Huge oversupply in teacher graduates expected

27 เมษายน 2559

More than 100,000 education students nationwide may find it difficult to get teaching jobs after graduation in the next five years, says the Thailand Education Deans Council, although demand will remain high for those specialising in technical fields.

More than 100,000 education students nationwide may find it difficult to get teaching jobs after graduation in the next five years, says the Thailand Education Deans Council, although demand will remain high for those specialising in technical fields.

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Thousands of graduates to be jobless

Dumrongkiat Mala

More than 100,000 education students nationwide may find it difficult to get teaching jobs after graduation in the next five years, says the Thailand Education Deans Council.

Council president Surawat Thongbu said yesterday faculties of education at universities nationwide are producing more teaching graduates than will be needed by the market in the next five years. Many graduates would end up jobless even after paying steep course fees.

The faculties will have to cut back or graduates will end up out of work, said Mr Surawat, also dean of Maha Sarakham University's faculty of education.

Mr Surawat said he had discussed the matter with his counterparts who also agreed and cited a recent survey conducted by Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University's faculty of education about likely market demand for teachers in coming years.

The survey found that over the past five years, 80 universities and colleges offering teaching programmes had taken in more than 230,000 teaching students while the country needed only 100,000 newly qualified teachers in that period.

It would need a similar number in the next five years.

"So, if you look at supply and demand, there is a high possibility that only half the students who have selected education as a major now will be able to find work after graduation," he said.

Mr Surawat said the problem arose due to calculation errors in supply and demand for teaching posts, but universities and colleges were also using teaching courses as a cash cow.

"Each year hundreds of thousands sit for teacher examinations. Nobody realises what the job market will look like in the future. Many institutes just keep pumping out more and more teaching graduates without a strategic plan," he said.

Also, Mr Surawat said he is worried the Education Ministry's recent proposal to allow experts from certain professions to teach without a licence may worsen the situation.

He admitted, however, that Thailand is facing a shortage of teachers in some areas, especially science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the so-called Stem fields) as the number of education students who chose to do those subjects as their major has declined.