Teacher graduates will have to pass an extra test with emphasis on specific subjects of study to qualify for a licence under a new system set for 2014.
The board of the Teachers Council of Thailand yesterday resolved to overhaul the teacher licensing system to raise standards, the chairman of the TCT board, Direk Pornseema, said.
Only graduates who pass the new tests set by the council would be issued licences, Mr Direk said.
The council woujld scrap the existing system which allowed teachers with one teaching licence to teach all subjects at all levels. Mr Direk said the system failed to guarantee standards.
The new system would permit licences at different levels - for early childhood education, primary education and junior secondary education, he said.
At the senior secondary and vocational education levels, licences would be issued based on subjects the teachers have studied, such as maths, physics, chemistry, agriculture, mechanics and technology.
The TCT board chairman said the exam-for-licence plan was employed in other fields such as nursing, engineering and architecture.
The TCT had consulted the Council of Education Faculty Deans about the exam. Education faculties nationwide would be asked to help prepare it, he said.
The exam would be put together next year so it could be used to test education graduates under a pilot project, Mr Direk said. The changes would come into effect in 2014.
Exams would be held two or three times a year. Third-year university students would be allowed to take the exam.
The council had yet to decide how to deal with the 600,000 teachers who have five-year licences under the existing system. Most of those licences expire in December 2014.
Most TCT board members do not want the planned exam to be used as a criterion to renew the licences of those teachers.
It was proposed they be asked to submit evidence about their teaching experience and training courses during the past three years.
The council would consider these responses before renewing their licences.
He said the TCT had also decided not to certify education diploma and teacher training programmes put up for approval. The council's decision followed criticism that the programmes provided by several education institutes were substandard.
The one-year programmes were open to students who were not education graduates but wanted to get an education certificate to apply for a teaching licence.
He cited the findings of a study which showed that teachers who took the programmes were below the standard of those who graduated after a five-year education course at higher education institutes.
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