NATIONAL SURVEY
Teachers' woes revealed
Most don't want their children to do the job because of heavy workloads
When it comes to careers, most teachers do not wish to see their children follow in their footsteps. According a survey by the Teacher Watch project, only 29 per cent of teachers and 37 per cent of school administrators wanted to children to take up teaching jobs. "A large number of teachers feel so tired that they tell their children how exhausting it is to be teachers," project head Dr Amornwich Nakhonthap said yesterday. On top of this, up to 62 per cent of teachers and 43 per cent of school administrators also wanted to participate in early-retirement programmes. Moreover, as many as 48 per cent of teachers and 34 per cent of school administrators admitted toying with the idea of switching to other jobs. Amornwich was speaking during the presentation of findings from the Teacher Watch project at Chulalongkorn University (CU). This project was commissioned by CU's Faculty of Education, the Ramjitti Institute, National Instit-ute for Development of Teachers, faculty staff and educational personnel, and Thailand Research Fund's Child Watch Network. The Teacher Watch project conducted a nationwide survey between July and August last year. It covered teachers and school administrators in 1,350 schools. The survey found that each teacher had to do the work of about 1.5 administrators. They also had to handle community work tantamount to more than a quarter of an official's job responsibilities. "On average, each teacher already teaches for 22 hours a week. With extra work, some 30 per cent of teachers in the survey said they were forced to miss out one teaching hour a week," Amornwich said. More than 90 per cent said an administrative official would help greatly ease their workload. Amornwich urged political parties to make education a priority issue, saying the future of the country did not lie in short-term economic needs alone. "The country needs wisdom and virtue from its population and a good education system will help. But without good teachers, the education system can't be good." He also expressed concern that "teacher" was not in the top 20 dream careers of children anymore. Thammarat Kitchalong The Nation
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