There Really Are Some Terrible Foreign Teachers in Thailand
A couple of weeks ago I talked about my first day teaching in Thailand. At that time I was dealing (or should I say not dealing) with an alcohol addiction and this meant that I was far from an ideal teacher. Anyway, in response to that post Catherine from Women Learning Thai asked –
Paul, like most everyone living in Thailand, I’ve read quite a bit about sloshed English teachers. Care to do a post on the subject?
I have felt tempted to write about the bad foreign teachers in Thailand before but always held off. My main reason for avoiding this subject is that there is enough negativity about foreign teachers already and much of it is unfair – I didn’t want to add to the din.
The terrible foreign teachers in Thailand are in the minority, but they are the ones who get the most headlines – it’s sad but that’s just the way it is. Another reason that I have held off such an article is that it might make me appear a bit mean-spirited – it is all too easy to point out the bad in life and some of the negativity rubs off on the person doing the pointing.
Despite my reservations, I’ve decided to do this post on the terrible foreign teachers in Thailand anyway. One reason for this is that I’m genuinely concerned about my son’s future in the Thai education system and would like to elicit other people’s opinions. The other reason for publishing this post is that I really do value any suggestions made by my readers and do my best to follow up on them. So here goes.
The Terrible Foreign Teachers in Thailand
For the sake of convenience, I have decided to break down the terrible foreign teachers into different categories. I am not a big fan of putting people in boxes, and this is only meant to be a reflection on reality and not reality itself. Anyway here are some of the terrible foreign teachers you might come across in Thailand.
The Habitual Drunk
I belonged to this category at the start of my teaching career but was able to escape from this later. It is important to say here that the habitual drunk teacher is not only to be found in Thailand but in most countries around the world.
During my early years of teaching I regularly turned up to school with a hangover to give a poorly prepared lesson. I would also sometimes nip to the bar in between classes to cure my shakes or just get the courage to face the next class. The kids suffered because of my enthusiasm for alcohol, but they made sure that I paid a price as well – Fisherman’s Friends sweets don’t fool anyone and kids have no problem making life hell for an easy target.
The habitual drunk is on a downward spiral and unless they escape their addiction they will not last long as a teacher in Thailand. These people are their own worst enemy – many have come to Thailand to escape a mess at home caused by their drinking. Out of all the bad teachers I’ve met in Thailand, most of them belonged to the habitual drunk category and didn’t last long.
Those Caught in a Job They No Longer Like
There is another group of foreign teachers in Thailand who are just going through the motions. They feel stuck in Thailand and teaching is the only job that provides security. Some of these individuals have been living here for years – many of them would love to leave but feel they have burnt their bridges at home. Among this group can be people who were previously good at the job but have now become cynical because of the education system.
These reluctant teachers will try to just keep out of trouble while doing the bare minimum to keep their job – they can become quite skilled at doing nothing while appearing busy and can coast like this for years. I was worried that I’d fall into this group and this is why I’m glad to no longer be teaching in Thailand.
The Clueless Non-Native English Speaker
I have worked with many non-native English speakers (mostly from the Philippines and India) and the majority are very dedicated and accomplished. These people were easy to work with and knew their subject well. There is a minority of non-native English speakers that probably shouldn’t be teaching English until they improve their own skills. The problem is that the average Thai administrator is not able to judge the fluency of non-native speakers and will judge them more on their ability to speak Thai.
The use of non-native English speakers is a particular worry of mine. My son is going to start school next year and we have tried to find somewhere that offers bilingual education. Many of these schools save money by employing non-native speakers. I have heard a lot of stories where the English speaking parents of kids have come in conflict with schools because the non-native teachers were giving such poor instruction. In a lot of these cases the school had no interest in rectifying the situation. I don’t want my son having his English corrected by somebody who is clueless. Many non-native speakers do an excellent job and I’d be privileged for them to teach my son.
The Teacher Whose Only Qualification is Their Skin Colour
The sad fact is that in Thailand race matters and parents do want to see the white faces teaching English. I have seen many occasions where the most appropriate candidate was not considered because they wouldn’t look as good in the school brochure. There are also those people whose only qualification is that they were brought up in a country that speaks English.
The Sexual Degenerate
The sexual degenerate does end up teaching in Thailand but it is probably nowhere near as frequent as the media would like to suggest. I once worked with a couple of educators who liked to nip off to the local brothel during their lunch break.
