Rule on recruiting unlicensed teachers changed after outcry

The rule takes effect today, but will have limited effect. 
Designed to woo graduates from various fields to the teaching profession, the rule now offers teaching jobs in just 25 of 61 academic fields to |people without teaching licences. 
People interested in applying for assistant-teacher posts can do so from today until April 10. 
“We have listened to the voice of teacher-producing institutes,” Education Minister Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday. “Given that they think the original plan for the new rule might not be fair to their students who are in five-year undergraduate programmes, we have agreed to adjust [the rule].” 
Teerakiat spoke after a meeting with the Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission, which has introduced the rule.
The rule initially did not limit people without teaching licences to any fields. When it was unveiled earlier this month, it drew stiff opposition from education institutes.
Education permanent secretary Dr Chaipreuk Sereerak affirmed yesterday that people without teaching licences could apply for teaching posts in fields which the five-year programmes of teacher-training institutes do not cover, such as physical therapy, clinical psychology, financial/accounting, Myanmar and Vietnamese and Spanish language. 
“In addition, we agree to accept applications from people without teaching licences for eight fields that have not or hardly attract qualified candidates such as science, physics, chemistry, biology, English language and German language,” he said. 
According to Chaipruek, people without teaching licences who have successfully passed recruitment exams and interviews will receive intensive training from the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) before they start work. 
Obec secretary general Karoon Sakulpradit said only 9,508 people applied for assistant-teacher posts last year and just 874 passed the recruitment criteria. 
“For biology, only 461 passed the recruitment. That’s why we thought of attracting people without teaching licences to teaching jobs. The people, if qualified, can after all get training and apply for teaching licences later.” He said the move would help end the teacher shortage in many fields. 
Thailand Education Deans Council president Prof Dr Prapansiri Susoarat said the move could violate the rights of students studying in five-year education programmes at teacher-producing institutes because university graduates in other programmes need to spend just four years in campuses. 
“If the new rule will come out this way, should we reconsider reducing the duration of the education programmes?” she said. 
Programmes at teacher institutes have been extended from four to five years to boost teacher quality. 
Educators such as Assoc Prof Sumit Suwan from Kasetsart’s Faculty of Education and Asst Prof Dr Adisorn Naowanondha of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, said there had been a serious lift in quality in recent years, with teacher institutes attracting students with greater talents. “But if you say graduates from other faculties can take teaching jobs too, who will want to enrol into education programmes that will take them one more year to graduate from?” Adisorn said.