I ain't got no idea how the teaching biz works over there in Thailand so I did what any eager young player would do, I checked out the #1 teaching site in Thailand, Ajarn.com and read one wonderful article. Now I got 25 questions and maybe you all could help me understand teaching in Thailand by answering 25 questions I got after readin' the Super Thailand Teacher interview with four respectable schools in Thailand.
The bold marks are my questions, the normal font is Mr Ajarn's colorful writing. I cut it a bit, the full article is at:
http://www.ajarn.com/Banter/MOEchanges.htmWith Thailand’s TEFL industry still reeling from the arrest and deportation of the infamous Mr John Karr and tales of schools being subjected to immigration raids and teacher spot-checks, you’d be forgiven for thinking the situation for Thailand’s foreign teachers couldn’t get any worse. Well you would be wrong. Thailand’s TEFL forums have been buzzing over the past couple of weeks with news that The Ministry of Education has compiled a revised list of teacher requirements – a list that could completely destroy Thailand’s image as one of the most welcoming and straightforward countries in which to find a teaching job.
Has Thailand ever been considered one of the most welcoming and straightforward countries in which to find a teaching job?Barry, Dr Kamolwan, The School Director, and Hans, Head of the Foreign Teachers, Bilingual Program, wanted to meet with ajarn.com and outline exactly what the new MOE requirements are - at least according to the official documentation they received - and maybe chat about a few other problems they are facing as well. Only too happy to join the discussion and put in their two cents were representatives from Sarasas Ektra, Bangkok Christian School, and Pannaya Pattanakarn School. We were also privileged to be joined by Khun Pisut, The Chairman of The Association of Private Schools for English Programs. All in all it turned into quite a gathering.
Three Hall of Shame Schools and one Hall of Shame school in waiting, what better representatives of schools in Thailand. Is the quality of schools in Thailand really this low?Bursting with energy and enthusiasm, Barry is a guy you can’t fail to warm to. With a passion for teaching rivaling that of his love for cricket, you can see instantly that the new MOE regulations are troubling him greatly. Never in his seven years in Thailand has he experienced anything like this. As we stand in front of the school notice-board displaying photographs of the twenty-odd foreign teachers currently on the school staff-list, he speaks about them as though they are family.
Does he include disgruntled teachers as his family? Is the guy for real?“Udomsuksa, Bangkok Christian College and Sarasas Ektra were the first licenced bilingual schools in Thailand and at Udom look after the kids from kindergarten, through primary school, and up to high school age. They study in both Thai and English language programs. We currently have about 24 full-time teachers working here but most of the hires are fairly transient. Many teachers stay for one or two years and then have their own reasons for moving on - but the vast majority enjoys their time with us.”
Any guesses on why teachers would move on?Barry admits that the path to hiring new teachers has always been strewn with obstacles
“It's never been easy to obtain teaching licences. We’ve had the usual problems in the past with teachers presenting fake documents but if the teacher was a good teacher and he or she was well-liked then we could always find a way of accommodating them in our program - basically because the situation wasn’t policed. We could exercise some discretion and be a lot more flexible compared to now. Now we’re entering a whole new era and we can’t even think about hiring unqualified teachers”
Just so I get this straight, Udomsuksa School has hired people with fake documents in the past but kept them on because they were well liked, is this correct? What does well liked mean? “We had a teacher leave us to go and work for an international school on Sukhumwit Road. She was a very qualified teacher, loved working here, and she left on very good terms. She still keeps in touch with many of her ex-colleagues in fact. Unfortunately she was caught up in one of the immigration raids because the usual Thailand red tape meant that she was left waiting for three months while the new employer sorted out her teaching licence and work permit. When the immigration police came a-knocking she didn’t have a scrap of paper to show them and was duly arrested. She was fingerprinted and detained at the police station (along with ten other teachers from the same school) from 10am to 9pm. How humiliating an experience is that? Eventually the school coughed up 30,000 baht a teacher by way of a fine and the eleven teachers appeared in court the following day - where they paid a personal fine of 2,000 baht and were placed on a good behavior bond for one year. So a teacher doing nothing more than following what she was contracted to do suddenly found herself with a criminal record. And do you know what the biggest laugh was? Those teachers were told they could go straight back to work but make sure they had the correct documents within a given time-frame. Now can you make any sense of that?”
