Redesigning Teacher Education

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.