Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
This article provides a description of science teacher education in Thailand, which is a key driver of the country’s science education reform. We describe the history of science teacher education and consider its future by focusing on teacher qualifications, recruitment of teacher candidates, types of science teacher education programmes and teaching internships. This history indicates that the educational reform in 1999 had a big impact on science teacher preparation. Science teacher education programmes have been developed in order to produce constructivist science teachers. Recently, two types of science teacher education programmes have emerged: a five-year bachelor programme and a two-year master’s programme. These programmes have been centrally framed by the Teacher Qualification Standards of the Teacher Council of Thailand (TCT). Even though each university has the authority to design its own courses and activities, the licensing, requirements and structure of the teacher education programme must follow the framework of TCT and the Higher Education Commission. The challenges that these programmes face are providing sufficient teacher preparation in respect to pedagogical content knowledge and reflective and research-based activities. Considering the future trends, this article provides recommendations for policymakers, curriculum developers, teacher educators and researchers.
Faikhamta et al. (Mon,) studied this question.