Thread: Teachers License Tests

I know that many members of this forum are skeptical about the whole thing of the Thai Culture and Language and Ethics Course and the four Tests that have to be taken to get the new teacher license issued by the Teacher’s Council of Thailand. In the past were enough posts about that. I don’t want to start the discussion about the pros and cons again.

With this post I only want to inform you how the tests were as I, and probably 21 other foreign teachers took the tests on 8 and 9 December at eight places in the country.

When I arrived at the testing institute the first thing I noticed was somewhat like 50 Thai persons. Upon asking I was told that they had to do the tests too but in the Thai Language. Like us, they were the first batch of people in this area of the country who wanted (or were ordered) to do the tests. Perhaps nationwide more than 400 Thai teachers.

The test consisted of 10 topics:

Section 1:
- Language and Technology for Teachers
- Educational Innovation
- Information Technology
Section 2:
- Curriculum Development
- Learning Management
- Classroom Management
Section 3:
- Educational Measurement and Evaluation
- Educational Research
Section 4:
- Psychology for Teachers
-Teacher Professionalism

Each section consisted of 150 multiple choice questions which had to be done in 150 minutes each.

The questions involved more than average knowledge of management principles, statistics, research methods and psychology and basic knowledge of computer software and hardware, the National Education Act and The Teachers and Educational Personnel Council Act.

Easy? Not for me. I forgot a lot (B.Sc./M.Sc. early 90's) and didn’t study on the Thai Acts.

My impression is that if you haven't recently studied or re-studied the mentioned fields, the chance of failing is big. A test taker will pass if the test taker's score per section is 50 % or more.

I keep you informed.

Stamp

Each section consisted of 150 multiple choice questions which had to be done in 150 minutes each.

10 hours of tests? Over how many days?

Originally Posted by Laowai

10 hours of tests? Over how many days?

4 sections. Each 150 minutes. 600 minutes. 2 days. 150 in the morning and 150 in the afternoon.

Stamp

fuck off before i split my girdle

We've just been informed that our teachers have to go and do this too.
Don't know anything more about it apart from what I've read on here, so any information is good.

Stamp, for example, if you've held a Teacher's license for 4 years do you still have to do this test?

Originally Posted by OEG

We've just been informed that our teachers have to go and do this too.
Don't know anything more about it apart from what I've read on here, so any information is good.

Stamp, for example, if you've held a Teacher's license for 4 years do you still have to do this test?

OEG,

That's the big discussion among our members (refer to previous posts about this topic), the Ministry of Education and even the Teacher's Council of Thailand.

As I did the Thai Culture, Language and Etics course I was taught a little bit about some Education Acts. For what I see is that since 2003, an Act exists which says that Education Personnel will be licensed by The Teacher's Council of Thailand only. TCT sets the rules, the qualifications, the assesments, etc. for teachers (Thai or foreign). This body will take over the licensing of teachers from the MoE. TCT is a named department of the MoE though.

Nobody seems to know when only TCT will issue licenses. Nobody seems to know when the name-unkown departments of MoE stop issueing the licenses. Nobody knows when Labour and/or Immigration will reject teacher licenses or teaching-permissions (upcountry) from other bodies than TCT.

IMO, this process will take 2-3 years before it's sorted out. TIT.

Stamp

Originally Posted by Stamp

My impression is that if you haven't recently studied or re-studied the mentioned fields, the chance of failing is big. A test taker will pass if the test taker's score per section is 50 % or more.

As this is Thailand no doubt "help" (i.e. the answers) is also available.

I would guess at about THB500, about the same as the "help" for the Thai drivers licence.

Originally Posted by Topper

The reason nobody knows whats going on is because its a scam. How many teachers do you know that have been denied a TL, WP or visa because they haven't passed the "test"? My guess is zero.

None as yet, because this rule hasn;t been enforced yet. I would imagine they are trying to register as many teachers as possible over the next two years, so when it is enforeced they would bee (too) short of teachers.

The tests sould horrendous. Fortunately I just finished my teaching course so I've circumvented it. It would be more prudent to do the teaching course (weekends over 6 months or so), rather than run the gauntely of 4 Thai multiple choice exams at 1000 baht a piece. I doubt you'll be refunded the money if you fail it!

As for the statistics vocab that Stamp mentioned, much of this would be covered in an education course (or certainly a statistics course!).