Title: Pre-Service Teacher Education in Thailand in the Third Space
Abstract: [Abstract]The teaching identities of student teachers were developed using the concept of third space. This paper exhibits an experiment in applying the third space concept to traditional five-year program for the pre-service education participated in by 10 fifth-year student teachers majoring in elementary education. Professors and cooperating teachers also participated in the training program on the third space concept. Data was collected through participant observation and evaluated by the researcher, professors, and cooperating teachers. We found that student teachers created their teaching identities. We concluded that the third space concept should be adapted to education programs in Thailand.[Keywords] pre-service education; the third space; teaching identities; student teachersIntroductionThe Board of Teacher Education Review was established in 2005 to assure professional standards of teaching for all teachers in Thailand. All education institutions have to apply professional teaching standards to designing curriculum, planning curriculum, and teaching strategies. Moreover, they have to apply standards from the office of the higher education commission. Teacher education programs developed seem to follow the prescribed standards, and offer a five-year program. In this program, student teachers must teach in a school full-time for one year. The certificates and the approval process are examined by the Board of Teacher Education Review for their alignment with the professional teaching standards.Research from The Board of Teacher Education Review (2009-2011) found the education institutions have been teaching these training skills and that student teachers only comply with cooperating teachers. The issue concerns the absence of theoretical, pedagogical knowledge, and the critical thinking skills in education programs. According to Thongthew (2011), the certificates and the approval process are the most essential means for determining whether teachers have acquired teacher professional standards. These standards have been criticized by The Board of Teacher Education Review as the cause for the radical shift to mere training skills as prescribed by the nine categories of Teaching Standards.The Professional Standards have ruled over the training curriculum. The tendency to intellectual inquiry, the very element that allows teachers to engage in the deliberate search to extend knowledge in pedagogic principles and to solve complex issues in education, has been reduced to only training skills. Thongthew also argued that to be effective as a teacher, one must not only comply with the professional teaching standards, but also engage in research that relates his or her study to the understanding of the social context as well as ideology. To reach the balance between such intellectual inquiry and the required teaching competencies essential for the routine tasks of teaching, education programs in Thailand must be reconstructed to offer room for more reflective practices.Student teachers can teach in schools but they often cannot make connections between theory from the university and practice from the school components of programs. Student teachers normally copy either their professors or cooperating teachers' ideas and teaching styles. The professors or cooperating teachers dominate student teachers. However, the development of their teaching identities is very crucial to be successful in a teaching profession. In the real classroom, there are many approaches to designing, planning, and teaching a class; each of them has advantages and disadvantages depending on circumstances in the class. There is no single approach fitting all situations; therefore, a student needs to be able to develop a teaching plan based on classroom environments, content, and a class's schedule. …
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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