Why did the teachers have to pay a single centavo when it was the school's fault?What also disturbed me - purely from a selfish webmaster point of view - is that Barry knew of several schools who were now scared to put their job ads on the ajarn.com jobs board. Fear of having their name in lights for immigration to see? Fear of the MOE finding out how much the school really pays its teachers? Who knows? But it could go a long way to explaining why there has been a slight decline in the number of teaching vacancies on ajarn of late.
Could it also be that you are charging for any ads that are not stuck in the sidebar? cha-ching!While we were on the subject of ludicrous systems, I quizzed Dr Kamolwan and the representatives from the other Thai schools about the letter they had received from the MOE detailing the new requirements for foreign teachers. At least they had all received it so three cheers for the Thai postal service. I asked them if they were already familiar with the list of requirements mentioned in the second paragraph of this article.
“From now on we are insisting that all new teachers have a two-week time-frame in which to present the following documents to us.
- an original copy of a four-year degree in education
- alternatively a four-year degree in any field plus a TEFL certificate
- the original transcripts
- a letter of confirmation from their University that they did graduate.
Am I understanding that Udomsuksa School further admits that are continuing to hire teachers and keep them employed for at least two weeks before even verifying their credentials? Are teachers allowed to work before they receive proper paperwork in Thailand? Doesn't it talk about raids 20 lines up?All documents have to be certified by the applicant’s embassy and if the teacher is a ‘non-native’ speaker, they have to score at least 550 on a TOEFL test or achieve a minimum score of 5.5 on the IELTS test. If you cannot produce these documents then we can’t hire you. It’s really as simple as that. The Thai culture and language test is a grey area at the moment and we know nothing about teachers needing to show proof of employment or training in their own country”
I am confused now, it says you are hiring and giving them two weeks to present documentation and another says you aren't hiring them, which is it?
It took us thirty seconds to Google the university website and then we had to write back to Bournemouth University (more time and more delay) request a graduation certificate and go back to the MOE three weeks later. Had we not gone to bat for this particular teacher he would have ended up on an MOE blacklist because contrary to popular opinion such a blacklist does exist.
So the MOE has a teacher's blacklist and so what is the problem with teachers banding together to have their own blacklist? There is even one member of staff at the MOE who actually sniffs the degrees like some kind of airport security bloodhound. Apparently she’s checking for not only the ‘newness’ of the degree but also the ‘Englishness’ of it. She has the mindset that English degrees always come in a standard thickness and have a certain ‘English’ feel and smell to them. Thai paper is often scented”
Is this really true? Is Thai paper really scented?“We would expect to lose maybe 10-15% of our teaching staff” said Hans “In fact, we’ve recently let two teachers go because a school like ours just can’t afford to take the risks now. The teachers in question couldn’t produce the original documents that we asked for either. Unfortunately the situation turned rather nasty and the teachers became abusive and threatened Thai members of staff. They also demanded extra pay and threatened to sue the school if it wasn’t forthcoming. They also told us that they would post their ‘horror stories’ on the internet – which in fact they did”
Is it appropriate for your school to ask teachers to take risks? For Dr Kamolwan, this ‘outing’ of her beloved school on the internet didn’t seem to sit well at all. It’s not so much the allegations that upset her (however unsubstantiated they may be) but the fact that foreign teachers could be so spiteful.
