Southeast Asian
Teacher Education Program
(SEA-TEP)

Background

Two studies conducted in Thailand by external organizations in the past few years have called for major reforms in teacher education.[1] The Thai government has reached similar conclusions and created a committee of rajabhat deans in 2021 to develop a reform agenda. Classroom observations conducted by the evaluators of Enjoy Science, a project funded by the Chevron Corporation, also pointed to the need for reforms in preservice education.  The STEM Centre has identified inadequate teacher training as a major obstacle to implementing STEM programs in Thai schools and views reforms in preservice education as one of the vehicles for implementing instructional reforms in the schools.

The recent PISA assessments in Thailand show that high percentages of Thai students are failing to reach proficiency in literacy in Thai and in mathematics by age 15; and the results of national assessments in grades 6, 9, and 12 confirm this conclusion. The SEA-PLM assessment project which assessed 5th graders in five SEAMEO countries, not including Thailand, in 2021 has found similar patterns of performance in neighboring SEAMEO nations.  Only Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam have shown patterns of student performance in mathematics and science that approach or surpass the OECD average PISA score. 

[1] CPRE, 2018. Evaluation of the Premium Teacher Education Program, NY: author; OCED, 2017. Review of Education Policy in Thailand. Paris: author.

The program objectives

As a consequence, the Centre decided to develop an initiative to strengthen teacher preparation in the region. The initiative was designed to address two major issues: the inadequate attention given to classroom practice in the courses provided for novice teachers and weaknesses in the practicum. After an extensive search, the Centre identified the Core Practices Consortium, a group of preservice programs in the USA, as a source of expertise on practice-based teacher education, and after reviewing research on the mentoring of novice teachers, the Centre identified a set of components that could strengthen the mentoring of novice teachers.

Dean Grossman from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education was invited to speak about the Core Practices movement in the USA to a group of deans of education in the region in May 2022. Their response was enthusiastic. The Centre then negotiated a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania to provide staff development and technical assistance to teacher preparation programmes in Thailand focused on the use of the Core Practices. In collaboration with the Teachers’ Council of Thailand (TCT) and the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), the adoption of the core practices and the strengthening of mentoring were combined to design an initiative to strengthen teacher preparation.

The Centre has sent a request for proposal (RFP) to over 20 teacher preparation programmes in Thailand since August, inviting them to be part of this initiative. The goal is to implement the reforms in 10-12 programmes to demonstrate that the reforms produce more capable teachers. The Centre is seeking funding to support the pilot for three years. The Centre will also invite 2-4 programmes from other SEAMEO member countries to join the pilot. If the initiative proves effective, the Centre will seek additional funding to offer the reforms to other teacher preparation programmes across the region.

Participants in this workshop included educators from Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Buriram Rajabhat University, Chaiyaphum Rajabhat University, Fatoni University, Mahasarakham University, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University, Phuket Rajabhat University, Surindra Rajabhat University, Surat Thani Rajabhat University, Thaksin University, and Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University total 12 University.