Abstract
Teacher education in Thailand is one of the most critical issues in education reform. It has always been the responsibility of government to provide both preservice and in-service teacher education programs. Preservice teacher education programs can be either a 5-year bachelor’s degree in education, or a 1-year graduate diploma in teaching, or a master’s degree in teaching. However, Thailand is now facing a paradox with shortages of teachers at the school level in certain geographic areas and fields, while there is at the same time an oversupply of trained teachers. There are also a lack of fit between teacher preparation and class assignments and the lack of teachers in core areas causing the practice of out-of-field teaching in which teachers trained in one field of study are assigned by school to teacher class in another area of study. There is a need to redesign teacher education to prepare Thai teachers better for the complex challenges of the twenty-first century. A better fit between teacher supply and demand is the most urgent agenda. The retraining and reallocation of out-of-field teachers are the second urgent agenda. The redesign of teacher education programs (both preservice and in-service) is the third urgent agenda. To retain their leading role, Thai teacher education institutes must produce a “new breed of teacher.” These teachers must know their subject matter well and have a passion for teaching it. They must also understand deeply the nature of student-centered, constructivist learning and learning how to be innovator.
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