The Saviour from Distant Shores
I have come across a few teachers who arrived in Thailand to save the locals. These not so helpful souls have an agenda and can cause a lot of chaos during their time in a school. On their first day they will want to change everything but all they end up doing is causing animosity and disruption. These saviours tend to burn themselves out after a couple of months but will leave the school in a lot worse shape than when they arrived.
A fine example of this type of teacher was the guy in Bangkok who was using his English class to teach the locals about the Bible – he eventually got sacked for telling the youngsters that their parents were going to rot in hell if they didn’t convert to Christianity.
So there you have some examples of the worst foreign teachers in Thailand. I certainly feel like I’ve gotten a lot of negativity off my chest. I would like to say again though that these bad teachers are in the minority and shouldn’t be used as a way to tarnish the reputation of all foreign teachers.
Hi Paul,
Interesting topic, agree with your pen pictures and I’d also add the ‘teaching for a visa’ candidate too. There are a lot of teacher who just do it to live in Thailand, like you this scares me when it comes to thinking about educating my kids.
We’re actually looking at private Thai schools right now but have seen and not been overly impressed with bi-lingual nursery/primary places too. Not easy, might be worth a post as people keep asking of you!
Hi Jon, yes there are a lot of people just teaching for a visa. We moved to Minburi becasue we wanted a cheap private school. The one we have chosen isn’t ideal but it is about the best we can afford. We’ll see next year when my son starts there.
I have always felt this is a touchy topic because if parents and admin new what the teachers were up to they might not be impressed… to say the least.
I think it’s best to look at the English teacher phenomena as part of a larger *developing* education system. It’s also important to note that education in Thailand serves the needs of the state comprised of many different peoples – i.e. through the language of Standard Thai, pupils are indoctrinated on what it means to be a Thai person with regard to the political and religious framework.
Teachers will go to work drunk or hungover because they *can*.
This comes down to hiring principles, management, training, etc. We all know this is a problem. Ultimately, I feel it’s a lack of leadership and management skills within English programs/schools that *allows* problems to fester – schools like this have high turnovers, staff that are polarized, rifts between admin, management, and teachers and ultimately classrooms of kids suffering. These schools, however, might also be very good at marketing.
English programs are entrepreneurial enterprises for schools in need of cash to support other departments. That said there is a real need for qualified, native-English speaking teachers here. Ideally they’d have a license to teach in their home state or country – private international schools can afford these professional teachers. The government ones cannot. Often you get what you pay for. There are many very good teachers, however, at government schools who can perform their duties despite the chaos around them.
I once was a teacher and have taught in a few different countries in Asia. I know what I am looking for when I walk into an office for the first time. A school that does not discipline its teachers and rewards incompetence as well as it does competence is not one worth working at – nor is it one worth sending your kids. I would have strong reservations sending kids to school in Thailand whether that be government or private.
Thank you Dave, you make some great points. I agree that most bilingual programs are run like a business – it is all about appearances with no substance. Some schools are willing to accept almost any white faced foreigner into their department so long at the look the part. Most places where I’ve worked have no interest in the professional development of their foreign teachers because they don’t see them as a permanent fixture – perhaps if they did invest more in their foreign staff members there would be better retention of them. It is true that many foreign teachers are not very professional but it is also true to say that schools usually don’t treat their foreign teachers like valued professionals. It is true that government schools can’t afford the fully qualified teacher, but they don’t seem willing to make these jobs appealing in other ways – security and career advancement opportunities.
I am glad you mentioned professional development because it’s an important part of any healthy professional environment across the board. An old coworker recently told me one of the Thai admin staff made remarks that their school was a “factory”. I think the point she was making was that there was little interest in providing education – the interest was in making money by providing the illusion of education – my old boss told me off the record it’s “a horse and pony show” my first week at the school.
Despite, the programs obvious deficiencies, many of the students managed to learn something and some even have been accepted to schools in other countries. I do have very vivid memories of bright, curious students. There is hope.
Sometimes I think my negative experiences cloud my memories and commentary. My school was not bad in terms of quality of teachers although at least two of their teachers in the last few years have been deported for crimes related to children.
Professional development and evaluation: in order to have these things, a professional or someone with vision needs to be running the department. You want to shape up the Thai education system, bring in a bunch of Jesuit priests (kind of joking but kind of not…)
While teaching at a Thai high school in Bangkok, I actually did develop god relations with my Thai counterparts – they would ask me about my teaching methods and I would ask them anything I could to let them know I appreciated their help in understanding my role as a teacher and Thai culture in general. I do firmly believe, these teachers would have been interested in either formal or informal professional development alongside foreign teachers had anything been offered.
