It’s Not Just ABC: the Politics of English Teaching in Thailand
Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn Jul 30, 2012
In 2007, Bangkok Post reporter Erika Fry wanted to see how easy it was to fake being an English teacher in Thailand. Her resulting article, ‘Thailand’s School Daze’, encapsulates all of the little horror stories we’ve heard of faked resumes, careless school administrators, and overcrowded classrooms. After contacting an employment agency on Khao San Road, Fry found herself in a classroom of 50-something Mattayom students in a school not far outside of Bangkok. She had lied about her age and admitted to having no experience, but there she was, for all intents and purposes, a teacher.
So, how easy is it to become a teacher in Thailand? Very easy, as Fry’s article demonstrates. But her story says more than that: staying in the classroom – and actually being able to teach – is an entirely different ball game. Even if Fry had wanted to teach, she wouldn’t have been able to. With barely any preparation from her school, Fry had absolutely no knowledge of the school’s rules, conduct, or grading policy before she began teaching. Classroom conditions were abysmal. In one instance, she describes struggling to get students to write their own, original sentences, and, after barely accomplishing that, watching students blatantly copying answers from each other: “Cheating - or students doing one another's work happened in every class, and was done in the blatant, undisguised manner of something routine. When I scolded against it, students were baffled, and then quickly resumed writing the other person's paper.” Fry taught for only four days before calling it quits – a resignation that seemed of little concern to the school administrator.
Fry’s story should not be mistaken as just another rehashing of the debate over unqualified teachers in Thailand. As much as it reveals the ease with which one can slip in and out of the education system, it’s also indicative of the major problems dogging English teaching in Thailand today – problems which find their roots in an archaic system of rote-learning, lacklustre commitment from teachers, and inadequate accountability among teachers and administrators. They continue to impede improvement in a country where English proficiency levels are already among the lowest in the world: a recent World Competitiveness Report from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) ranked Thailand 54th out of 56 countries for English proficiency, the second-lowest in Asia. Despite the fact that the Thai government has consistently devoted around 20% of its national budget to education, Thailand has shown almost no significant progress since 2003, while other countries in the region soar ahead.
With the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, the pressure to improve English proficiency has never been stronger. As masters of the so-coveted tongue, native English-speaking teachers have the potential to play a much-needed role in bringing the nation up to standard. But in a bureaucratic education system that undervalues its teachers, fails to challenge its students, and provides little to no support for its employees, foreign educators often find themselves trying to teach, but not being able to do so. Furthermore, cultural differences play a role: as a foreigner, the experience of being a teacher inevitably involves grappling with Thai culture – one that is not necessarily the most welcoming to outsiders. Taken together, teaching, no matter one’s qualifications or experience, is a challenging task.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=649
Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn Jul 30, 2012
In 2007, Bangkok Post reporter Erika Fry wanted to see how easy it was to fake being an English teacher in Thailand. Her resulting article, ‘Thailand’s School Daze’, encapsulates all of the little horror stories we’ve heard of faked resumes, careless school administrators, and overcrowded classrooms. After contacting an employment agency on Khao San Road, Fry found herself in a classroom of 50-something Mattayom students in a school not far outside of Bangkok. She had lied about her age and admitted to having no experience, but there she was, for all intents and purposes, a teacher.
So, how easy is it to become a teacher in Thailand? Very easy, as Fry’s article demonstrates. But her story says more than that: staying in the classroom – and actually being able to teach – is an entirely different ball game. Even if Fry had wanted to teach, she wouldn’t have been able to. With barely any preparation from her school, Fry had absolutely no knowledge of the school’s rules, conduct, or grading policy before she began teaching. Classroom conditions were abysmal. In one instance, she describes struggling to get students to write their own, original sentences, and, after barely accomplishing that, watching students blatantly copying answers from each other: “Cheating - or students doing one another's work happened in every class, and was done in the blatant, undisguised manner of something routine. When I scolded against it, students were baffled, and then quickly resumed writing the other person's paper.” Fry taught for only four days before calling it quits – a resignation that seemed of little concern to the school administrator.
Fry’s story should not be mistaken as just another rehashing of the debate over unqualified teachers in Thailand. As much as it reveals the ease with which one can slip in and out of the education system, it’s also indicative of the major problems dogging English teaching in Thailand today – problems which find their roots in an archaic system of rote-learning, lacklustre commitment from teachers, and inadequate accountability among teachers and administrators. They continue to impede improvement in a country where English proficiency levels are already among the lowest in the world: a recent World Competitiveness Report from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) ranked Thailand 54th out of 56 countries for English proficiency, the second-lowest in Asia. Despite the fact that the Thai government has consistently devoted around 20% of its national budget to education, Thailand has shown almost no significant progress since 2003, while other countries in the region soar ahead.
With the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, the pressure to improve English proficiency has never been stronger. As masters of the so-coveted tongue, native English-speaking teachers have the potential to play a much-needed role in bringing the nation up to standard. But in a bureaucratic education system that undervalues its teachers, fails to challenge its students, and provides little to no support for its employees, foreign educators often find themselves trying to teach, but not being able to do so. Furthermore, cultural differences play a role: as a foreigner, the experience of being a teacher inevitably involves grappling with Thai culture – one that is not necessarily the most welcoming to outsiders. Taken together, teaching, no matter one’s qualifications or experience, is a challenging task.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=649
