Nobody can predict the future correctly and comprehensively. What is certain is that the future will be uncertain and there will be changes. So preparation for the future changes is the best strategy for survival and prosperity. Thailand will certainly have to confront countless changes in the global society. In order to be ready to deal with the new wave of challenges, Thailand will need quality work force who is knowledgeable and capable of taking full responsibility of the people and the environment. Education is the best mean to prepare Thai citizen with such quality. Education is an important social service. Teachers are quintessential in providing education to the youth of the country. Therefore, teachers are the important professionals required in shaping the national future. This paper examines 3 key issues concerning Thai teachers.

Presently, for its population of 60 millions, Thailand employs approximately 600,000 teachers. These teachers are responsible for the education of around 12 million students who are the future manpower of the country.  Roughly, approximately 12 million adults play the roles as parents or guardians of these students.  It may be said that teachers who constitute only 1% of the population will make impacts on the lives of 40% of the population. This fact clearly emphasizes the importance of teaching profession to the way of life of the Thais. For this reason, the new constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand specifies that the state must "develop teachers". In fact, teaching is the only profession so specified in the highest law of the country. This strongly substantiates the importance of teachers in the Thai society. Furthermore, on average, an annual budget of about Baht 100,000 millions is spent on teachers; salaries and compensations. However, teaching is a hard profession. Teachers have to be; responsible for the students everywhere, from big schools in the cities to smaller schools in the provinces and remote areas. While the duty is heavy, the pay remains low. So the teaching profession has long been unattractive to the new generation. Good and bright students of today have various career choices and they often avoid the teaching profession. Student teachers are usually not the cream of the crop. The education curricula in the existing 114 teacher institutes are also weak and most weaker students can enroll there. Consequently, there are currently 130,000 teacher students nationwide. It has been estimated that, as a result of the recent economic crisis, about 100,000 bachelor degree-holders from the teacher institutes will be unemployed in the next 5 years. Besides the economic impact on the diminishing job opportunity of future teachers, numerous changes in the Thai society as written in the new constitution will drastically transform the roles of Thai teachers in the future. Community participation in school management will be widespread; youths will demand for more equal opportunity in education; private sector will cry for better quality graduates (creative, skillful and knowledgeable). In addition, globalization will continue to put Thai labor in direct competition with those of our trading partners. These new challenges imply that teachers who render education services must deploy new and creative strategies in teaching and rapidly improve themselves. If not, the Thai society will be even more disappointed with the teachers and their hard work will be less appreciated in the future.

Since there are 600,000 teachers, it will take a long time if the teacher improvement will have to be conducted solely by the government. What needs to be done in parallel is for each teacher to start making self-assessment according to the 8 qualities above. Every teacher has to begin seeking way to correct any deficiency right away.
In so doing, teachers will become better prepared to deal with the changing trends, continue to pursue their teaching career with pride and truly contribute to building the future of the country.

Teacher reforms have been carried out before but the results have largely been unsatisfactory. So, it is natural to ask if we will succeed this time. One cannot over emphasize that succeed we must. We can no longer afford another failure because its price will far exceed the size of our debt owned to the IMF. This time all of us must start asking what we can do better and act now to ensure the success in teacher reform. The nation's future will be determined by the quality of Thai education which in turn depends on the teacher quality. In the past, we sadly noted "Inferior Teachers, Defeated Thailand". We must turn it into "Great Teachers, Grand Thailand" in the future.

20 October, 1998.