Thanongsak Suporn
Noppadol Prammanee
Abstract. This study aims to investigate problems in the 5-year pre-service teacher education programs
(PTEP) and to study the solution to these problems at the three Rajabhat universities and four schools in
the Northeastern region of Thailand as identified by forty pre-service teachers (PST). This study applies
a qualitative research approach by using multiple case studies analysis; the setting involves 40 purposive
sampling participants that were used to identify participants who had experiences of participation in the
program. The study has three parts:(1) Part one identifies the problems found during the implementation
of the 5 year program by individual interviews from the 12 PSTs in four main themes; students, instructors,
curriculum, and learning management, (2) Part two reveals the four main outcomes concerning the needs
by two focus group interviews of the 18 PSTs who attended the program, and (3) Part three deals with
the collection of data by in-depth interviews from 4 participants who have graduated and are currently
working in four selected high schools. Followed by a presentation of the responses in relation to the
four different main aspects from the three universities and four schools; the results outcome could be
concluded in three aspects which are as follows: The first aspect involves views on the problems of the
program management. The second aspect deals with what is needed to improve the program. And the last
aspect of the interview aims to find out from the subjects what should be improved or changed in terms
of the implementation of the 5 year teacher education program. The subjects in this research specified
two suggestions: Firstly, the university should consistently provide activities which support the teaching
profession. Secondly, the university should encourage students to apply this professional learning in
quality teaching practice.
Keywords: Pre-Service Teachers, Perspectives, Teacher Education Program, Multiple Case Study
Analysis
Introduction
The “teaching profession” plays an important role in the future of every country because teachers are
responsible for educating future generations. In Thailand, the responsibility of the teaching profession
is twofold: Firstly, it is the teacher’s duty to facilitate learning and development; and secondly, to train
the younger generations to be socially responsible citizens of the country and to lead the country in
continual improvement in the future. Thai society accepts that teachers are important in educational
development and at the heart of promoting human improvement through the development of social
values.
Since 1892 (the reign of King Rama fifth) until 1999, there have been various types of
professional development for teachers around curriculum and program development. Most recently,
Thailand has created a new program structure for the training of pre-service teachers through
a curriculum called the “Five-Year Teacher”. The motivation for this change has come from the
Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (1997), Article 81, which 81 states that it is the Thai
Government’s responsibility to provide opportunity for the improvement of the teaching profession. In
addition, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (1997) Article 7, which is the Act of National
Education, has been implemented in conjunction with the 1999 Act legislating the renaming of