Teacher allocation Revamp
It is often misunderstood that there is a shortage of teachers in Thailand. Based on data from the Office of the Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission (OTEPC), we estimate there are over 4,500 schools in need of teachers. The total number of teachers needed in these schools is about 45,000. However, Obec should have no difficulties meeting this demand when there are over 48,000 excess teachers in some schools. Quantity is clearly not the challenge. The issue lies in the efficiency of the teacher allocation process.
As more teachers retire and new teachers are recruited, we think new teachers should be allocated to understaffed schools.
This is not the case now because teacher allocation is also tied to a teacher’s willingness to move and not a school’s or student’s needs.
We think this can be changed by changing financial resources and incentives. We suggest the teacher salary budget be allocated to individual schools according to the number of the teachers needed, as calculated by OTEPC’s personnel criteria. Doing so, overstaffed schools would not be able to pay for any excess teachers. As a result, teachers would move to schools that are understaffed and have the resources to pay them.