Outing refers to telling the truth that which was previously kept quiet, is this an admission on the part of the school owner that the previous allegations were true?“We have teachers who have been with us for fifteen years. Generally we give teachers everything they need to do their job well but no school gets it right all the time. Foreign teachers have no idea how hurtful their posts on the internet truly are – especially to the Thais, who are by nature a very sensitive race of people. I seem to spend half my time running the school and half my time protecting my mother and father from hearing about these internet forum accusations. My father is 73 years old and put his life into this school. He doesn’t deserve all this at his age.”
Are Thais the only sensitive race of people on the planet? Is it possible that Dr. Kamolwan is not spending enough time dealing with teaching issues?Perhaps it’s important to look on the bright side at times like this so let’s take a slight diversion. At least Sarasas Ektra School didn’t give John Karr a teaching position - despite him turning up for an interview one sunny afternoon. They have Assistant Director of Foreign Staff, Alistair Lawrence, to thank for that.
“I interviewed him, he asked all the right questions, and his documentation was all in order. But when I gave him a tour of the campus something wasn’t quite right. He avoided eye contact and seemed on edge. I decided there and then not to hire him. Needless to say it must rank as one of my better decisions.”
What was John Karr actually guilty of?Khun Pisut, The Chairman of The Association of Private Schools for English Programs (APEP), had listened intently up to this stage but was well aware of all the negativity that was being posted and read on the internet.
“Not only does this kind of thing upset the Thai staff but we are finding that more and more parents are reading these forums. It’s creating a very difficult situation indeed.”
Have you thought about improving the way APEP schools treat their staff?“The Phuket schools have shown us the way by getting together and lobbying the Phuket governor in the hope he will present the schools’ case to the ministry. Bangkok needs to join the cause right now and this we intend to do. The Bilingual Schools Association needs to make an appointment to sit down and talk with the minister of education. He needs to know how impractical the new changes are and how much Thai students will suffer as a result of fewer and fewer foreign teachers being attracted to come and work in Thailand. We are fully aware that the MOE is afraid of criticism but if we present our case respectfully then there is every chance of success. We have to try to keep the rules fair for everyone – both government and private schools.”
How much effort has the APEP put into providing teacher development or this just another money issue?Khun Pisut was also keen to point out that money and politics, as always, can be the root of all evil.
“The truth is that you have two government sectors both vying for a slice of the pie. Holding fort at the ministry of education can be a very lucrative business. If every teacher needs a licence at 500 baht a time then that money adds up. If the Thai culture exam comes into play then all teachers will have to take designated courses and seminars. And those won’t be free either.”
Should I ask again, is this about providing quality education or saving money?But at the end of the day, whether or not Khun Pisut rides into battle with the hopes of every English teacher in Thailand resting on his shoulders, surely these new MOE regulations will be thrown out with the bathwater. It won't happen here…er....will it?
There’s an uncomfortable silence eventually broken by Mr Barry. “Let’s see what happens in Phuket first”
Do Thai people normally go to battle to help foreigners?On a concluding note, although no one has a reliable handle on the situation at the moment, let’s give a mention to those teachers working here who are well-qualified, who do have four-year degrees in education, who do have all their university transcripts nicely arranged in a plastic binder, who do have more letters of reference than you can shake a stick at, and therefore seemingly have nothing to fear. I know one or two personally (and there are a fair few on the ajarn discussion forum) and right now plastic surgery couldn’t wipe the smiles from their faces. They are suddenly visualizing a golden future with their services available only to the highest bidder. And as the ‘sex-pat’ teachers, the Khao San Road graduates, the weekend TEFL course mob, and the great unwashed, all make their way to the departure lounges, the border crossings and the closest emergency exits, the ‘proper’ teachers will be left behind negotiating for paid flights home, extra summer vacation, and big fat housing allowances. Perhaps that’s the way it should be.
Do I understand it right that the position of Ajarn.com is that every foreigner without a teaching degree should get out of Thailand ASAP?
Topic: 25 Questions (Read 4041 times)