Professional development sometimes can begin from within staff. Maybe a teacher finds an interesting article or comes up with interesting methods and curricula he wishes to share with his fellow teachers – maybe an informal coffee hour is set up after school on campus or off to talk, debate, develop our roles as teachers. I have the belief that with a leader or de facto leader anything is possible. Many teachers here need inspiration both professional and personally. They may have problems with alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. but I also believe that providing them with an environment where they can serve a meaningful purpose; develop professionally and intellectually as well as nurture their soul and heal their wounds could transform the school environment into a highly productive and rewarding community of learners and facilitators. But change comes from within – if no professional development is provided, then someone within the office needs to dish it out.
Hi Dave, I agree that the problem was never the students – it felt like a privilege to teach many of them. I have different experiences with working with Thai colleagues. In my last school there was way too much politics with most of the Thai teachers fighting for position; gossip was rife and each week would bring new winners and losers in their political games. The Thai teachers would attempt to involve their foreign colleagues and this could be stressful. This meant that we could not rely on any professional support or sharing of knowledge.
I agree that there needs to be a strong leader who is there to promote the best interests of the students. Too many heads of department are concerned with protecting their own position and not rocking the boat. It takes a special kind of person to say no this is not right.
Ouch! I saw myself in “‘The Saviour”, although not here in Thailand. That was totally me back home, minus the Bible-thumping. I went back to get a teaching degree because I wanted to “help people.” Oof. That’s why I burned out pretty quickly. It’s hard for me to remember the good I did and easy for me to remember all the ones I couldn’t “help”…
Hi Megan, I met many of the Saviour types in nursing – most of them don’t make it through training. I think that having a passion for the job is great but this has to be balanced with professionalism. Traditionally nursing has suffered low wages because there was too much emphasis on people doing it as a vocation. I decided early on in my nursing career that I’d much rather be seen as a professional who deserved to be paid well than a saviour for the sick people. I could help people much more as a professional; patients also feel more able to voice their concerns and complaints when they know that I’m getting paid to help them. I think that teaching is the same. The problem with a lot of saviours is that it is actually a lot more about them then it is the people they are trying to help. Kids need a teacher who is going to be consistently there for them and not just a flash in the pan who has come to save them – at least that is my opinion anyway. It doesn’t matter how passionate a teacher is and how noble their ideas – they are all replaceable and this is even more true for foreign teachers in Thailand.
Hi Paul,
I assume your worst concern for your son is reading and writing abilities, rather than speaking, because having an Irish dad will enable him to pick-up English anyway or am I wrong?
Hi I-nomad, my concern is that a non-native speaker might try to correct my son’s English even though they don’t know what they are doing. It is very confusing for a child if their teacher is saying what they are doing is wrong (especially when they know it is right) – it can knock their confidence. I have heard many examples of teachers correcting bilingual kids even though the child’s English was superior to the teacher (this happens a lot with Thai English teachers). It is all about saving face and it worries me.
Hi Paul, now I understand your concerns, this can be very demotivating for a child.
It reminds me Bible lessons at elementary school where I informed; how the sun’s of Adam and Eve were able to get children, when there was no woman around, except for their mother. The pastor answer a bit irritated that the story was supposed to be taken symbolically, which demotivated me to listen any longer, since he never told that on beforehand and ‘sold’ it to us like it was the absolute truth..
I think children can often spot when adults are deceiving them. This could be why some students have no interest in school at all. I was very cheeky as a child, but only because many of the teachers seemed to be frauds. This was one of the reasons why I found teaching in Thailand so difficult in the end; it felt like I was a fraud too. The students had no real reason to respect me other than the fact that I was a lot older than them – respect should be earned.
Paul an excellent write up and one in which I could see myself falling into a couple of the categories if I was younger and single. Drunk and brothels would be two which spring to mind.
In some ways I think you could put all your categories into most teaching roles throughout the world, certainly the drunk and those whose hearts are not into it any more.
If you are considering any future posts on teaching then how about one on a typical day in the life of a TEFL teacher in Thailand. I think that would make a good read.
Hi Martyn, I think you are probably right about these types of teachers being common around the world. It is probably also similar in different professions – I met a few other nurses who were drunks or ‘just working for the paycheck’.
