Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics - IEA

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TEACHER PAY AND STUDENT MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT
Thailand
Background
In the past few decades, Thailand has shifted from an agrarian to a predominantly
industrial and service economy, with about 60% of its labor force currently working in
the non-agricultural sector. The country’s relatively strong economic performance has
been accompanied by a rapid increase in primary and secondary school enrollments. 26
The Thai government stresses the importance of enhancing educational quality rather
than just quantity, in order to produce a more adaptable, innovative, and competitive
labor force. 27
By 2004/2005, only about 10% of Thailand’s adult population possessed a tertiary
or advanced degree; however, another 13% possessed a type B tertiary or uppersecondary-school
degree (UNESCO, 2005). Recent studies show that Thai students
are not performing satisfactorily in the fields of mathematics, sciences, and foreign
languages, and that the country needs to improve its science and technology education
(Office of the Education Council, 2004). Teachers are seen as a key component in
promoting education of a higher quality in Thailand, especially in the areas of science
and mathematics.
Composition of the teacher labor force
In 2001, Thailand employed 254,435 primary, 39,870 lower-secondary, and 85,569
upper-secondary teachers with various skill levels (Office of Commercial Services, 2002).
The number of primary school teachers increased by 0.6% between 2000 and 2004, but
the number of secondary school teachers decreased by just under 4% over the same
period (UNESCO, 2005). The teacher–student ratio has also decreased in recent years,
stabilizing at a 1:19 ratio for primary schools and a 1:21 ratio for general secondary
schools in 2002 and 2003 (Office of the Education Council, 2004). In 2004, just under
58.5% of primary school teachers and 51.5% of secondary school teachers were female,
a percentage somewhat lower than that of most other countries (UNESCO, 2004).
Primary education is characterized by a huge oversupply of teachers, with only one in
10 prospective teachers being able to find a job in 2002 (Office of Commercial Services,
2002). A study by the Teacher Education Reform Office in 1998 predicted an excess of
120,000 trained teachers by 2002. Another study (Fry, 1999) found that post-secondary
institutions had trained 20 to 25 times more prospective teachers than needed. Despite
this situation, there was a significant shortage in qualified science, mathematics, and
foreign language teachers in secondary schools.
Policies since the turn of the century have recommended early retirement programs
in order to manage the large number of aging and experienced teachers established
in traditional rote-learning methods. A strong, negative relationship between age and
qualifications supported this recommendation (Fry, 1999). In 1999, the average teacher
was 45 years old, had 22 years of teaching experience, and possessed either a diploma
26 By 1998, nearly 91% of the relevant age cohort was enrolled in primary schools and just over 72% in secondary
schools. By 2004, there were 5,539,908 primary school students, 2,732,862 lower-secondary school students, and
2,126,938 upper-secondary school students (Office of the Education Council, 2004).
27 For example, the 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand ratified 12 years of free basic education for
every child, and also acknowledged the importance of decentralized education management. The 1999 National
Education Act that followed was further amended in 2002, and it led to a more concrete and comprehensive
reform that included prospective changes concerning teacher and educational personnel.