government schools.

 When Thai teachers had to pass the CEFR test it turned out that they failed miserably. But that seems to be passed and nobody is even mentioning it anymore.


 Let's wait for the good general and a new hub of I don't know now will soon be announced. The HUB of LOST DREAMS. Amen.

Not sure which post you were replying to? The OP made no mention of English? The post was about the education degree taught in Thai universities.

1stevec wrote:

Sirchai wrote:For somebody who's working at schools for a long time, not really news. Last week was no teaching and the students from M.1 to M.6 had to come in to write their "Pre Midterm" tests.

    How the heck could they learn a lot after so many canceled lessons? Three weeks ago, we had six working days off just because the school was given to students from other provinces who participated in a sports week.

 Then the "Science week" where plenty of lessons, especially the English lessons were canceled last minute. I don't think that testing them so often makes them to better students.

 Regarding the Thai English teachers' language proficiency it would be so easy to send all who want to become English teachers to an English speaking country. Even countries like Germany offer tertiary education in English these days.

 Many "problems" would be solved by doing so. No more face losing individuals and the quality of spoken and written English would be amazingly good.

 You only have to look at exchange students who study ten months or one year abroad. One of my students just came back from Switzerland and she speaks a good German and English.

  It's just not fair that "Somchai Kikiet", the son of a teacher receives the same grade as "Einsteinchai Gaenggmaak", who's studying hard.

      To be honest, about 65 -75 % of my students would fail in an ordinary test. And I believe that it's basically the same at most other government schools.

 When Thai teachers had to pass the CEFR test it turned out that they failed miserably. But that seems to be passed and nobody is even mentioning it anymore.


 Let's wait for the good general and a new hub of I don't know now will soon be announced. The HUB of LOST DREAMS. Amen.

Not sure which post you were replying to? The OP made no mention of English? The post was about the education degree taught in Thai universities.

My post was made regarding the children's' test scores that have not improved.

And English, together with the "loss of face syndrome" seems to be one of the "problem subjects" in Thailand.

My sincere apologies when my post didn't satisfy you.

gungchang wrote:Courtesy of The Nation.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/your_say/30322124

In brief, improved internet access rather than an extra year of teacher training.

 
  Here's an interesting article from Bangkok post. Please let me know if we're allowed to post parts of articles or articles from them here.

  It's not in my interest to create any problems.

  Please see:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/1259777/educational-inequality-in-thailand-the-challenge


 SMALL RURAL SCHOOLS WITH LESS THAN 20 STUDENTS: 15,224 SCHOOLS

The problem of inequality is more pressing for small primary schools and secondary schools.

Each small school has less than 20 students in each grade, in rural areas.

There are 15,224 schools that fit into this category.

Although the number of small schools has declined by more than 20% since 1993, they continue to be the majority of schools.

Small schools lack both sufficient state funding as well as the teachers needed to increase the quality of teaching and the performance of students.

Often, one teacher has to teach multiple subjects...


HOW THE MONEY SPENT IS USED

..."It is not the amount of money that we are lacking, it is how the money is not efficiently and effectively spent -- this is the problem," said Pumsaran Tongliamnark, a policy analyst from the Budget Bureau, Ministry of Education, speaking at a recent seminar.


While the test results reflect the shortcomings of Thailand's education system, the most worrying aspect of this debacle is the grave inequality that persists at every level of the education system.


Thailand is caught in an education paradox -- should the country focus on pushing the best and brightest students to compete on the world stage?

Or should we be concerned with those who are falling behind?

Is it possible for Thailand to achieve both goals?

Before talking about the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution, let's get the foundations straight. The elephant in the room is the issue of inequality
inequality

Meaning: a situation in which people are not equal because some groups have more opportunities, power, money etc than others

HUGE SPENDING BUT LOW TEST SCORES (FOR THE WHOLE STUDENT POPULATION)

Unfortunately, the huge spending has not translated into improved learning.

The students of Thailand still scored below global averages in key subjects in various international tests.

These test scores show that Thai students are still behind their peers in neighbouring countries when it comes to their performance in maths, science and English.

LOW GLOBAL RANKINGS



snip.Thailand is caught in an education paradox -- should the country focus on pushing the best and brightest students to compete on the world stage?

Or should we be concerned with those who are falling behind?snip,

What a strange question that is. If those who are falling behind are the majority then it's in no way important to send students to competitions.

Yes, you should be concerned with those who are falling behind. It's common sense.