I will put your post idea on my to-do list 🙂
Thanks for being brave and posting this. I think that while there is this reputation in Thailand, no one really talks about it. It’s just accepted but with other countries paying more and Thailand entering a bit of a funk, perhaps this will help weed out the bad teachers. I don’t know.
One of the language schools that I applied for, and a bilingual school too, wanted a female teacher because they recognized that they had too many males. I think that many of the bad teachers here are males. At least they fall under your categories. Perhaps that’s unfair of me to say but. . .
Hi Lani, you could be right about most of the bad teachers in Thailand being males. Mind you, I’ve met some not so good female western teachers as well. I suppose though there are a lot more western males then females becoming teachers here.
Hi Paul,
Nice summary! If you’ve ever taught in Los you’ll have most likely encountered the above characters!
Without the risk of being strung up and quartered, dare I venture to say that some of these Teachers do provide a kind of comedy value. We all like to read about them and their antics. Of course all this is counterproductive for their poor students.
I remember working with a guy called Steve at Horwang. He was a really nice guy, great to get on with and all. His big downfall was his drinking.
He’d roll into class with a size 9 on the richter scale hangover. He’d then proceed to throw a load of handouts at the students whilst sitting at his desk & cradling his pounding head in his hands, praying for the lesson to end quickly.
For his crimes the company then shipped him off to a branch near the seaside to teach. This consisted of only 2 hours corporate work at nights, so he got all day to lie in bed and sleep it off. He was also rewarded with the same salary as I and all the other chalkies slogging it out in government schools 5 days a week 4 hours a day!
God works in mysterious ways!
Hi Mark, I remember getting rewarded for my incompetence a couple of times during my early drunken days of teaching. I went missing for a week and instead of firing me the agency offered me more money, a school nearer to where I lived, and a free BTS pass – I still messed up again though.
Lol Paul, only in Thailand, only in Thailand!
I reckon if I’d kept messing up and returning I’d be an CEO by now 🙂
to say the truth education is not always about what the teacher does what about what the learner learns. i come from a country which my national language is different from my official language and my mother tongue is different from both. it is quite scary to observe a teacher teach the wrong thing as well as watch the kids pick it up, but i taught in one of the rural areas n found them teaching English using there mother tongue it gets very scary at that point. but one thing we have to appreciate is the fact that Thai land is there homeland n English is not there fast language therefore the way they pronounce things will not necessarily by the same way you pronounce it. give the teacher a break the only thing you can do is help those kids accept and appreciate the diversity. your child can still learn English perfectly maybe not from the non-native English teacher but from you. the schools around the world are not fair on the systems but its not fair blaming the guy for his accent or place of birth. teaching is not easy its a talent and the one thing thats destroys the profession is the people who abuse there position as teachers. all am saying its not right its happening but it aint his fault the system gave him the chance. any way enjoy teaching its the one most important thing you have in a classroom
Hi Becky and thanks for your comment. I suppose the thing that worries me is when people who are wrong insist they are right – this can be confusing for young kids. I’ve seen many examples of children been corrected by teachers even though they were speaking English properly. I appreciate that teachers can only work with what they’ve got but I’m concerned that my son’s confidence could be affected. The system is what it is and I accept that, but isn’t it right that parents are concerned and try to get the best they can from the system?
I decided to teach to help people, but I am not trying to change anything or save anyone. I still have a long way before I’ve learned the ins and outs but in the meantime I look listen and ask. I think that people often go in trying to change everything. But unless you first learn how everything works, how can you possibly hope to improve any system? I’ve been in Thailand for a year now and already have seen teachers come into the school and try change everything to suit them, this is a hopeless practice that TEFL schools need to teach must not be done. They think “because I’m western I know better”. I want to just put a sign up at the airport saying ” please don’t try to change anything”. I’ve met most of the teachers you described but for me the worst of all which you don’t mention is the clueless expat. This person does not know anything and speaks in slang constantly and although most of them have a BA in design or philosophy, they openly admit to drinking their way through university and being here to carry on that practice. These teachers are the worst in my opinion as all they do is go from job to job getting fired each time and making Thai people hate all the rest of us.
Hi Flower, you make lots of good points. I agree with you about the clueless category – there are some teachers who never leave holiday mode. I’ve seen people come to Thailand with no knowledge of teaching, but they super-eager and willing to learn – they eventually became good teachers. There are other people who just don’t care and see teaching in Thailand as a big joke – they are unteachable.